Forest inventory and lightning strikes data from Ankasa Conservation area, Ghana, 2018-2021

This dataset contains includes measurements of trees and lianas stem diameters and status (e.g. alive, dead), and lightning strike data for forest areas within the Ankasa Conservation Area, collected between June 2018 and July 2021. We investigated tree mortality drive by lightning strikes in a 50-ha (1000 m x 500 m) plot area in the Ankasa Conservation Area, located in southwestern Ghana. The 50-ha was divided into 50 x 1-ha forest plots. In every census, we measured and tagged all trees and lianas that have a stem diameter at 1.3 m (or above buttresses) of ≥25 cm and notes were taken about the tree's living status (e.g., broken, hollow) or the trees death mode (e.g., uprooted, standing). Lightning strike data was collected from a subsample of the individual trees recorded in the census data. For each tree measured in the forest inventory, we installed a custom-made Rogowski Coil sensor, that was designed and tested by the Cardiff Morgan Botti lightning laboratory, to record if a tree was struck by lightning, without damaging the tree or altering the tree's electrical resistance. The Rogowski Coil is a non-contact sensor commonly used to measure alternating and impulse current flowing through the axis of the coil (in our case, down the tree). A quick visual check of the fuse allows us to see if the tree was struck by lightning. In addition to tree stem measurements, in each census, we also took notes on the general state of the coil and fuse, and the electrical conductivity was measured. Trees struck by lightning (e.g. with the fuse blown or melted) were identified at the species level and any lightning-associated damage to the tree (e.g. marks in trunks, broken branches, canopy dieback) and in the surroundings (e.g. canopy gaps, sapling mortality) was documented.