84 results found.
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 130: JUL-AUG 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Hailstorms as Imaginative Sculptors June 29, 1984. Padis Plateau, Romania. This plateau is located in the Transylvanian Western Carpathians. The weather was pleasantly warm even though the ground was still covered with snow. In the south there suddenly appeared a cumulonimbus capillatus whose top seemed to me to be about 14 kilometres or 42 000 feet. As the cloud took on the character of cumulonimbus incus and gradually covered the entire sky, thunder could be heard more and more loudly. The flock of sheep grazing in the deep valley gathered together just as they do before sunset because they too felt the approaching storm. At 16 UT the first raindrops fell. A weak shower of rain followed, and then loose-structured 20-mm-diameter discs of ice. Soon afterwards what was to be 30 minutes of "sky fire" set in. Stone-like pieces of ice streamed to the ground, very heavily and violently. Some of the hailstones were the size of a nut or plum. Within minutes a white carpet covered the plateau of Padis at an altitude of 1200 metres (3900 feet), and the air grew very cool. The landscape was covered by a milky-white veil of fog which rose from the cold ground to a height of 1 to 1.5 metres to embrace the whole dolomite plateau. Then for three minutes the hailstorm paused, before restarting! It lasted for 55 minutes, and it was ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 37 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf130/sf130p11.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 134: MAR-APR 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Weird Waterspout?Spring 1934. North Pacific. Aboard the freighter Cape Horn enroute to Singapore with a cargo of sawn lumber. G. Craig was the helmsman on the Cape Horn during a powerful storm (winds of Force 9-10, seas running 8 meters high). Even at 4 A.M ., the phosphorescence of the breaking sea made it seem like daylight. At 4:30, Craig saw what he thought was a colossal wave forming. It was so large that the vessel seemed certain to capsize. He thought he was a goner. But, strangely, the "wave" closed with the vessel very slowly and seemed to move independently of the rest of the stormy sea. Craig recalled other strange features of the phenomenon: .. .what I had initially mistaken for wave crests were actually widely-spaced 'geysers', dancing on the upper surface and each rising to a height of about 20 feet. dropping to half of it, then rising again. [See Craig's sketch.] Then, suddenly, when all seemed lost, the wind dropped from a full gale to an eerie calm. The "wave" passed -- gently -- and then the storm resumed. The Cape Horn was drenched, but there had been no shattering of glass nor rending of wood. There was some flooding but no more than usual in very heavy seas. Some of the ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf134/sf134p10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 105: May-Jun 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Is matter infinitely divisible?Just over a year ago, particle physicists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) announced that they had at last found the top quark, the final particle needed to flesh out the so-called Standard Model of subatomic physics. Then, all seemed serene in the world of quarks and gluons. Quarks, you see, are held to be the smallest building blocks of matter and now they had all been found and cataloged. The collection was complete. But a storm cloud has now appeared on the event horizon, casting a shadow on the solidity of the quarks themselves. Are they really fundamental; that is, indivisible? Fermilab scientists now wonder, for when they crash protons into antiprotons head-on at very high energies, the resulting debris clouds display an anomaly. Some of the supposedly indestructable quarks seem to have fragmented, too. The collision energies seem high enough penetrate the integument of the quarks if they are divisible. There may be other explanations of the deviation from theory, but right now quarks seem a bit more fragile than they did just a few months ago. (Wilczek, Frank; "A Crack in the Standard Model?" Nature, 380:19, 1996. Also: Walker, Gabrielle; "The Secret Heart of a Quark," New Scientist, p. 17, February 17, 1996) Comment. If quarks can be split, perhaps ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf105/sf105p17.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 135: MAY-JUN 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Don't Stomp on Ball Lightning!Mid-December 1991. Brixham, Devon. Two young men aged about 22/23, Mr. Andrew Clark and friend, were inside Mr. Clark's cottage when a storm of lightning and thunder began. Suddenly, an orange fuzzy airborne blob, the size of a football but not perfectly spherical, came through the wall -- so it was said -- and hovered at a low level. His friend lept on to a settee; Andrew Clark jumped on to the lightning ball. This burnt the plastic sole of one of his training shoes and melted a hole some 50 to 70 mm across. The lightning ball was disrupted and "a part of it" went sideways and burnt out the transformer of his C.B . radio (to which was attached a radio mast fixed on the roof outside). The total duration of the event had been about five seconds. Andrew's foot was quite badly burned and he had to go to the doctor for treatment. (Anonymous; "Ball Lightning at Brixham in 1991," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 26:22, 2001.) From Science Frontiers #135, MAY-JUN 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf135/sf135p12.htm
... 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. But this is surmise. Actually, the air is full of infra-sound emanating from still-unidentified sources, as indicated in the figure. Humans may not hear infrasound, but a form of "mountain music" seems to have a mysterious, depressing effect upon some of us. Some infrasounds that last for as long as several days have been triangulated to distant mountain ranges and tend to occur when winds blowing over them exceed a certain speed. This effect may be a low-frequency version of the aeolian tones produced by the cyclic eddy shedding that occurs when wind flows around obstacles. The reported increase in the incidence of suicides during episodes of warm downslope mountain winds (called Chinooks in the western U.S . and the Fohn ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf131/sf131p10.htm
... . North Sea. Aboard the m.v . Repulse Bay , enroute Rotterdam to hamburg. Whilst the vessel was in the German Bight, in position 53 57' N. 07 08' E, a classic example of St. Elmo's fire was observed at 0230 UT C. A high-pitched buzzing sound was heard on the corner of the bridge wing, and what seemed to be a glow was also present. Observers were able to pick up the static and saw short flame-like 'tufts' of blue and violet appear on the ends of their finger-tips, as if the fingers had ignited. The 'flames' were able to be passed from person to person, and were even placed upon another observer's forehead! There were no electrical storms in the area but there was a mixture of hail and snow falling at the time. Two of the observers experienced strong electrical shocks from each other, and also electric shocks each time snow landed on their skin -- a very peculiar experience! (Byrne, K.; "St. Elmo's Fire," Marine Observer, 70:6 , 2000.) St. Elmo's fire experienced atop pikes Peak in Colorado. (From: Lightning Auroras .. .) From Science Frontiers #129, MAY-JUNE 2000 . 2000 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf129/sf129p12.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 129: MAY-JUN 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Crop Circles Can be Natural Before today's prolific crops of bogus crop circles, there were rare instances where nature neatly carved circles in fields of grain. These legitimate crop circles have been trashed with the fake ones and are still unexplained. A good example of the "real thing" was resurrected in the Journal of Meteorology. The original source is: Nature, 22:290, 1880. J.R . Capron, a respected spectroscopist of the time, was the reporter. The storms about this part of Surrey have been lately local and violent, and the effects produced in some in-stances curious. Visiting a neighbour's farm on Wednesday evening (21st), we found a field of standing wheat considerably knocked about, not as an entirety, but in patches forming, as viewed from a distance, circular spots. Examined more closely, these all presented much the same character, viz., a few standing stalks as a centre, some prostrate stalks with their heads arranged pretty evenly in a direction forming a circle about the centre, and outside these a circular wall of stalks which had not suffered. Capron thought the nearly perfect circles of crop damage bespoke cyclonic wind damage. (Van Boorn, Peter; "A Case of Genuine Crop Circles Dating from July 1880 As Published in Nature in the year 1880," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 25:20, 2000 ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf129/sf129p11.htm
... livid vapour, or fiery exhalation which seemed to arise from the sea on the borders of Caernarvonshire. It made its first appearance on the side of a bay, a little after sunset, and from thence spread itself in the most gradual manner, until it had set all the houses in the neighbourhood on fire. Not only the ricks of hay, corn, and other forts of grain were destroyed, but also the vegetables in the gardens, for it had so noxious a smell that everything perished where it diffused its baleful infuence. Its effect were severely felt by the cattle to whom it communicated a contagious distemper, by which many of them died. It made its appearance regularly every night, always rising at the same place, nor did it stop its course either by rain or storms. It was sometimes visible by day, but it was very remarkable that it never did any damage except in the night. The flames were in no way violent, but its continuance at last consumed everything that opposed it. Those few scientists who have mused over this curious old account have concluded that the "fiery exhalations" resulted from the spontaneous ignition of marsh gas; that is, the flames were will-o '- the-wisps, albeit relatively powerful ones. Will-o '- the-wisp theory states that marsh gas (mostly methane) also contains phosphane and traces of diphosphane (P2H4). The latter gas reacts spontaneously with air and ignites the methane, creating weak blue flames. The New Scientist article mentioned a parallel modern occurrence that is new to ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf136/sf136p10.htm
... conical hailstone. One of millions that recently fell in Wales. Were they aerodynamically shaped? During a recent hailstorm in Wales, I was surprised to see that all the hailstones were conical. Each one had an apex angle of about 75 , with a flat or slightly curved base about 4 millimeters across. What caused this? Is this shape common, and is its similarity to an Apollo re-entry capsule coincidental? (Wills, A.; "Hail Capsules," New Scientist, p. 121, March 24, 2001.) Comments. Actually, conical hail is more common than you might think. See GWP in Tornados, Dark Days... for many examples. How conical hail forms in such prodigious quantities and in such geometric perfection in the maelstroms of violent storms is unknown. The morphological similarity to the Apollo reentry vehicle is almost certainly coincidental. Droplets of liquid rock that reenter the earth's atmosphere are molded into buttons, spheres, and other shapes to create tektites. We do not know of any conical tektites. From Science Frontiers #135, MAY-JUN 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating and personals . For people looking for relationships. Place your ad free. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf135/sf135p11.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 90: Nov-Dec 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mystery Light Flashes Above Storms Past issues of Science Frontiers have recorded several examples of anomalous luminous phenomena above cloud tops (in SF#89, for example). Almost all of these observations have been anecdotal and too qualitative to be of use to scientists. Happily, some atmospheric scientists are now taking more interest in "rocket lightning" and those strange light flashes seen above storm clouds. First, though, one more anecdotal report, and then we'll summarize two recent scientific efforts to elucidate these phenomena. July 28, 1993. 150 miles south of Panama. From an aircraft flying at 33,000 feet. "I and another pilot in the cockpit of American Airlines Flight 912 were watching and circumnavigating a large cumulonimbus cloud. About five times, a large discharge of lightning at the top of and within the cloud was followed by a vertical shaft of blue light that propagated from the top of the cloud upward to 100,000 ft. "The beam was very straight and the color distinctly different from the lightning. At the top of this shaft, the column fanned out just before its disappearance. All the occurrences were identical. At least one also was witnessed by three other American pilots about 30 min. behind us on the same route." (Hammerstrom, John G.; "Mystery Lightning," Aviation Week , 139:6 , August 30, 1993. Cr. J.S ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 102 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf090/sf090g09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 85: Jan-Feb 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Geomagnetic Storms And Human Health Psychiatric admissions. Since the work of T. Dull and B. Dull in 1935, other studies have reinforced the suspicion that solar activity and the resultant geomagnetic activity are associated with human health problems. Here is the abstract of the latest study found: "Numbers of first admissions per month for a single psychiatric unit, from 1977 to 1987, were examined for 1829 psychiatric inpatients to assess whether this measure was correlated with 10 parameters of geophysical activity. Four statistically significant values were 0.197 with level of solar radio flux at 2800 MHz in the corresponding month, -0 .274 with sudden magnetic disturbances of the ionosphere, -0 .216 with the index of geomagnetic activity, and -0 .262 with the number of hours of positive ionization of the ionosphere in the corresponding month." (Raps, Avi, et al; "Geophysical Variables and Behavior: LXIX. Solar Activity and Admission of Psychiatric Inpatients," Perceptual and Motor Skills , 74:449, 1992.) Comment. The above correlations are significant, but who knows how these parameters operate on the human body? Cancer recurrence. Another possible health correlation was explored by H. Wendt in a paper presented atthe 1992 European meeting of the Society for Scientific Exploration, in Munich. In this paper, Wendt claimed a correlation between the incidence of cancer recurrence and geomagnetic storm activity. Hopefully, further details will soon ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 78 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf085/sf085b98.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 84: Nov-Dec 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Current Treads In The North Pacific We are a bit hestitant about including still another eyebrow-raising item, but the source here is Eos, a weekly publication of the American Geophysical Union, and the story is irresistible! It all began when the container ship Hansa Carrier , enroute from Korea to the U.S ., encountered a fierce storm and lost 21 40-foot-long containers to the sea. "Approximately 80,000 Nike brand shoes were lost overboard on May 27, 1990, in the north Pacific Ocean ( 48 N, 161 W). Six months to a year later, thousands of shoes washed ashore in North America from southern Oregon to the Queen Charlotte Islands...We have gathered beachcomber reports and compared the inferred shoe drift with an oceanographic hindcast model and historical drift bottle returns. This spill-ofopportunity provided a calibration point for the model. Computer runs for 1946-1991 suggested that drift of floatable material across the northeast Pacific Ocean for May 1990-January 1991 was farther south than the mean of forty-five simulations." Route of the floating shoes Well, we can tweak the model a bit; but the authors added a postscript: "As we were finishing this article, we received reports of shoes arriving at the northern end of the Big Island of Hawaii. These shoes appear to have followed the California current southward, and then traveled westward." (Ebbesmeyer ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 28 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf084/sf084g13.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 86: Mar-Apr 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The milky sea a.k .a . "white water"June 1854. South of Java. Aboard the American clipper Shooting Star . Captain Kingman reporting: "The whole appearance of the ocean was like a plain covered with snow. There was scarce a cloud in the heavens, yet the sky...appeared as black as if a storm was raging. The scene was one of awful grandeur; the sea having turned to phosphorus, and the heavens being hung in blackness, and the stars going out, seemed to indicate that all nature was preparing for that last grand conflagration which we are taught to believe is to annihilate this material world." We selected this account of the milky sea phenomenon because of its vivid verbiage -- something absent from the modern reports: "August 13, 1986. Northwest Indian Ocean. The entire sea surface took on an intense white glow which was not unlike viewing the negative of a photograph." The milky sea is a rather common phenomenon. In fact, the British Meteorological Office has established a Bioluminescence Database, which presently contains 235 reports of milky seas seen since 1915. P.J . Herring and M. Watson have employed this Database in a review paper on these impressive displays. Geographical plotting of the reports shows a strong concentration in the northwest Indian Ocean (see figure). Seasonally, there is a strong peaking in August and a secondary blip in ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf086/sf086g12.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 104: Mar-Apr 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ball Lightning Materializes In A Sitting Room July 24, 1994. Oxfordshire, England. It was a hot, humid day that produced strong thunderstorms. Some 14 kilometers west of Oxford, Mr. and Mrs. Langer were in their sitting room when the following sequence ensued: "The storm was almost overhead and I knew the next one would be a cracker, but almost five minutes went by in perfect silence. The window is very big, almost one wall in glass, and was wide open. My husband and I sat in recliner chairs side by side with our backs to the window. Suddenly a shaft of brilliant light came over our heads into the middle of the room and seemed to form itself into a white ball as big as a car tyre. It bounced gently upwards and about five feet from the ground it exploded with a terrible noise. "No rain was falling at the time of observation. The ball was in view for two or three seconds and emitted no noticeable heat or odour. It was opaque in appearance and its colour changed from reddish gold to white before it blew up, at which point it was about one metre away from the room's occupants. No traces were left by the ball other than 'some slight brown marks on the carpet', which were all but removed by cleaning." (James, Adrian; "Ball Lightning in Oxfordshire, July 1994," ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf104/sf104p06.htm
... This system connects to all our everyday senses and controls our motor functions. The second system Becker designates as "primitive." It transmits information in analog (continuously varying) form via electrical currents and magnetic fields, rather than as impulses along neurons. This second system is not recognized by mainstream science. Becker advances the notions that: (1 ) Psi-type phenomena are actually handled by the "primitive" analog system; (2 ) The flood of information normally arriving from our sensory organs via the "modern" digital system masks the psi-type signals; and (3 ) These assertions are consistent with the elusive nature of psi phenomena in both everyday experience and the parapsychological laboratories. Becker's ideas also jibe with experimental evidence that the psi faculty is suppressed by electromagnetic storms, which (presumably) act only upon the "primitive" analog system. Becker readily admits that the physical basis for the generation, transmission, and reception of psi signals is unknown. (Becker. Robert O.; "Electromagnetism and Psi Phenomena," American Society for Psychical Research, Journal, 86:1 , 1992.) Comment: We use above the adjective "psi-type" in describing signals traveling along the primitive analog system be cause we may also be receiving other kinds of signals not yet recognized even by the parapsychologists, and which are also masked by everyday sensory data rushing brainward. After all, we must not let the parapsychologists restrict our vision of the universe! From Science Frontiers #81, MAY-JUN 1992 . 1992-2000 William R ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf081/sf081p16.htm
... Scientific Fiasco of the Century , 259 pp., 1992, The title betrays the book's slant. A single sentence from Nature's review will suffice: "Commenting on the hundreds of millions of dollars of research time and resources that were taken up in showing that there is no convincing evidence for cold fusion as a source of nuclear power, he [Huizenga] notes that 'much of this would not have been necessary had normal scientific procedures been followed.'" (Close, Frank; "The Cold War Remembered," Nature, 358:291, 1992.) But what's this from Los Alamos? "A Los Alamos National Laboratory researcher says he has duplicated the results of a Japanese experiment in which power was generated by cold fusion. "Edmund Storms, a high-temperature chemist at Los Alamos, used palladium metal supplied by Japanese fusion researcher Akito Takahashi of Osaka University." (See: SF#82) (Anonymous; "Los Alamos Scientist Duplicates Japanese Cold Fusion Experiment," Associated Press, July 28, 1992. Cr. E. Hansen) Where There's Heat There's Yen. Japan's Ministry of Trade and Industry (MITI) plans to launch a five-year program to study cold fusion. Isn't this folly, since most physicists have declared cold fusion to be impossible? "Not so, says MITI -- it's just Japanese pragmatism. All MITI is interested in is the continuing reports of excess heat generated in the hydrogenpalladium cells studied by Pons and Fleischmann and ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf083/sf083c16.htm
... investigator of terrestrial correlations, has identified another: "The hypothesis that sudden commencements of global geomagnetic activity (' sudden impulses') could induce anomalous changes in onboard computers and facilitate commercial aircrashes was investigated. During the years 1988 and 1989 the mean daily occurrence of a commercial disaster somewhere in the world increased from 0.06 to 0.12 within 24 hr. of a sudden commencement. When numbers of sudden commencements per month were correlated with eight major categories of catastrophes (including air disasters) only aircrashes, primarily occurring during maximum computer-dependent flight conditions, were significantly correlated (. 54) with numbers of sudden commencements but not with the average monthly geomagnetic (aa) activity." (Persinger, M.A .; "Geophysical Variables and Behavior: LXVI. Geomagnetic Storm Sudden Commencements and Commercial Aircrashes" Perceptual and Motor Skills , 72:476, 1991.) From Science Frontiers #80, MAR-APR 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf080/sf080u20.htm
... deck. Only Sefton and eight shipmates survive." Accounts such as that above are part of sea lore. Waves 50-100 feet high have been frequently reported over the years. Most often, they are encountered in rough seas, but some walls of water have smashed ships in relatively calm waters. A tanker encountering a steep-sided giant wave in the Aguhlas Current of the African coast. Until recently, oceanographers were confident that any unusually large wave was just the chance addition of two smaller waves. Now, a consensus is emerging that at least two other factors are important: seabed topography and ocean currents. To illustrate, perhaps the most dangerous stretch of water in the world lies off southeast Africa, where the fast (8 feet/second) Agulhas Current often runs into storm waves surging up from Antarctica. The African continental shelf is so shaped that it funnels the current directly into the storm waves. Immense, steep-fronted waves have broken many a ship here. In sum, the old statistical theory about the origin of rogue waves has been jettisoned, but a new approach is still in the formative stages. (Brown, Joseph; "Rogue Waves," Discover, 10:47, April 1989.) Comment. But can any theory explain giant, solitary waves on calm seas. For more on this subject, see GHW in Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds. To order this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #66, NOV-DEC 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 26 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf066/sf066g14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 67: Jan-Feb 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Possible Ball Lightning In Ankara June 14, 1988. Ankara, Turkey. "Another phenomenon occurred on 14 June in Ankara: May and June are usually very showery and thundery in central Anatolia and this year is no exception. However, the previous few days had been unusually stormy here in Ankara, and on the 14th the second thunderstorm of the day was in progress with curtains of rain and flickers of lightning, a few kilometres away to the north-west. The storm was moving towards us and the squally wind had already begun. I was again watching the weather from my office, which is on the fifth floor, when I was suddenly distracted by the appearance of a very bright, circular flash of blue-purple light (perhaps one metre or less in diameter), which persisted for about two seconds and then silently 'popped out,' leaving behind a puff of smoke, which then drifted away. The flash of circu lar light occurred about 500 m away from me: it was about 30 m above the ground, close to, and partly behind, a tall factory chimney. There was definitely no cloud-to-earth lightning over that area at that time, but the edge of the cumulonimbus cloud, giving the storm a few kilometres away, was directly overhead." (Kirvar, Erol; "Thunderstorm and Possible Ball Lightning in Ankara, June 1988," Weather, 44: ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf067/sf067g16.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 75: May-Jun 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Unusual electrical (? ) phenomena November 24, 1975. Tendele Hutted Camp, Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa. The following observations were made during violent electrical storms. "Around 10pm, WN observed a luminous vertical column in an easterly direction which appeared suddenly at a location low on the hillside on the far bank of the Tugela River at a distance of about 1km. This stationary light column seemed to have the dimensions of a pencil stub (approx. 50mm x approx. 7mm) held vertically at arm's length. The column, which had a bluish glow like a fluorescent tube, was visible for about 5 to 10 seconds. .. .. . "At 11.15pm, when the intensity of the storm had abated and the sky was lit intermittently with flashes of sheet lightning, the writer saw a luminous spherical object, seemingly of golf to tennis ball size, moving rapidly with an apparently vertical undulating motion from left (northeast) to right (southwest) on a horizontal course in the general direction of Mont-Aux-Sources (3282m) where the Tugela River has its origin. This sighting lasted 2 to 3 seconds. About 3 minutes later, another similar object crossed the field of view, following the same course as the first object and showing about 2 or 3 undulations in its passage. At midnight, a third object was seen having the same characteristics as the first two objects. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf075/sf075g11.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 65: Sep-Oct 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Samurai And The Ainu Findings by American anthropologist C. Loring Brace, University of Michigan, will surely be controversial in race conscious Japan. The eye of the predicted storm will be the Ainu, a "racially different" group of some 18,000 people now living on the northern island of Hokkaido. Pure-blooded Ainu are easy to spot: they have lighter skin, more body hair, and higher-bridged noses than most Japanese. Most Japanese tend to look down on the Ainu. Brace has studied the skeletons of about 1,100 Japanese, Ainu, and other Asian ethnic groups and has concluded that the revered samurai of Japan are actually descendants of the Ainu, not of the Yayoi from whom most modern Japanese are descended. In fact, Brace threw more fuel on the fire with: "Dr. Brace said this interpretation also explains why the facial features of the Japanese ruling class are so often unlike those of typical modern Japanese. The Ainu-related samurai achieved such power and prestige in medieval Japan that they intermarried with royality and nobility, passing on Jomon-Ainu blood in the upper classes, while other Japanese were primarily descended from the Yoyoi." The reactions of Japanese scientists have been muted so. One Japanese anthropologist did say to Brace," I hope you are wrong." The Ainu and their origin have always been rather mysterious, with some people claiming that the Ainu are ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf065/sf065a01.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 79: Jan-Feb 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Revolving Sphere Of Light The following report is from H.D . Mayor, a scientist at Baylor College of Medicine: During an incredible electrical storm [in Houston, Texas, on 18 June 1991] in the evening while sitting at a table in the breakfast room, I saw a ball of lightning enter the utility room [an extension of the breakfast room] apparently through the back door. It hovered as a revolving sphere of bright yellow, orange and red light about 10 inches in diameter, in the air about three feet above the floor. It stayed in the same place. After about two or three seconds the globe disappeared with a loud pop rather like a discharge from a champagne bottle. The discharge was followed by a distinct odor of ozone. My Siamese cat also appeared to see the ball; at least he ran toward it. (Mayor, Heather D.; "Watching the Ball," Nature, 353:496, 1991.) From Science Frontiers #79, JAN-FEB 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf079/sf079g14.htm
... British meteorologists are investigating a link between a fastmoving object crossing the Pacific and the mysterious appearance of crop circles in English fields. "A ship from Tokyo University's Ocean Research Institute was in the Pacific when its radar equipment located a large object travelling more than four times the speed of sound. The radar discounted it as an aircraft because of its size, 400 metres across, and it sped northwards. "The Japanese scientists identified the object as a plasma vortex, caused by freak weather. The phenomenon is similar to ball lightning and believed to be generated by 'mini-tornadoes' of electrically-charged air. "Plasma vortices can be luminous at night. 'They are often mistaken for UFOs,' says Dr Terence Meaden, director of the Oxford-based Tornado and Storm Research Organization." (Spicer, Andi; "Clue to mystery of Circles," London Observer, May 20, 1990. Cr. T. Good via L. Farish) Alien Hieroglyphics? "The extraordinary variety of circle formations and multiple-ringed circles is quite unlike what one would expect for a natural phenomenon, such as an atmospheric vortex. The complexity has increased through the 1980s, and this year it has developed at a startling pace. "In May there began to appear what researchers call pictograms. Initially these consisted of two circles joined by a straight channel of flattened corn, with extra features such as rectangles or semicircular rings. There have now been about 20 of these. The latest have quadrupled the length to about 150 yards and consist of complex arrangements of ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf072/sf072g12.htm
... onto downtown sidewalks yesterday afternoon. The winged mammals were sick and dying, and no one knows why. "' I have never seen bats on the sidewalk at 4 o'clock in the afternoon before,' said restauranteur Chris Farkas after encountering the bats in the 600 block of Main Street. 'About half of them were crawling on the ground. There were about 50 in the air flying around.'" Many of the bats subsequently died. Two possible causes advanced were heat-stroke and building fumigation. Neither could be shown correct. (Gilberto, Julie; "Scores of Bats Rain on Downtown," Fort Worth Telegram, September 7, 1989. Cr. R.L Anderson.) Comment. Bat falls and bird falls are rare in the Fortean literature. Storms, intensely cold weather, and sheer exhaustion are the most common causes. From Science Frontiers #66, NOV-DEC 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf066/sf066b09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 74: Mar-Apr 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Eel Oddities Garter snakes are reknowned for their habit of congregating in large, writhing masses, but we never heard of "eel balls" until A. Gardiner mentioned them in a recent issue of the Fortean Times. "These [eel balls] are recorded in Christopher Moriarty's excellent Eels: a Natural and Unnatural History (David and Charles, 1978). Moriarity cites Pliny as the earliest historical reference. According to him, Eel Balls occur in Lake Garda, Italy, when it has been storm-tossed by the effects of the October 'Autumn star'. Smitt in his Scandanavian Fishes (1895) says that eels knot themselves together in bunches 'up to a fathom in circumference' and are seen rolling along the stream beds, or, strangely, resting in this position. On 17 August 1935, fishery scientist J.C . Medcof observed, in the outflow of Lake Ainslie in Nova Scotia, 'three splendid clumps of Eels, half a metre in diameter, 30 to a clump, knotted tightly and remaining motionless in the rushes.' Medcof mentions that Eel Balls are sometimes free floating on the surface, which suggests formation with an air pocket or some communal control of air bladders. He says that this behavior occurs before eels 'silver' prior to the spawning migration. The record of Eel Balls in Nova Scotia proves that this behaviour is not confined to the European Eel." ( ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf074/sf074b06.htm
... to being "baffled," there must really be something to the phenomenon! Spook Hill is located on a section of road in Lake Wales, Florida. Here, at Spook Hill, the road "seems" to slope downhill, but yet cars in neutral apparently roll up the incline. Wilder, a member of the Tampa Bay Skeptics, made several pertinent observations during his investigation: "( 1 ) Although the phenomenon is striking when one approaches Spook Hill from one direction, if one gets out of the car and looks back, it is quickly apparent that one's senses have been deceived. Because the illusion fails when one looks in the opposite direction, the road has been made one-way, so that tourists will not be disappointed! "( 2 ) A storm drain is positioned at the true low point of the road, and cars seem to roll up to the drain. Water, in its gravitational wisdom, knows where to go! Neither were the city engineers fooled." Conclusion: Spook Hill is only an amusing illusion; there is no gravitational anomaly. (Wilder, Guss; "Spook Hill: Angular Vision," Skeptical Inquirer, 16:58, 1991.) From Science Frontiers #79, JAN-FEB 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf079/sf079g13.htm
... St. during the height of yesterday's thunderstorm. "' I was stunned,' Perrow said. "It was so smooth-looking. It was like a big ball of fire.' "Perrow said the ball moved alongside the car up to the front wheel and 'exploded' when the car went into the garage. "' It sounded like a bomb,' she said. "We expected to see a hole in the ground, but there was none.' "Chase Trowbridge, Perrow's grandson, said the ball was hovering about five or six inches off the ground. 'It moved very slowly; we were watching it for about 10 seconds,' he said. 'It was weird.'" (Macrae, Scott; "Powerful Storm Hurls Rare Ball Lightning," Quincy Patriot Ledger , June 13, 1991. Cr. B. Green wood) From Science Frontiers #77, SEP-OCT 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf077/sf077g15.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 57: May-Jun 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The large-scale structure of electrical storms Ground-based observers see only a few of the anvil-shaped clouds comprising a big electrical storm. The entire storm may stretch for hundreds of kilometers -- and it is not a simple structure. The latest surprise is that all large electrical storms are bipolar; that is, the rare positive lightning strokes are concentrated at the northeast end of the storm complex, while the negative strokes are everywhere else along a northeast-southwest line. This bipolar structure persists for several hours, and it has been found in all North American storms analyzed so far. This insight into the structure of large electrical storms was provided by magnetic lightning detectors that have now been installed over nearly 75% of the United States. The positive lightning strokes are of longer duration and more liable to start fires than the common negative strokes. But why are they concentrated at one end of the storm complex? R. Orville ventures that in a big mesoscale electrical storm, the prevailing winds blow the positively charged upper portions of the clouds to the northeast, thus establishing bipolarity. (Orville, Richard E., et al; "Bipole Patterns Revealed by Lightning Locations in Mesoscale Storm Systems," Geophysical Research Letters, 15:129, 1988. Also: Anonymous; "New Lightning Theory Strikes," Eos, 69:57, 1988.) Reference. Large thunderstorm complexes are cataloged in GWH3 in ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 180 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf057/sf057g15.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 50: Mar-Apr 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Magnetic Precursors Of Large Storms On January 22, 1986, a magnetometer at the Fredricksburg Magnetic Observatory, in Virginia, recorded a sudden jump (of 45 gammas) in the earth's horizontal magnetic field component. Alerted to this, G. Wollin, at the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, immediately predicted that a major snowstorm or flooding rains would hit northeastern states within six days. Wollin contacted the weather people in the region, but they discounted the prediction because satellite pictures and conventional weather indicators implied nothing of the sort. A three-day storm began on January 25, depositing 3 feet of snow in northern New England and 4 inches of rain along the coast from Washington to Boston. Wollin has had similar successes, without even looking at a weather map! Obviously, Wollin's forecasting techniques are not yet part of the Weather Bureau's arsenal. This is not too surprising because even Wollin does not understand why major storms should be preceded by several days by nervous magnetometers. He talks in a tentative way about solar storms, which do affect terrestrial magnetism, dumping energy into the oceans and thence into the atmosphere. But this is mainly speculation. Historically, we do know that long-term changes in the earth's magnetic field are linked to global temperature levels (see graphs); but here, too, cause and effect are not obvious. (Gribbin, John; "Magnetic Pointers ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 125 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf050/sf050p22.htm
... scientists examine one kind of meteorite rich in iron, the H-chondrites, they find that the meteorites' ages do not spread evenly through time. Instead, the ages seem to cluster at 7 and 30 million years." Astronomers have hitherto been content to attribute these clumped ages to collisions among the meteorites' parent bodies - the asteroids - which ply periodic orbits. However, S. Perlmutter and R.A . Muller, at Berkeley, point to the apparent 26- to 30-million-year periodicities of three terrestrial phenomena: Biological extinctions in the fossil record, Magnetic field reversals, and Terrestrial-crater ages. Could there be a connection between the clumped meteorite ages and these terrestrial phenomena? Perlmutter and Muller propose that all of these phenomena are the consequence of periodic storms of comets that invade the inner solar system from the direction of the Oort Cloud of comets that purportedly hovers at the fringe of the solar system. These comets not only devastate the earth but also collide with the asteroids, knocking off those bits and pieces we call meteorites. (Anonymous; "Do Meteorite Ages Tell of Comet Storms?" Astronomy, 17:12, January 1989.) Comment. Unanswered above is the question of why comet storms should be periodic. One hypothesis is that Nemesis, the so-called Death Star, a dark companion of our sun, lurks out there, periodically nudging the Oort Cloud of comets, causing it to release some of its comets. From Science Frontiers #62, MAR-APR 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 34 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf062/sf062a05.htm
... anywhere to be seen, from one horizon to the other for 360 . "Out of nowhere, without warning, it poured extremely hard rain, hail, and toads. The hail balls were maybe the size of grapes to the size of peas. The toads were a medium brown in color and approximately the size of an adult's thumbnail. This whole incident lasted for less than 5 minutes, if my memory is correct. .. .. . "The highway and the desert sands seemed to be one and the same, and the whole area seemed to be alive and moving. By now, we were down to a very slow speed, and under closer observation we noticed that the area was littered with millions of hailstones and those toads hopping all over. "The storm stopped as fast as it started, and the toads disappeared just as fast. I'll never forget how slippery the road was as we drove over those toads, and the popping of their bodies under the tires of my automobile." (Schuler, Richard A.; personal communication, July 23, 1987.) Comment. The sudden onset of the violent storm and the huge numbers of toads are both difficult-to-account for. If a whirlwind picked up the toads, as prevailing explanations would have it, where in nature would the whirlwind find such a concentration of toads? Reference. Frog and toad falls are cataloged in GWF11 in our Tornados, Dark Days. Ordering information here . From Science Frontiers #54, NOV-DEC 1987 . 1987-2000 ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf054/sf054g15.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 54: Nov-Dec 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ball Lightning In Bavaria August 2, 1921, Hohenschaftlern, Ba varia. 9:00 AM. "The witness who reported the event was nine years of age at the time of the observation, and was indoors with her uncle on the first floor of a building during a severe morning thunderstorm with heavy rainfall. There was a lull in the storm and the ball lightning appeared on the left side of the window sill about 4-5 m from the observers. The window had been left open because there was a balcony above it which prevented the rain from entering the room. "The ball fell to the floor where it jumped up and down once or twice. It then started to roll slowly towards the observers across the floor, at about the speed of a dropped ball of wool. Its diameter was about 20 cm, it was translucent, and the rapidly changing colours showed spots of light green, crimson, light blue and pale yellow. It was bright enough to be clearly visible in daylight, and it was uniformly bright over its entire surface. It had protrusions 'like the Andromeda nebula.' "When it came near the table, where my uncle and I were sitting, I tried to get up to have a closer look. My uncle (fortunately) held me back. It then rolled towards the tiled stove on the right side of the room, crept up the iron parts of the ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf054/sf054g16.htm
... which is isotopically uniform and apparently comes from a single global fire. The soot layer coincides with the Ir layer, suggesting that the fire was triggered by meteorite impact and began before the ejecta had settled." The composition of the hydrocarbons in the sediments points to the earth's biomass (mainly surface vegetation) as the source of the soot. The total quantity of K-T soot is equivalent to that which would be produced by burning 10% of all present terrestrial plant material. (Wolbach, Wendy S., et al; "Global Fire at the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary," Nature, 334:665, 1988.) Comment. Unmentioned in the above article is the possibility that extensive wildfires might have been generated by volcanic eruptions, perhaps accompanied by great electrical storms. The 1988 fires in Yellowstone needed no meteoric impact. Reference. Chemical anomalies in the earth's crust are cataloged in ESC1 in Anomalies in Geology. To order this catalog volume, visit: here . Concentration "spikes" of iridium, elemental carbon and soot at the KT boundary, Woodside Creek, New Zealand. (Adapated from Nature, 334:665, 1988). From Science Frontiers #60, NOV-DEC 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf060/sf060p11.htm
... snowflakes, W.S . Pike lists eleven instances where flakes more than 5 centimeters (2 inches) in diameter have been observed. Of these, we have already cataloged six in GWP2, in Tornados, Dark Days, Anomalous Precipita tion, including the prize of the lot: the 15-inch snowflakes that parachuted down on Fort Keough, Montana, on January 28, 1887. Five of Pike's cases that we did not catalog have diameters of "only" 5 or 6 centimeters. The sixth uncataloged observation would certainly have been worth including if we had known about it: March 24, 1888. Shirenewton, England. "Snowstorm with extraordinary flakes, some were 3 3/4 in. in diameter, yet only in. thick, falling like plates. The storm lasted only 2 minutes but in this short period the ground was covered 2 in. deep." The quotation is from British Rainfall, 1988, as requoted by Pike. In all cases, huge snowflakes are really aggregations of many thousands of individual flakes. Observers have thought that the big flakes attract individual flakes. (Pike, W.S .; "Unusually-Large Snowflakes," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 13:3 , 1988.) Comment. Could electrostatic forces be involved? Reference. The catalog Tornados, Dark Days, mentioned above, is described here . Snowflakes 38cm in diameter fall in Montana. (From Tornados, Dark Days, etc). From Science Frontiers #57, MAY-JUN 1988 . 1988-2000 William R ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf057/sf057g16.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 42: Nov-Dec 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Peace And Sunspots We quote the abstract of an article that appeared in the journal Cycles: "Periods of international peace were found to occur in nearly regular cycles of 11 years by Edward Dewey in 1957 by analyzing the earlier data of Raymond Wheeler. In this paper the phase relationship between sunspot cycles and international battles was investigated. It was found that peaceful periods ended 7 out of 11 times within two years prior to sunspot peaks. The probability of this occurring by chance is less than .008. "Geomagnetic storms are postulated as the triggering event since: Geomagnetic storms are known to occur with greater frequency and intensity near sunspot peaks; and Geomagnetic storms have been found by other researchers to be associated with increased frequency of accidents, illness, psychiatric hospital admissions, and crimes." (Payne, Buryl; "Cycles of Peace, Sunspots, and Geomagnetic Activity," Cycles, 35:101, 1984.) From Science Frontiers #42, NOV-DEC 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 34 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf042/sf042p06.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 47: Sep-Oct 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A True Fish Story "It happened during a smelt storm in early spring with the Rhonda K foundering dead in the icy water amid terrifying six- and eight-foot waves off Lake Huron's Thunder Bay light near Alpena." Wait a minute! A SMELT STORM? "' Spookiest thing I even saw,' Stiles said of the small fish carried from the water by the winds. 'Something I never heard of before. Smelt started falling from the sky. Thousands of smelt falling like a silver rain, and thousands of gulls going after them. The gulls were all around our heads picking up the smelt.'" (Barton, John; "A True Fish Story," Ann Arbor News, July 24, 1986. Cr. C.R . Engholm.) From Science Frontiers #47, SEP-OCT 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf047/sf047p16.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 41: Sep-Oct 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ball lightning strikes twice!Summer 1977. Haymarket, Virginia. A severe storm was threatening. Mrs. Patricia Townsend was standing in front of her kitchen counter talking on the telephone. "Several things happened at the same time and the whole incident probably lasted no more than a few seconds at the most. While I was on the phone, I heard a tremendous crack, something like the report of a high-powered rifle or the sound of a bat hitting a baseball. At the same time the outside of my house, meaning the outdoors, lit up brilliantly. A split second later or perhaps at the same time, I heard a loud swooshing or hissing noise and the phone seemed to come alive in my hand. Then my whole kitchen lit up like a floodlight. Lightning or electricity or whatever it was seemed to flow rapidly from the open kitchen door across the expanse of the far end of my kitchen at ceiling level as shown by the jagged line in my drawing. I'm not sure where the red ball came from but I have depicted it as coming from the jagged lightning on my ceiling. Anyhow, almost at the same time as the lightning zoomed across my kitchen and the phone started vibrating in my hand, a large red ball (with yellow and white somewhere) appeared in front of me and hit me on the chest with the force of a large man hitting me with his ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 17 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf041/sf041p16.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 45: May-Jun 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Some English Meteorological Anomalies August 16, 1985. Annesley Woodhouse, England. A "scorching" tornado. "What was interesting about the storm was not only the damage it caused, but also the type of damage. After touching down the tornado uprooted a large oak tree, 15 metres high, in Lawn Road (luckily the residents of the house were away on a holiday). The tornado proceeded to rip tiles off several roofs, demolished completely several greenhouses, and next scorched a 4-metre section of gable on the south side of a house in Forest Street (number 9). The gable section was scorched so badly that the gable had already been repainted when I called, although the evidence could still be seen." (Matthews, Peter; "Lightning inside a Tornado?" Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 10:375, 1985.) July 1, 1952. Nottingham, England. Unusual features of a spectacular thunderstorm. Some recently reviewed records of a great thunderstorm mention two interesting anomalies: Hailstones 2 inches long shaped like cigarettes Three successive balls of lightning corkscrewing down from the sky. (Meaden, George T.; "Cigarette-Shaped Hailstones and Spiral Descent of Ball Lightning," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 10:332, 1985.) Reference. The foregoing anomalies are discussed in our Catalog of Anomalies. See GWT2 in Tornados, Dark ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf045/sf045p19.htm
... 72 kilometres per second, if the red shifts are interpreted as indicating the recession velocities of the galaxies. According to the latest evidence, this provides a yardstick against which we can measure the absolute motion of the Sun through space. This rather startling indication that the red shifts of galaxies are quantised, rather like the atomic spectral lines by which the red shifts themselves are measured, has a pedigree that goes back more than 10 years. Since 1972, W.G . Tifft, of the University of Arizona, has been producing evidence for the red shift quantisation from analyses of various catalogues of galaxy red shifts and, as his collection of data has mounted, the idea, unpalatable though it seemed at first, has become steadily more respectable. It has not taken the astronomical world by storm, and even Tifft has no definite idea why the red shifts should be grouped like this. But it is no longer possible to dismiss the evidence out of hand." Actually, Tifft has speculated that galaxy redshifts might represent an intrinsic property of galaxies, which takes on quantized values, like the energy states of an atom! (Gribbin, John; "Galaxy Red Shifts Come in Clumps," New Scientist, p. 20, June 20, 1985.) Comment. We have touched before on the possible quantization of macroscopic nature. See: SF#36, "Galactic Shell Game," and SF#32, "Thou Canst Not Stir a Flower/Without Troubling of a Star." Reference. Redshift quantization is cataloged in AWF8 in our Stars, Galaxies ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf041/sf041p04.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 29: Sep-Oct 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Satan's storm June 1960. Kopperl, Texas. Thunderclouds and lightning gave way to winds in excess of 75 mph, with temperatures of up to 140 F. Surveying the storm damage later: "Aside from the expected remains of a severe wind storm -- uprooted trees, snapped telephone poles, roof damage and banged-up boats docked lakeside -- the area had the ironic appearance of having been stung by a June freeze. Tree leaves, shrubs, hanging plants and crops were curled and wilted, as if frost-bitten. Uncut Johnson grass was dried and ready to bale, although the hay normally required two or three days of drying time after being cut. Perhaps the most startling remains of the storm was in what had been the cotton patch at Pete and Inez Burns' farm. The cotton was about knee high and a 'lucious crop' the day before, according to the couple. The next morning all that was left were carbonized stalks peeping out of the ground. The corn fared little better." (Glaze, Dean; "Kopperl's Close Encounter with Satan's Storm," Meridian (TX) Tribune, May 12, 1983, p.1 . Article appeared originally in the Dallas Times-Herald Westward Magazine. Cr. J. Mohn) Comment. The consequences of this storm closely resemble the burning and drying effects of some tornados. See GWT in our ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 165 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf029/sf029p11.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 31: Jan-Feb 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Three Anomalies In One Storm "During the passage of a cold frontal trough between 1030 and 1100 GMT on Monday 21 March 1983, squally thunderstorms affected south Cheshire and north Staffordshire. Two incidents of ball lightning, a fall of seashells and three occurrences of probable tornado damage were reported, mostly within a 10 km radius of Stoke-on-Kent." At Camillus Road, Knutton. Ball lightning about 40 cm in diameter with a luminous tail 4 m long. One observer saw it descend at an angle of 45 and hit the roadway. At Kingsley: "A large white luminous ball, probably over a metre in diameter, blasted its way into a factory workshop by shearing an irregular hole through a steel-mesh-reinforced window. There was no evidence of any fusion of the glass. The ball, accompanied by a deafening roar, passed very quickly in a straight line through the processing shop and left by blasting a 2 by 3 metre hole in a wall of 6 mm corrugated asbestos, fragments of which were later found 20 to 30 metres away outside the factory." At Dilhorne. Sea shells fell with heavy hail: "They extended for an area of about 50 by 20 metres and occurred in thousands on lawns, flower beds, paths and even the road. Roy was kind enough to give me half-a -dozen specimens for identification. They turned out to be small gastropods, almost ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 57 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf031/sf031p17.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 38: Mar-Apr 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ball Lightning And Blue Flashes May 31, 1982. Wakefield, England. Kitchen: Blue flashes from a white cellar "We live to the south of Wakefield on the ground floor of a large Victorian house with high ceilings, attics and cellars. Our kitchen and living room face roughly S.S .W . In the late afternoon, a very heavy thunderstorm erupted with torrential rain, and thunderclaps and forked lightning occurring not quite, but almost, simultaneously. Towards the end of the storm, about 5.30 P.M ., I was in the kitchen and my mother in the living room, both facing the windows. There was a very loud peal of thunder and a loud crack, rather like the little explosion of a Christmas cracker greatly magnified. I was at the sink, close to the window, on the ledge of which stands an electric Corvette water heater, plugged in but not switched on. Beside me, about four feet from the ground and two feet to the left of me, at the moment of the crack, there appeared for a second or so, electric blue flashes, six to eighteen inches in length coming from a white centre. I felt nothing, but was startled. There was no damage to the water heater or anything else. Just as I exclaimed at the blue flashes, I heard my mother cry out and ran to her in the living room. She ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf038/sf038p14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 33: May-Jun 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Crab Fall At Brighton June 5, 1983. Brighton, England. A large spider crab dropped out of a storm cloud in front of Julian Cowan. The crab measured 25 centimeters across and had a 7-8 centimeter shell. It was dead and lacked two legs and one claw. The fall was followed almost immediately by wind-driven hailstones. (Meaden, G.T .; "The Remarkable 'Fall' of a Crab at Brighton, 5 June 1983," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 9:56, 1984.) Reference. A broad spectrum of falling animals is described at GWF10-14 in our Catalog: Tornados, Dark Days. Information on this book is located here . From Science Frontiers #33, MAY-JUN 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf033/sf033p21.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 24: Nov-Dec 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Balls Of Fire Enter Room Through Metal Screens "Thunderstorms are frequent in the Entebbe Peninsula, Lake Victoria (Uganda). During one of these storms, which usually come at night time, there was a simultaneous flash of lightning and its associated clattering crash of thunder. A second or less later, several balls of brilliant blue light, about 4-6 cm diameter, entered the room through a window on the south side and 'floated' across the room to leave by a window on the east side. My wife and I were already awake (it would have been difficult not to be) and independently exclaimed aloud on what we had just seen." Both windows were open but had metal screens. The same phenomenon occurred again during the same rainy season. (Gillett, J.D .; "Balls of Fire," Nature, 299:294, 1982.) Comment. Ball lightning is fairly rare; repeat performances are virtually unheard of. For the many other varieties of ball lightning, see Section GLB in our Catalog: Lightning, Auroras. More information on this volume is located here . From Science Frontiers #24, NOV-DEC 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf024/sf024p14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 37: Jan-Feb 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Shower Of Coke The following is testimony from the Bournmouth Meteorological Registrar: "After the severe thunderstorm of 5 June 1983, it was brought to my attention that large amounts of coke had fallen in a gentleman's garden. After being reported in the local press and on local radio that evening, my telephone never stopped ringing with reports of coke haven fallen all over the Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch area. I investigated several reports and found the pieces to be the same, all having been discovered over lawns, paths, etc. and all found after the storms of the 5th. At one lady's house I picked up 92 pieces of coke and there were still many pieces left. The largest piece of coke measured 6.0 cm by 4.6 cm. At one investigation I was given small roof-like stone chippings which the lady said she saw in melting hailstones." (Rogers, P.A .; "Remarkable Shower of Coke from Cumulonimbus," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 9:220, 1984.) From Science Frontiers #37, JAN-FEB 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf037/sf037p17.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 9: Winter 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Chilly Martian Night Viking Lander 2 photographed frost on Mars in September 1977 during the Martian winter. A planet-wide dust storm had just subsided, and the theory evolved that both water and carbon-dioxide ice had frozen on dust particles in the atmosphere. Such particles were heavy enough to fall and give the scene around Viking a snow-like coating. However, frost was again photographed in 1979 (one Martian winter later) without the benefit of a dust storm. So, Mars theorists are in a quandary -- no dust, then no frost theory is reasonable. (Anonymous; "Viking, Three Years Later," Eos, 60:635, 1979.) Comment. Evidently, frost cannot form directly on the Martian surface as it does on earth due to the very low vapor pressure of water on the planet. From Science Frontiers #9 , Winter 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf009/sf009p06.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 8: Fall 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects An oasis on mars -- no palm trees but...Most of the data returned from the Viking Landers and Orbiters confirm a highly desiccated surface for Mars. Life-as-we-know-it would seem to be impossible in such an ultra-dry environment. The Solis Lacus region is an exception. On occasion, Orbiter photos of this region have revealed heavy frosts and fogs. Further, the clouds here have more moisture in them than elsewhere on Mars. Conclusion: Considerably more water exists near the surface of the Solis Lacus region than elsewhere. Since this area was the source of the great 1971 Martian dust storm, one wonders whether the unusual concentration of water has been revealed only because winds have stripped off the normally dry surface layer. (Huguenin, R.L ., et al; "Mars: An Oasis in Solis Lacus," Eos, 60:306, 1979.) Comment. Close-up photos of Mars show many signs of fluid erosion. Abundant water may still remain well below the planet's surface. Reference. Probable wet areas on Mars are cataloged at AME16 in The Moon and the Planets. Ordering information for this book is located here . From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf008/sf008p04.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 7: June 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Solar Activity Triggers Microearthquakes Several scientists have suggested connections between solar activity, geomagnetic activity, and earthquake frequency. Singh has also found strong correlations between geomagnetic activity (definitely sun-triggered) and microearthquakes. He discovered first that the great solar storm of August 1972 was accompanied by large surges of both geomagnetic activity and microearthquakes. Following this lead, he studied records between 1963 and 1969, again finding strong correlations. (Singh, Surendra; "Geomagnetic Activity and Microearthquakes," Seismological Society of America, Bulletin, 68:1533, 1978.) Comment. While one can conceive of ways in which the streams of electrically charged solar plasma can modulate geomagnetic activity, the coupling of solar plasma variations to microearthquakes is more obscure. From Science Frontiers #7 , June 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf007/sf007p11.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 6: February 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Strange high-level haze in the arctic Every March and April, the supposedly pristine air of Alaska is defiled by a peculiar haze concentrated at about 10,000 feet. The sky has a whitish, diffuse look; from an airplane the horizon seems to disappear entirely. Is the haze due to pollutants in this remote region? Recent studies indicate two components in the haze: (1 ) Dust, and (2 ) Sulfuric acid droplets. Both of these must be imported because there are no sources of such materials in the arctic. Violent wind storms in the Gobi Desert may carry some dust into the arctic. Strong winds might also transport sulphuric acid from Japanese industries to Alaska. These are speculations, though, and no one is sure where this haze comes from or how far it extends beyond Alaska into the stable, stagnant air over the Arctic Ocean. (Anonymous; "Alaska's Imported Haze," Mozaic, 9:41, September/October 1978.) From Science Frontiers #6 , February 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf006/sf006p09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 18: Nov-Dec 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Giant Thunderstorm Clusters Conventional wisdom has it that thunderstorms are small-scale phenomena 50100 miles across. However, J.M . Fritsch and R.A . Maddox of NOAA have announced that satellite photos show a radically different situation. The more violent thundersotrms are often organized into roughly circular clusters that may span 1000 miles. Previously, all thunderstorms were considered local convective storms that were regulated by upper air patterns. This view must now be changed because the newly recognized giant thunderstorm clusters actually modify planetary upper air flow. (Bardwell, Steven; "Satellite Data Show New Class of Thunderstorms," Fusion Magazine, p. 50, September 1981.) Comment. In SF#17, cosmic rays were shown to contribute to thunderstorm generation. Now it seems that cosmic rays may affect weather on a planetary scale. From Science Frontiers #18, NOV-DEC 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf018/sf018p11.htm
