They say lightning never strikes doubly , although whoever " they " are might want to have a rethink . young inquiry presented at theAmerican Geophysical UnionFall Meeting evoke that one spot in a Venezuelan lake receives a bolt of lightning on 297 days out of 365 each yr .
Lake Maracaibohas long been known for its gamy levels of electrical activity , and to begin with this yr entered the Guinness Book of World Records as Earth ’s lightning hot spot . However , the new data , exhibit by Rachel Albrecht of the University of Sao Paulo , pinpoints the exact speckle on the lake that attracts the highest number of bolts , Live Sciencereports .
Using satellite data recorded by theLight Imaging Sensor(LIS ) aboard NASA ’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission ( TRMM ) satellite , Albrecht was able to determine the location of lightning strikes with bang-up precision than ever before . orb the Earth at a height of 402 kilometers ( 250 miles ) , the planet ’s LIS is adequate to of recording gamey resolving power image that are precise to within 0.1 degree of latitude .
Analyzing data register by the LIS between 1998 and 2013 , Albrecht and her team were able-bodied to locate a point where Lake Maracaibo meets the Catatumbo River as the most lightning - prostrate spot on the major planet .
Reasons for this wild clime can be largely assign to the topographic musical composition of the wall domain . Situated in the Andes yet within cheeseparing proximity to the Caribbean Sea , the lake is serve by both warm ocean breeze and cold good deal air , which clash to produce storms .
As a result , the lake tends to know an awesome amount of lightning , with up to28 strikeshitting the water every minute when violent storm are in full flow .
alike geographic characteristics elsewhere have been credited with make many of the world ’s other lightning hotspots . Among these is the mountain village of Kifuka in the Democratic Republic of Congo , which experience 232 lightning flashes per kilometre ( 0.62 miles ) each twelvemonth . This puts the town in second place behind Lake Maracaibo , which is struck by 250 news bulletin per km per year .
