Very low frequency (VLF) electromagnetic waves distort along the long propagation path, and that causes the arrival time of the signals measured by the long-range lightning system to be delayed. In this paper, based on the propagation correction method by compensating the peak time delay of the ground wave, the location accuracy of the long-range lightning detection network in China is greatly improved. The improvement of the relative location accuracy and location offsets are evaluated by comparing with the Advanced Direction Time Lightning Detection System (ADTD) datasets. It shows that the mean relative accuracy is improved from 7.74 km to 4.32 km, and the median relative accuracy is improved from 7.28 km to 2.46 km. The mean westwards offset of the total lightning location data drops from 2.05 km to 0.93 km, and the mean southwards offset drops from 1.19 km to 0.63 km. In addition, it is found that the location accuracy will be greatly improved if the observation site affected by the terrain is removed. The mean relative location accuracy is further improved to 4.11 km and the median to 2.32 km.

The effect of the number and configuration of participating stations on lightning location outside the network is herein studied by evaluating the deviation distance between the reference location and the locations determined by the ToA technique, using recorded data from the location network in Fujian. It was found that the deviation distance decreases with the increase of number of stations, changing from 0.07 to 424.7 km with an average of 35 km for five stations while being 0.03~21.6 km and 2.2 km, respectively, for eight stations. The spatial distribution of those locations outside the network seems to be on a straight line. When the number of stations was five, the station linear configuration led to a narrow and long intersection region, resulting in a large deviation distance. The more dispersed distribution of stations leads to the minimum deviation distance. The percentage of deviation distance less than specific location accuracy (LA) can provide references on network design. 7 stations are sufficient to locate the lightning near and inside the network. 8–9 stations are necessary for an LA of 1 km when the lightning is 200 to 300 km away from the center of the network. The network is not suitable for locating the lightning from each station more than 400 km on average.