Question:
What area on earth holds the "record" for the most
lightning storms over a period of time? I heard Kampala Uganda has
the
record for most lightning "strikes", but I also heard that there
is
an
island in the south Pacific the receives thunder and lightning
storms
daily and scientists actually are "encamped" here to study this
phenomena. I just can't remember the name. It was on the Knowledge
Network
last year but I didn't "catch" the name of the island. I was
wondering if
you know where this is as this phenomena intrigues me greatly. I
would
appreciate your assistance in this matter if possible. Thank You
Replies:
Richard,
It is possible that there are a few places on Earth that receive
more lightning than Florida, although Florida, by far, has the highest
amount of lightning of any state in the United States. An island
would have to have a large enough area of surface to be warmed
sufficiently long and over a long enough horizontal extent to produce
the intensity of convection (into a thunderstorm) that is required
to produce a lot of lightning. Orographic lifting by a large
mountain may help, but to produce large thunderstorms you need a large
source of moisture (which could come from a warm ocean) and a large
source of heat (normally from the land). Where this typically happens
in the oceanic environment is near the equator, such as the group of
thunderstorms that form west of central Africa or in the western
Pacific and organize into hurricanes (typhoons, cyclones). There may
indeed be an island in the South Pacific (probably not far south of
the equator) where the conditions are right for thunderstorms often.
Unfortunately, I don't know of it.
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