Experiments at Rutgers lend credence to existence of ‘earthquake lights’ - The Washington Post

More on the earthquake light phenomenon,,,

The air suddenly feels different. Dogs begin to howl, and the horses become restless. A burst of bright light, and seconds later, the ground starts to rumble and shake.

Earthquake precursors — from strange animal behavior to temperature anomalies — may sound like urban legends, but new findings have lent some scientific credence to one phenomenon called earthquake lights. The aerial flashes of light seen before or during temblors may have to do with large jumps in electrical activity as the earth cracks open.

The results were presented at the American Physical Society’s March Meeting in Denver on Thursday by Rutgers University biomedical engineer Troy Shinbrot. His lab has created a miniature model of earthquake-like jamming and cracking, and has found huge voltage jumps that result from the shifting of granular material used to mimic the earth.

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Although at times mistaken for UFO sightings, observations of earthquake lights date back hundreds of years. But most reports are for quakes with high magnitudes, of 5 or greater on the Richter scale.

Boston College seismologist John Ebel, who studies earthquake forecasting and patterns, has reviewed reports of electromagnetic precursors to quakes. Generally, the timing, strength and duration of the observed lights vary widely — but he is nevertheless “comforted” by these recent findings of Shinbrot and his colleagues.

“I personally think that there are legitimate observations of lightning-like dis­charges — electrical glows of some sort — that occur before earthquakes,” said Ebel, who was not involved in the study. “There’s too much evidence to discount their existence.”

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But many questions remain. While earthquake lights are sometimes reported days before the event, the experiment clearly shows electrical jumps with each crack and uncrack. Also, the actual measured currents with each movement are tiny.

Physicist Friedemann Freund of the NASA Ames Research Center in California nevertheless applauded the work: “The observation is really well done, the experiments are well conducted, but the full understanding is not yet available.”

Freund is conducting experiments this summer that he hopes will pull together all known information about earthquake lights in a way that makes sense given Shinbrot’s results — but he isn’t prepared to talk about them just yet.

Experiments at Rutgers lend credence to existence of ‘earthquake lights’ - The Washington Post

Additions to previous post concerning Ohio earthquake doom and gloom,,,

The 2001 "press release" concerning Freund early research, 'Restless Earth' May Give Advance Notice of Large Earthquakes

"When the rocks in the Earth's crust crackle and buckle under the onslaught of tectonic forces, the charges that are dormant in them are set free. They give rise to a dazzling array of phenomena, long known to mankind and even part of folklore in earthquake-prone regions around the globe," said Freund. "These phenomena range from anomalous electric and magnetic signals, to 'earthquake lights' that illuminate the mountain tops and strange animal behavior as well as ionospheric effects that impact how radio waves travel over long distances."

"It is both surprising and comforting that many seemingly disjointed or even inexplicable phenomena that point to impending earthquake activity seem to have just one cause -- the awaking and spreading of normally dormant charges in the rocks deep in the Earth," he said.

"It is much too early and, in fact, unwise to expect that earthquakes would soon become predictable beyond the statistical probability that is currently the state-of-the-art," Freund said. "But one day, we'll learn to read the signals that the restless Earth emits before the rocks rupture with deadly force."

PBS/Nova's report concerning Freund's recent findings What Causes Eerie Earthquake Lights?

The skies above Earth are constantly crackling with electric activity, from aurorae that materialize at the poles to sprites that burst upwards from thunderclouds. For the most part, we know how these phenomena work. But another mysterious light source has puzzled scientists for centuries. It doesn’t appear when clouds clash or solar rays pelt the atmosphere, but when the ground rumbles underneath our feet.

During some earthquakes, people have reported glowing lights that happen just before or during the shaking. Scientists weren’t certain the phenomenon was real, let alone explainable. But now they might have an answer. In a new study published in Seismological Research Letters, scientists from Quebec’s Ministry of Natural Resources and NASA propose that grinding rock can cause stress in deep in the crust, which in some types of rock can break apart pairs of negatively-charged oxygen atoms.

MONSTROUS EARTHQUAKE TO HIT OHIO?

Before we delve into the science a we bit of a rant.

This is a perfect example of fear mongering and for a website to prey on the naivete of their readers is pathetic! The author of the piece, had he done his due diligence, could easily have dispelled unwarranted fear by doing some research. For a site that states, "Credibility is important to us. With this in mind, we pledge to get the facts, get them right and get them right the first time. We pledge to speak truth and let the chips fall where they may," they did a lousy job of fact checking. Or they just plain lied!

NOW on to the really kewl stuff,,,

1] There really is a phenomenon called "earthquake lights" that is currently being studied and has been in research since at least 2001. It was then that Friedemann Freund, presented his discoveries and theory.

Freund has been investigating how rocks respond to stress. "If the stress level is high, electronic charges appear that momentarily turn the insulating rock into a semiconductor," he said,,,

"These charges are not easy to pin down. They move with impressive speed, as fast as 300 meters (1,000 ft.) per second," he said. By measuring the semiconductor properties of the rocks, Freund was able to show that the charges are positive. "Normally, these charges are dormant," he said. "But when rocks are squeezed, the charges wake up and flow out of the rock volume in which they were generated."

When charges flow, they constitute an electric current. When there is an electric current, there also is a magnetic field. If current varies with time, electromagnetic waves will be emitted. "The frequency of these electromagnetic waves will probably be very low, much lower than radio waves, but basically of the same nature," said Freund. "Scientists can pick them at the Earth's surface with suitable antennae or by measuring the magnetic-field pulses that go with them."

As far as I know, there are no active fault lines within Ohio and the state rates on the lowest rung in terms of hazard.

2] This is NOT what residents witnessed. What occurred in Ohio is a phenomenon called "light pillars" (similar to the Aurora Borealis; Northern Lights). It is a known, scientifically explained phenomenon that is prevalent in frigid weather like we have been having. It is not UFOs, HARRP, or as the author erroneously states, "earthquake lights."

3] What the author got wrong was this. Recently Freund et al. released a paper titled, "Prevalence of Earthquake Lights Associated with Rift Environments." News of said paper was picked up and reported. Due to the authors lack of due diligence, he wrongly associated two completely different phenomenon; he got his science FACTS wrong.

This is why teaching science and by proxy, critical thinking, is important; whether it be K-12 or college (as now some college science curriculum is coming under fire by the anti-science crowd). The author's lack of understanding has led to distrust, distrust has turned into fear-mongering, "While the local TV Weatherman claims all is well - saying it's only ice crystals in the air - this phenomenon has been seen before in many places just days or hours before a massive earthquake."

I now admit I fully understand what a friend was referring to in regards to the recent Nye-Ham debate, ",,,keeping the conversation within public view,,,[t]hat's important,,,the "Man in the Arena" has a pedestal that stands MUCH taller than the critic's soapbox."


MONSTROUS EARTHQUAKE TO HIT OHIO?