Lightning-made Waves In Earth's Atmosphere Leak Into Space

TheNextCorner sends this quote from NASA: "At any given moment about 2,000 thunderstorms roll over Earth, producing some 50 flashes of lightning every second. Each lightning burst creates electromagnetic waves that begin to circle around Earth, captured between Earth's surface and a boundary about 60 miles up. Some of the waves – if they have just the right wavelength – combine, increasing in strength, to create a repeating atmospheric heartbeat known as Schumann resonance. ... NASA's Vector Electric Field Instrument aboard the U.S. Air Force's Communications/Navigation Outage Forecast System satellite has detected Schumann resonance from space. This comes as a surprise, since current models of Schumann resonance predict these waves should be caged at lower altitude, between the ground and a layer of Earth's atmosphere called the ionosphere."

Comments

this is a

[Anonymous Coward]

striking discovery

Re:this is a

[Anonymous Coward]

And "would have" would've been a better choice of words for you :)

Leaking energy

[RightwingNutjob]

Is this like other waveguide phenomena, where the first or second-order approximation says the energy vanishes exponentially within a fraction of a wavelength around the waveguide, but if you don't want your radar set (or microwave oven) to explode, you still need to invest heavily in ventilation and/or liquid cooling?

Re:Makes no sense

[Fluffeh]

Well, it's not so much the wind escaping the chamber, more along the lines of the sound making it out. The only thing "getting out" is electromagnetic waves - and to be honest, I am surprised that the atmosphere actually keeps most of them in. If you think about it, I guess is makes sense, given you can bounce radio signals off the atmosphere to get the signal past the horizon and such - but I was just surprised that electromagnetic waves from lightning get caught inside our atmosphere.

Class M Planet Discovery

[Anonymous Coward]

I suppose Schumann resonance occur on similar planets as well, and should be detectable.

Re:Makes no sense

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, it's not so much the wind escaping the chamber, more along the lines of the sound making it out. The only thing "getting out" is electromagnetic waves - and to be honest, I am surprised that the atmosphere actually keeps most of them in. If you think about it, I guess is makes sense, given you can bounce radio signals off the atmosphere to get the signal past the horizon and such - but I was just surprised that electromagnetic waves from lightning get caught inside our atmosphere.

You can hear them on your radio around 2-3mhz.

The frequencies

[IceFoot]

According to Wikipedia, the resonances occur at extremely low frequencies (ELF) around 7.83 (fundamental), 14.3, 20.8, 27.3 and 33.8 Hz. That's Hertz, not megaHertz. Now, how can we tune them in? I, for one, do not own a radio that can receive those frequencies.

Re:The frequencies

[Khyber]

33.8Hz can be picked up with the human ear. Mad Bass.

Re:The frequencies

[Khyber]

To add, 33.8 is a slightly sharp C1. It's about halfway between C1 and C#1 on the musical frequency scale.

Re:The frequencies

[dotancohen]

It's about halfway between C1 and C#1 on the musical frequency scale.

So, it's Java1?

No it can't

[dutchwhizzman]

It can't pick up these waves, because the human ear picks up sound, not magnetic waves. There are some bones in your sinuses that are magnetoceptic, but studies have yet to get detailed. It's such a rudimentary sense that you are barely able to pick up the magnetic north with it, so it's highly questionable that you'd be able to pick up rapidly alternating differences in magnetic fields.

It is however proven that these magnetoceptic bones are a real human sense. So yes, there's at least a sixth sense there. Oh, for that matter, totally off topic, your balance sense (inner ear) also counts, so make that a seventh, or an eighth, if you count the receptors for pheromones in your nasal cavity as well (debatable, since it's a form of smell, just not consciously perceived).