TRMM/LIS observations of lightning activity over Indonesia

A general statistical description of lightning activity on and around Indonesia is reported. Analysis on the collected data from a space-based lightning sensor, TRMM/LTS, during 18 months observation reveals that this region has high number of lightning flashes. Based on space-based measurement, the authors have made a lightning frequency map over Indonesia and temporal variation of lightning activity over the five biggest islands in Indonesia, which are useful for the lightning protection design of power transmission systems. The majority of the flashes are on the land and the western part experiences higher lightning occurrence than the eastern part. General patterns of the diurnal lightning activity are mainly characterized by the lightning activity in the afternoon