Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Scientists Find Trigger For Northern Lights

Posted by timothy on from the when-aliens-are-tickled dept.

daftna writes "The New York Times (registration required) is reporting that NASA researchers 'have identified the trigger for the colorful electrical storms in the polar regions ... Scientists knew two events that occur in the tail of the magnetic field during substorms, but did not know which event acted as the trigger for the auroras.'"

5 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. Can we haz energy? by PetiePooo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Each substorm generates a current of about one million to two million amps over one to two hours, or a total energy equivalent to a magnitude-5 or magnitude-6 earthquake, Dr. Angelopoulos said.

    The question is, can we harness this energy? Is this a form of the limitless solar energy that we can enslave to our use, or are we limited to the radiated visible and near-visible spectrum?

    And if this is too far up and unavailable to us surface-dwellers, is it something that the LEO/MEO satellites could use for propulsion or power? I thoght I remembered reading something about a mag field powered satellite somewhere...

    1. Re:Can we haz energy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The overall movement of charged particles tends to trickle down though the many layers of the Earth's electromagnetic and ionized radiation fields, before it works it's way down to the lower layers of the atmosphere, and beyond that into the strata of the earth.

      Sometimes "windows" appear that allow easier transversal of a layer, such as in violent thunderstorms where "jet" or "sprite" movements of charge can be visibly seen.

      Logically, any system that could bridge one or more upper layers should be able to couple a significant amount of energy in the process.

      A ground based coupling circuit would seem ideal, whether that could be accomplished with an ultraviolet laser ionizing a path to ground, or a tuned circuit coupled to a large elevated capacitance, the idea would be to produce something a bit more predictable and useful than a lightning rod!

    2. Re:Can we haz energy? by Goobermunch · · Score: 4, Interesting

      We've been trying to put the Aurora to use for years. Back in the 60's, my father spent a lot of time in Homer, Alaska working on a Stanford Research Institute project to determine whether we could use the Aurora Borealis as a distant early warning system to detect Soviet transpolar ICBM launches. The theory was that, because the Aurora was a big electromagnetic storm, tossing a large hunk of ferromagnetic metal through it would cause a disruption that could be detected over the horizon.

      I don't what the ultimate results of the project were (though I suspect that it was not successful since we didn't use the aurora for that purpose), but Dad fell in love with the environment and the community up in Alaska. The place had such an impact that he made my mother promise to move there before they got married. That's why I grew up with this as the view from my bedroom window.

      --AC

  2. Trigger by HAARP? by Airw0lf · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So now that they know what the trigger is, can they use the HAARP to excite the Northern Lights?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAARP

    1. Re:Trigger by HAARP? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Ah, the foolish proles, already digesting the propagandist lies fed to you by your invisible wiki overlords. HAARP is in fact the culmination of hyper-advanced Tesla technologies and is in fact the Ultimate Weapon of the Conspiracy. How do you think that all those school shootings were taking place? Satanic Illuminati mind control using advanced weather warfare machines is the only sane conclusion.