text: An amazing map revealed by Nasa has shown where lightning occurs most on Earth. The map reveals average yearly counts of lightning flashes per square kilometre from 1995 to 2013. And the results show that the highest amounts of lightning flashes occur in the far eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Lake Maracaibo in northwestern Venezuela. Scroll down for video . The map above shows the average yearly counts of lightning flashes per square kilometer from 1995 to 2013. Areas with the fewest number of flashes each year are grey and purple; areas with the largest number of lightning flashes - as many as 150 per year per square kilometer (0.4 square miles) - are bright pink. The Democratic Republic of Congo was found to have the most over the period . The map was created using data from Nasa’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite, and the Orbview-1/Microlab satellite. In the map, the areas with the largest number of flashes - up to 150 per year per square kilometre (0.4 square miles) - are shown in bright pink. The areas with the least are grey and purple. According to the satellite observations, lightning occurs more often over land than it does over oceans. And it also seems to happen more often closer to the equator. The higher frequency over land is because solid earth absorbs sunlight and heats up faster than water, so there is greater atmospheric instability - leading to the formation of storms. And Nasa’s Dr Daniel Cecil, a member of the Global Hydrology and Climate Centre’s lightning team, said the data also shows interesting trends. According to the satellite observations, lightning occurs more often over land than it does over oceans. Shown here is a passing storm over the African countryside with forked lightning on 10 October 2013 . The higher frequency over land is because solid earth absorbs sunlight and heats up faster than water, so there is greater atmospheric instability - leading to the formation of storms. Shown is a storm hitting the city of Tripoli in Libya . Researchers have found that regardless of where you are in the world, lightning bolts are at their most powerful at 8am. This is because there are fewer particles in the atmosphere overnight, so it takes a more powerful charge to overcome the extra distance between these particles and release the bolt of power. For example, a large number of flashes were seen during the month of May in the Brahmaputra Valley of far eastern India. The heating and weather patterns are unstable and changeable at that time-just before the onset of the monsoon, which brings plenty of rain but much less lightning. In contrast, locations in Central Africa and Northwestern South America have large amounts of lightning throughout the entire year. Dr Cecil noted that more years of data has not necessarily brought notable big-picture differences when compared to earlier maps. ‘The longer record allows us to more confidently identify some of these finer details,' he said. 'We can examine seasonality, and variability through the day and year-to-year.’ This comparable Nasa map shows global lightning strikes from January 1998 to 2013 from the NASA/MSFC Lightning Imaging Sensor .
target: A Nasa map has revealed which parts of the world experience the most flashes of lightning ever year .
  Democratic Republic of Congo and Lake Maracaibo in northwestern Venezuela experienced the most .
  According to the satellite observations, lightning occurs more often over land than it does over oceans .
  And lightning also seems to happen more often closer to the equator, owing to the hotter temperatures .