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Director(s):
RICHTS (Stefan)
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Producer(s):
ARTE GEIE, MEDIEN KONTOR Movie GMBH
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Territories:
Worldwide.
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Production year:
2014
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Language(s):
German, English, Spanish, French
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Rights:
TV, DVD, NON-THEATRICAL, INTERNET, VOD
Nights on the shores of Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, the largest lake in South America, offer a unique natural spectacle: on up to 260 nights a year, electric storms light up the tropical darkness over Lake Maracaibo, especially where the Catatumbo River flows into the lake.
As many as 60 flashes of lightning a minute, 650 per square miles or a total of about 1,176,000 lightning bolts each year make Catatumbo the record holder for our planet. Venezuelan environmentalist and lightning expert Erick Quiroga has been documenting the frequency and intensity of the lightning since 1996. He is convinced that the Catatumbo lightning is the largest natural producer of ozone, because the very high temperature and pressure of the lightning bursts trigger chemical processes which ultimately cause ozone to form. But why do they occur so frequently here? We join Erick Quiroga in his search for clues.