Potential Topic for Pic-o-d'Dayo

[carl_gustov]

Just fantastic electrical phenomenon happening daily for over 500 years in Venezuela, of course EU hypotheses as to its cause will likely differ substantially from the established rhetoric about ionization in molecular gas heat/collisions in water vapor causing condensation and electrical discharge etc. There was a case in a Colorado wilderness area a while back where the ground suddenly heated to such a point that a little boys shoes melted to the spot. No other sign of volcanic activity but a subterranean coal fire was eventually deemed the culprit. Perhaps there is some electrical current emerging from the earth or conducting into it from space that would cause these otherwise unaccountable localized anomalies. Heres the link:

http://atlasobscura.com/places/relampag ... dium=email

[bboyer]

Impressive.

Relampago del Catatumbo
This everlasting lightning storm is the world's largest generator of ozone

Category
Weird Weather Phenomena

There's something strange in the air where the Catatumbo River flows into Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela...

For 140 to 160 nights out of the year, for 10 hours at a time, the sky above the river is pierced by almost constant lightning, producing as many as 280 strikes per hour. Known as the "Relampago del Catatumbo," this lightning storm has been raging, on and off, for as long a people can remember.

It was first written about in the 1597 poem "The Dragontea" by Lope de Vega. De Vega tells of Sir Francis Drake's 1595 attempt to take the city of Maracaibo by night, only to have his plans foiled when the lightning storm's flashes gave away his position to the city's defenders.

This happened again on July 24, 1823, when, during the Venezuelan War of Independence, Spanish ships were revealed by the lightning and defeated by the Simón Bolívar's upstart navy.

In fact, the lighting, visible from 40 kilometers away, is so regular that it's been used as a navigation aid by ships and is known among sailors as the "Maracaibo Beacon."

It's still unknown exactly why this area--and this area alone--should produce such regular lighting. One theory holds that ionized methane gas rising from the Catatumbo bogs is meeting with storm clouds coming down from the Andes, helping to create the perfect conditions for a lighting storm.

With a total of roughly 1.2 million lightning discharges per year, the Relampago del Catatumbo is thought to be the world's greatest producer of ozone. As the lighting rips through the air, it produces nitrogen oxide, which is later converted by sunlight into ozone, which ends up in a protective layer high above the planet.

But whether or not the Relampago del Catatumbo is the greatest single producer of ozone in the world, this region of Venezuela is still important to the environment, as its lightning helps to repair the earth's damaged ozone layer.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catatumbo_lightning
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?Categor ... eId=331550

[Grey Cloud]

Impressive indeed.
Nice find Carl_Gustov.

[seasmith]

~
GreyCloud,

Subterranean lair of your storied Typhon ??

~s~

[Grey Cloud]

~
GreyCloud,

Subterranean lair of your storied Typhon ??

~s~

I must confess that the thought did cross my mind. Either him or a Latin-American cousin? Unfortunately, Nonnus didn't mention an accent.

[flyingcloud]

That is quite a nice find.
Thank-you for the post.

[mharratsc]

You cannot look at that, and believe that lightning can be caused by "particles rubbing together in the atmosphere"

Would love to study the dynamics of that event!

Mike H.

[Plasmadoo]

1.2 million discharges per year ? that's roughly every 30 seconds - perhaps some clever engineer could harness that with towers,coils,magnets,whatever to provide power,peace and quiet and raise the profile of our electric world in Venezuela, albeit with reduce ozone benefits.

[MGmirkin]

Nearby, but not quite *in* the SAA...

(South Atlantic Anomaly)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Atlantic_Anomaly
http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/rosat ... _saad.html

Unsure if there's a connection or not?

Anyone know the precise Google Maps location of the area in question? IE, where the river enter the lake and/or where the perma-lightning sets up camp?

(Catatumbo lightning)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catatumbo_lightning

Best,
~Michael Gmirkin

[flyingcloud]

Anyone know the precise Google Maps location of the area in question? IE, where the river enter the lake and/or where the perma-lightning sets up camp?

the link in the original posting has it marked

Catatumbo1.gif (10.51 KiB) Viewed 10553 times

a google satellite view is obscured by clouds

[Anaconda]

This is an interesting atmopheric condition. I've read the Wikipedia explanation, but considering the shortcomings of the conventional explanation for lighning, it does seem warranted to consider EU explanations.

The first thing to consider are the physical conditions in the area:

-- Tall clouds consistently acompany the lightning.

-- The lightning happens over the marshy end of a large lake where a river feeds into the lake.

-- The marsh emits large amounts of methane.

-- The surrounding mountains are said to funnel in moisture and at the same time prevent drier winds from other directions.

-- This location is fairly close to the equator.

This seems to be a one of a kind anomaly. So, it would be important to identify physical conditions that are unique to the area. Of all the physical conditions, what are the ones that are unique, or could it be said that the combination of conditions adds up to the overall unique environmental conditions?

Are there any other unique conditions that haven't been listed?

is there a magnetic anomaly in the area?

Is there a possibility that the atmospheric conditions and ground conditons set up a strong consistent conducting medium from the ionosphere into the Earth's surface that sets up a "portal" from the ionosphere to the surface?

As stated in the TPOD Earth: A Self-repairing Capacitor:

One electrical device which serves as a model for cosmic plasma activity is the capacitor. A capacitor is a device for accumulating and storing electric charge. It is made of two conductors separated by an insulating medium. When charge is placed on one conductor it attracts charge of the opposite polarity on the other conductor. As a result, an electric field is set up between the conductors, a reservoir of electrical energy.

http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2004/ ... acitor.htm

Could I suggest the "insulating medium" in this area because of the unique conditions, instead acts as a "funnel" or portal across the insulating medium so that electricity consistently jumps from one conductor to the other?

May I also suggest that the mechanical conditions, tall clouds due to consistent wind patterns and the presence of methane which after commencement of the ligthning gets ionized by the lightning, which only strengthens the conductor properties of the atmosphere in this area are contributing factors? Consistent standing ligtning, also, may serve to ionize the water vapor to a higher degree than it already is, which also reinforces the electric current between the ionosphere and the surface in this area. In addition, the surface of a marsh with water and potential electrolytes (broken down biomass), and a hot, muggy (high level of water vapor in the atmosphere) surface, might also contribute. As would any magnetic anomaly in the vicinity.

And as opposed to the Great Plains of North America where converging warm and cold fronts collide, but generally move rapidly across the plains, this phenomenon because it is caused by a set of permanent physical conditions in this area acts as a "standing wave", as one might see a standing wave in a river due to a set of specific physical contours (rocks, depth, and what not) of the river bottom plus the strength and volume of the water in the river at the point where the standing wave exists.

Electrical phenomenon in the Electric Universe perspective tends to be a series of self-reinforcing feedbacks or positive feedbacks due its fractal nature (positive feedback loops). The positive feedback conditions are both electrical and mechanical (thermal, collision, and fluid dynamics) and in many situations they both feed off of each other to reinforce the conductor properties of the area or process in question.

[Total Science]

Great find.