Earthquake Lights

Earthquakes can have a devastating effect on populated areas and are notoriously difficult to predict. Many lives are lost each year due to catastrophic damage caused to buildings and even resulting tsunamis. Is it possible that strange lights in the sky may be a precursor to major earthquakes? Science says its plausible.

Earthquake lights have been reported as far back as 89 B.C.E. For the many years since then scientists have been skeptical of their existence due to a lack of physical evidence. The phenomenon has become much more credible since the advent of the video camera.

There have been bright lights in the sky captured on mobile film footage before and during very large earthquakes across the globe. Earthquake lights were captured on camera for the first time in 1965 in Japan.

Since then the phenomenon has been captured many times including during an earthquake in Qinghai Province, China in January 2022, in New Zealand in 2016 and in Italy in 2009.

The description of earthquake lights varies with each appearance. Sometimes they’re described as floating orbs usually greenish in colour. Other times they appear as cloudy green streaks similar to the aurora borealis.

Sometimes the light is said to flash ad dance across the sky like lightning. Most earthquake lights are seen in the sky while others are said to shoot up from the ground. Some have even reported seeing rainbow auras appear around clouds in the sky right before an earthquake.

Earthquake lights are grouped into two different types depending on when they occur during the earthquake. A pre-seismic earthquake light occurs from a few seconds to up to a few weeks prior to an earthquake and is usually observed closer to the quake’s epicenter.

A co-seismic earthquake light occurs either near the epicenter or at significant distances away from the quake while the ground is still moving. Earthquake lights during lower magnitude earthquakes and aftershocks series appear to be rare.

Scientists are not certain as to the cause of earthquake lights but think they are related to disruptions in the earth’s magnetic field caused by the massive changes in the ground. One possibility is that before an earthquake, the immense tension and pressure building in the ground may break apart groups of negatively charged oxygen atoms.

When this happens, those atoms rush to the surface and form clusters that create a charged gas that sends off light. Another possibility for some of the lights is that they could be caused by disturbances to the electrical grid from the ground shaking.

Researchers hope that by getting to the bottom of this phenomenon they will be able to give greater advance warning of significant earthquakes and give people a chance to ready themselves.