Mars Lights and Lightning
Aug 24, 2009

According to a previous Picture of the Day, Martian aurorae have been discovered that are centered on regions near the South Pole. Although Mars has no intrinsic magnetic field, it does possess concentrated bands of crustal magnetism in its lower latitudes. Electric Universe explanations notwithstanding, planetary scientists do not know what caused the peculiar magnetized stripes that seem to focus on a specific point in the south, or why the auroral events should be associated with them.

Recently, NASA investigators announced that they have detected "non-thermal radiation" from the Martian surface. Since the energy readings were independent of the surface temperature, and occurred during one of the giant dust storms that sometimes rage through the southern plains, the assumption is that they are evidence for lightning discharges.

The dust storms that occasionally engulf an entire hemisphere of Mars have been discussed several times in the past. They have been identified with dust devils—really tornado-like whirlwinds whose tops are higher than Mt. Everest—that appear to draw finely divided dust up through thousands of funnels and carry it for hundreds of kilometers. NASA scientists assume that the synchrotron radiation they detected was caused by electric charge build up in the sand grains that subsequently discharged as lightning, but that may not be the case.

What causes Martian dust storms and why are they electrified? The air is 100 times thinner on Mars and averages 75 degrees colder than Earth. The environment appears to be bone dry, with only some suggestive experiments by the Phoenix lander to indicate the possible presence of water ice. Yet Martian dust storms are larger than any seen on Earth. Occasionally, when Mars is closest to the sun, dust obscures the whole planet.

When NASA studied dust devils in the Arizona desert in order to understand more about the ones that have been seen on Mars, they found an electric field of up to 10,000 volts per meter associated with dust devils on Earth. The normal fair weather electric field at the Earth's surface measures 100 volts per meter. This suggests that dust devils on both Earth and Mars are atmospheric electric discharge phenomena similar to the electric breezes produced by "ionic wind" air purifiers

In the Electric Universe theory, no collisions from bouncing sand grains are necessary. Charge separation already exists in the atmosphere. Without clouds like those on Earth to send lightning down to ground level, the electric discharges on Mars form giant whirlwinds that are part of an interplanetary electrical circuit. It is that same circuit that drives weather systems on Earth. If this is true, then Martian “dust devils” and those on Earth are both illustrations of how electricity behaves in the solar system.

Electrons spiraling in a magnetic field will emit synchrotron radiation, the most common type of "non-thermal" radiation. Whirling, electrically charged dust storms, spinning at hundreds of kilometers per hour, create intense magnetic fields that tend to confine the charged particles and accelerate them around the vortex at high speed. Rapid acceleration, coupled with high voltages in the dust causes the electric glow seen recently on Mars.

Stephen Smith