Though he didnt observe the lightning in person, Humboldt heard about its regular displays and wondered about its cause. Thousands of new, high-quality pictures added every day. The origin of the Catatumbo Lightning is unknown. 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. For six weeks beginning in January of that year, no signs of the lightning events were observed in the skies over the Lake Maracaibo. In the evening, cold winds blow down from the mountain peaks and collide with the humid air, forming cumulonimbus clouds. 2022 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved, 232.52 flashes of lightning per square kilometer, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite. [7] Based on M. Palacios book "Viage de Varinas", Prussian naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt described the lightning in 1826. 2. That's about 28 lighting strikes every minute enough energy to power 100 million light bulbs. Get this stock video and more royalty-free footage. Years later, working as a tour guide in the Andes, he too saw the Catatumbo Lightning, but . The lightning is such a source of local pride that Zulia, one of Venezuela's 23 states, boasts about the Relmpago del Catatumbo by displaying lightning bolts on its flag and coat of arms. Catatumbo Lightning Tour Tour of 3 days and 2 nights. Find Catatumbo lightning stock images in HD and millions of other royalty-free stock photos, illustrations and vectors in the Shutterstock collection. Muoz and his colleagues suggest that these seasonal drivers can help scientists predict lightning activity over the long term. Wiggly mouse-drawn comics where balls represent different countries. The original name was rib a-ba or "river of fire". For example, it ceased from January to March 2010, apparently due to drought, leading to speculation that it might have been extinguished permanently. Known as Relmpago del Catatumbo, the storm is located where the Catatumbo River flows into Lake Maracaibo.Warm air . Lightning strikes over Lake Maracaibo in the village of Ologa, in Zulia state, Venezuela, on September 6, 2021. Tour guide, Alan Highton explains the phenomenon. Catatumbo lightning appears almost every night with average 28 lightning strikes per minute and up to 10 hours at a time. In the video above, it is easy to see how quickly the strikes add up once the storm cells hit the lake. 260 storm days a year are experienced in the region, generating almost 1.2 million lightning strikes per year. Thanks to his lobbying, this year the Catatumbo Lightning was approved for inclusion in the 2015 edition of Guinness World Records, dethroning the Congolese town of Kifuka as the place with the world's most lightning bolts per square kilometer each year at 250. . http://www.furiousearth.com Storm Chaser, George Kourounis travels to Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela where a phenomenon known as the Catatumbo Everlasting Lightning storm occurs. Browse 27 catatumbo lightning stock photos and images available or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. Unfortunately for Kifuka there is a new kid on the block, claiming a far higher frequency of lightning discharges. The highest volume at Relmpago del Catatumbo can be up to 3,600 bolts in one hours, which means one per second. Another driver's dashcam footage captured the moment the man drove through red . August 2, 2011 -- A mysterious symphony of rapid-fire lightning bolts used to create the greatest light show on Earth over the Catatumbo River in Venezuela -- until . Colombia, relacin geogrfica, topogrfica, agrcola. Photo by Mark Vermeij. Here thunder strikes and lightning are predictable and go with an unbroken consistency. 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. There, lightning strikes occur, on average, 300. There's even a name for it Catatumbo lightning. In a 12-hour period, Earth Networks Total Lightning Network detected 5,250 total lightning strikes over the lake, which is fed by the Catatumbo River. Open Now. "Fogonazos: Catatumbo, the everlasting storm", "Eternal Thunder: This Place in Venezuela Has the Highest Concentration of Lightning Strikes in the World", "Drought extinguishes Venezuela's lightning phenomenon", "Venezuela's Mysterious Catatumbo Lightning Phenomenon Vanishes for Months, Then Reappears", Viage a las Regiones Equinocciales del Nuevo Continente, Dislates y Disparates sobre el Relmpago del Catatumbo: La expedicin de Drake, de 1595. Catatumbo means "House of Thunder" in the language of the Bari people. [clarification needed] Other studies have indicated that this model is contradicted by the observed behavior of the lightning, as it would predict that there would be more lightning in the dry season (JanuaryFebruary), and less in the wet season (AprilMay and SeptemberOctober). The 13 years of TRMM Lightning Imaging Sensor: from individual flash characteristics to decadal tendencies. More recently, the documentary Once Upon a Time in Venezuela, about the town of Congo Mirador, premiered at Sundance and served as the Venezuelan representative for the 2021 Oscars. "[9], The phenomenon is depicted on the flag and coat of arms of the state of Zulia, which also contains Lake Maracaibo, and is mentioned in the state's anthem. Find Catatumbo Lightning stock video, 4k footage, and other HD footage from iStock. November 7, 2014, 12:03 PM. It occurs on average 260 nights a year and up to 280 times per hour. Find professional Catatumbo videos and stock footage available for license in film, television, advertising and corporate uses. The only apparent unique characteristic of this phemonemon is that the storms form and persist in the same place night after night. Getty Images offers exclusive rights-ready and premium royalty-free analog, HD, and 4K video of the highest quality. Media in category "Catatumbo lightning". For 140 to 160 nights out of the year, for 10 hours at a time, the sky above the river is pierced by almost constant lightning, producing as many as 280 strokes per hour. Download Now Lake Maracaibo has a . [14] The methane model is based on the symmetry properties of methane. Nearly every day, there are hundreds of lightning strikes around Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo. The cold wind, however, starts mixing up the atmosphere and dynamic storms emerge almost every night, even more often from April to late-November. Download this Catatumbo Lightning From A Distance photo now. In Venezuela, at the mouth of the Catatumbo River where it meets the Lake Maracaibo, a unique and impressive natural phenomenon, variously known as the "Catatumbo lightning", the "Beacon of Maracaibo" or the Everlasting Storm, captures the eyes and attention of all observers there to witness it. Not uninterruptedly, of course. http://www.furiousearth.comStorm Chaser, George Kourounis travels to Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela where a phenomenon known as the Catatumbo Everlasting Lightning storm occurs. These months all fall within the wet season in Venezuela. Oh no! From 1799 to 1800, the German explorer Alexander von Humboldt and naturalist Aim Bonpland made a year-long visit to Venezuela. Sometimes referred to as Venezuela's "eternal thunderstorm," the Catatumbo Lightning doesn't actually fire nonstop, but for at least a few centuries, it has occurred around 150 times per year. How to do? He concluded that the lightning has several epicenters in the marshes of Juan Manuel de Aguas National Park, Claras Aguas Negras, and west Lake Maracaibo. Centro de Modelado Cientfico. The Catatumbo lightning storms over the river basin start around sunset and continue to about 9pm or 10pm. There, warm waters from the Caribbean Sea flow into the lake, where the hot sun draws up moisture into the air and traps it among the slopes. During this nocturnal phenomenon, there are over 250 strikes per square kilometre and they occur up to . XIV Int. The Catatumbo lightning events are like no other phenomenon in the world. 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. Browse 27 catatumbo lightning stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. The Catatumbo Lightning in Venezuala. He observed the lightning firsthand and noted in 1841 that there was more rain where the Catatumbo River ended. [clarification needed][21][22][15], A 2016 study showed that it is possible to forecast lightning in the Lake Maracaibo basin up to a few months in advance, based in the variability of the Lake Maracaibo Low-Level Jet and its interactions with predictable climate modes like the ENSO and the Caribbean Low-Level Jet. And the spectacular phenomenon may even be responsible for Venezuela's independence. As the one place on Earth that has the most lightning, Maracabio Lake in Venezuela, is the topic for this weather wise segment. They referred to it as "the Lighthouse of Catatumbo. Until a few years ago, the village of traditional stilt houses was where tourists gathered to see the Catatumbo lighting. They poke fun The exact reason for such high electrical activity in the region is not yet known. The village of Catatumbo in northern Venezuela, lies on the shore of Lake . However, as of yet, in the absence of sufficient proof, it is though that a combination of various factors, including the land topography and wind patterns, could be responsible for the everlasting storm. Scientists think the Catatumbo, named for a river that runs into the lake, is normal lightning that just happens to occur far more than anywhere else, due to local topography and wind patterns.. Download Video Credit: NOAA This phenomenon commences one hour after dawn and lasts for 10 hours. The Catatumbo Lightning, also known as the Beacon of Maracaibo or the "everlasting storm", is seasonal lightning around Lake Maracaibo (13,200 square kilometres) in northern Venezuela. At about 250 lightning flashes per square kilometer per year, the Lake Maracaibo Basin in northwestern Venezuela has the highest annual lightning rate of any place in the world. Several traditional songs of the Zulia State and the regional anthem mention it, and since 1991, it has been pictured on the Zulia State flag. One such spectacular natural event is the Catatumbo Lightning in the lesser-known area of north-western Venezuela, where the Catatumbo River meets Lake Maracaibo. In the 20th century, when photos and filming of the storms began to circulate in the media, Venezuelans and especially those in Zulia State adopted the phenomenon as their symbol. [8]Italian geographer Agustin Codazzi described it in 1841 as "like a continuous lightning, and its position such that, located almost on the meridian of the mouth of the lake, it directs the navigators as a lighthouse. It doesn't actually strike nonstop, however over the past decades, the lightning episodes occluded about 150 a year. 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. Lightning strikes over Lake Maracaibo in the village of Ologa, where the Catatumbo River feeds into the lake, in the western state of Zulia October 23, 2014. About Catatumbo Lightning Tour. When his family moved to Lake Maracaibo four years later, the epicenter of that eternal storm, he met . This has been going on for centuries; Lake . 210 votes, 11 comments. Now thanks to the tireless efforts of local campaigners the Catatumbo Lightning has been officially recognized by the Guiness Book of Records 2015 as the place with the largest number of annual lighting strikes per kilometer, a title which used to belong to the Congolese town of Kifuka. Topography and Lightning: The Lake Maracaibo basin is located between the most northern ridges of the Andes Mountain Range. [17][18][19][20] Using satellite data, two groups of researchers have provided analyses of the lightning's location, timing and number of discharges per square kilometer. Historical records dating back over 400 years indicate that this has been going on for centuries. [12], Russian researcher Andrei Zavrotsky investigated the area several times. On average, electrical storms occur 260 nights appear per year, predominantly between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. On most nights of the year, thunderstorms form over the same part of the lake ,with dazzling displays of lightning. According to NASA, lightning strikes the roughly 100-square-mile area about 28 times a minute over the course of nine hours. In 2010 a severe drought caused by El Nio stopped the constant lightning storms, worrying the areas residents. Dificultad: Easy - All travelers. Guinness World Records recognizes the Catatumbo area as having the highest concentration of lightning on Earth, and since 2002, environmentalist Erik Quiroga has lobbied UNESCO to declare the lightning a world heritage site. In the 1960s, it was believed that the high volumes of uranium deposits in the bedrock of the region could attract lightning strikes to the lake. The mysterious "Relampago del Catatumbo" (Catatumbo lightning) is a unique natural phenomenon in the world. The "Catatumbo Lightning": Venezuela's eternal storm. Lake Maracaibo tops out at an astonishing 233 lightning flashes per square kilometer per year, making it the absolute lightning hot spot of the world. lightning strikes anywhere on the planet, but in a few places on earth an accumulation of clouds forms, flashing almost every night for thousands and thousands of years and from those few places the place where a phenomenon like this occurs most constantly according to research of the nasa is venezuela, in the south of the lake of the state 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. Catatumbo Lightning is sometimes referred to as Venezuela's "eternal thunderstorm," or the . During October, visitors to Catatumbo can see up to 28 lightning flashes per minute! The Catatumbo lightning has been observed for centuries over Lake Maracaibo. Lightning activity in the eye of a hurricane, as seen in this imagery, is often a sign of rapid intensification. It occurs only over the mouth of the Catatumbo River where it empties into Lake Maracaibo. According to experts at Zulia State University in Venezuela, Catatumbo lighting is most active during the rainy season in September and October, and least active in January and February, the dry season. O scar sees the lightning every night. Codazzi, an Italian adventurer, geographer, and cartographer, moved to Venezuela following its independence from the Spanish Empire. The "Relmpago del Catatumbo" ('Catatumbo lightning') is a unique phenomenon in the world. [4], The lightning changes its flash frequency throughout the year, and it is different from year to year. Atmos. Another hypothesis was that methane released from the oil fields in the region could also be responsible for the Catatumbo lightnings. 2020 is the 5th consecutive year in which at least one Category 5 hurricane formed in the Atlantic basin, and the first time since 1932 where a Category 5 storm formed in November. Indigenous people living around Lake Maracaibo take great pride in the lightning show. Reporte pblico CMC-GEO-DDI-02-2011. In 1981, then-surfer Alan Highton came to Venezuela from his native Barbados, in love with a local girl. Catatumbo stars and storm, c. Alan Highton Do not plan on getting a huge amount of sleep at night, unless you want to miss the whole point of the trip. Read more. Best Price Guaranteed Simple licensing. Catatumbo Lightning - Rayo del Catatumbo (22668686290).jpg 5,184 3,456; 8.61 MB. And search more of iStock's library of royalty-free stock images that features Lightning photos available for quick and easy download. Along the Catatumbo river you can rent a boat and bungalows for overnight. 20 p. Albrecht, R., et al., 2011. Even though previously the mountain village of Kifuka in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Central Africa was know to be the most electric place on Earth, with 158 lightning flashes per square kilometer each year, the Catatumbo lightning has surpassed this figure with 250 lightning flashes per square kilometer each year.
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