Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Measuring the Impact of Lightning

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RIO DE JANEIRO,, Nov 4 2006 (IPS) - Every year, there are 61 million lightning strikes in Brazil, killing an average of 100 people and causing economic losses, according to a study by the atmospheric electricity group at the National Institute of Space Research. Every year, there are 61 million lightning strikes in Brazil, killing an average of 100 people and causing economic losses, according to a study by the atmospheric electricity group at the National Institute of Space Research.

“It is the first precise estimate of the average number of lightning strikes from 1998 to 2005, based on satellite data and a national monitoring network,” Kleber Naccarato, a researcher on the team, told Tierramérica.

Lightning varies greatly from year to year, apparently affected by climate phenomena like El Niño and La Niña, which alternate, determined by the temperature of Pacific Ocean currents.

The lightning study is the latest worldwide. In the southern hemisphere summer these electric charges multiply, and provoke clashes of cold, humid winds with warm, dry winds. However, says Naccarato, “we lack data to blame the increase in lightning activity on global warming.”