Researchers had previously identified Africa's Congo Basin as the location of maximum lightning activity.

The high resolution data set used to rank lighting hotspots was derived by 16 years of space-based observations, described in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

"We can now observe lightning flash rate density in very fine detail on a global scale," said Richard Blakeslee, LIS (Lightning Imaging Sensor) project scientist at Nasa's Marshall Space Flight Centre. "Better understanding of lightning activity around the world enables policy makers, government agencies and other stakeholders to make more informed decisions related to weather and climate."