Quantification of charge transfer in continuing current lightning events

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon that are executable by a processor device to perform or control performance of operations comprising:

• for each first lightning event of a plurality of first lightning events:
• obtaining one or more first measurements of each first lightning event from at least one of one or more earth-based lightning detection sensors or one or more space-based lightning detection sensors;
• obtaining a first charge transfer estimate of each first lightning event using field measurements of each first lightning event from one or more arrays of electromagnetic field sensors;
• and
• associating the one or more first measurements with the first charge transfer estimate in a training data entry of a plurality of training data entries, the plurality of training data entries corresponding to the plurality of first lightning events;
• and
• training a machine learning model using the plurality of training data entries.

A lightning detection system, comprising:

• one or more arrays of electromagnetic field sensors configured to detect changes in electromagnetic fields in an environmental space;
• and
• a processor device communicatively coupled to one or more space-based lightning detection sensors configured to detect one or more optical signals in the environmental space, wherein the processor device is configured to perform or control performance of operations comprising:
• for each first lightning event of a plurality of first lightning events:
• obtaining one or more first measurements of each first lightning event from the one or more space-based lightning detection sensors;
• obtaining a first charge transfer estimate of each first lightning event using field measurements of each first lightning event from the one or more arrays of electromagnetic field sensors;
• and
• associating the one or more first measurements with the first charge transfer estimate in a training data entry of a plurality of training data entries, the plurality of training data entries corresponding to the plurality of first lightning events;
• training a machine learning model using the plurality of training data entries;
• receiving one or more second measurements of a second lightning event from the one or more space-based lightning detection sensors without receiving any outputs from the one or more arrays of electromagnetic field sensors;
• and
• processing the one or more second measurements using the machine learning model to obtain a second charge transfer estimate.