Il y a plusieurs points qui plaident plus pour des lumières en surface et contre la piste de l'éruption volcanique (la couleur des lumières notamment) envisagée dans un premier temps par les pilotes et non pas les scientifiques. D'ailleurs, juste avant l'apparition de ces lumières, les pilotes ont rapporté avoir vu quelque chose qui ressemblerait à un éclair ou à de la foudre sans présence d'orages ou de tempêtes... Je pourrais faire un résumé un peu plus tard.

L'un des plus grands experts des EQL,  Friedemann Freund qui est un scientifique travaillant pour la NASA, pense à d'autres pistes comme le vent solaire, des "bulles" d'énergie ou HAARP. Pour cette dernière hypothèse, l'existence de ces phénomènes est rapportée depuis bien avant la création de ce programme.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2736535/Did-ENERGY-BUBBLE-cause-mystery-lights-Pacific-Seti-astronomer-says-cause-solar-wind.html

Actuellement, la Terre vit une très forte activité sisimique et géophysique. Cette activité cause des perturbations EM très importantes. Ce sont ces dernières qui  pourraient être à l'origine de l'apparition de ces lumières...

Maintenant, se pose la question suivante: Pourquoi voit-on des OVNI lors d'événements géophysiques comme des tremblements de terre ou des éruptions volcaniques ? Et bien je pense pour ma part qu'il faudrait étudier la possibilité que ces OVNI et les PAN pourraient être des "objets" qui seraient en quelque sorte forcés de sortir de leur invisibilité par ces perturbations EM. Pour comprendre cette piste, je conseille très fortement de lire les travaux de Fernand Lagarde, Klass, Marc Hallet, Persinger, Devereux, Teodorani ou de Freund (pour ne citer que quelques uns...)

En tout cas, un très grand nombre de cas crédibles pourraient venir appuyer cette piste.

On verra bien si ce sera aussi le cas pour cette observation...

Note 1: À Hessdalen, par exemple, ce serait des  perturbations EM dues à la combinaison des aurores boréales avec la géologie du coin qui pourraient causer ces apparitions (voir dernier papier de Erling Strand par exemple. D'ailleurs, l'observation du Science Camp 2007 a eu lieu alors que des aurores boréales étaient en cours. Idem pour les OVNIs apparaissant proche de fils électriques, d'antennes, de centrales électriques ou nucléaires...

Note 2: La piste des fameux chalutiers à calamars semble totalement écartée par les pilotes.

Le pilote est très tenace et semble vouloir faire un véritable travail d'investigation et dit discuter actuellement avec un expert reconnu des champs électromagnétiques terriens (F. Freund ?). Les hypothèses des chalutiers et du volcan sous-marin ne tiennent pas la route... Celle des EQL/PAN/OVNI semble se confirmer. Voir ici pour les différentes hypothèses évaluées par le pilote: http://www.pbase.com/flying_dutchman/pacific_eruption

Pour ma part, je retiens ici celle qui devient de plus en plus probable et que je pense pourrait être la bonne explication, celle des EQL accompagnés de PAN/OVNI:

Earthquake lights are an often reported anomaly that occurs often before/during/after heavy earthquakes. Until a few years ago often reported as UFO's, since the 1960's scientifically accepted as a side-effect of earthquakes in various forms and colors.

I have received a very interesting document from a highly regarded scientist specialized in (electro-)magnetic discharges of the atmosphere into the earths curst and vice versa. More research is done as we speak, and its cutting edge science with probably little or no proof. But it could provide a valuable report and a possible explanation for mysterious lights

Proof for:

- Earthquake lights are often seen during tectonic and seismic activities. Massive seismic activities during the weeks, days and especially hours before. Both Iceland, San Francisco and Chile experienced heavy earthquakes.

- Massive earthquake in Papua New Guinea (further South in the Ring of Fire) at 11:15:50 UTC August 24th (same day and time) , a few minutes before seeing the red glowing lights, a few minutes after seeing the bright white flash. Even though far away, this could have caused a 'reversed spike' in the atmospheres magnetic charge and have caused a large discharge in the atmosphere's upper ionization layers. Never observed before, but theoretically possible. Like a South and North pole on a magnet, the earths atmosphere might have an up and downcharge of its energy in case of severe magnetic changes. Still highly hypothetical.

- Both West-Greenland and Alaskan official magnetometers (sensors sensing changes in the Earth magnetic field) have sensed massive disruptions in the earths magmatic field up to an hour to minutes before, and exactly during the sighting of the red lights over the Pacific.

- Large amount of solar activity and massive Aurora Borealis before and after our sighting, indicating big charges of the ionosphere of the earths upper atmosphere

- Records of mysterious (red) lights in the sky go back to around 1000 yrs before Christ, the best recorded event the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811 and 1812 and for the first time filmed in the 1960's in Japan. Since then often seen and recorded, though scientific evidence has not yet been provided.

- Could explain the flash of light since flashes of lights (even high up into the atmosphere) are often associated with earthquakes and earthquake lights.

- This area, South of Russia, was the location of the deepest earthquake known to Man back in 2012 and documented back in May 2014, which COULD have caused a potential weakening in the earth crust magnetic properties causing a downpeak in the energy flow.

Problems with Earthquake lights

- Lights were shining continuously and probably for a long period of time (at least 30 minutes without changing luminescence, likely much longer).

- Earthquake lights are still very unknown but appear to shine only for a few minutes maximum. So many, extremely bright lights would indicate an extremely strong down peak of ionization, never observed before.

Verdict: Could have great potential and seems likely. More research is being done.

L'hypothèse des EQL/OVNI lui semble la plus probable et est en cours d'évaluation. J'ai souligné les éléments intéressants :

- Une activité sismique extrêmement importante était en cours depuis plusieurs semaines et cela quelques heures avant l'observation (Islande, Chili, Californie,...)  

- Un important tremblement de Terre était en cours en Papouasie/Nouvelle Guinée 

- Des perturbations massives dans le champ EM terrestre auraient été enregistrées exactement pendant l'observation  

- Une importante activité solaire et des aurores boréales importantes étaient en cours pendant l'observation. 

Les problèmes que soulève le pilote pour l'hypothèse EQL concernant la durée très importante des lumières n'en sont pas vraiment. Car il y a encore une confusion entre EQL et PAN/OVNI chez pas mal de monde. Ces derniers qui, on le sait, peuvent durer des heures pourraient en quelque sorte se retrouver "éclairés" par la perturbation EM qui se manifesterait elle sous la forme d'un EQL (flashes, flammes sortant de sol,...). Ce cas est vraiment très intéressant.

Des ressemblances potentielles avec Hessdalen pourraient venir soutenir l'hypothèse géophysique. En effet, il pourrait y avoir de nombreuses ressemblances entre ce cas et ce qu'on peut observer en Norvège:

• Nombreux flashes et "éclairs" qui ont lieu avant l'apparition des PAN/OVNIs 

• Importante activité solaire, aurores boréales causant des perturbations EM en cours

• Perturbations géomagnétiques pendant l'observation

• Caractéristiques géophysique actives et particulières des lieux d'observation

• Apparition de PAN/OVNI pouvant durer plusieurs dizaines de minutes (ou même plusieurs heures dans certains cas)

Flashes et éclairs: Les flashes et autres rayons de lumières observées par les pilotes au dessus du Pacifique sont aussi observés à Hessdalen. Massimo Teodorani en parle et les considère comme des initiateurs de l'apparition des boules de plasmas.

Massimo Teodorani: Some flickers or flashes of light were punctually appearing just over the top of that little mountain. Together with a colleague of mine, I saw identical effects looking at other mountains too in our Apennine, in summer and always after sunset. The strong suspicion here is that those flickers and flashes might occasionally act as the “seeds” for the formation of much bigger and long-lasting plasma balls (as it sometimes happens there), exactly like the ones reported in Hessdalen.

Q: What about that preceded by very short-lasting flashes? Did you include that when you made conclusions? I read that there was reports of flashes even 5 meters from observers before they seen phenomenon.

Massimo Teodorani: Yes, it happened sometimes. It seems that those flashes are sort of “seeds”, which precede the real phenomenon. But only a few are able to make a true ball of light. As I discussed in my previous answer, such a “flickering phenomenology” is seen in many other places too.

Si on prend le cas de l'observation de septembre 2007, des flashes et des "éclairs" ont été observés avant et après l'observation et notamment à 21:55 Voir ici le log des observations : http://sciencecamp.no/?CatID=1169 

Ce jour- là, à 21:30, on a assisté à une augmentation de l'activité EM et de l'aurore boréale en cours. Celle-ci a culminé juste avant l'observation du PH

Brightness

• We flew for at least 2,5 hours without any bright lights in the cockpit so our eyes were very well adapted to the darkness, and I can assure you that the lights and the glow of the lights on the clouds around us was very bright for the naked eye. Nearly as bright as in the long exposure and the strange red/orange glow all around us was just very creepy.Again; just keep in mind that a human eye that is fully adapted to nightvision is very well able to capture the same light as a sophisticated DSLR camera + prime lens would do with a longer exposure.

• Though they look much brighter then any other light sources that other pilots have seen

• For sure, some fog or clouds might make them look much bigger, but then agaPetropavlovsk-Kamchatskyin, I have seen many ships/lights/cities from high up in the midnight sky, and Im sure that what we saw was just extremely bright underneath that layer of clouds.

Hypothesis

EQL:

• Received a few very interesting emails and information from Russian Kamchatka based scientists from the 'Distant school of Cosmic Meteo Tectonics'; cosmetecor.org... that have investigated my sighting too.

• They suspect this might have something to do with so called 'earthquake lights' because of a strong electromagnetic interaction between the earths core and atmosphere.

• Russian Kamchatka based scientists from the 'Distant school of Cosmic Meteo Tectonics'; cosmetecor.org... that have investigated my sighting too.

• They suspect this might have something to do with so called 'earthquake lights' because of a strong electromagnetic interaction between the earths core and atmosphere.

• Quote:

  1. "Similar phenomenon you’ve recently observed was being detected in winter 2002-03 in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. There were carried out field research by our collective on day-by-day basis near Petropavlovsk. There was nothing abnormal to expect. But one day, on Friday, anomalous increasing of amplitude of the subterranean electric signals (in 5-10 times) was observed. When sun went down (~18:00 local time) and it became dark, the sky was reddish with shades of green. The phenomenon resembled with aurora, but Petropavlovsk is in latitude 53° North. The tops of hometown volcanoes were burning with red. Townsfolk began to call to emergency service, officials. Town was full of rumors in the same manner as your post. Thanks to the unique SE-technique we knew what was happened.

  2. I’d like to point your attention that the brightest line of radiation of hydrogen atom (H-alpha -Нα) is a blood-red spectral line with a wavelength of 656.28 nanometers. The less bright line of radiation of hydrogen atom is H-beta, which has a cyan (blue-green) spectral line with a wavelength of 486 nanometers.

  3. Here I’ve attached SE-signals measured at station no.2-IMFSET-Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy ~380 km from the observed phenomena. Abrupt step-down was detected on 2014/08/23 11:55UT and back on 2014/08/25 06:37UT.

  4. Let me note that many decades military and civilian pilots have reported other spectacular phenomena seeing ephemeral flashes above storms, though these were mostly discounted by the atmosphere science community. The different kinds of flashes are called with fanciful names like sprites, elves, jets, trolls, gnomes, pixies and fairies. The first scientific documentation of brilliant mysterious glows (flashes) occurring between troposphere-ionosphere was captured on videotape on the night of July 06, in 1989 by Dr. J.Winckler. Who knows, maybe, your photos will play important role in future researching."

• There was activity in Kamchatka at the time of the sighting:

  1. News from 23/08:

  2. "Zhupanovsky , Kamchatka :

  3. 53.59 N, 159.15 E;

  4. Elevation 9702 ft (2958 m)

  5. Aviation Color Code is ORANGE

  6. Moderate explosive eruption of the volcano continues. Ash explosions up to 26,250 ft (8 km) a.s.l. could occur at any time.

  7. Ongoing activity could affect international and low-flying aircraft.

  8. Moderate explosive eruption of the volcano continues. According to visual observation by E. Safonova, weak ash explosions occurred and ash plumes extended to the south-southeast of the volcano on August 20;

  9. according to the data by E. Nenasheva, only gas-steam activity of the volcano was observing on August 17.

  10. Satellite data showed ash plumes rose up to 3 km a.s.l. and extended about 110 km to the south-southeast of the volcano on August 19-20;

  11. a thermal anomaly over the volcano was noted on August 16-17."

Military games

• Russians/Americans do not have the ability of doing something like this in the ocean by turning a light show

• Military vessels often carry red lights at night for night vision, though the lights we saw here were so strong and bright, they would probably have blinded their own personnel too.

• those are very bright red and orange lights that are very unusual to see. I haven’t been able to find an explanation as to why ships would use those lights

Fishing fleet

• I have received photos from 3 different pilots that took shots from groups of red lights over the Pacific Ocean in the last two months.

• Though the lights look much less bright and a lot smaller then what we saw, the size of the total cluster of lights is about the same of our sighting. This could be a strong indication that its actually a fishing fleet, although I cannot explain the red color they are using, since this is totally useless for attracting fish. Any ideas about these new shots are welcome.

• Looking at this data it sure does look like its a group of ships, though the reason that we quickly dismissed fishing ships was that they never use red lights. Red light does not penetrate the water more then a few feet because of its long wavelength, and fish cannot even see that kind of light. Also, normally those fishing fleet with bright (green & white) lights are fishing over the continental plate, or on the edge where the plate plunges into the abyss, since that’s where the most fish are.

• It sure does look like a group of ships when I see all this data but then the new questions pops up; what kind of ships were they? As I explained earlier, its highly unlikely that they are fishing ships since they use red lights and the wavelength of red light is totally useless for fishing.  My educated guess would be a fleet of military ships carrying red lights, though I find it very strange that they used lights that were so extremely bright.

• A side note to the pictures you posted and I've said it already many times before; I have very often seen (large) fleets of fishing fleets at night, from all sorts of angles and in all weather conditions. They never looked like this to me.The 'problem' here is the red light and the position of the lights in comparison to the continental plate. 

• And as you can see on the link below; the lights we saw (and where they apparently were for a long time) was far from the fishing grounds over the continental plate, but far away in the deep sea. The location and intense red colors are for me the main reason to be seriously doubtful about a fishing fleet as the cause of these red lights.   

• Still, I disagree that they are fishing lights. The spots in the area of the sighting are huge -- larger than the nearby city of Sapporo. None of the fishing fleets in the other images quite resemble the large, solid spots in the area of the sighting.

• You assume that because the spots are not in te exact same location a day later, it cannot be natural. What if the source of the light was something in the water? Would it not then drift with current? The Russian scientist did mention irradiated hydrogen... 

Lightning strike

• 3 independent organizations looked into their recordings and NONE of them found any electrical discharge (lightning strike) hours before and after our sighting, with a radius of about 500km/250Nm of the lights.(Departments of Earth and Space Sciences, and Physics, University of Washington - The United States Precision Lightning Network and the World Wide Lightning Network), making the lightflash we saw earlier even stranger, since it was very likely not a lightning strike. 

Volcanoe

• its highly unlikely (if not impossible) that it was a thin layered ash cloud that colored the lights. Both because ash-clouds are often vertical, and not layered (stratus) but also because there were no actual ash-warnings for the airspace at the time we flew there (the notam you copied says it is possible there might be an eruption during that period, not that there is actually one)

• On top of that, other red lights have been sighted by other pilots. This does make it unlikely that the lights have been colored by ash clouds in my opinion. 

• The ash cloud from the Zhupanovsky (650 km away) was going South-South Est, which seems to match with the direction of the sighting (South). Please feel free to make some research and check. JPC is not convinced about the ash cloud hypothesis, but when I've asked a volcano expert about it, he told me (I've given his identity to JPC) : his personal view is "the sighting is due to light through an ash cloud, or some atmospherical pollution of some kind."

Source: http://www.pbase.com/flying_dutchman/pacific_eruption

In July 2022 from a cockpit 31,000 feet over the ocean, Dustin Maggard, A pilot flying saw a mysterious red glow over the Atlantic. The pilot claims he has never seen anything like it. The unexplainable red glow can be seen in photographs. It was also captured on video. The sight is frightening, and Reddit users cannot get enough of it.

The pilot noticed a bright red/orange glow before departure, which was confirmed when he looked at a photo preview on the camera's back. There was supposed to be nothing but an endless ocean for kilometres around them. They seemed at first like a distant city or a group of classic Asian squid fishing boats, but this was not possible here. The lights they saw were noticeably bigger than the conventional lights that cities or ships would emit, which are typically yellow and white.

The brightness intensified as they approached, illuminating the sky and clouds below us in a spooky orange glow that one might anticipate with a sizable fire on the ground. In a region of the globe where there should only be water.

On the recent incident, one Reddit user wrote, "Maybe fishing vessels have never clustered so much to concentrate so much light? Three possible scenarios. 1. Fish populations down to small concentrations. 2. Chinese fishing boats have fished out the Pacific and are now factory fishing in the Atlantic. 3. Atlantic-based fishing boats have adopted China's factory fishing strategy. None of these are good outcomes. Good luck to those fish."

Others speculated that it might be the end of the world. Many people compared it to the television programme Stranger Things.

Source: https://www.livemint.com

The pilot wrote:

“On the night of August 24-25, 2014, I flew a Boeing 747-8 from Hong Kong to Anchorage. While flying over the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, somewhere southeast of Russia's Kamchatka peninsula, I had one of the strangest experiences of my life. We flew at a comfortable altitude of 34 feet (000 km), we had about 10 hours to go to Alaska. On the radio, we heard the air traffic controller talking to other planes that were heading for the US West Coast about the route diversion due to the strong earthquakes in San Francisco. ”

He then went on to describe what he saw in the sky:

“I noticed a dark red glow appearing ahead of us and this was confirmed when I looked at the photo preview on the back of the camera. It was assumed that there should be nothing below us for hundreds of miles around us except the endless ocean. Initially they looked like a distant town or a group of typical Asian squid boats, but that didn't make sense in the area. The lights we saw were much larger in size than the average city or group of boats, but they also glowed red and orange instead of the usual yellow and white that cities or ships would produce, the pilot described. “The closer we got, the more intense the glow became, illuminating the clouds and sky below us with a frightening orange glow that would be expected from a massive fire on the ground. In a part of the world where there was supposed to be nothing but water.”

Could the same phenomenon that led to this observation in 2014 be the cause of today's events? So far no one knows..

Source: https://www.forumdaily.com

Scientists also can’t agree on the cause, although, according to a 2014 paper, electrical properties of specific rocks can result in “earthquake lightning” and what’s more, the flashes can take various different forms and colors. During the 2009 earthquake in L’Aquila, Italy, witnesses reported seeing lights flickering in the skies, according to the National Geographic.

The tension during this process created an electronic charge, which turned into light when it reached the surface. Earthquake lights have been seen worldwide, with some only at ground level and others being projected into the sky. Pedestrians during a 2009 earthquake in the Italian city of L'Aquila reported fire flickering from the stone pavement of their town's historical city centre.

This was one of 65 of the best-documented earthquake light events in North America and Europe the researchers studied. They found 97 per cent of the events happened during continental rift earthquakes, similar to the ones that hit Christchurch. Those types of earthquakes made up just 5 per cent of all quakes, as most quakes occurred when two plates collided, not when one plate was pulled apart.

They also happened in areas not known for earthquake activity and could be used as an early warning system, Canadian geologist Robert Theriault said. He pointed to the account of a L'Aquila resident, who, after seeing flashes of light from inside his home two hours before the main shock, rushed his family outside to safety. "It's one of the very few documented accounts of someone acting on the presence of earthquake lights. "Earthquake lights as a pre-earthquake phenomenon, in combination with other parameters ... may one day help forecast the approach of a major quake."

The statistics were striking and unexpected but it was not yet known why these types of earthquakes were the main cause of the lights, Theriault said.

The massive 8.2 earthquake that rocked Mexico earlier this week was enough of a phenomenon on its own, but the quake also had something of a fascinating side effect: mysterious lights in the sky.

Numerous videos have been cropping up on social media showing the flashes brighten the night sky above Mexico City, but the flashes aren’t lightning coming from the clouds above, or even lights from planes. The flashes are instead thought to have been caused by the earthquake itself. More specifically, the lights come from a particular type of rock. A study published in 2014 revealed these lights can come in many forms, such as bluish flames, orbs of light, or quick flashes that resemble lightning.

“In certain types of rocks this accumulation of stress can break up pairs of negatively charged oxygen atoms in the ground, allowing them to flow up to the surface as an electrical current through cracks in the rock,” proposed Leila Ertolahti, adjunct professor in geology at Farleigh Dickinson University, to Gizmodo. “If enough atoms are present they can ionize pockets of air and form a plasma, or charged gas, that emits light.”

As interesting as the lights (and the way they formed) are, the earthquake that preceded them was the strongest one Mexico has faced in nearly 100 years, and the second environmental disaster to occur this week following Hurricane Irma. At an 8.2 magnitude, tremors could be felt from over 966 km (600 miles) from the epicenter, and the number of reported casualties is climbing.

“The scariest part of it all is that if you are an adult, and you’ve lived in this city your adult life, you remember [the 1985 earthquake] very vividly,” said Alberto Briseño, a 58-year-old bar manager in Condesa, to The New York Times. “This felt as strong and as bad, but from what I see, we’ve been spared from major tragedy.”

Earthquake lights – the rare, glowing phenomena that are occasionally seen before or during seismic events – may be closely associated with a specific type of geological fault. That is the conclusion of a new study by researchers in Canada and the US who have studied descriptions of the phenomenon that have been recorded over the past 400 years. The team suggests that the "subvertical" faults might act as channels that direct electrical charge to the surface, where it ionizes air to create the luminous effect.

The origins of earthquake lights have long been an intriguing mystery for seismologists and their existence was not confirmed until they were first captured on film in the 1960s. In this latest study, Robert Thériault of Quebec's Ministry of Natural Resources and colleagues studied well-documented observations of the phenomena going back to the 1600s. To ensure only the best, authentic events were analysed, the team discarded reported luminosities with possible non-seismic origins. These included cases where the lights were accompanied by smoke issuing from the ground, or were suggestive of Moon or Sun halos. In total, the team included 65 events from the Americas and Europe in its study.

Among the sightings that were examined was a report of "streams of light" seen running along the ground 100 km north-west of San Francisco before the infamous 1906 earthquake, which destroyed 80% of the city. The study also includes the bright pink-purple globe of light that flew above Quebec's St Lawrence River prior to the 1988 Saguenay earthquake.

Globes, illuminations and flames

The survey revealed that lights have occurred alongside earthquakes of a variety of magnitudes – between M 3.5 and 9.2. The majority (80%) were associated with earthquakes of magnitude greater than M 5.0, which corresponds to a medium-sized earthquake. The lights themselves also varied in shape and size. They have appeared as stationary or moving globes, atmospheric illuminations or in flame-like configurations issuing from the ground. Also variable was the distance from the earthquake epicentre to where the light was seen.

Unexpectedly, the team found that 97% of earthquake lights were associated with subvertical faults, which only cause about 5% of the Earth's total seismic activity. Subvertical faults exist where a region of a tectonic plate is stretched, pulling it apart and causing faults in the form of vertical cracks – or rifts – to form in the crust. These "intraplate" regions are unlike the subduction zones that are associated with most earthquakes, where one plate is slipping below the other.

Another important finding of the study is that the lights only seem to happen before or during an earthquake. When lights appear prior to an earthquake, Thériault and colleagues believe this indicates a relation between the lights and the rapid build-up of stress deep underground prior to fault rupture. When lights and earthquakes occur at the same time, the team believes the phenomenon is related to changes in stress that occur as transverse shear waves propagate through the crust.

This second explanation is backed up by a recent event included in the study. During a 2007 earthquake in Pisco, Peru, security cameras captured lights forming in the air at the same time as shear waves passed through the ground below.

Positive-charge carriers

The team believes that the lights are caused by the stress-induced creation of mobile carriers of positive charge within metamorphic and igneous rocks. Existing defects in the rocks' mineral structure – described chemically as peroxy bonds – break preferentially when stressed, forming positive charges that can move throughout the rock. These charges are then directed towards the surface by the vertical rift structure.

"Rift settings are characterized by deeply penetrating subvertical faults, which is not the case for subduction-zone-related tectonic environments," explains Thériault. "We believe that deeply penetrating vertical-to-subvertical faults may help in 'channelizing' the electronic-charge carriers towards the surface." In contrast, the shallow inclination (at 30–45%) of subduction-related faults – along with their tendency to occur under the ocean – is believed to prevent the light-generating charges from reaching the surface.

In the past, the portentous nature of earthquake lights has occasionally served as a useful warning. In Italy's 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, for example, a resident led his family to safety outside after seeing flashes of light inside his home a few hours before the earthquake hit. This recognition of impending danger, however, seems to be rare in history. "Hopefully, the publication of our research will help the general public to know more about what earthquake lights are all about," Thériault comments, adding that "public awareness that such phenomena exist and can be related to an upcoming earthquake may ultimately save lives."

Monitoring network

The researchers are now looking into the possibility of establishing a monitoring network capable of earthquake forecasting. This would use studies of earthquake lights and other parameters that are known to vary prior to earthquake episodes. These include air ionization, the electrical conductivity of soil, and electromagnetic emissions. Some or all of these phenomena could also be related to stress-induced electric-charge generation.

While some experts have welcomed the study, others have expressed concerns about its methodology. "While less than 5% of the world's earthquakes do occur in intraplate tectonic settings, such events often occur in inhabited areas and therefore the probability of any earthquake-related phenomena being humanly observed is probably high. This study appears to fail to take this sampling bias into account," explains Mamoru Kato, a geophysicist from Kyoto University. Kato concludes that the paper, while good as a review of documented earthquake light events, could be premature in its conclusions.

The study is described in Seismological Research Letters.

Ian Randall is a science writer based in New Zealand

Source: http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2014/jan/14/study-homes-in-on-the-cause-of-earthquake-lights

The earthquake lights (EQL) of the 6 April 2009 Aquila earthquake in Central Italy

A seven-month collection of testimonials about the 6 April 2009 earthquake in Aquila, Abruzzo region, Italy, was compiled into a catalogue of non-seismic phenomena. Luminous phenomena were often reported starting about nine months before the strong shock and continued until about five months after the shock. A summary and list of the characteristics of these sightings was made according to 20th century classifications and a comparison was made with the Galli outcomes.

 These sightings were distributed over a large area around the city of Aquila, with a major extension to the north, up to 50 km. Various earthquake lights were correlated with several landscape characteristics and the source and dynamic of the earthquake. Some preliminary considerations on the location of the sightings suggest a correlation between electrical discharges and asperities, while flames were mostly seen along the Aterno Valley.

More UFOs And Geological Phenomena In Northern Chile

Mystery lights in the sky, underground fires, tremors, and ground splits continue to appear in Northern Chile. In the town of Baquedano, entire local and national government buildings are being relocated, the ground is sinking in many areas, and several ground splits are causing transportation authorities to close two major roads. On February 26 of 2002, an earthquake was registered in Arica, the same location where a few days earlier, many people saw bright lights in the sky. At the same time, in Calama, local authorities are trying to put out underground fires, and a local mining facility has collapsed and sunk.

The so-called western geological fault in Calama has been determined to be the most probable cause for the collapse of the Chuqui mining facility near Calama, Chile. The situation appears to be under control. There is a major evacuation of personnel and equipment taking place. Nevertheless, there is a great sense of fear and insecurity among mining workers.

On November of 2001, similar objects were seen near the mine of Quetena. According to "Jorge", an eyewitness, workers at a nearby cement manufacturing plant saw three of those objects flying in formation, then, they merged into one and left the area. The sighting lasted about four minutes. Jorge claimed that the objects changed their inclination angle, then, they merged. After the objects merged into one, it flew up very rapidly and disappeared.

But Chile is not the only part of the world where these phenomena take place. Many UFOs or "night lights" have been sighted before or during earthquakes throughout the world. For example, in Turkey, on January 26 of 2002, a bright light was seen before and during an entire earthquake. In Canada, as many as 38 of these lights were seen in Quebec during and after the earthquake of 1988. Similar events have taken place in Alaska and in Japan.

It has not been confirmed that the earthquake in Arica was the cause of the Chuqui Mine collapse in Calama. Although, the earthquake occurred several miles away, both events took place almost simultaneously. On the 9th of February of 2002, while traveling at night, a major news media journalist reported seeing a very bright light in Arica, where the earthquake took place; the light was so bright that was seen by other eyewitnesses several miles away. In addition to all of these "coincidences", the Chilean government, as well as international organizations have begun a "nuclear monitoring" project, as well as the construction of radio telescopes in the area. There is something very strange going on down there.

Field Investigation by Jaime Ferrer Translation by Mario Andrade From Jaime Ferrer Calama UFO Center calamaufocenter@hotmail.com Copyright © 2001 Jaime Ferrer R.

Source: https://rense.com/general20/mored.htm

Las Luces De los Terremotos

Pese a que varios científicos buscan explicaciones a las luces en la atmósfera que muchos afirman haber visto durante terremotos, aún no hay una interpretación totalmente convincente sobre este fenómeno.

Lo aceptado por todos es que los sismos en nuestro país son producidos por el choque de la llamada placa de Nasca que surge del fondo del Pacífico centro y avanza contra la placa continental (América del Sur). Unos piensan que el calor generado por la fricción de los materiales durante el encuentro de las colosales placas libera gases capturados en el subsuelo y que al interactuar con la atmósfera se emite luz.

Otros creen que el radón --un gas radiactivo que se encuentra en el subsuelo-- sale por efecto del terremoto y su radiación ioniza el aire causando la luminosidad. Cabe señalar que la emisión de radón durante algunos terremotos es real, pero la cantidad no sería suficiente para explicar las luces en la atmósfera.

Se considera, asimismo, el efecto piezoeléctrico, similar al producido en las agujas de los antiguos fonógrafos cuando pasaban por los surcos de los discos.

El físico mineralógico Friedemann Freund sostiene una de las hipótesis mejor elaboradas y más aceptadas. Esta se basa en las propiedades eléctricas de las rocas, las que están llenas de átomos de oxígeno en estados cuasi ionizados, enlazados a los silicatos. Cuando se rompen los enlaces resultan un par de agujeros de carga positiva --como sucede en los semiconductores-- los que se comportan como cargas eléctricas.

Durante un terremoto, las rocas están sometidas a tal presión o estrés que esos portadores de carga se mueven a través de las rocas ígneas, dando lugar a ondas electromagnéticas en el rango de las de radio y de la luz visible. En un sismo, una nube de estos agujeros de carga positiva es liberada del subsuelo, la que surge como un plasma de estado sólido a la atmósfera, ello origina emisión de luz visible, infrarroja, ruido electromagnético y perturbaciones en la atmósfera.

Lo cierto es que cuando hay intercambio de cargas entre conjuntos de átomos se emite luz, la que está compuesta por ondas electromagnéticas o fotones. Si a las nubes o a la atmósfera llegaran gases cargados, se produciría intercambio de cargas y una consecuente emisión de luz. Ese intercambio de cargas sucede en los relámpagos o cuando nos quitamos una chompa de lana en la oscuridad de la sierra, donde mejor se observan los fenómenos electrostáticos.

Una explicación más simple sería el de un aumento de potencia electromagnética emitida por la red eléctrica ante abruptas variaciones de voltaje. Esto significaría aumentos repentinos de luz eléctrica, la que se reflejaría en el nublado cielo de la ciudad.

En suma, valdría la pena contar con instrumentos listos para medir estos fenómenos con precisión y develar el misterio de las luces de terremotos que, al parecer, se han visto desde tiempos remotos. Los científicos jamás desecharían o aceptarían hipótesis sin apoyo de resultados experimentales.

Sources: http://noticias.universia.edu.pe/en-portada/noticia/2007/08/22/742823/luces-terremotos.html