According to recent research conducted at the Florida Institute of Technology, people who live or work along the coasts or the coastline have a higher probability of witnessing a strong lightning strike. And, the research suggests that lightning over the oceans are much stronger than a lightning strike on the land.
Scientists from the Florida Institute of Technology are analyzing the impact of lightning on land and the ocean. According to Phys.Org, the duo from Florida Institute of Technology, Amitabh Nag, the assistant professor of physics and space sciences, and Kenneth L. Cummins, a research professor, along with the University of Arizona published their study in the American Geophysical Union's Geophysical Research Letters, in recent times.
Their study made the use of the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network's data about lightning strikes over Florida and its coasts. Notably, this is the first time that a study was conducted on the basis of the data that further strengthened previous beliefs that lightning strikes on water have a higher impact than the ones that strike on land.
According to scientists, lightning occurs when "charged particles in thunderclouds form into a downward channel of electricity that "attach" to electrical, charge-carrying channels rising from land or water to form that familiar zigzag bolt." And, with the recent study, Nag and Cummins measured several lightning strikes that took place since 2013 to 2015 and both over ocean and land. And on the basis of their findings, the researchers stated that the lightning strikes that occurred on oceans are twice more likely to be over 50-kilo amperes than the ones that strike on land.
Moreover, the study also states that people living on the coastline or people who work on the coasts are more likely to witness lightning and also experience the adversities or damages associated with it.
