Objective:

This paper presents a methodology to determine the zones and elevated structures with the highest number of lightning strikes (Hotspots) in Barrancabermeja and Yondó.

Methodology:

It starts from the division of the surface of these two municipalities into polygons of 600 meters. In this way, using the information of lightning activity (cloud-ground impacts) provided by the Colombian Network for Total Lightning Detection LINET between January 2016 and February 2020, the number of impacts per polygon was determined, which made it possible to identify the hotspots in the study areas. Likewise, elevated structures such as transmission towers, telecommunications antennas and buildings were identified and located and a radius of influence of 300 meters was established for each one of them taking into account the mean error of location of the LINET network. In this way it was possible to determine the twenty structures with the highest number of lightning strikes.

Results:

The polygones with the highest lightning activity were found, of which 34 are located in Barrancabermeja and 235 in Yondó, which is consistent with maps of Density of Discharges to land made in the area where there is an increase in the number of flashes per square kilometer per year in Yondó compared to Barrancabermeja. 616 elevated structures were located in the municipalities of Barrancabermeja and Yondó, of which the twenty with the highest number of lightning strikes were chosen, which correspond 50% to transmission towers, the structure with the highest number of impacts being a transmission tower of 70 meters high located on the border of the two study municipalities with a total of 68 impacts.

Conclusions:

Of the 27 elevated structures found in Yondó, only 6 are located in a hotspot, which shows that in this municipality the presence of an elevated structure does not guarantee a hotspot and that the sites with the highest lightning activity are not influenced by the presence of elevated structures. Now, in the case of Barrancabermeja, 10 elevated structures were found in one of the hotspots, of which 7 are located in the urban area where 9 hotspots were found, from which it is inferred that in this municipality the urban planning and the presence of elevated structures, indeed increases the lightning activity.

Financing:

Universidad Industrial de Santander.