17 results found.
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 81: May-Jun 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Auroral Sounds March 13, 1989. This night on a cattle ranch in South Dakota, L. Hasselstrom was dazzled by waves of blue auroral light sweeping up from the horizon and meeting at a focal point nearly directly overhead. As the sky blazed, with the blue waves and crimson streamers, she heard: ". .. a distant tinkling, like bells. It came again, louder, just as a curtain of green light swept the entire width of the sky from north to south. Each time green flushed the sky, the bells rang, the sound softening to a gentle tinkle as the light died." (Hasselstrom, Linda; "Night of the Bells," Readers Digest , p. 185, April 1992. Cr. J.B . Dotson.) Comment. Note the correlation of the sound with the green portion of the aurora. July 29, 1990. On Coll Island in Centennial Lake, 120 kilometers west of Ottawa. Watching an auroral display, L.R . Morris heard the sound of the aurora: "It was a faint but distant windlike sound; which, by process of elimination, could not be accounted for by any phenomenon other than the aurora." (Anonymous; "Auroral Sounds," Sky & Telescope , 83:105, January 1992. Cr. D. Snowhook.) Comment. Auroras have been heard for centuries, but they "shouldn ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 119: Sep-Oct 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Auroral Maps!Auroral arcs are created by electrical currents flowing high in the ionosphere -- usually higher than 100 kilometers according to current [! ] thinking. Therefore, scientists do not really expect to see terrestrial topography reflected in auroral geometry. Nevertheless, T. Pulkkinen of the Finnish Meterological Institute reported to the May 1998 meeting of the American Geophysical Union that coastlines somehow coax auroral arcs to align with them. In some 200 hours of observation along the Norwegian coast, there were nine clear-cut cases where auroral arcs lined up northsouth directly above the coastline. These alignments lasted 5-10 minutes. L. Frank (of icy-comet notoriety) confirmed this effect with observations from NASA's Polar satellite. Sometimes auroral arcs aligned themselves parallel to the Greenland coast for hundreds of kilometers. Auroral arcs that fanned out east-to-west seemed to hit a barrier when they reached the Greenland coastline; they seemed to be deflected by it, even though the coast was more than 100 kilometers beneath them. (Hecht, Jeff; "Leading Lights," New Scientist, p. 16, May 30, 1998.) From Science Frontiers #119, SEP-OCT 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 115: Jan-Feb 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A SKY-SPANNING AURORAL ARCH August 28, 1916. Canada. "The usual Northern Lights were feeble, but at half past ten there grew in the sky an immense arc or ribbon of light -- practically a complete semicircle -- stretching from a point on the horizon practically due east nearly up to the zenith, but a little to the south of it, and passing down practically to the western point of the horizon. Throngs of people gathered to see it and according to their account the like was never seen before. It was a fairly uniform band of light of about the same width as the rainbow. Its definiteness was surprising, there was very little fading away at the edges; it was as if a paint brush had been drawn across the sky...For about an hour it arched the sky and during that time it was noticeably fixed relative to the earth, for some of the stars as they got higher in the east crossed it from the northern or convex side to the other." (Anonymous; "Great Auroral Displays," Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Journal, 10:469, 1916.) Comment. This sharp and precisely drawn arc is so different from the swaying draperies, pulsing arcs, and "merry dancers" that characterize the usual auroral displays. We have not seen any good explanation of this phenomenon. More examples may be found in GLA2 in our ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 117: May-June 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Flash Auroras Flash auroras are ephemeral auroral displays lasting only a few seconds. They occur when auroral and geomagnetic activity is subdued worldwide. Under such quiet conditions, scientists do not expect to see auroras of any kind. Yet, experienced aurora observers keep on reporting these transient events. June 13/14, 1987. Winnipeg, Saskatche wan. T. Lohvinenko saw a fragmentary active rayed arc in a clear sky at 0644 UT. It lasted for only a few seconds. February 13/14, 1991. Near Glasgow, Scotland. While facing south, A. Simmons observed rays and a luminous patch at an altitude of 45 . The phenomenon lasted 2 minutes. In both of the above instances, the geomagnetic field was quiet and auroral activity virtually zero worldwide. "It is unprofitable at this stage to speculate on the cause or causes of the mid-latitude flash aurora as it is known in the Aurora Section. More authenticated observations need to be built up before they can become statistically meaningful. The geomagnetosphere is a very dynamic and restless organism in which some instability may develop to cause what, in engineering parlance, might be referred to as a short circuit in the magnetospheric dynamo." (Livesey, R.J .; "The Flash Aurora," British Astronomical Association, Journal, 107:36, 1997.) From Science Frontiers #117, MAY-JUN 1998 . 1998-2000 William R ...
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... of "lightning" flashing everywhere. They were 2-3 feet long and reached high into the sky. Looking back toward the car, they saw a reddish fluorescent glow with streams of light coming down from the sky to the glowing region. Grass and weeds along the roadside were standing straight up and glowing. Deep-red lines of light were seen dancing on the road. They returned to the car, and it felt hot to the touch! Soon, clouds moved in and the display was over. The authors of this article personally investigated this event within a few days of its occurrence. They found the two witnesses obviously very shaken, but believe that the accounts are fresh and unadulterated. Also pertinent is the fact that a large solar flare had just occurred, and intense auroral displays had been predicted. Also, the two women were apparently the only witnesses of this phenomenon. (Swords, Michael D., and Curtis, Edward G.; "Atmospheric Light Show," Pursuit, 16:116, 1983.) Comment. The article also contains the authors' analysis in some depth. Basically, they thought the phenomenon to be auroral with coincidental rainfall containing organic debris. Reference. Many other low-level auroras are described in GLA4 in Lightning, Auroras. This Catalog is described here . From Science Frontiers #34, JUL-AUG 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... OCEAN TURBULENCE AND CIRCULATION PHENOMENA GHT1 Extraordinary Deep Circulation Events GHT2 Sonar-Detected Subsurface Oceanic Structures GHT3 Nonvolcanic Underwater Eruptions GHT4 Anomalous El Ninos GHT5 The Guinea Tide GHT6 Energy Transfer to Hurricanes GHT7 Oceanic Rings and Eddies GHT8 Large-Scale Oceanic Chemical Anomalies Deep-Sea Storms Curious Drifts Gas-Hydrate Blowouts Great Whirlpools and Vortices The Gibraltar Dam Oceanic Megaplumes Gulf-Stream Reversal Oceanic Dead Zones Organized Structures in Bubble Clouds North Atlantic Oscillations El Ninos Correlated with Seismicity GHW REMARKABLE WAVE PHENOMENA GHW1 Unexplained Solitary Waves GHW2 Periodic Bands of Waves GHW3 Sudden, Unexpected Onset of High Surf GHW4 Downstream Progressive Waves in Rivers Increasing Heights of North Atlantic Waves GI INCENDIARY PHENOMENA GIC CYCLIC FIRES Forest-Fire Cycles GIS SUPPOSED SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION Unexplained Fires GIW REMARKABLE FIRE STORMS The Peshtigo Horror GL LUMINOUS PHENOMENA GLA AURORA-LIKE PHENOMENA GLA1 Auroral Pillars: Natural Searchlight beams GLA2 Sky-Spanning Auroral Arches GLA3 Auroral Meteors: Moving Luminous Patches and Bands GLA4 Low-Level Auroras GLA5 The Odor of the Aurora GLA6 Artificial Low-Level Auroras GLA7 Geographically Displaced Auroras GLA8 Auroras with Unusual Geometries GLA9 Auroras Correlated with Thunderstorms GLA10 Auroras Correlated with Earthquakes GLA11 Auroras Correlated with Meteors GLA12 Close Relationship between Aurora Displays and Clouds GLA13 Glowing Night Skies GLA14 Transient Sky Brightenings GLA15 Bright, Luminous Patches on the Horizon GLA16 Weather or Storm Lights GLA17 Curious Folklore: Auroras and Silken Threads GLA18 Correlation of Aurora Frequency with Lunar Phase GLA19 Auroras Interacting with Lunar Halos GLA20 Electrical Effects of Auroras at the Earth's Surface GLA21 Auroras and Surface Fogs GLA22 Black Auroras GLA23 Banded Skies GLA24 Millisecond Brightness Pulsations of the Night Sky GLA25 False Dawn GLA26 Auroras Following Coastlines ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 46: Jul-Aug 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Curious Luminous Display Over The Pacific Ocean Our general policy admits only those phenomena described in the scientific literature, but here we must make an exception. This account, submitted by a retired Air Force colonel, is unlike anything we have found before -- either meteorological or auroral. "During the last week of August 1970, I was on a trip from Viet Nam to Clark AFB, Philippines. We were cruising at 9000 feet. We had departed Camron Bay between 2 and 3 AM. Upon reaching cruise altitude, I noticed a rather unusual display in the sky. Our magnetic heading from V.N . to Clark was approximately 155 . The display appeared on the horizon in an easterly direction. It consisted of a series of dashes perhaps the color of the moon with a south-to-north directional flow. There was no visible beginning of this display,such as you would see in a comet .. .. . "The awesome feature of this display was its magnitude. I thought if whatever was creating the display collided with our Earth, then we would no longer exist. I also feel that I was seeing only a small portion of the whole. As hindsight I can only regret that I did not report this sighting through Air Traffic Control channels. The crew discussed and speculated on what we had seen, then promptly forgot about it." The account continues, relating how on the next ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 81: May-Jun 1992 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology LONG BEFORE THE VIKINGS AND POLYNESIANS BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR TWO VERY EARLY NEW WORLD CONTACTS Computer confirms crossing! The latte stones Astronomy Galaxy spins wrong way That's the way the universe bounces Indigestible supernova leftovers Biology More mouse engineering Plants of the apes Rhythms in rhythm Shc or h/t homicide? Eusocial beetles Geophysics Rayed ball lightning hits plane Auroral sounds Unidentified light explained? Four luminous spinning vortices Psychology The tyranny of the [normal] senses Folie a deux involving a dog! Chemistry & Physics MUTANT MOLECULES FIGHT FOR FOR SURVIVAL Deep-sixing 666s ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 115: Jan-Feb 1998 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Woodhenges before pyramids The berkeley walls extended Addenda and emenda Astronomy Why did life take a left turn? Biology Genes vs. memes A STRANGELY SELECTIVE SPIDER Acoustical mirrors on plants Stroke changes accent Nuclear families Geology The hilina slump a.k .a . "the big crack" Tektite mysteries Geophysics A SUBMARINE ORGAN? Frog fall A SKY-SPANNING AURORAL ARCH Psychology More sheldrake heresy Physics Splitting the electron's charge Unclassified Evolvable hardware ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 119: Sep-Oct 1998 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Anthropology unbound Basalt synthesis invented over 3,000 years ago! Astronomy The end of the old-model universe Einstein in free fall Biology Murder in the nest The black death and ccr5-delta 32 Mapping with a song Cassowary, 1; automobile, 0 Geology Really ancient oil -- and abundant life Mounds of mystery Geophysics Some green flashes are yellow Auroral maps! Waterfall phenomena Physics Curious effects department ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 40: Jul-Aug 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Planets as sun-triggered lasers Apparently both the earth and Jupiter emit radio energy when triggered by bursts of radio waves arriving from the sun. The outer atmospheres of these planets act like radio lasers, which store radio energy and then release it suddenly when stimulated by weaker solar signals. The earth's laser operates between frequencies of 50 and 600 kilohertz. Its emissions are known as the "auroral kilometric radiation" or AKR. While some of these terrestrial emissions are spontaneous, others are stimulated by Type-III solar radio bursts. The newly discovered Jovian laser operates at hectometric wavelengths and is also triggered by the solar radio bursts. (Calvert, W.; "Triggered Jovian Radio Emissions," Geophysical Research Letters, 12:179, 1985.) Comment. Earth and Jupiter thus act like radio transponders, releasing large bursts in response to small solar stimuli. The role of electricity in the history of the solar system is only beginning to be appreciated. Of course, the radio lasers mentioned above are not very powerful, but what might have occurred during the formative stages of the solar system? Could electromagnetic forces have been more important then than they are now? In this regard, note that electrical forces seem to be strongly involved in the dynamics of Saturn's rings. And Saturn's rings themselves may resemble a miniature solar system in the accretion phase. From Science Frontiers #40, JUL- ...
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... out that the mysterious Space Shuttle sounds are basically the same as the anomalous swishes and whizzes attributed by some to meteors. So far, few scientists have accepted meteor sounds as real, preferring to label them "psychological." But now that the Space Shuttles are known to generate similar anomalous sounds, perhaps scientists will install instruments along their well-known reentry paths and find out what is really happening. (Oberg, Jim; "Shuttle 'Sounds' May Provide Answer to Old Puzzle," Houstonian, January 1985, p. 4. A McDonnell Douglas publication. Cr. J. Oberg) Comment. One possible explanation of anomalous meteor sounds is that a few individuals detect electromagnetic signals as sounds; i.e ., they are "electrophonic" sounds. The history of auroral sounds is basically the same as that of anomalous meteor sounds. They may both have the same explanation. See category GSH in Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds. Details on this Catalog may be found here . From Science Frontiers #38, MAR-APR 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... broad categories: arcs, patches, and 'meteors' similar in appearance to comet comas. Though I at first dismissed the possibility of their being related to meteors, I reconsidered this relation after eliminating other possible causes such as reflections from aircraft lights and tricks of vision. Their meteor-like behavior suggested that perhaps these events might be caused by clouds of exceedingly small meteoroids, visible only because of their numbers and compact grouping. Because such a formation would be unlikely to be maintained long in space, it appeared necessary that the particles involved must have maintained some weak physical contact until just prior to becoming visible. Perhaps some type of 'cosmic dust bunny,' disrupted by air resistance, might be the cause of these events." These moving patches of light also resemble the "auroral meteors" cataloged under GLA3 in Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights. Physically, they might be related to the small, icy comets postulated by L.A . Frank to account for the transient "holes" seen in satellite ultraviolet images of the earth. (See SF#60 and #72 for more.) (Gallagher, John S.; "Diffuse Luminous Objects Having Angular Velocities Similar to Meteors," Strolling Astronomer , 36:115, 1992. Cr. P. Huyghe) References. The above phenomenon is cataloged in AYO8 under "Nebulous Meteors" in our book: The Sun and Solar System Debris. Ordering information for this book and Lightning, Auroras (mentioned above) may be found here . From Science Frontiers #86, MAR-APR 1993 . ...
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... 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Black Auroras July 23/24, 1998. Gulf of St, Lawrence. Aboard the m.v . Appleby , Port Cartier to Immingham. "The aurora borealis was sighted at 0330 UTC. There was a band measuring 35 long in azimuth, with deepblue almost black vertical bands lying between the altitudes of 15 and 25 . The colour changed to brilliant blue at 0335, lasting for about 15 minutes before cloud began to obscure it." What were the "almost black" vertical bands embedded in the main band? Aurora expert R. Livesey replied as follows. "There is a phenomenon called the 'black aurora' which consists of small regions of very low luminosity embedded in brighter auroral light; the 'black' rays reported from the Appleby could have been a phenomenon of this type." (Wilson, J.L .; "Aurora Borealis," Marine Observer, 69:112, 1999.) Black auroras may actually be more than just the contrast effect suggested by Livesey. Low-light TV systems detect clockwise vorticity in the black bands, and the bands seem to be associated with upward electron beams. In other words, black auroras are apparently a distinct phenomeon in their own right and not just nonluminous parts of the visible aurora. (Stenbaek-Nielsen, H.C ., et al; "Why Do Auroras Look the Way They Do?" Eos, 80:193, 1999.) From Science Frontiers #127, JAN ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 131: SEP-OCT 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Listening for the Unhearable They rolled around with a soundless sound like softly bruised silk; They poured into the bowl of the sky with the gentle flow of milk. So wrote R.W . Service, the poet of the Arctic realms, about the eerie voices of the auroras. The low-frequency sound of the aurora is barely detectable by human ears. It is "felt" more than heard, as Service expressed so eloquently. Some skeptics have maintained that these ethereal sounds do not really exist, but modern instruments confirm that pressure waves are definitely produced in the atmosphere as the auroras weave and dance in the sky. Most auroral sound is in the infrasound range, which begins at the lower limit of human hearing -- about 20 Hertz. Just enough sound energy seeps over the 20-Hz limit to be heard by sensitive human ears during periods of intense activity. Another natural infrasound, weak but continuous, is the "voice of the sea." These sound waves, called "microbaroms," have periods in the 5-7 second range (0 .20-0 .14 Hz), well below the range of human ears. Such low-frequency sounds travel great distances with little attenuation. It is thought, therefore, that the "voice of the sea" is an extended source -- perhaps the collective acoustical signature of all the storms from all the world's oceans. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 151: Jan - Feb 2004 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology 7,000-year-old circles in Modern Crop Fields Fingers Lost and Found Astronomy Not Enough TNOs (Trans-Neptunian Objects = KBOs Kuiper-Belt Objects) Was the Big Bang Dodecahedral? Biology Thickening the Ocean's Biomass Sponging on Sponges What else is Meant to Be? Geology Building a Fire with Wood 45 Million Years old The Shrinking of Chicxulub Geophysics The Deadliest Forest Fire in American History The Yellowstone-Lake Bulge Want Big Waves for Surfing? Forget Hawaii and Australia! Anomalous Auroral Flashes Psychology Why Sleep? If we must Sleep, Why must we Dream too? Chemistry Lab-made Microfossils ...
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... events also invisible to the naked eye. The most spectacular event occurred on the night of April 4-5 , 1978, when luminous ripples were observed at about 90 kilometers altitude moving at 91 meters/second, with a crest-to-crest wavelength of 16 kilome ters. The precise source of the visible light is still in doubt as is the identity of the stimulus causing the glowing ripples. Peterson has noted some correlation between the ripples, both visible and infrared, and the lunar high tide in the atmosphere. Gravity waves could thus be the stimulus creating the ripples. (Peterson, Alan W.; "Airglow Events Visible to the Naked Eye," Applied Optics, 18:3390, 1979.) Comment. Peterson's work may lead to explanations of the auroral "meteors" and the many reports of "banded sky" from astronomers. From Science Frontiers #10, Spring 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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