Land-sea contrast in lightning activity over the sea and peninsular regions of South/Southeast Asia

► Flash rates over peninsular regions are 2.6 to 33 times of those over sea regions. ► Flash rates are positively correlated with average surface temperature and CAPE and negatively correlated with the OLR. ► Annual flash rate increase by about 1.2 times in South Asia during the 1995-2005 period.