South Africa, where some regions rank among those most struck by lightning in the world, is rolling out a new lightning detection system to track the atmospheric phenomenon across the country.
”The need for real-time lightning information to supplement the advanced high spatial and temporal weather radar and satellite systems in a lightning-prone country is regarded as an essential component to the services required by the South African community,” said South African Weather Services (SAWS) spokesperson Bheki Zwane.
Zwane said the state-of-the-art system is expected to be fully operational by November this year, when all the sensors, imported from the United States, have been installed.
The lightning-detection network will initially consist of 19 lightning sensors and will cover the entire country. It has the capacity to expand to meet the needs of the entire continent.
”The system is modular in design and can be manipulated to improve lightning detection in any given region across Africa,” said Zwane.
He said as a primary objective, the SAWS invested in a network that will track lightning that terminates on the ground anywhere in South Africa (cloud-to-ground strikes and flashes).
As a secondary objective, additional sensors or modules can be installed to improve the detection of cloud-to-cloud lightning.
”Over the past six years, Eskom has actively pursued all avenues to acquire lightning information and will be the SAWS’s first customer for lightning data,” said Zwane of the commercial applications of the network.
Data collected will provide information such as the time of a lightning strike, its location (latitude and longitude) and its amplitude, with a typical ”lightning report” enabling end users such as Eskom to pinpoint possible faults in the power grid.
In the case of an insurance company, the detection system could help curb fraud by verifying the timing and location of a client’s claimed loss.
Globally, lightning information is used in telecommunications, transportation, aviation, forestry, recreation and the insurance industry.
Besides these applications, the system could be used to warn sports-event organisers of approaching storms, particularly in the Highveld region, which has among the highest number of lightning strikes per square kilometre a year in the world.
On average, every square kilometre of the Highveld and KwaZulu-Natal receives seven direct lightning strikes a year, according to the Sinetech website.
”The facts are a direct or indirect lightning strike within a 1,5km radius of your home or office can generate as much as 120-million volts and up to 180 000 amps, sending lethal surges ripping through power cables and telephone lines.
”The core temperature of a lightning strike is as high as 20 000 degrees Celsius or five times as hot as the surface of the sun,” said Sinetech.
Dr Ryan Blumenthal, attached to the department of forensic medicine at the University of Pretoria, said from 1997 to 2000, 38 victims of lightning-related death were identified from the records of the six large mortuaries on the Highveld.
”Analysis of the records revealed that 95% of all victims were black, 79% were male and the average age was 36 years,” he said.
Blumenthal said the autopsy reports revealed singeing of the hair in 68% of the cases, and mentioned damage to clothing in 26% of cases.
Cutaneous thermal injuries — those that affect the skin — were noted in 34 of the 38 cases, with apparent electrothermal injuries to the feet in four cases.
”Lightning is a serious danger. It is one of our country’s deadliest weather phenomena. When thunder roars, go indoors,” said Blumenthal, adding that lightning strikes occur from September to April and most strikes take place between 3pm and 6pm.
He suggested a more systematic and detailed forensic investigative protocol is needed to deal with lightning-related deaths in the country, which the Medical Research Council said nationally topped 141 from 2000 to 2004.
Theo Manyama, a 20-year veteran and current tournament director for the Sunshine golf tour, said lightning is the ”most dangerous” thing on a golf course.
”When the sirens [warning of impending lightning] go in a tournament, everybody must stop play immediately or face possible disqualification,” he said.
Manyama said it is important for players to leave the course in time, or risk being struck by lightning such as top South African professional Retief Goosen, who was hospitalised after being struck when still a teenager. — Sapa