Earth - Telluric Currents

Historic planetary instability and catastrophe. Evidence for electrical scarring on planets and moons. Electrical events in today's solar system. Electric Earth.

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davesmith_au
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Re: Recovered: Earth (Telluric) Currents

Unread post by davesmith_au » Tue May 06, 2008 3:47 pm

A timely release from NASA...

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008 ... ist1080446
SCIENCE@NASA wrote:
[in reference to an 1889 "super" solar flare] ...Just before dawn the next day, skies all over planet Earth erupted in red, green, and purple auroras so brilliant that newspapers could be read as easily as in daylight. Indeed, stunning auroras pulsated even at near tropical latitudes over Cuba, the Bahamas, Jamaica, El Salvador, and Hawaii.

Even more disconcerting, telegraph systems worldwide went haywire. Spark discharges shocked telegraph operators and set the telegraph paper on fire. Even when telegraphers disconnected the batteries powering the lines, aurora-induced electric currents in the wires still allowed messages to be transmitted.

[...]

"More than 35 years ago, I began drawing the attention of the space physics community to the 1859 flare and its impact on telecommunications," says Louis J. Lanzerotti, retired Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories and current editor of the journal Space Weather. He became aware of the effects of solar geomagnetic storms on terrestrial communications when a huge solar flare on August 4, 1972, knocked out long-distance telephone communication across Illinois. That event, in fact, caused AT&T to redesign its power system for transatlantic cables. A similar flare on March 13, 1989, provoked geomagnetic storms that disrupted electric power transmission from the Hydro Québec generating station in Canada, blacking out most of the province and plunging 6 million people into darkness for 9 hours; aurora-induced power surges even melted power transformers in New Jersey. In December 2005, X-rays from another solar storm disrupted satellite-to-ground communications and Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation signals for about 10 minutes. That may not sound like much, but as Lanzerotti noted, "I would not have wanted to be on a commercial airplane being guided in for a landing by GPS or on a ship being docked by GPS during that 10 minutes."
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Re: Recovered: Earth (Telluric) Currents

Unread post by StefanR » Wed May 07, 2008 5:47 pm

Not sure of the connection, but what a photo :shock:

Image

Image

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/05/07 ... no-images/
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Telluric Currents

Unread post by bigjimsteele » Tue Feb 03, 2009 9:07 pm

I am interested in learning about telluric currents but information seems sparse and restricted to technical reports for electric grids or pipelines. I was wondering if there are estimates of the total energy generated in oceans and the earth surface. Or how telluric currents change as the solar magnetic field changes. Any information or links are greatly appreciated.

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Re: Telluric Currents

Unread post by MGmirkin » Wed Feb 04, 2009 10:36 am

I'd be interested as well... Telluric currents seem quite interesting to me. Not quite sure where to look for that info, though, or I'd go internet dumpster diving to find it myself. :D

I've seen a few anecdotal articles quoted over on I think it's the science frontiers (I think that;s the name) web site. But I wouldn't call that site anything close to mainstream or peer-reviewed. So all things with a grain of salt. Recall they weren't technical, just noting that large telluric currents over large spans of the USA or the Australian outback have been detected... But not much info more than that.

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Re: Telluric Currents

Unread post by MGmirkin » Wed Feb 04, 2009 10:41 am

Might try diving into either scholar.google.com or adsabs.harvard.edu (advanced search with geology / geophysics option checked) and try some combination of keywords with "telluric currents" "solar wind" "aurora" "electric field" etc. etc. See what pops up. Sometimes it's really just about finding the right set of keywords to unlock the right set of papers. Kind of like hunting for Easter Eggs on a DVD... ;o]

So much info sequestered in so many remote locations and journals. Wish there was an easier way...

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Re: Telluric Currents

Unread post by StefanR » Wed Feb 04, 2009 12:37 pm

Or of course the wonderful thunderbolts-forum ;)

Recovered:Earth (telluric) currents
The illusion from which we are seeking to extricate ourselves is not that constituted by the realm of space and time, but that which comes from failing to know that realm from the standpoint of a higher vision. -L.H.

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Re: Telluric Currents

Unread post by Steve Smith » Thu Feb 05, 2009 8:58 am

The terrestrial current flows could be due to the piezoelectric effect and might be initiated by quartzite compression. So-called "earthlights" are often seen prior to earthquakes, and are thought to be caused by the crustal movements squeezing silicon dioxide blocks hard enough for them to emit glow-mode ionic discharges.

Since the top layers of the crust appear to be composed largely of quartzite, iron oxides, and other semiconductor minerals, it doesn't take a lot to overcome their dialectric barrier and allow electric currents to flow. Earth is continuing to "relax" as it sheds accumulated electrodynamic energy input, so the crust will continue to "flex" for a long time to come.

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Re: Telluric Currents

Unread post by nick c » Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:58 am

Steve,
Earth is continuing to "relax" as it sheds accumulated electrodynamic energy input, so the crust will continue to "flex" for a long time to come.
Is this to say that the Earth is still adjusting (not in equilibrium) its' electrodynamic status to recent catastrophic events?

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Re: Telluric Currents

Unread post by Steve Smith » Thu Feb 05, 2009 1:10 pm

Yes my brother.

BTW -- here's an online classical electrodynamics textbook (210 pages) free to download.

Electromagnetic Field Theory

Also, Introduction to Plasma Physics

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Re: Telluric Currents

Unread post by Solar » Thu Feb 05, 2009 2:45 pm

Steve Smith wrote:The terrestrial current flows could be due to the piezoelectric effect and might be initiated by quartzite compression. So-called "earthlights" are often seen prior to earthquakes, and are thought to be caused by the crustal movements squeezing silicon dioxide blocks hard enough for them to emit glow-mode ionic discharges.

Since the top layers of the crust appear to be composed largely of quartzite, iron oxides, and other semiconductor minerals, it doesn't take a lot to overcome their dialectric barrier and allow electric currents to flow. Earth is continuing to "relax" as it sheds accumulated electrodynamic energy input, so the crust will continue to "flex" for a long time to come.
Excellent!! Thank you for stating that so succinctly.

That is one of the points brought out in the thread "SuperConductivity: Research & Findings & Thoughts". I'd recommend giving that one a read at your leisure Steve. Results of studies in superconductivity appear to reveal remarkable aspects that would appear to be applicable to the electrical dynamics of planets.
"Our laws of force tend to be applied in the Newtonian sense in that for every action there is an equal reaction, and yet, in the real world, where many-body gravitational effects or electrodynamic actions prevail, we do not have every action paired with an equal reaction." — Harold Aspden

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Re: Telluric Currents

Unread post by nick c » Thu Feb 05, 2009 2:48 pm

Steve, thanks for the 'Electromagnetic Field Theory' link. I'll save it in my favorite places.
The 'Introduction to Plasma Physics' link gives me an error message.
nick c

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Re: Telluric Currents

Unread post by Steve Smith » Thu Feb 05, 2009 5:17 pm

That's my fault. The last character of the link was missing.

Introduction to Plasma Physics

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Re: Telluric Currents

Unread post by MGmirkin » Thu Feb 05, 2009 6:27 pm

Solar wrote:
Steve Smith wrote:The terrestrial current flows could be due to the piezoelectric effect and might be initiated by quartzite compression. So-called "earthlights" are often seen prior to earthquakes, and are thought to be caused by the crustal movements squeezing silicon dioxide blocks hard enough for them to emit glow-mode ionic discharges.

Since the top layers of the crust appear to be composed largely of quartzite, iron oxides, and other semiconductor minerals, it doesn't take a lot to overcome their dialectric barrier and allow electric currents to flow. Earth is continuing to "relax" as it sheds accumulated electrodynamic energy input, so the crust will continue to "flex" for a long time to come.
Excellent!! Thank you for stating that so succinctly.
Folks might also be interested in this recent follow-up article on Freund and compression-related currents in rocks... With implications for earthquake genesis, etc.

(Breaking new ground)
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/37169

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Re: Telluric Currents

Unread post by Steve Smith » Thu Feb 05, 2009 6:33 pm

Tectonic F'ing plates again!

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Re: Telluric Currents

Unread post by bigjimsteele » Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:19 pm

Thanks for our suggestions. I have been googling but technical papers that may provide helpful info are usually charging more than I care to pay right now, and may not provide the desired math.
Steve Smith wrote:The terrestrial current flows could be due to the piezoelectric effect and might be initiated by quartzite compression.
I am sure that piezoelectric effects may contribute but changes in solar wind , CME etc have been shown to induce dramatic currents. The Solar Super storm of 1859 was reported to not only knock out most telegraphs but even start fires. Tidal motion has also been shown to generate currents and pipelines suffer corrosion due to coastal effects on the currents. Lord Kelvin tried to design a battery based on oceanic telluric currents.

I was curious if there are any calculations that estimate total currents and if those currents increased as the suns magnetic field increased. But because such calculations are so difficult and dependent the widely varying conductivity of the earth, there doesn't seem to be much info. But I would expect if the sun's energy increased, so would the telluric currents; just like an electric generator would produce more current with a stronger magnet.

If this is reasonable then it could be one of the yet to be explained ways that increased solar activity could impact climate other than just radiative forcing. And there is many studies showing correlations with the earth's temperatures and sunspot activity. The changing magnetic fields caused by the sun may be small but it is coupled to the tremendous mechanical energy of a rotating earth to produce varying currents. These currents can add heat like any electric heater. These currents may also amplify the heat more than radiative heating as the heat generated electrically is a product of the square of the current . Calculating currents in the ocean may be more manageable to calculate, but I have yet to see any global measurements.

It seems that NASA is findingunexpected magnetic holes in the earth's magnetosphere that allows more energy to reach earth. This energy appears to go unaccounted for. Measuring changes in oceanic telluric currents may be of some interest, as I also speculate that because there are few lightning strikes over the ocean, presumably due to the oceans' greater conductivity, that electric currents induced from solar activity could pass more directly into the oceans, without being detected. LIghtning over the land requires higher voltages to push the charge through the air to a less conductive crustal material. So terrestrial discharge is more noticeable.

Any thoughts regarding my ponderings are appreciated.

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