The Tucson area is famous for spectacular lightning and spectacular saguaros. We get about three or four flashes per square kilometer per year, and most of us have wondered how our favorite charismatic desert dwellers manage to survive in this threat environment. An intrepid local group of lightning researchers, arid-lands botanists and other assorted desert rats has investigated this for several years, and we will present the results of our study. Many important questions will be answered, including, but not limited to:
- Why aren't all the saguaros burnt to a crisp?
- Just what happens when a saguaro is zapped by lightning, anyway?
- I have a nice saguaro in my front yard. Can I protect it from being struck?
- How do I protect myself from being struck?
- Is there any way to recognize a lightning-struck saguaro?
- Is this really a serious research program, or are you guys just fooling around in the desert?
- How can I help?
Carl Noggle owes his life to the Sonoran Desert, having moved here as a child from Michigan because of asthma. He has lived here for 52 years, and has always had an interest in desert plants, animals, rocks, weather, etc. He has a degree in physics from the University of Arizona, and for much of his career has been part of a group that developed the first accurate real-time lightning location technology. This system is now providing accurate lightning locations and tracking storms worldwide. In his spare time Carl hikes and bikes around the area, grows a few cactus and gives occasional educational high-voltage electrical shows. He lives in Tucson, and although he has lived elsewhere for a few years on occasion, he has always seen the light and returned.
Please welcome Carl, one of our members, for a whole new way of thinking about our native saguaro, Carnegiea gigantea. Please be sure to attend his amazing look at the natural world of the saguaro and how it relates to the electrical forces of nature.
*** Sent by Carl after the meeting
Lightning items of interest--
Thanks for the opportunity to talk to the Society last Thursday. Members asked many excellent questions.
Here are a couple of really cool Youtubes of lightning development processes--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh15VjGkK5Y&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t94m27jycrc
A lightning-struck saguaro can be identified by the pile of green, healthy arms around the base, while the trunk is rotting, or has become a bundle of dry sticks. Please report any such saguaro to Carl Noggle at 318-9905 or at lwx@cox.net. Please give good location information and the date and time of striking, if you know it. GPS locations are always helpful.
A paper on lightning and saguaros is available at lwx@cox.net.
