International conference on lightning opens in Rio

Specialists from 37 countries are in Rio de Janeiro today for the opening of the XIV International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity (Icae 2011). The conferences have been held every four years since 1954, but this is the first one to take place in the southern hemisphere.

Brazil is recognized as the world champion in number of lightning strikes per year – an astonishing 50 million.

“The reason for so much lightning seems to be the enormous area and the tropical heat,” says Osmar Pinto Junior, one of the organizers of this year’s conference who works at the Brazilian National Institute of Space Research (“Inpe”). “The conference will present the very latest in research and technology by the leading scientists from all over the globe in the area of atmospheric electricity,” declared Pinto Junior, adding that since 1996 Brazil has gone from an observer at Icae to one of the most prolific contributors of scientific papers – 77 papers in 2011 (the United States is in second place with 63 papers).

“Brazil has become a leader in the area of atmospheric electricity and other phenomenon,” concluded Pinto Junior.