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Scientists at NASA's Global Hydrometeorology Resource Center Distributed Active Archive Center (GHRC DAAC) have long investigated where lightning hotspots are located, but observations were reported at coarse resolution and employed significant spatial and temporal smoothing to account for sampling limitations. Using a new reprocessing technique, researchers have made the following key findings:

  • As of 2016, sixteen years of observations from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) have been reprocessed using a new analysis technique. This new technique generates a series of very high resolution lightning climatology datasets gridded at 0.1 degrees. 
  • These new climatology datasets have revealed Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, as the peak lightning hotspot on Earth. A maximum flash rate of 233 flashes per square kilometer per year has been observed at Lake Maracaibo. The previously identified top lightning hotspot was located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is now the second greatest lightning hotspot on the globe.
  • Lake Maracaibo lies in a large valley between two ridges of the Andes Mountains. Additionally, Lake Maracaibo is located near the Gulf of Venezuela and the Caribbean Sea. Lake Maracaibo’s unique location in combination with the regional wind flow pattern makes the lake an ideal place for thunderstorm and lightning development during the nighttime.
  • Globally the lightning diurnal cycle shows a maximum lightning during the afternoon over land while seasonally the highest flash density rates occur during the summer.
  • Given that 24 of the first 30 locations with the most lightning flashes are located near mountainous regions, a relationship between lightning hotspots and topography is suggested.

Read more in the paper "Where Are the Lightning Hotspots on Earth?" authored by R. Albrecht, S. Goodman, D. Buechler, R. Blakeslee, and H. Christian, published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

Related Publications

Albrecht, R., et al., 2011. The 13 years of TRMM Lightning Imaging Sensor: from individual flash characteristics to decadal tendencies. XIV Int. Conf. Atmos. Elec., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Cecil, Daniel J., Dennis E. Buechler and Richard J. Blakeslee. "Gridded lightning climatology from TRMM-LIS and OTD: Dataset description." Atmospheric Research 135-136. (2014): 404 -414. doi: 10.1016/j.atmosres.2012.06.028

Christian, H., et al., 203. “Global frequency and distribution of lightning as observed from space by the Optical Transient Detector.” Journal of Geophysical Research, 108, 4005, doi:10.1029/2002JD002347

A map of the Americas shows lightning hotspots in red located in Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela.

Areas shaded in red indicate peak lightning hotspots, including Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela. Credit: GHRC DAAC

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Kaylin Bugbee

Data Center/Project

Global Hydrometeorology Resource Center DAAC (GHRC DAAC)