Thunderstruck Earth

The lightning flash density observed by NASA between 1995 and 2002.

Places with less than one flash are grey or light purple. The places with the largest number of lightning strikes are deep red.

Much more lightning occurs over land than ocean because daily sunshine heats the land surface faster than the ocean. The heated surface heats the air, and more hot air leads to stronger convection, thunderstorms and lightning. The map also shows that more lightning occurs near the equator than the poles.