One place in Venezuela, near the confluence of the Catatumbo River and Lake Maracaibo, experiences dazzling lightning storms almost every day, making it Earths most electric spot. El Nio weather patterns result in drier weather and less moisture being transported. Each year, over 1.2 million lightning bolts are confined to the mouth of the Catatumbo River - the single highest concentration of lightning in the world. Whether you are a scientist, an educator, a student, or are just interested in learning more about NASAs Earth science data and how to use them, we have the resources to help. You should be afraid, but it is so impressive that your fear gets overwhelmed,added Joaqun Daz-Lobatn, a physicist and researcher at the Centro de Modelado Cientfico at Universidad del Zulia in Venezuela. Lunar and Solar Eclipse Explained: A Beginner's Guide to Eclipses. The oil industry could delay or reschedule their work. These air masses meet the high mountain ridges of the Andes, the Perij Mountains (3,750m (12,000ft)), and Mrida's Cordillera, enclosing the plain from three sides. Catatumbo Lightning is consistent on a daily scale, but its behavior shifts along the year and between years. [3] It occurs over and around Lake Maracaibo, typically over a bog area formed where the Catatumbo River flows into the lake. Two good tour options are Angel-Eco Tours and Araguato Tours. Danger and poverty will not go away anytime soon, but helping to reduce lightning risk can make a difference. © 2023 IFLScience. }. The cryosphere plays a critical role in regulating climate and sea levels. A combination of thelarge regional oildeposits and prevalent swampland emits the gasin large quantities. Two years ago, Venezuela entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the most lightning strikes per hour, bumping the Congolese town of Kifuka out of the top spot. price. 3:15. Luckily, satellite images from NASA's Global Hydrometeorology Resource Center Distributed Active Archive Center (GHRC DAAC) offered seventeen years of data, which were averaged to show seasonal patterns. } NASA explains that scientists are trying to figure out how to be able to do long-term predictions for when the lightning strikes will occur. They were considered to be possible explanations, but this was refuted by a lack of evidence. The biosphere encompasses all life on Earth and extends from root systems to mountaintops and all depths of the ocean. He studied the effects of different factors, such as sea surface temperatures, humidity, wind and the Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) in the development of this model. And the spectacular phenomenon may even be responsible for Venezuelas independence. In the 20th century, when it became clear that storms caused the phenomenon, Venezuelans stopped calling it the Maracaibo Beacon and renamed it Catatumbo lightning. It originates from a mass of storm clouds over nearby mountains, and occurs during 140 to 160 nights a year, 10 hours per day and up to 280 times per hour. What If She Never Existed? Catatumbo lightning (Spanish: Relmpago del Catatumbo)[1] is an atmospheric phenomenon that occurs over the mouth of the Catatumbo River where it empties into Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. Catatumbo Lightning is an atmospheric phenomenon that causes lightning storms that can last as longas 9 hours per day, with as many as28 lightning strikes per minute. Here, you'll find a phenomenon known as Catatumbo Lightning. They take place across 140160 days of the year, and on those days the flashes of lightning can go on for around seven to eight hours. Providing months-advance warning could help people take extra precautions. It lights up the sky with streaks of phosphorescent colors, the white light being absorbed by dust and moisture to create a vibrant, colorful illusion. Drone footage has captured an ancient village from above that has an extremely unique shape with snaps of the town going viral. The ensuing imbalance of charges leads to lightning strikes, where the charges zigzag to the ground or within the cloud in the form of lightning. It has now been termed by NASA the Lightning Hotspot of the world. These formations can give rise to powerful thunderstorms called supercells that last for hours and create lightning. The phenomenon is driven by the interaction of a multitude of factors: local and seasonal drivers of climate. Is The African Continent Splitting In Two? Atmos. The human dimensions discipline includes ways humans interact with the environment and how these interactions impact Earths systems. 2023 Atlas Obscura. So what makes Catatumbo Lightning consistent? If the team could capture its physical mechanisms, they could be the first to predict lightning on a seasonal scale. This awe-inspiring phenomenon creates quite a sight to behold. Manuela Beltrn Is a Colombian Hero. #fca_qc_quiz_63124.fca_qc_quiz div.fca-qc-back.wrong-answer, Blakeslee, Richard. The model could help address this, Daz-Lobatn said. Catatumbo means "House of Thunder" in the language of the Bari people. } When Amy Fallon travelled to Uganda, she did not expect to see a familiar face staring back at her outside a restaurant. Trips. NASA Global HHydrometeorology Resource Center Distributed Active Archive Center (GHRC DAAC), Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). What Would Happen If Lightning Struck Your Airplane In Flight? Well, unless you happen to live in Venezuelaspecifically in northern Venezuela, where the Catatumbo River empties into Lake Maracaibo. Part 1. This has been going on for centuries; Lake Maracaibo is an ancient lake, one of Earth's oldest. In early 2010, news spread that the Catatumbo lightning had vanished, causing significant unrest among the locals in the region, and also triggering scientists to wonder as to the reason for the disappearance of the lightning. Decades ago, it was believed uranium deposits in bedrock attracted the lightning. Smithsonian, Venezuela's Mysterious Catatumbo Lightning . ABC News, BBC - Earth - The most electric place on Earth - www.bbc.com, The Maracaibo Beacon | Earthdata - NASA. A mountain face or the collision of warm and cool masses may contribute to the same effect. Trabajo Especial de Grado, LIS/OTD 2.5 Degree Low Resolution Time Series (LRTS), LIS 0.1 Degree Very High Resolution Gridded Lightning Climatology Data Collection, Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) Science Data, Data Management Guidance for ESD-Funded Researchers, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and OrbView-1, Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) and Optical Transient Detector (OTD), NASA Global Hydrometeorology Resource Center Distributed Active Archive Center (. The most electric place on Earth.At one lake in Venezuela, lightning flashes 28 times a minuteThe Catatumbo Lightning (Spanish: Relmpago del Catatumbo) is a. The high frequency of both in-cloud (purple) and cloud-to-ground (yellow) lightning strikes generated three Dangerous Thunderstorm Alerts. Land, Atmosphere Near Real-Time Data (LANCE), Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), Open Data, Services, and Software Policies, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) Program, Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program, Interagency Implementation and Advanced Concepts Team (IMPACT), Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project, Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAAC), fire information for resource management system (firms), open data, services, and software policies, earth science data systems (esds) program, commercial smallsat data acquisition (csda) program, interagency implementation and advanced concepts team (impact), earth science data and information system (esdis) project, earth observing system data and information system (eosdis), distributed active archive centers (daacs), Energtica de los relmpagos del Catatumbo. [19], There are several references by colonial Portuguese and Spanish sources, that name this phenomenon as "Lanterns of Saint Anthony" or the "Lighthouse of Maracaibo", as also noted by Alexander Walker in 1822. The fishermen, who have to travel many miles to get to their fishing spots and refueling stations, are in extreme danger. The 13 years of TRMM Lightning Imaging Sensor: from individual flash characteristics to decadal tendencies. Universidad del Zulia. To compute monthly lightning patterns in the Maracaibo Basin, the scientists used the LIS Science Data set. } Lake Maracaibo spans 13,200 square kilometers (5,100 square miles), about the size of Connecticut. 2016. But ngel Muoz, now an associate research scientist at Columbia Universitys International Research Institute for Science and Society, told a Venezuelan newspaper in 2014 that the time it would take for the ozone produced by the Catatumbo lightningto ascend to the ozone layer is at least six months, so we do not see a viable mechanism for it to contribute to the regeneration of the planetary ozone layer.. Seasonal prediction of lightning activity in North Western Venezuela: Large-scale versus local drivers. The rayo del Catatumbo (Catatumbo lightning), also known as the Faro de Maracaibo (Maracaibo beacon), puts forth an average of 232.52 flashes of lightning per square kilometer each year. Known as Relmpago del Catatumbo, the storm is located where the Catatumbo River flows into Lake Maracaibo. It is difficult to ignore the weather these days, whether you're a climate change skeptic,a committed believer to the dangers of global warming or simply someone who's googled "never-ending lightning" and are wondering what all the fuss is all about. border-radius: 2px; BSc Thesis. On July 24, 1823, the electrical storm acted like a lighthouse for the naval forces of Admiral Jos Prudencio Padilla, who managed to defeat to a squadron of Spanish ships in the battle of Lake Maracaibo. In the past, people attributed Catatumbo lightning to the action of uranium in the bedrock, methane released by the surrounding swamps, or the massive oil deposits of Lake Maracaibo. Any amateur lightning strike canbe described bythe above process, so what is it that makes the Beacon of Maracaibo a natural wonder, as well as something to watch out for? Here, where the Catatumbo River empties into South America's largest lake, an " everlasting lightning storm " rages continuously for up to 10 hours a night, in exactly the same place, 260 . Sufficient moisture must be present to be able to create static charges and lightning, which can be used to explain the differential intensity and frequency of lightning. The atmosphere is a gaseous envelope surrounding and protecting our planet from the intense radiation of the Sun and serves as a key interface between the terrestrial and ocean cycles. Ten minutes of Catatumbo Lightning could illuminate all of South America. Another hypothesis was that methane released from the oil fields in the region could also be responsible for the Catatumbo lightnings. The heat and moisture collected across the plains create electrical charges and, as the air masses are destabilized by the mountain ridges, result in thunderstorm activity. In the evening, cold winds blow down from the mountain peaks and collide with the humid air, forming cumulonimbus clouds. It helps people. (Photo Credit : Oscarnav/Wikimedia Commons). They found that close to the surface, no more than one kilometer (0.62 mile) high, a swift ribbon of airthe Maracaibo Basin Nocturnal Low-Level Jettransports moisture from the Caribbean Sea and Lake Maracaibo to its southern basin, where it interacts with the mountains.
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