XIV International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity, August 08-12, 2011, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Phenomenology and microphysics of lightning flash of the

Catatumbo River (Venezuela).
N. Falcn.1

1. Universidad de Carabobo FACYT. Dpto. de Fsica. Campus de Brbula Valencia, Carabobo CP. 2001
Venezuela

ABSTRACT: The intense atmospheric electrical activity that takes place almost continuously in south of
Lake Maracaibo (Venezuela) is commonly known as the Catatumbo Lightning or Maracaibo
Lighthouse, during almost the whole year. The area of occurrence has not changed since it was first
reported by Lope de Vega (1534) it's the delta of the rivers Bravo and Catatumbo inside the National Park
Juan Manuel, with three hundred thousand hectares of swamps. The phenomenon characterized by
repeated and intermittent lightnings (28 flashes per minute for several hours) even during the dry season,
was described by naturalists Humboldt and Codazzi, in the eighteenth century. We presents a synthesis of
the expeditions in the decade 1997-2007 to locate the epicenters of two highly localized regions and the
phenomenology of intra cloud lightning. Also we elaborated an microphysical model of the electrification
in the thundercloud, that incorporates the influence of methane, emitted by swamps and oil deposits in the
region, as aerosol with self-polarization electrical (pyroelectric) and we conclude that the methane
increases the electric displacement vector, inside the clouds, and facilitates the charge separation process.

1. INTRODUCTION
The manifestations of the atmospheric electric activity are common in the whole region of the deltas of the
rivers Catatumbo and Brave, to the south of the Maracaibo lake (Venezuela). Standing out among such meteors
the persistent occurrence of a deaf lightning, well-known as the Catatumbo Lightning or Maracaibo Lighthouse
whose radiance and brightness is such that it can be appreciated from hundreds of kilometers of distance, most of
southwestern Venezuela, the river Magdalena in Colombia and from the Caribbean sea, during almost the whole
year. In this region is reported [Albrecht et al 2009] highest flash rate of the planet: 17.43 flash km-2 years for
Lightning Imagin Sensor (LIS). The epicenter area of the Catatumbo Lightning doesn't vary from its first
mention written by Lope de Vega [1534]. The naturalistic Alexander von Humboldt [1807] describes the
phenomenon like electric explosion that are as phosphorescent radiances" and geographer Agustn Codazzi
[1841] points out him as a continuous lightning for almost every night of the year, even in the period of drought .
The vast region of swamps at about 226,000 acres southwest of Maracaibo Lake, is bounded on the north by
the Santa Ana river basin and south by Catatumbo river, west limit is the regional roat between towns
Machiques and Casiguas The Cube; and east deltas of these rivers and Lake Maracaibo. Encompassing the
watershed of the rivers: Brave and Concepcion, Juan Manuel swamp, lagoon La Bellesa, La Negra, Juan
Manuel, La Estrella and other as shown in Figure 1. Corresponds to a swamp and mangrove ecosystem, with a
delta estuary in the area of the river mouths. In order to elucidate the physical origin and nature of this
phenomenon we carried out ten expeditions towards the inhospitable region between December 12th of 1998 and
February of 2007. The observations, phenomenology and an electric and atmospheric model are presented here.

Correspondence to:
Nelson Falcn., Universidad de Carabobo FACYT, Dpto. de Fsica, Valencia, Carabobo Venezuela Email: nelsonfalconv@gmail.com
 XIV International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity, August 08-12, 2011, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2. PHENOMENOLOGY
This vast expanse shares the same geological history of the south of Maracaibo Lake, forming a depression
between the mountains of Perija and the Venezuelan Andes. The ponds and marshes flooded continuously exhale
methane decomposition of detritus and humus, with the variable water depth between 2 and 4 meters, with warm
temperatures between 29 C and 30 C all year round. The yearly average temperature at Catatumbo region is
about 28 C, in a range of 30 C to 36 (daytime) C and 23 C to 25 C (night) respectively.
The phenomenon is presented in two regions very
located to the west of the Brave and Catatumbo river, to
the interior of the swamps [Falcon et al 2000a]. From the
observation points it was visualized the Lightning of the
Catatumbo like gleams cloud-cloud and the
phosphorescent splendor (lightning) in regions of the well
located sky and persistently during the whole night. Whict
mean frecuency of the 28 flashes per minute [Falcon et al
2000b]. The observations made and the photographic
material shows us that the Catatumbo Lightning occurs in
inner part of the clouds and appear themselves as
downloads cloud-cloud, in two specific areas in Juan
Manuel Swamps. This observation we allow us dismiss the
hypothesis of radioactive or geomagnetic sources
underground. Our scientific equipment did not record any
radioactive o geomagnetic sources underground. Nor is
Fig. 1: Areas of the epicenters of Catatumbo there any elevation greater than 10 meters above sea level,
Lightning. The cross denotes the coordinates of or places with a temperature anomaly, neither onto land,
the center of the map. lagoons or river [Falcon et al 2000b] .

The absence of thunders, typical of those downloads is due to the lightning occurs inside clouds and hence
the shock wave sounds are damped .Also observed sporadic rays cloud-earth, only in the delta of the rivers,
and didn't presents the magnitude, persistence and the periodicidad of the intracloud lightning flashes. The
extension of the swamps, permanently flooded, and the large areas of oil deposits in this area, makes think that
the methane should play an important list in the microphysical processes of charge generation into the clouds
[Falcon et al 2007].

Figure 2. Side view (left, in the swamps) and front (right, in the delta of the rivers, Lake Maracaibo) of the
Catatumbo lightning.
 XIV International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity, August 08-12, 2011, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

3. THE PYROELECTRICAL MODEL

We have recently completed a quantitative analytical model to characterize the persistence and frequency of
the Catatumbo River Lightning [Falcon and Quintero 2010]. The tetrahedral configuration of methane multiplies
the dipolar moment in a factor of four; of this we infer that the induced microscopic field in the cells of methane
increases the local field regard to the induced microscopic field in a watery cell. It must be considered that the
crystalline configuration of the methane molecule belongs to the C4 symmetry group. These molecules and its
microcrystal are pyroelectrics, which polarize spontaneously when have been formed crystals lacking of
symmetry centers. In effect the crystals formation of pyroelectrics type in the cloud might create spontaneous
dipolar fields, so as that the aerosols crystallize under some types of symmetry C1, CS, C2, C2v rhombic, C4 or
C4v tetragonal, C3 and C3v or C6 and C6v hexagonal; thus the total electrical displacement vector is
polarization vector, external field contribution plus intrinsecal contribution due to pyroelectrical material
[Landau and Lifshitz, 1981]. For a cloudy cell of water and methane, the total electrical displacement vector (D)
is the sum of polarization vector of the water and methane . Also the polarization vector of the methane is equal
to the intrinsic pyroelectric displacement plus the induced by the electrical atmospheric field (E), then:
r r r
D = D0 + 0 (k H 2O + k CH 4 1) E (1)

For a cloudy cell the average value is [Falcon and Quintero, 2010]:
h+ d h+d h+ d
0 0 0
[
D 6,93 f C / m + 2
] d k H 2O E dz + k CH 4
d E dz d E dz (2)
h h h

Where f represents the concentration of methane in a cloudy cell consisted mainly of water. We estimate the
water and methane dipole contribution to the internal electric field and we obtain that the water contribution to
the internal electric field due to the electrical displacement vector generated by the atmospheric electric field of
the Earth, is not enough to produce a typical discharge; the methane increases the electric field inside (figure 3)
and the maximum electrical potential corresponds to altitude flashes observed in Catatumbo Lightning (as fig 2).

Figure 3 shows the results obtained: (left) the electrical displacement module divided by the vacuum
permittivity; for water, methane and of a cloudy cell of water plus a fraction of methane thousand times minor to
the atmospheric average composition. (right) Electric potential as a function of altitude, the dotted line denotes
the mean height of the clouds in the region of Catatumbo lightning.
 XIV International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity, August 08-12, 2011, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

4. CONCLUSIONS
In agreement of the numerical models, the break down potential of a cloudy cell, only of water, it is not
sufficient for a discharge [Rakov and Uman, 2003]. With this study of aerosols in the atmosphere, it is possible
to identify the elements that help to increase the electrical values of the displacement vector of a cloudy cell. The
methane due to its configuration of tetrahedral crystalline symmetry possesses pyroelectrics properties, which
can polarize even without the presence of an external electric field. Increased the relative concentration of
methane or probably of others pyroelectric aerosols in the cloudy cell, the electrical activity meets increased, as
in the hypothetical case of a cloudy cell of water and methane (or even of methane hydrates).
The lightning flashes phenomenology and especially of the electrical discharges cloud to cloud and cloud to
ground show that these manifestations are frequent in low latitudes (lower than 60 of latitude), in the night
hours and in cumulonimbus clouds type. The usual explanation of this phenomenology is attributed to the
presence of convective flows, typical of the intertropical regions favored by the diurnal warming and by the
thermal gradients between cloud and ground in the stormy zones with abundant convective movements, is not
sufficient to explain the first hot spot (Catatumbo Lightning) in lightning distribution over our planet [Albrecht
et al 2009]. Notice that the convective model does not explain for itself the electrical activity but rather the
rainfall. To explain the lightning flashes, it is needed to add a series of very debatable models which could
cause the separation of charges in Thunderclouds [Rakov and Uman, 2003 and references thereim] . Also, the
accumulation methane is major in low latitudes, it continues being major in the night hours when the methane is
not photodissociated and is major in cumulonimbus clouds where the opaqueness filters the solar radiation that
avoids its photodissociation and allows its relative accumulation in the interior of the same ones..
The observed phenomenology seems to agree with our model, existing extraterrestrial evidence, principally
in the atmosphere of the satellite of Saturn: Titan, where the atmospheric concentration of methane is very
superior to the Earth; besides many other bodies of the solar system, with presence of methane in their
atmospheres the presence of inusual electrical activity [Desch et al., 2002]. We are inclined to think that the
presence of aerosols and/or pyroelectrics particles are co-helper to the electrical activity observed in no
hydroscopic environments such as the volcanic eruptions and the sandstorms, where appears the lightning flashes
without the presence of rainfall.

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