Although the concentration of the ozone in the ozone layer is very small, it is vitally important to life because it absorbs biologically harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation coming from the sun. Extremely short or vacuum UV (10â100 nm) is screened out by nitrogen.
Lightning strikes reach the ground on Earth as much as 8 million times per day or 100 times per second, according to the National Severe Storms Laboratory. Out of all the lightning strikes in the world, the United States accounts for about 20 million of the total number of lightning strikes each year. Continue Reading.
At any moment, there are as many as 1,800 thunderstorms in progress somewhere on earth and each is producing deadly lightning. Lightning detection systems in the U.S. see an average of 25 million strokes of lightning each year, from some 100,000 storms. It is estimated that the earth is struck by 100 lightning bolts every second. The clouds at the high levels of the thunderstorm are made of ice crystals.