Residents of Venezuela have been do by to a light show that has been endure on for G of years . One spot on the Catatumbo River stupefy , regularly , forty thousand bolt every Nox . The lightning has helped sailors navigate , foiled attacks on the nearby countryside , and is really responsible for Venezuelan independency . Find out about the most vaporize slur on dry land .
Roughly three hundred Night a yr , the occupier on Lake Maracaibo demand to shut their blinds against the light .
Each of the individual ramp over the Catatumbo River are no different from lightning storm everywhere else . But with the concentration on that one stain , and the fact that the lightning comes back day after day , ten months out of every year , things start to get weird .
possibility bristle as to why the lightning is decoct in one area all the prison term . Some scientist say that the geological feature around the Catatumbo River washbowl lend to a constant low - press system . That would explain why the lightning has n’t stopped for more that a few month at a time for thousands of year .
conditions or humidness might play a part — since the longest record pause for the lightning bump in 2010 , an El Nino twelvemonth that ushered in a fearful drought in Venezuela . Some say the months - long disappearance of the seeable lightning was in reality due to disforestation and agricultural growing in the region around Catatumbo .
The unceasing lightning storms are part of the history of the region . Believe it or not , they help the region become a reliable larboard , since the giant dash of lightning are excellent navigational aids for sailors . They just are n’t assistance for surreptitious sailors . It was said that an attack on Lake Maracaibo by Sr Francis Drake was thwart because the lightning light up the sky enough for citizenry to espy his ships . Later , in the 1800s , it is said to have manoeuver Admiral José Prudencio Padilla to a battle , which turn into an important triumph for Venezuelan independence .
The loss of the lightning , due to drouth , deforestation , or El Nino conditions , may be a deprivation for local beauty and natural historic preservation — but it could have been a boon for the environment . The constant barrage fire of lightning over Lake Maracaibo help fill again the ozone layer . Oxygen normally binds with other elements , or shape pair with another oxygen molecule . Ozone is three different oxygen atom bound together , which seldom chance . This is favourable for us , because ozone is poisonous . When it ’s up in the ozone level it ’s an ecological benefit , blocking ultraviolet rays . When it ’s float around the rest of the atmosphere , it ’s a greenhouse gas . Lightning does n’t directly make ozone , but its high heat and pressure force O to combine with another chemical it does n’t usually hook up with ; atomic number 7 . When nitrogen atoms are bind to oxygen atoms , it ’s only a temporary partnership . Sunlight shakes them informal , and the extra oxygen often finds a pair of oxygen particle to connect with .
Image : Wiki Commons
ViaABC , WonderMondo , andThe Guardian .
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