Deaths caused by lightning
The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), through a written reply in the Lok Sabha, has provided information about the measures taken to reduce the impact of lightning.
Lightning:
- It is a rapid and widespread discharge of electricity into the atmosphere. After the occurrence of lightning, the direction of some electric current becomes towards the surface of the earth.
- These electrical discharges are generated in huge moisture clouds of size 10-12 km vertically. Generally, the base of these clouds is at an altitude of 1-2 km above the earth’s surface, and the top is at an altitude of 12-13 km.
Formation of Lightning:
- In large clouds, ice crystals collide with each other in order to move up and down. Electrons are released by this process of collision. Thus there is more collision of moving free electrons. This frees up more electrons. As a result a chain reaction starts.
- As a result, the upper layer of the cloud becomes positively charged while the middle layer becomes negatively charged. This creates a huge potential difference between the two layers.
- Due to this potential difference, electric current is generated.
- Since the earth is a good conductor of electricity, about 15% – 20% of the direction of lightning is diverted towards the earth.
Initiatives by the Government:
- Forecasts and warnings are issued five days in advance by the Ministry of Earth Sciences for thunderstorms and related weather phenomena. The Lightning Location Network has been established by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune.
- IITM has developed Damini Lightning App to monitor all the lightning movements.
- Advisory in this regard is also issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for the State Governments/Union Territories.
Source – The Hindu
