How would you make a planet have more lightning storms
If I were to have a generally earth like world, with water and land masses very similar, what could you add to make storms happen more often, and more specifically, lighting storms. I know lightning happens because of friction in the clouds between dust particles, but could increase the amount of lightning strikes on a planet?
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There are some places on Earth that have an unusually high frequency of lightnings. For instance, Venezuela. The explanation, in this case, consists in moisty air locked by mountain ridges, and then sent onto a cycle of heating and cooling, where charges are likely accumulated at the two ends of the cycle in a phenomenon that is reminiscent of a Van Der Graaf generator.
My suggestion would be to make a large number of smaller, nearly land-locked, seas on your new world, with high coastal mountains, and nearly dust free to reduce the albedo. Also, increase the tilt, so that a larger portion of the surface may get maximum solar heat at some point during the year.
Next, cover the coastal mountains with some moisty jungles to make the air above richer in water, and increase the salt in the sea, to create a drier column of air over the sea. The difference in moisture should create a barrier for the electrostatic charges to complete a full-cycle, hence accumulating a difference of potential across the difference in altitude.
The surface of this poor planet will probably look greener than Earth, and like as if the planet were a (greenish) Swiss cheese, or, perhaps, affected by a bad form of acne.
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