Airports Protection Against Lightning - Thesis Example

Modern lightning protection systems have been applied with new technology but Franklin’s basic principle has remained. The modern methodology is efficient because it is applied with prediction and forecasting systems. All throughout the United States, many parts of Europe, and the rest of the world lightning prediction/forecasting and protection have been installed especially in areas that need efficient safety procedures and methods. Examples are airports and airplanes which are prone to lightning discharges if no protection mechanisms are installed.

It is important that lightning protection is clearly studied and installed to protect the structures and equipment present in the airport and to prevent loss of lives and properties. Applications in airports, aircraft, equipment, and structures are provided particular emphasis and analyses. The U.S. National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) and the European Cooperation for Lightning Detection (EUCLID) are two important detection networks that conduct and provide lightning protection and detection in their significant areas.

They use the network and central processor and have wide scope and areas of coverage. Through these networks, lightning protection for aircraft, airports, and their vicinities and buildings is enhanced. Lightning is a natural high voltage phenomenon accompanied by a large current and electromagnetic emission. Benjamin Franklin was the first to discover that lightning was a form of electricity and in his lightning rod invention deaths and injuries caused by lightning strikes have been greatly reduced.

In new applications and inventions against lightning, particularly airports’ protection, the lightning rod theory is still applicable but with technological advancement, many innovations have been introduced. Lightning happens when some areas of the earth’s atmosphere acquire an electrical charge large enough to break the electrical charge of the air [1].