Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo is home to a legendary lightning storm that has been going on for over 500 years. Watch @SeeYouOutsideShow video about Catatumbo Lightning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ABZOUvZ_WY Esther's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@toseeyououtside

LEARN MORE

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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:

• Lightning hotspot: is a geographic location where there is a higher frequency of lightning activity compared to surrounding areas.
• Lightning flash frequency: refers to the average number of lightning strikes occurring in a specific area over a given period of time. It can be measured in flashes per km2 per year.
• Convergent windflow:
• Coastal breeze: is the movement of air from the ocean to the land (onshore breeze) or from the land to the ocean (offshore breeze). The direction of the breeze is determined by the temperature difference between the land and the water.
• Convective instability: is a meteorological term that describes the atmospheric condition favorable for the development of convection, which is the vertical movement of air. This instability is a key factor in the formation of thunderstorms and other convective weather phenomena.

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CREDITS

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Esther Ikoro | Writer and Narrator (@SeeYouOutsideShow) Ever Salazar | Writer, Illustrator and Director Lizah van der Aart | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info

OUR STAFF

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Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke Arcadi Garcia i Rius • David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes Alex Reich • Henry Reich • Peter Reich Ever Salazar • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida

OTHER CREDITS

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Catatumbo Lightning Footage by Paolo Costa / Shutterstock.com

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REFERENCES

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Albrecht, R. I., et al (2016). Where Are the Lightning Hotspots on Earth?. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 97, 2051–2068, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-14-00193.1

Albrecht, R. I. (2023). Meteorology Professor at the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Personal Communication.

NOAA (2010). Lightning Flash Rate. https://sos.noaa.gov/catalog/datasets/lightning-flash-rate/

Daniel J. Cecil, et al (2014). Gridded lightning climatology from TRMM-LIS and OTD: Dataset description. Atmospheric Research, Volumes 135–136, 2014, Pages 404-414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2012.06.028

LIS 0.1 Degree Very High Resolution Gridded Lightning Full Climatology (VHRFC) V1 https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search?q=lisvhrfc

TRMM LIS/OTD Gridded Lightning Climatology Data Sets https://lightning.nsstc.nasa.gov/data/data_lis-otd-climatology.html