Electromagnetic Time Reversal (EMTR) has been recently proposed as a lightning location method. The method is based on the recording of the full electric or magnetic field waveform at multiple stations, time-reversing the recorded fields, and back-propagating them using numerical simulations into the location domain. The back-propagated fields will add up in phase at the lightning strike location. The implementation of an EMTRbased lightning location system requires that a certain number of practical difficulties be overcome, including the fact that most of the deployed lightning location networks do not record the complete electric or magnetic field waveforms. We propose a solution to this problem based on the use of matrix pencil method (MPM) to minimize the computer memory and transmission bandwidth requirements to store the measured electromagnetic field waveforms. The performance of the MPM method is evaluated using measured waveforms of electric and magnetic fields from distant natural lightning and it is shown that using only 46 poles and residues, it is possible to reproduce very accurately the measured waveforms.
