GEOPHYSICS
Geomagnetics & Consciousness
Geomagnetic Field Effects & Human Psychophysiology
Iona Miller, 2009-2013
http://www.amazon.com/Journal-Consciousness-Exploration-Research-Issue/dp/1490997571/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1420494716&sr=1-1&keywords=journal+of+consciousness+exploration+and+research%2C+4+issue+6
People <> Planet <> Solar Connection
- Research has proven that changes in solar/geomagnetic activity can affect our emotions and collective behavior.
- Every cell in your body is bathed in an environment of magnetic forces which are invisible to the human eye.
- Numerous rhythms within your body can synchronize with solar and geomagnetic activity.
- The earth’s magnetic resonances vibrate at the same frequency as human heart rhythms and brainwaves.
- The earth’s constantly changing electromagnetic fields may be affecting your day-to-day health, feelings and behavior.
- When the sun’s emission of a 2.8-gigahertz radiowave frequency is increased we tend to feel better.
- Geomagnetic field disturbance is associated with lowered heart rate variability, indicating our nervous system is not functioning as well.
- Earth’s magnetic fields can affect your health and daily life.
- Heart coherence helps reduce emotional reactions during solar flares.
- Solar flares can disrupt your sleep.
- Migraines may correlate with geomagnetic disturbances.
- You can feel more mentally fogged during solar flares.
- We are more intuitive during full-moon periods. (Heartmath)
ABSTRACT: This article covers some basics of geophyscs, electromagnetic effects on human psychophysiology, with some theories of psi and anomalous experience related to geomagnetics. Geophysics uses quantitative means to describe the physics of the Earth and its environment in space. This vast magnetic cocoon is a force-field that has sheltered our journey through space for billions of years. Sometimes strengthening and weakening over long periods, the magnetosphere protects us against the bombardment of particles continuously streaming from the sun (solar wind). Because the solar particles (ions and electrons) are electrically charged, they feed magnetic forces. Most are deflected by our planet's magnetic field. However, our magnetic field is a leaky shield and the number of particles breaching this shield depends on the orientation of the sun’s magnetic field.
A storm of mantle plumes is brewing deep within the Earth (NOVA transcript), threatening to weaken this crucial magnetic defense, increasing levels of space radiation. Another vector is the 2013 peak of Solar Cycle 24. NASA suggests the intensity of geomagnetic storms during Solar Cycle 24 may be elevated in some areas where the Earth's magnetic field is weaker than expected. Such field anomalies have potential psychophysical effects on human populations, as well as our technologies. Energetic events and ejections of plasma from the Sun cause dramatic changes in the radiation belts and magnetic field of Earth, as well as fluctuations in Schumann Resonance. Alpha brain rhythm (8-12 Hz) overlaps the Earth’s background frequency of 7-10 Hz, suggesting as many researchers have that our awareness is related to the rhythms of our host planet, and perhaps a coupling of individual and universal consciousness. Such oscillations are quantum time-keepers and bioregulators.
Electrical engineer, Ben Lonetree has continuously monitored several geophysical parameters over decades. His highly sensitive custom equipment outperforms government stations. He says, "There is a reason why my system responds to many things other magnetometers do not. Most are fluxgate mags. that sample a collapsing field at a very slow sample rate. My system is simply a very large induction coil that after the amplifier and filter stages couples into an analog to digital converter. I have the converter programmed to use a sample rate of 240 times per second. So the systems sees every little blip there is out there." He has conducted numerous experiments correlating local geophysical anomalies in earth's magnetic field with EEG brainwaves of many subjects, and anecdotal reports of changes in consciousness. Preliminary experiments were done as proof of concept with intent to investigate the possibilities more deeply. Mentioned here, the results are covered in another article. The sun inductively couples to the earth AND to humans. And human energy fields inductively coupling to other human fields. First we need an understanding of induction. We can connect our bodies energy field to Earth's field which in turn connects to the sun and other planets fields, which in turn can connect to the galaxy's core and beyond.
Keywords: geomagnetic field effects, geophysics, magnetosphere, space weather, paranormal potential, biophysics, anomalous experience, solar wind, brainwaves, EEG,
A storm of mantle plumes is brewing deep within the Earth (NOVA transcript), threatening to weaken this crucial magnetic defense, increasing levels of space radiation. Another vector is the 2013 peak of Solar Cycle 24. NASA suggests the intensity of geomagnetic storms during Solar Cycle 24 may be elevated in some areas where the Earth's magnetic field is weaker than expected. Such field anomalies have potential psychophysical effects on human populations, as well as our technologies. Energetic events and ejections of plasma from the Sun cause dramatic changes in the radiation belts and magnetic field of Earth, as well as fluctuations in Schumann Resonance. Alpha brain rhythm (8-12 Hz) overlaps the Earth’s background frequency of 7-10 Hz, suggesting as many researchers have that our awareness is related to the rhythms of our host planet, and perhaps a coupling of individual and universal consciousness. Such oscillations are quantum time-keepers and bioregulators.
Electrical engineer, Ben Lonetree has continuously monitored several geophysical parameters over decades. His highly sensitive custom equipment outperforms government stations. He says, "There is a reason why my system responds to many things other magnetometers do not. Most are fluxgate mags. that sample a collapsing field at a very slow sample rate. My system is simply a very large induction coil that after the amplifier and filter stages couples into an analog to digital converter. I have the converter programmed to use a sample rate of 240 times per second. So the systems sees every little blip there is out there." He has conducted numerous experiments correlating local geophysical anomalies in earth's magnetic field with EEG brainwaves of many subjects, and anecdotal reports of changes in consciousness. Preliminary experiments were done as proof of concept with intent to investigate the possibilities more deeply. Mentioned here, the results are covered in another article. The sun inductively couples to the earth AND to humans. And human energy fields inductively coupling to other human fields. First we need an understanding of induction. We can connect our bodies energy field to Earth's field which in turn connects to the sun and other planets fields, which in turn can connect to the galaxy's core and beyond.
Keywords: geomagnetic field effects, geophysics, magnetosphere, space weather, paranormal potential, biophysics, anomalous experience, solar wind, brainwaves, EEG,
Magnetosphere & Ionosphere
"Even a single cell has its characteristic shape and anatomy, all parts of which are in constant activity; its electrical potentials and mechanical properties similarly, are subject to cyclic and non-cyclic changes as it responds to and counteracts environmental fluctuations." –Mae-Wan Ho
"Twenty times more solar particles cross the Earth’s leaky magnetic shield when the sun’s magnetic field is aligned with that of the Earth compared to when the two magnetic fields are oppositely directed." --Marit Oieroset on THEMIS spacecraft data
"Twenty times more solar particles cross the Earth’s leaky magnetic shield when the sun’s magnetic field is aligned with that of the Earth compared to when the two magnetic fields are oppositely directed." --Marit Oieroset on THEMIS spacecraft data
I. GEOPHYSICS,
II. PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY,
III. PSI & ANOMALOUS PHENOMENA
II. PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY,
III. PSI & ANOMALOUS PHENOMENA
Flux Transfer Event, NASA
I. GEOPHYSICS
Introduction
A multidisciplinary science, Geophysics describes the physics of the Earth with quantitative means, including gravity, heat flow, vibrations, electricity, magnetism, electromagnetic waves, radioactivity, fluid dynamics, mineral physics, and its environment in space. We are learning more about how space weather affects life on Earth.
The Sun is a massive electromagnetic broadcaster which floods the planets of the solar system with heat, light, UV radiation and electrically charged particles. The Sun itself has a magnetic field that creates an "egg" around the solar system -- the heliosphere. The solar magnetic field polarity (solar dipole magnetic field) reverses in 11-year cycles associated with sunspot activity, peaking at solar maximum, in this Cycle 24 in 2013.
The Sun continues crackling with magnetic storms that may or may not spawn more Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) aimed toward our fragile globe. Streams of high-energy, charged particles rush from the sun to batter the Earth with protons and/or X-rays, and disrupt the magnetosphere. The length of that disruption varies until the magnetosphere is drained of its storm-time energy. Proton pulse events create spectacular aurora borealis displays as the particles pass through Earth's orbit, concentrating their energy on the northern parts of our planet.
NASA (Phillips) describes magnetic portals connecting the Earth and Sun as active and passive "flux transfer events" (FTEs). The Earth-Sun connection is unsteady, often escalating to dynamic bursts of energy. Magnetic fields in the magnetic cylinder twist and coil as the solar and earth fields merge approximately every eight minutes. Computer simulations help us understand how they work. Active FTEs let particles flow through conduits into Earth's magnetosphere. Passive FTEs offer more resistance to flowing particles and fields.
Earth has had a variable magnetic field for at least 3.5 billion years, which NASA characterizes as being in a "constant state of change". It is produced by convection currents of an electrically conducting iron-nickel alloy in the liquid core, about 3,000 kilometers below Earth's surface. It can be modified by emissions from the Sun, cosmic debris, and heat convection in the core of the planet. In recent years the magnetic pole has been wandering more quickly. Compass needles are drifting and the global magnetic field has weakened 10% since the 19th century.
At irregular intervals, averaging 300,000 years, the poles flip completely, but that is beyond the scope of this paper. The magnetosphere is a generally a highly stable field, which can be periodically inconstant, perpetually bombarded by energetically charged solar particles (solar wind). A mass of charged particles can slam into our planet’s magnetic field, sending jolts of electromagnetic energy shooting in all directions, causing what’s known as a geomagnetic storm. For sensitive people in the right [or wrong] locales it may also lead to "brainstorms".
Powerful fountains spew away from the sun as solar flares or coronal mass ejections (CME). If aimed at us, within hours they can bombard Earth with a shower of positively-charged hydrogen atoms, called protons. Proton bombardment can cause scientific and communications satellites to short-circuit. Highly sensitive people report dysphorias. Chemical reactions in the atmosphere can drastically diminished the upper-most areas of the ozone layer, that blocks life-threatening ultraviolet radiation from reaching the Earth.
The Earth's magnetic field extends about 36,000 miles (58,000 km) into space. It can be treated mathematically as a dipole field with a number of non-dipole elements. Generated from the spinning effect of the electrically conductive core, it acts like a giant electromagnet. In geologically ancient times, the field was 20 times stronger, but it has also been periodically weaker or even absent. Movement of the liquid and the solid parts of the Earth's core generate an electric potential, making the planet an electric generator. Regular daily and monthly fluctuations in the GMF are affected by weather, the Moon, and sunspots.
Magnetism is a property of the atom itself. Ultimately, the magnetic properties of matter are determined by the collective behavior of the negatively charged electrons that orbit the nuclei of atoms. The magnetic dipole moment (or magnetic field) of an individual electron has two components, one resulting from the spin of the electron about its own axis, the other from its orbital motion about the nucleus. Both kinds of motion may be considered as tiny circular currents (moving charges), thus linking electricity and magnetism at an atomic level.
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is a new ultra-sensitive single atom counting method that reads the concentrations of the most relevant long-lived cosmogenic radionuclides. Forming an archive of our earth, chronological deposits of such isotopes are found in trees, polar ice, lake and deep sea sediments. AMS is virtually the only way to measure their concentrations. Information about long term interval changes on solar activity, geomagnetic field and earth climate can be obtained and collated.
Turbulence & Polarity Transitions
The GMF is influenced by currents in the mantle on a time scale of tens to hundreds of millions of years. Temperature patterns within the lower mantle influence both the stability and intensity of the field. Massive changes in or on the Earth, including extinction events, follow a 26.6 million to 30 million year cycle over the last 250 million years. The solar system crosses the relatively dense galactic plane every 30 million years. GMFs are implicated in some mass extinction events.
Unexpected escalation of climate change demonstrates that perturbing natural cycles can lead to cascades of cataclysmic change related by complex dynamics. Our climate is degrading much faster than most of us thought. One small change can disrupt a system already in motion, ultimately leading to cataclysmic results.
As early as 1906, changes in the magnetization of some rocks opposite to that of the present day made it clear that some time ago it was different from the modern time. But, long before pole reversal -- or more accurately, geomagnetic reversal -- we could expect escalating experiential effects, based on effects we see during solar storms.
All kinds of mental and physical phenomena might fluctuate long before any ‘tipping point’. If ecological cataclysm looms (Lovelock, 2009), geomagnetic cataclysm is also a possibility. The Sun is also heating the interior of the earth, which increases volcanism and tectonic plate shift. It is heating the whole solar system.
Many land and underwater volcanoes are located on or near subduction zones, rifts, and trenches, associated with an increase of mantle plumes -- core heat rising to the surface. Large mantle plumes build islands, even continents. The land is built, stretched and destroyed on volcanic rift margins.
Compound dynamic forces have many effects:
Climate Change: Unexpected escalation of climate change demonstrates that perturbations in natural cycles can lead to cascades of cataclysmic change related to complex dynamics. Likewise for the ocean-conveyor, methane traps, and other threats to human survival. One small change, such as mantle-held flux, can disrupt a system already in motion, ultimately leading to cataclysmic results. Very little is known about the behavior of the magnetic field during the transition from a superchron (long periods without reversal) to a mixed polarity state, though we can imagine intense auroras surrounding the globe. Supernova gamma ray events, galactic superwaves (Laviolette, 1986) and cometary showers have been linked with geomagnetic excursions. Complex cycles of climate migration and Earth crust instability share 1) the sun-earth relationship, embedded in the solar system, 2) solar heliopsphere and bow shock of geomagnetic field, 3) Earth's connection to our galactic center plasma fields.
Polarity Intervals: Long before pole reversal -- or more accurately, geomagnetic reversal -- we might plausibly expect an amplification of human experiential effects. Geomagnetic cataclysm is only a possibility. In Australia around 28,000 B.P., a wandering di-pole event signaled sudden 3x expansion of the magnetic field. Some postulate a geomagnetic excursion around 12,500 B.P. that sent tribal villagers in the Levant back to nomadic life. (Mithen, 2004)
Paleomagnetosphere: Anomalous inclinations in the South Pacific are also recorded in the geological record for 2,500 and 12,500 years ago. (Lund, et al) There is also evidence of high-energy particle bombardment at the same time, associated with extinction events. 12,000, 32,000, 43,000 and 70,000 yrs ago the reduced magnetic field rendered Earth especially vulnerable to cosmic rays. Whether geomagnetic excursions admit cosmic radiation or the gamma blasts cause the excursions is uncertain. There have been some indications that geomagnetic reversals may occur astonishingly fast-- even within only a matter of months, according to one location of 16 million year old lava flows.
Magnetic Cataclysmic Variable: Geomagnetic reversal is chaotic in nature. Large oscillations of directions precede or follow reversals, showing waveforms with amplitude amplified by the decrease of the dipole. There is no apparent preferred location for the virtual geomagnetic poles (VGP). Asymmetry between pre- and post-reversal phases is a dominant characteristic, indicating the importance of field regeneration to initiate a new stable polarity interval. Virtual Dipole Moments show as reversed (R) polarity, intermediate-normal-reversed (I-N-R) change and subsequent normal (N) periods. There is no way we can predict it. Yet, it is a normal pursuit of science to identify and extrapolate future scenarios, including geomorphology. The goal is to anticipate and mitigate effects on humanity and the biosphere. We are challenged not by single alterations but a complex confluence of unstable systems. This is not to say, “The End is coming,” but to identify phenomena, which might arise along the way to major earth changes. It is permissible to ask, "What if..."
Chaotic Dynamics: Geomorphological systems containing bifurcations have both deterministic (universal and necessary) and probabilistic (historical happenstance) elements. They have more than one solution (configuration) and this fact calls into question notions of process domains leading to the development of characteristic forms. They possess varying degrees of susceptibility to change induced by fluctuations. They respond differently to local, regional, and global fluctuations. Geomagnetic Field (GMF) is one of these parameters. When meteor impact occurs there may be a time lag from initiating event to actual field reversal of many thousands of years. During part of the interim the field may measurably weaken down to a certain plateau. Then, after perhaps more thousands of years have passed at or near the plateau, a relatively sudden reversal may take place. There is evidence for extraordinarily rapid change of the geomagnetic field during a reversal.
Intense Heat & High Pressure
Geomagnetic reversal is chaotic in nature. There is no way we can predict it. Polarity reversal is connected heat convection in the mantle. The latest theory is that changes in heat flow from the Earth’s core into the base of the overlying mantle leads to pole shifts. Heat-loss in the core-mantle boundary drives the reversal. The mantle exerts a reciprocal control on the core.
Pole flip starts with short distance wandering of the north pole, to the extreme where magnetic north dips below the equator, ending in full magnetic reversal. Dr. Andrew Biggin suspects that True Polar Wander (TPW) changes the pattern of heat flowing out of the core.
TPW is caused by the changing density distribution in the mantle. It changes the pattern of heat flowing out of the core causing the magnetic field to first become less stable, with lots of reversals, and then become much more stable – and stop reversing. It stabilizes when there are less magma outpourings from the core.
The goal of geomorphology is to anticipate and mitigate effects on humanity and the biosphere. We are challenged not by single alterations but a complex of unstable systems. This is not to say, “The End is coming,” but to identify phenomena, which might arise along the way to major earth changes.
Geomorphological systems have both deterministic (universal and necessary) and probabilistic (historical happenstance) elements. They are difficult to predict having different processes with varying degrees of susceptibility to change induced by fluctuations. They respond differently to local, regional, and global fluctuation. GMF is one of these parameters.
South Atlantic Anomaly
The magnetic field occasionally flips over in its normal cycle. Reversals are random events. But they are preceded by marked field fluctuations such as the South Atlantic Anomaly (magnetic field intensity 60% of predicted value). In the last two hundred years, Earth's magnetic field decreased 10% in intensity.
The South Atlantic Anomaly (SSA) is above South America, about 200 - 300 kilometers off the coast of Brazil, extending over much of South America and the nearby portion of the Van Allen Belt. It is a weak spot in the GMF, Earth’s protective bubble. The envelope here is 1/3 of normal. As this field continues to weaken, the inner Van Allen belt gets closer to the Earth and proton bombardment increases. There is an increased flux in this region.
Sudden fluid motions within the Earth's core can alter the magnetic envelope around our planet. Researchers have just begun to detect such rapid magnetic field changes taking place over just a few months.
The last major reversal in the field took place about 780,000 years ago. A flip in the north and south poles typically involves a weakening in the magnetic field, followed by a period of rapid recovery and reorganization of opposite polarity.
Some studies in recent years have suggested the next reversal might be imminent, but the jury is still out. Weakening of Earth's overall magnetic field by 10 percent over the past 150 years might also point to an upcoming field reversal. But it only happens about once in a million years.
Earth is a Dynamo
When the sun reaches deep into the earth, it "talks" to her and modifies the generator within her. The ionosphere is one poorly understood channel. The sun interacts magnetically with the solid Earth, reaching down into the crust, generating forces that can trigger earthquakes that either rupture or slide.
Before major earthquakes, the crust "talks" back to the ionosphere, causing perturbations. Magnetic field maxima and minima move around over the surface of the earth. The total amount of coupling changes over time. Electrochemical loops cross, increasing quake likelihood.
Earth itself acts as a magnet. Minerals in the earth’s crust contain dormant electronic charge carriers. They act like electronic crystals when energized. Squeezing, heating or stressing such rocks activates them so they can travel through the earth for kilometers changing conductivity, generating Lorenz force interacting with tectonic force vectors, pushing the system over the edge. Rapid magnetic field variations lead to ULF emissions. They ionize the plasma in the atmosphere, measurably perturbing the ionosphere, the coupling mechanism.
Earth constantly generates ULF emissions. Life evolved in this ULF field. The fundamental Schumann Resonance is a standing wave in the atmosphere around 8 Hz. The human brain emits frequencies in the same region. Up to 12-14 days before a quake, broadband ULF emissions before major earthquakes can swamp the whole ULF spectrum, affecting the brains and circadian rhythms of animals and humans. Currents may be higher in highly mineralized areas with crystalline basement rock, such as Sedona.
Stressed rocks are active charge carriers which turns them into batteries. The driving force is deep magma and tectonic strain. Electric currents, up to millions of amperes, start to flow like in a semiconductor battery, perturbing earthquakes. Currents up to millions of amperes flow along stress gradients, fluctuating and emitting EM radiation. Therefore, Earth emits powerful broadband EM waves prior to quakes, in microhertz to about 20 hz. extremely low frequencies (ULF).
Paleomagnetic records show that the dipole polarity of the geomagnetic field reversed many times in the past. Convection in the fluid outer core is continually trying to reverse the field. However, the solid inner core inhibits magnetic reversals because the field in the inner core can only change on the much longer time scale of diffusion. Only once in many attempts is a reversal successful. This is probably the reason the times between reversals of the Earth's field are long and randomly distributed.
Geophysics
Scientists from the Institute for Geomagnetism at the Russian Academy of Sciences say the magnet poles are gradually drifting towards the Equator, reaching zero point in about 2,000 years, which would be a disaster for living organisms. The rate of change in the planet's liquid core, however, means that the shift could happen much sooner.
In 2001, an international polar expedition revealed that in seven years the North magnetic pole shifted around 300 km (186.4 miles). Currently, it is drifting 40 km (24.85 miles) a year from the Canadian Arctic shelf towards Russia's Severnaya Zemlya Islands. Scientists predict the North Pole could eventually be found in the South Atlantic.
Russian scientists say dangers include anti-radiation protection falling, with space flights becoming impossible and energy-dependent systems, including mobile phones and satellites, failing. Then, solar and space radiation would affect the genome of the organisms inhabiting the Earth, causing some of them to become extinct, while others mutate at a higher rate. With extremely powerful electrojet currents, life may become impossible on Earth before the full magnetic field collapses.
In the last 90 million years, the magnetic poles changed around every 500,000 years, with no total extinction or mass genetic mutations of living organisms taking place. The atmosphere remained a reliable steward of Earth's biosphere.
Pole Reversal
We know about pole shift from an examination of the geological record -- the magnetic poles reverse without the axis of the Earth flipping in any way. We can read the evidence of many magnetic reversals in the relentless march of the seabed floor. Valkovic links massive faunal extinctions with polarity reversals in earth’s geomagnetic field. He assumed that the concentration factor for essential trace elements is dependent on the magnetic field.
When lavas are deposited on the Earth’s surface, and subsequently freeze, and when sediments are deposited on ocean and lake bottoms, and subsequently solidify, they often preserve a signature of the ambient magnetic field at the time of deposition. This type of magnetization is known as 'paleomagnetism'. Sediment samples from Chalco Lake, Mexico "shows low frequency components with characteristic periods of 10,500, 3200–3400, 2900–3000, 1400–1500 and 800–900 years. In phase oscillations of inclination and intensity records point to drifting non dipole field anomalies." (B. Ortega-Guerrero and J. Urrutia-Fucugauchi, 1997)
Careful measurements of oriented samples of faintly magnetized rocks taken from many geographical sites allow scientists to work out the geological history of the magnetic field. We can tell, for example, that the Earth has had a magnetic field for at least 3.5 billion years, and that the field has always exhibited a certain amount of time-dependence, part of which is normal variation. Part of the cycle is an occasional reversal of polarity; the magnetic field occasionally flips over! The same effect occurs spontaneously in 3D computer models of the Geomagnetic Field. A similar reversal happens to the Sun every 11 years.
The geomagnetic poles are currently roughly coincident with the geographic poles, because the rotation of the Earth is an important dynamical force in the core, where the main part of the field is generated. Occasionally, however, the variation becomes sufficiently large so the magnetic poles end up being located rather distantly from the geographic poles. The poles have undergone an ‘excursion’ from their preferred state.
We know from physics that the Earth’s dynamo is just as capable of generating a magnetic field with a polarity like that which we have today, as it is capable of generating a field with the opposite polarity. The dynamo has no preference for a particular polarity. Therefore, after an excursional period, the magnetic field, upon returning to its usual state of rough alignment with the Earth’s rotational axis, could just as easily have one polarity as another.
The consequences of polarity reversals for the compass are dramatic. Nowadays, the compass points roughly north, or, more precisely, the north end of the compass points roughly north at most geographical locations. However 780,000 years ago, the polarity was reversed, so a hypothetical compass pointed roughly south. Before that reversed state the polarity was like that which we have today, and the compass would have pointed roughly north, and so on. The timings of reversals forms the so-called 'geomagnetic polarity timescale'.
During a reversal the geometry of the magnetic field is much more complicated than it is now. A compass could point in almost any direction depending on one’s location on the Earth and the exact form of the mid-transitional magnetic field. There is no apparent periodicity to reversals. They are random events, happening as often as every 10 thousand years or so, and as infrequently as every 50 million years or more.
Antimatter
NASA discovered in 2003 that solar explosions produce antimatter that is projected in CMEs exploding from the sun's surface. Antimatter is created in flares when the fast-moving particles accelerated during the flare collide with slower particles in the Sun's atmosphere, producing it in one location and destroying it in another.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2003/0903rhessi.html
In a private letter (June 10, 2011), engineer Tom Bearden does not assume a connection between solar radiation and potential pole reversal: The earth's magnetic field, as any EM field energy, originates directly in the virtual state vacuum because of the proven broken symmetry of the earth's magnetic dipolarity. This means that, as long as the poles exist, then the earth's magnetic dipole will freely absorb virtual energy from the seething vacuum, integrate it to quantum size, and pour out real observable magnetic field energy steadily and without cessation.
Anything that breaks that ironclad law would have to rather totally destroy the earth's two opposing magnetic poles. To destroy such monstrous poles, the effect would first have to be destroying jillions of minor subordinate dipoles throughout the earth, etc. I know of nothing in history that indicates such a calamity from the solar eruption. That doesn't mean it could not exist; but just that -- if it does exist -- it would be just about the most highly unusual thing that's ever been and I therefore have no knowledge of it.
Perhaps supporting that notion, a thin belt of antimatter, "antiproton radiation belt", or an "antimatter reservoir" was discovered (2011) in our upper atmosphere. Antiprotons, the antimatter version of protons, are formed naturally in interstellar space. Similar to what happens in high-energy collisions in accelerators, cosmic rays colliding with nuclei in the upper atmosphere create new particles, including pairs of protons and antiprotons. Most rapidly annihilate but those escaping interaction with ordinary matter may get trapped in Earth's geomagnetic field as the probe PAMELA (Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics) discovered. The flux of antiprotons in this region is three order of magnitude higher than in interstellar space.
The big break came from an area known as the South Atlantic Anomaly, which is a region of space where the Van Allen Radiation Belts are the closest to our surface. . . The International Space Station requires extra shielding just to protect its astronauts as it passes through it, and the Hubble Space Telescope has to be turned off every single time it passes through the anomaly...which is multiple times daily. [T]he PAMELA team [declared] the South Atlantic Anomaly "the most abundant source of antiprotons near the Earth." http://io9.com/5828449/thin-belt-of-antimatter-discovered-above-earth
The existence of a significant flux of antiprotons confined to Earth's magnetosphere has been considered in several theoretical works. These antiparticles are produced in nuclear interactions of energetic cosmic rays with the terrestrial atmosphere and accumulate in the geomagnetic field at altitudes of several hundred kilometers. A contribution from the decay of albedo antineutrons has been hypothesized in analogy to proton production by neutron decay, which constitutes the main source of trapped protons at energies above some tens of MeV. . . . PAMELA data show that the magnetospheric antiproton flux in the SAA exceeds the cosmic-ray antiproton flux by three orders of magnitude at the present solar minimum, and exceeds the sub-cutoff antiproton flux outside radiation belts by four orders of magnitude, constituting the most abundant source of antiprotons near the Earth. http://arxiv.org/abs/1107.4882
But a second pathway that involves a few more steps produces the majority of these particles in our planet's vicinity. Small numbers of neutrons (neutrally charged particles) escape the upper atmosphere, where they first decay into protons that are captured by the Earth’s magnetic field. Following collisions with cosmic rays, these protons produce antineutrons (in pairs with neutrons), that then decay into antiprotons. These antiprotons will remain held in orbit until they collide with normal matter and are annihilated; they typically travel distances of several Earth radii before this happens. http://arstechnica.com/science/2011/08/antimatter-particles-found-in-orbit-held-by-earths-magnetic-field/
NASA also discovered thunderstorms may be producing antimatter "particle beams" in the upper atmosphere. Scientists think the antimatter particles were formed in a terrestrial gamma-ray flash (TGF), a brief burst produced inside thunderstorms and shown to be associated with lightning. It is estimated that about 500 TGFs occur daily worldwide, but most go undetected. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/fermi-thunderstorms.html
Introduction
A multidisciplinary science, Geophysics describes the physics of the Earth with quantitative means, including gravity, heat flow, vibrations, electricity, magnetism, electromagnetic waves, radioactivity, fluid dynamics, mineral physics, and its environment in space. We are learning more about how space weather affects life on Earth.
The Sun is a massive electromagnetic broadcaster which floods the planets of the solar system with heat, light, UV radiation and electrically charged particles. The Sun itself has a magnetic field that creates an "egg" around the solar system -- the heliosphere. The solar magnetic field polarity (solar dipole magnetic field) reverses in 11-year cycles associated with sunspot activity, peaking at solar maximum, in this Cycle 24 in 2013.
The Sun continues crackling with magnetic storms that may or may not spawn more Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) aimed toward our fragile globe. Streams of high-energy, charged particles rush from the sun to batter the Earth with protons and/or X-rays, and disrupt the magnetosphere. The length of that disruption varies until the magnetosphere is drained of its storm-time energy. Proton pulse events create spectacular aurora borealis displays as the particles pass through Earth's orbit, concentrating their energy on the northern parts of our planet.
NASA (Phillips) describes magnetic portals connecting the Earth and Sun as active and passive "flux transfer events" (FTEs). The Earth-Sun connection is unsteady, often escalating to dynamic bursts of energy. Magnetic fields in the magnetic cylinder twist and coil as the solar and earth fields merge approximately every eight minutes. Computer simulations help us understand how they work. Active FTEs let particles flow through conduits into Earth's magnetosphere. Passive FTEs offer more resistance to flowing particles and fields.
Earth has had a variable magnetic field for at least 3.5 billion years, which NASA characterizes as being in a "constant state of change". It is produced by convection currents of an electrically conducting iron-nickel alloy in the liquid core, about 3,000 kilometers below Earth's surface. It can be modified by emissions from the Sun, cosmic debris, and heat convection in the core of the planet. In recent years the magnetic pole has been wandering more quickly. Compass needles are drifting and the global magnetic field has weakened 10% since the 19th century.
At irregular intervals, averaging 300,000 years, the poles flip completely, but that is beyond the scope of this paper. The magnetosphere is a generally a highly stable field, which can be periodically inconstant, perpetually bombarded by energetically charged solar particles (solar wind). A mass of charged particles can slam into our planet’s magnetic field, sending jolts of electromagnetic energy shooting in all directions, causing what’s known as a geomagnetic storm. For sensitive people in the right [or wrong] locales it may also lead to "brainstorms".
Powerful fountains spew away from the sun as solar flares or coronal mass ejections (CME). If aimed at us, within hours they can bombard Earth with a shower of positively-charged hydrogen atoms, called protons. Proton bombardment can cause scientific and communications satellites to short-circuit. Highly sensitive people report dysphorias. Chemical reactions in the atmosphere can drastically diminished the upper-most areas of the ozone layer, that blocks life-threatening ultraviolet radiation from reaching the Earth.
The Earth's magnetic field extends about 36,000 miles (58,000 km) into space. It can be treated mathematically as a dipole field with a number of non-dipole elements. Generated from the spinning effect of the electrically conductive core, it acts like a giant electromagnet. In geologically ancient times, the field was 20 times stronger, but it has also been periodically weaker or even absent. Movement of the liquid and the solid parts of the Earth's core generate an electric potential, making the planet an electric generator. Regular daily and monthly fluctuations in the GMF are affected by weather, the Moon, and sunspots.
Magnetism is a property of the atom itself. Ultimately, the magnetic properties of matter are determined by the collective behavior of the negatively charged electrons that orbit the nuclei of atoms. The magnetic dipole moment (or magnetic field) of an individual electron has two components, one resulting from the spin of the electron about its own axis, the other from its orbital motion about the nucleus. Both kinds of motion may be considered as tiny circular currents (moving charges), thus linking electricity and magnetism at an atomic level.
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is a new ultra-sensitive single atom counting method that reads the concentrations of the most relevant long-lived cosmogenic radionuclides. Forming an archive of our earth, chronological deposits of such isotopes are found in trees, polar ice, lake and deep sea sediments. AMS is virtually the only way to measure their concentrations. Information about long term interval changes on solar activity, geomagnetic field and earth climate can be obtained and collated.
Turbulence & Polarity Transitions
The GMF is influenced by currents in the mantle on a time scale of tens to hundreds of millions of years. Temperature patterns within the lower mantle influence both the stability and intensity of the field. Massive changes in or on the Earth, including extinction events, follow a 26.6 million to 30 million year cycle over the last 250 million years. The solar system crosses the relatively dense galactic plane every 30 million years. GMFs are implicated in some mass extinction events.
Unexpected escalation of climate change demonstrates that perturbing natural cycles can lead to cascades of cataclysmic change related by complex dynamics. Our climate is degrading much faster than most of us thought. One small change can disrupt a system already in motion, ultimately leading to cataclysmic results.
As early as 1906, changes in the magnetization of some rocks opposite to that of the present day made it clear that some time ago it was different from the modern time. But, long before pole reversal -- or more accurately, geomagnetic reversal -- we could expect escalating experiential effects, based on effects we see during solar storms.
All kinds of mental and physical phenomena might fluctuate long before any ‘tipping point’. If ecological cataclysm looms (Lovelock, 2009), geomagnetic cataclysm is also a possibility. The Sun is also heating the interior of the earth, which increases volcanism and tectonic plate shift. It is heating the whole solar system.
Many land and underwater volcanoes are located on or near subduction zones, rifts, and trenches, associated with an increase of mantle plumes -- core heat rising to the surface. Large mantle plumes build islands, even continents. The land is built, stretched and destroyed on volcanic rift margins.
Compound dynamic forces have many effects:
Climate Change: Unexpected escalation of climate change demonstrates that perturbations in natural cycles can lead to cascades of cataclysmic change related to complex dynamics. Likewise for the ocean-conveyor, methane traps, and other threats to human survival. One small change, such as mantle-held flux, can disrupt a system already in motion, ultimately leading to cataclysmic results. Very little is known about the behavior of the magnetic field during the transition from a superchron (long periods without reversal) to a mixed polarity state, though we can imagine intense auroras surrounding the globe. Supernova gamma ray events, galactic superwaves (Laviolette, 1986) and cometary showers have been linked with geomagnetic excursions. Complex cycles of climate migration and Earth crust instability share 1) the sun-earth relationship, embedded in the solar system, 2) solar heliopsphere and bow shock of geomagnetic field, 3) Earth's connection to our galactic center plasma fields.
Polarity Intervals: Long before pole reversal -- or more accurately, geomagnetic reversal -- we might plausibly expect an amplification of human experiential effects. Geomagnetic cataclysm is only a possibility. In Australia around 28,000 B.P., a wandering di-pole event signaled sudden 3x expansion of the magnetic field. Some postulate a geomagnetic excursion around 12,500 B.P. that sent tribal villagers in the Levant back to nomadic life. (Mithen, 2004)
Paleomagnetosphere: Anomalous inclinations in the South Pacific are also recorded in the geological record for 2,500 and 12,500 years ago. (Lund, et al) There is also evidence of high-energy particle bombardment at the same time, associated with extinction events. 12,000, 32,000, 43,000 and 70,000 yrs ago the reduced magnetic field rendered Earth especially vulnerable to cosmic rays. Whether geomagnetic excursions admit cosmic radiation or the gamma blasts cause the excursions is uncertain. There have been some indications that geomagnetic reversals may occur astonishingly fast-- even within only a matter of months, according to one location of 16 million year old lava flows.
Magnetic Cataclysmic Variable: Geomagnetic reversal is chaotic in nature. Large oscillations of directions precede or follow reversals, showing waveforms with amplitude amplified by the decrease of the dipole. There is no apparent preferred location for the virtual geomagnetic poles (VGP). Asymmetry between pre- and post-reversal phases is a dominant characteristic, indicating the importance of field regeneration to initiate a new stable polarity interval. Virtual Dipole Moments show as reversed (R) polarity, intermediate-normal-reversed (I-N-R) change and subsequent normal (N) periods. There is no way we can predict it. Yet, it is a normal pursuit of science to identify and extrapolate future scenarios, including geomorphology. The goal is to anticipate and mitigate effects on humanity and the biosphere. We are challenged not by single alterations but a complex confluence of unstable systems. This is not to say, “The End is coming,” but to identify phenomena, which might arise along the way to major earth changes. It is permissible to ask, "What if..."
Chaotic Dynamics: Geomorphological systems containing bifurcations have both deterministic (universal and necessary) and probabilistic (historical happenstance) elements. They have more than one solution (configuration) and this fact calls into question notions of process domains leading to the development of characteristic forms. They possess varying degrees of susceptibility to change induced by fluctuations. They respond differently to local, regional, and global fluctuations. Geomagnetic Field (GMF) is one of these parameters. When meteor impact occurs there may be a time lag from initiating event to actual field reversal of many thousands of years. During part of the interim the field may measurably weaken down to a certain plateau. Then, after perhaps more thousands of years have passed at or near the plateau, a relatively sudden reversal may take place. There is evidence for extraordinarily rapid change of the geomagnetic field during a reversal.
Intense Heat & High Pressure
Geomagnetic reversal is chaotic in nature. There is no way we can predict it. Polarity reversal is connected heat convection in the mantle. The latest theory is that changes in heat flow from the Earth’s core into the base of the overlying mantle leads to pole shifts. Heat-loss in the core-mantle boundary drives the reversal. The mantle exerts a reciprocal control on the core.
Pole flip starts with short distance wandering of the north pole, to the extreme where magnetic north dips below the equator, ending in full magnetic reversal. Dr. Andrew Biggin suspects that True Polar Wander (TPW) changes the pattern of heat flowing out of the core.
TPW is caused by the changing density distribution in the mantle. It changes the pattern of heat flowing out of the core causing the magnetic field to first become less stable, with lots of reversals, and then become much more stable – and stop reversing. It stabilizes when there are less magma outpourings from the core.
The goal of geomorphology is to anticipate and mitigate effects on humanity and the biosphere. We are challenged not by single alterations but a complex of unstable systems. This is not to say, “The End is coming,” but to identify phenomena, which might arise along the way to major earth changes.
Geomorphological systems have both deterministic (universal and necessary) and probabilistic (historical happenstance) elements. They are difficult to predict having different processes with varying degrees of susceptibility to change induced by fluctuations. They respond differently to local, regional, and global fluctuation. GMF is one of these parameters.
South Atlantic Anomaly
The magnetic field occasionally flips over in its normal cycle. Reversals are random events. But they are preceded by marked field fluctuations such as the South Atlantic Anomaly (magnetic field intensity 60% of predicted value). In the last two hundred years, Earth's magnetic field decreased 10% in intensity.
The South Atlantic Anomaly (SSA) is above South America, about 200 - 300 kilometers off the coast of Brazil, extending over much of South America and the nearby portion of the Van Allen Belt. It is a weak spot in the GMF, Earth’s protective bubble. The envelope here is 1/3 of normal. As this field continues to weaken, the inner Van Allen belt gets closer to the Earth and proton bombardment increases. There is an increased flux in this region.
Sudden fluid motions within the Earth's core can alter the magnetic envelope around our planet. Researchers have just begun to detect such rapid magnetic field changes taking place over just a few months.
The last major reversal in the field took place about 780,000 years ago. A flip in the north and south poles typically involves a weakening in the magnetic field, followed by a period of rapid recovery and reorganization of opposite polarity.
Some studies in recent years have suggested the next reversal might be imminent, but the jury is still out. Weakening of Earth's overall magnetic field by 10 percent over the past 150 years might also point to an upcoming field reversal. But it only happens about once in a million years.
Earth is a Dynamo
When the sun reaches deep into the earth, it "talks" to her and modifies the generator within her. The ionosphere is one poorly understood channel. The sun interacts magnetically with the solid Earth, reaching down into the crust, generating forces that can trigger earthquakes that either rupture or slide.
Before major earthquakes, the crust "talks" back to the ionosphere, causing perturbations. Magnetic field maxima and minima move around over the surface of the earth. The total amount of coupling changes over time. Electrochemical loops cross, increasing quake likelihood.
Earth itself acts as a magnet. Minerals in the earth’s crust contain dormant electronic charge carriers. They act like electronic crystals when energized. Squeezing, heating or stressing such rocks activates them so they can travel through the earth for kilometers changing conductivity, generating Lorenz force interacting with tectonic force vectors, pushing the system over the edge. Rapid magnetic field variations lead to ULF emissions. They ionize the plasma in the atmosphere, measurably perturbing the ionosphere, the coupling mechanism.
Earth constantly generates ULF emissions. Life evolved in this ULF field. The fundamental Schumann Resonance is a standing wave in the atmosphere around 8 Hz. The human brain emits frequencies in the same region. Up to 12-14 days before a quake, broadband ULF emissions before major earthquakes can swamp the whole ULF spectrum, affecting the brains and circadian rhythms of animals and humans. Currents may be higher in highly mineralized areas with crystalline basement rock, such as Sedona.
Stressed rocks are active charge carriers which turns them into batteries. The driving force is deep magma and tectonic strain. Electric currents, up to millions of amperes, start to flow like in a semiconductor battery, perturbing earthquakes. Currents up to millions of amperes flow along stress gradients, fluctuating and emitting EM radiation. Therefore, Earth emits powerful broadband EM waves prior to quakes, in microhertz to about 20 hz. extremely low frequencies (ULF).
Paleomagnetic records show that the dipole polarity of the geomagnetic field reversed many times in the past. Convection in the fluid outer core is continually trying to reverse the field. However, the solid inner core inhibits magnetic reversals because the field in the inner core can only change on the much longer time scale of diffusion. Only once in many attempts is a reversal successful. This is probably the reason the times between reversals of the Earth's field are long and randomly distributed.
Geophysics
Scientists from the Institute for Geomagnetism at the Russian Academy of Sciences say the magnet poles are gradually drifting towards the Equator, reaching zero point in about 2,000 years, which would be a disaster for living organisms. The rate of change in the planet's liquid core, however, means that the shift could happen much sooner.
In 2001, an international polar expedition revealed that in seven years the North magnetic pole shifted around 300 km (186.4 miles). Currently, it is drifting 40 km (24.85 miles) a year from the Canadian Arctic shelf towards Russia's Severnaya Zemlya Islands. Scientists predict the North Pole could eventually be found in the South Atlantic.
Russian scientists say dangers include anti-radiation protection falling, with space flights becoming impossible and energy-dependent systems, including mobile phones and satellites, failing. Then, solar and space radiation would affect the genome of the organisms inhabiting the Earth, causing some of them to become extinct, while others mutate at a higher rate. With extremely powerful electrojet currents, life may become impossible on Earth before the full magnetic field collapses.
In the last 90 million years, the magnetic poles changed around every 500,000 years, with no total extinction or mass genetic mutations of living organisms taking place. The atmosphere remained a reliable steward of Earth's biosphere.
Pole Reversal
We know about pole shift from an examination of the geological record -- the magnetic poles reverse without the axis of the Earth flipping in any way. We can read the evidence of many magnetic reversals in the relentless march of the seabed floor. Valkovic links massive faunal extinctions with polarity reversals in earth’s geomagnetic field. He assumed that the concentration factor for essential trace elements is dependent on the magnetic field.
When lavas are deposited on the Earth’s surface, and subsequently freeze, and when sediments are deposited on ocean and lake bottoms, and subsequently solidify, they often preserve a signature of the ambient magnetic field at the time of deposition. This type of magnetization is known as 'paleomagnetism'. Sediment samples from Chalco Lake, Mexico "shows low frequency components with characteristic periods of 10,500, 3200–3400, 2900–3000, 1400–1500 and 800–900 years. In phase oscillations of inclination and intensity records point to drifting non dipole field anomalies." (B. Ortega-Guerrero and J. Urrutia-Fucugauchi, 1997)
Careful measurements of oriented samples of faintly magnetized rocks taken from many geographical sites allow scientists to work out the geological history of the magnetic field. We can tell, for example, that the Earth has had a magnetic field for at least 3.5 billion years, and that the field has always exhibited a certain amount of time-dependence, part of which is normal variation. Part of the cycle is an occasional reversal of polarity; the magnetic field occasionally flips over! The same effect occurs spontaneously in 3D computer models of the Geomagnetic Field. A similar reversal happens to the Sun every 11 years.
The geomagnetic poles are currently roughly coincident with the geographic poles, because the rotation of the Earth is an important dynamical force in the core, where the main part of the field is generated. Occasionally, however, the variation becomes sufficiently large so the magnetic poles end up being located rather distantly from the geographic poles. The poles have undergone an ‘excursion’ from their preferred state.
We know from physics that the Earth’s dynamo is just as capable of generating a magnetic field with a polarity like that which we have today, as it is capable of generating a field with the opposite polarity. The dynamo has no preference for a particular polarity. Therefore, after an excursional period, the magnetic field, upon returning to its usual state of rough alignment with the Earth’s rotational axis, could just as easily have one polarity as another.
The consequences of polarity reversals for the compass are dramatic. Nowadays, the compass points roughly north, or, more precisely, the north end of the compass points roughly north at most geographical locations. However 780,000 years ago, the polarity was reversed, so a hypothetical compass pointed roughly south. Before that reversed state the polarity was like that which we have today, and the compass would have pointed roughly north, and so on. The timings of reversals forms the so-called 'geomagnetic polarity timescale'.
During a reversal the geometry of the magnetic field is much more complicated than it is now. A compass could point in almost any direction depending on one’s location on the Earth and the exact form of the mid-transitional magnetic field. There is no apparent periodicity to reversals. They are random events, happening as often as every 10 thousand years or so, and as infrequently as every 50 million years or more.
Antimatter
NASA discovered in 2003 that solar explosions produce antimatter that is projected in CMEs exploding from the sun's surface. Antimatter is created in flares when the fast-moving particles accelerated during the flare collide with slower particles in the Sun's atmosphere, producing it in one location and destroying it in another.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2003/0903rhessi.html
In a private letter (June 10, 2011), engineer Tom Bearden does not assume a connection between solar radiation and potential pole reversal: The earth's magnetic field, as any EM field energy, originates directly in the virtual state vacuum because of the proven broken symmetry of the earth's magnetic dipolarity. This means that, as long as the poles exist, then the earth's magnetic dipole will freely absorb virtual energy from the seething vacuum, integrate it to quantum size, and pour out real observable magnetic field energy steadily and without cessation.
Anything that breaks that ironclad law would have to rather totally destroy the earth's two opposing magnetic poles. To destroy such monstrous poles, the effect would first have to be destroying jillions of minor subordinate dipoles throughout the earth, etc. I know of nothing in history that indicates such a calamity from the solar eruption. That doesn't mean it could not exist; but just that -- if it does exist -- it would be just about the most highly unusual thing that's ever been and I therefore have no knowledge of it.
Perhaps supporting that notion, a thin belt of antimatter, "antiproton radiation belt", or an "antimatter reservoir" was discovered (2011) in our upper atmosphere. Antiprotons, the antimatter version of protons, are formed naturally in interstellar space. Similar to what happens in high-energy collisions in accelerators, cosmic rays colliding with nuclei in the upper atmosphere create new particles, including pairs of protons and antiprotons. Most rapidly annihilate but those escaping interaction with ordinary matter may get trapped in Earth's geomagnetic field as the probe PAMELA (Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics) discovered. The flux of antiprotons in this region is three order of magnitude higher than in interstellar space.
The big break came from an area known as the South Atlantic Anomaly, which is a region of space where the Van Allen Radiation Belts are the closest to our surface. . . The International Space Station requires extra shielding just to protect its astronauts as it passes through it, and the Hubble Space Telescope has to be turned off every single time it passes through the anomaly...which is multiple times daily. [T]he PAMELA team [declared] the South Atlantic Anomaly "the most abundant source of antiprotons near the Earth." http://io9.com/5828449/thin-belt-of-antimatter-discovered-above-earth
The existence of a significant flux of antiprotons confined to Earth's magnetosphere has been considered in several theoretical works. These antiparticles are produced in nuclear interactions of energetic cosmic rays with the terrestrial atmosphere and accumulate in the geomagnetic field at altitudes of several hundred kilometers. A contribution from the decay of albedo antineutrons has been hypothesized in analogy to proton production by neutron decay, which constitutes the main source of trapped protons at energies above some tens of MeV. . . . PAMELA data show that the magnetospheric antiproton flux in the SAA exceeds the cosmic-ray antiproton flux by three orders of magnitude at the present solar minimum, and exceeds the sub-cutoff antiproton flux outside radiation belts by four orders of magnitude, constituting the most abundant source of antiprotons near the Earth. http://arxiv.org/abs/1107.4882
But a second pathway that involves a few more steps produces the majority of these particles in our planet's vicinity. Small numbers of neutrons (neutrally charged particles) escape the upper atmosphere, where they first decay into protons that are captured by the Earth’s magnetic field. Following collisions with cosmic rays, these protons produce antineutrons (in pairs with neutrons), that then decay into antiprotons. These antiprotons will remain held in orbit until they collide with normal matter and are annihilated; they typically travel distances of several Earth radii before this happens. http://arstechnica.com/science/2011/08/antimatter-particles-found-in-orbit-held-by-earths-magnetic-field/
NASA also discovered thunderstorms may be producing antimatter "particle beams" in the upper atmosphere. Scientists think the antimatter particles were formed in a terrestrial gamma-ray flash (TGF), a brief burst produced inside thunderstorms and shown to be associated with lightning. It is estimated that about 500 TGFs occur daily worldwide, but most go undetected. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/fermi-thunderstorms.html
The Earth's mantle plays a role in controlling the frequency of magnetic field reversals.
Heat flux varies across the core-mantle boundary.
http://seismo.berkeley.edu/~rallen/eps122/lectures/L07.pdf
Heat flux varies across the core-mantle boundary.
http://seismo.berkeley.edu/~rallen/eps122/lectures/L07.pdf
Geodynamics & Geomagnetic Excursions
We are only beginning to understand the potential sets that influence geodynamic cycles and anomalies. Our globe is a self-exciting dynamo coupled to fluid motion in the Earth's outer core through magnetohydrodynamics involving heat transfer and convection. Thermal and compositional buoyancy causes flow. The magnetic field is generated and regulated by outer core flow.
Clearly, much remains for us to learn about the nuances of geophysics, much less its effects on our psychobiology. We don't know what happens to the human organism under reduced field strength and global magnetic chaos. Mean human expansion time is qpproximately 40,000 years ago. It also marks a time of potential interbreeding with Neanderthals and perhaps Devisova Hominin.
But, 40,000 Years Ago a trifecta of catastrophes impacted the globe: Climate Shifts, Geomagnetic Field Reversal and a Super Volcano. Scientists have probed the link between magnetic polarity reversal and heat in the planet’s interior. Mega-magma plumes underlying supervolcanoes arise from increased heat flow from the earth's core -- the changing pattern of heat loss across the core-mantle boundary. Supervolcanoes can have global catastrophic effects comparable to major meteorite impacts. The Campanian Ignimbrite super-eruption took place 39,000 years ago, decimating vast stretches of the Mediterranean.
41,000 years ago, say the researchers, a complete and rapid reversal of the geomagnetic field occurred. Along with the Black Sea sediment cores, they look at other studies in the North Atlantic, the South Pacific and Hawaii, and say it proves that this polarity reversal was a global event. http://www.science20.com/news_articles/disaster_trifecta_40000_years_ago_climate_shifts_geomagnetic_field_reversal_and_super_volcano-95357
Researchers discovered numerous abrupt climate changes during the last ice age locked in cores from the Black Sea, and already known from the Greenland ice cores. Synchronizing the Black Sea and Greenland data reveals the largest volcanic eruption on the Northern hemisphere in the past 100,000 years. A supervolcano erupted 39,400 years ago near Naples, Italy, as documented in the Black Sea sediment.
Forty thousand years ago Earth's shields went down in a geomagnetic excursion called the Laschamp Event. The field was only 5% of today's strength. For 440 years it was associated with a field strength that was only one quarter of today's field. The actual polarity changes lasted 250 years. The Earth nearly lost its protective shield against hard cosmic rays, leading to significantly increased radiation exposure, as revealed in ice cores. High-energy protons from space collided with atoms of the atmosphere.
Naturally, genes mutate all the time, but increased exposure to cosmic rays increases such likelihood. Mutations can be useful, harmful or neutral in their effects. Most simply turn genes off. Did such radiation produce reproductive challenges? Some believe the red hair mutation first appeared between 38,000 to 18,000 B.C. in Europe. Environmental variables related to latitudinal variation, such as species richness and mean annual temperature, may have influenced adaptation.
Arguably, the boundary between the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic marks the transition to fully modern humans. There may or may not be causal links to cosmic bombardment, but around the same era, some theorize mutations occurred in human bloodtypes, and "The Leap" in intelligence (40-45Kya). Language, creative and technological innovation increased dramatically. Homo sapiens extended its population to Europe, Asia and Australia about 40,000 - 50,000 years ago. Also, 40,000 to 45,000 years ago some groups migrated from the Levant back to Africa as well as toward Europe. Genetic mapping shows that a mutation from RH positive to RH negative occurred somewhere in the Basque area of Europe maybe as much as 40,000 years ago.
Cro-Magnon man appeared approximately 40,000 years ago. European-Asian groups diverged 40,000 years ago. Ancient DNA reveals humans living 40,000 years ago in the Beijing area are related to present-day Asians and Native Americans. For the Chinese, Korean, and European genomes, effective population size fell from about 13,500 (at 150,000 years ago) to about 1200 between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago. Hunting bands found their way to Australia between 40,000 and 30,000 years ago. Art and music were born suddenly, about 40,000 years ago, in Ice Age Europe. The earliest evidence for personal ornaments appeared in anatomically modern humans about this time.
There were other local stressors including glaciation, drought, and climate change. About 40,000 years ago in what we now call Italy and the Caucasus Mountains, which straddle Europe and Asia, several volcanoes erupted in quick succession. It's likely the eruptions reduced or wiped out local bands of Neanderthals and indirectly affected farther-flung populations, the team concluded after analyzing pollen and ash from the affected area. The researchers examined sediments layer from around 40,000 years ago in Russia's Mezmaiskaya Cave and found that the more volcanic ash a layer had, the less plant pollen it contained.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/01/100922-volcanoes-eruptions-neanderthals-science-volcanic-humans/
If mankind was able to make such quantum leaps during environmentally chaotic times, perhaps that bodes well for our adaptive future. Life and culture appears to be quite different before and after 40,000 years ago. Whatever complex forces drove it, this was a cultural Big Bang that seems to coincide with the most recent geomagnetic excursion. Paradoxically, we might not have expected magnetic chaos to have any positive effect on our organism, but the total environment may have created a unique psychobiological challenge for our species.
We are only beginning to understand the potential sets that influence geodynamic cycles and anomalies. Our globe is a self-exciting dynamo coupled to fluid motion in the Earth's outer core through magnetohydrodynamics involving heat transfer and convection. Thermal and compositional buoyancy causes flow. The magnetic field is generated and regulated by outer core flow.
Clearly, much remains for us to learn about the nuances of geophysics, much less its effects on our psychobiology. We don't know what happens to the human organism under reduced field strength and global magnetic chaos. Mean human expansion time is qpproximately 40,000 years ago. It also marks a time of potential interbreeding with Neanderthals and perhaps Devisova Hominin.
But, 40,000 Years Ago a trifecta of catastrophes impacted the globe: Climate Shifts, Geomagnetic Field Reversal and a Super Volcano. Scientists have probed the link between magnetic polarity reversal and heat in the planet’s interior. Mega-magma plumes underlying supervolcanoes arise from increased heat flow from the earth's core -- the changing pattern of heat loss across the core-mantle boundary. Supervolcanoes can have global catastrophic effects comparable to major meteorite impacts. The Campanian Ignimbrite super-eruption took place 39,000 years ago, decimating vast stretches of the Mediterranean.
41,000 years ago, say the researchers, a complete and rapid reversal of the geomagnetic field occurred. Along with the Black Sea sediment cores, they look at other studies in the North Atlantic, the South Pacific and Hawaii, and say it proves that this polarity reversal was a global event. http://www.science20.com/news_articles/disaster_trifecta_40000_years_ago_climate_shifts_geomagnetic_field_reversal_and_super_volcano-95357
Researchers discovered numerous abrupt climate changes during the last ice age locked in cores from the Black Sea, and already known from the Greenland ice cores. Synchronizing the Black Sea and Greenland data reveals the largest volcanic eruption on the Northern hemisphere in the past 100,000 years. A supervolcano erupted 39,400 years ago near Naples, Italy, as documented in the Black Sea sediment.
Forty thousand years ago Earth's shields went down in a geomagnetic excursion called the Laschamp Event. The field was only 5% of today's strength. For 440 years it was associated with a field strength that was only one quarter of today's field. The actual polarity changes lasted 250 years. The Earth nearly lost its protective shield against hard cosmic rays, leading to significantly increased radiation exposure, as revealed in ice cores. High-energy protons from space collided with atoms of the atmosphere.
Naturally, genes mutate all the time, but increased exposure to cosmic rays increases such likelihood. Mutations can be useful, harmful or neutral in their effects. Most simply turn genes off. Did such radiation produce reproductive challenges? Some believe the red hair mutation first appeared between 38,000 to 18,000 B.C. in Europe. Environmental variables related to latitudinal variation, such as species richness and mean annual temperature, may have influenced adaptation.
Arguably, the boundary between the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic marks the transition to fully modern humans. There may or may not be causal links to cosmic bombardment, but around the same era, some theorize mutations occurred in human bloodtypes, and "The Leap" in intelligence (40-45Kya). Language, creative and technological innovation increased dramatically. Homo sapiens extended its population to Europe, Asia and Australia about 40,000 - 50,000 years ago. Also, 40,000 to 45,000 years ago some groups migrated from the Levant back to Africa as well as toward Europe. Genetic mapping shows that a mutation from RH positive to RH negative occurred somewhere in the Basque area of Europe maybe as much as 40,000 years ago.
Cro-Magnon man appeared approximately 40,000 years ago. European-Asian groups diverged 40,000 years ago. Ancient DNA reveals humans living 40,000 years ago in the Beijing area are related to present-day Asians and Native Americans. For the Chinese, Korean, and European genomes, effective population size fell from about 13,500 (at 150,000 years ago) to about 1200 between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago. Hunting bands found their way to Australia between 40,000 and 30,000 years ago. Art and music were born suddenly, about 40,000 years ago, in Ice Age Europe. The earliest evidence for personal ornaments appeared in anatomically modern humans about this time.
There were other local stressors including glaciation, drought, and climate change. About 40,000 years ago in what we now call Italy and the Caucasus Mountains, which straddle Europe and Asia, several volcanoes erupted in quick succession. It's likely the eruptions reduced or wiped out local bands of Neanderthals and indirectly affected farther-flung populations, the team concluded after analyzing pollen and ash from the affected area. The researchers examined sediments layer from around 40,000 years ago in Russia's Mezmaiskaya Cave and found that the more volcanic ash a layer had, the less plant pollen it contained.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/01/100922-volcanoes-eruptions-neanderthals-science-volcanic-humans/
If mankind was able to make such quantum leaps during environmentally chaotic times, perhaps that bodes well for our adaptive future. Life and culture appears to be quite different before and after 40,000 years ago. Whatever complex forces drove it, this was a cultural Big Bang that seems to coincide with the most recent geomagnetic excursion. Paradoxically, we might not have expected magnetic chaos to have any positive effect on our organism, but the total environment may have created a unique psychobiological challenge for our species.
II. PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY
New research shows evidence that mankind is closely tied to Earth's geomagnetic fields (GMF) through quantum entanglement. Fields underlie extraordinary forms of communication such as telepathy. Even weak EM fields have a subtle but measurable impact on our emotional states. Historically, metaphysical and philosophical arguments about the nature of spiritual phenomena have defined such experiences, some of which may correlate with geomagnetic flux and anomalies.
Here we suggest some physical, physiological and psychological explanations, rather than non-physical, mystical and supernatural ones. Often the "parapsychology of religion" or paranthropology walks a fine line in interpreting anecdotal material and spiritual memes. In anecdotal cases, it becomes a theoretical interpretation of a personal interpretation of subjective experience or phenomena.
More rigorous experimental protocols are leading to improved science in these areas, which characterize themselves as 'frontier', rather than 'fringe' studies. We are not so much concerned here with religious memes of ‘faith’ and ‘ecstasy’ as with isolating variables and less literalistic and more subtle meanings, including changes in the proximal geomagnetic field. Persinger has demonstrated such modulations with transcranial magnetic stimulation and coupled beat frequencies. Such resonant magnetic effects may play a role in some reports of spiritual 'transcendence'.
The 2013 results of Persinger et al, support Hu and Wu’s "concepts of spin-spin interactions at the nuclear level and action potentials, evoke several considerations that could be relevant to more profound understanding between quantum phenomena, neuronal activity, and consciousness." and suggest that "the strength of these experimentally applied fields could interact or alter the photon emissions."
"Hu and Wu’s (2006) spin-mediated theory of consciousness assumes that quantum spin is the “seat of consciousness”. In this model, consciousness is not emergent but a fundamental feature of the universe. Within a dynamic process spins are the interface between the particulate composition of the brain and the energetic or wave functions associated with the electromagnetic fields of cognition. Spin is embedded in the microscopic structure of space-time and may be more fundamental than space-time itself." http://jcer.com/index.php/jcj/article/view/277/306
Spirituality is a complex phenomenon where multiple areas of the brain are responsible for aspects of spiritual experiences. The transdisciplinary field of Neurotheology describes numerous parameters of brain function susceptible to transcranial magnetic stimulation, including the role of the right parietal lobe in self-awareness and "self-orientation", increased activity in the frontal lobe, and temporal lobe lability in the subjective interpretation of anomalous cognition.
Working with traumatic brain injuries, Johnstone has also shown that "people can learn to minimize the functioning of the right side of their brains to increase their spiritual connections during meditation and prayer."
"In a nutshell, the right parietal lobe (RPL) of the brain is associated with “self-orientation.” If you look at a picture of yourself, the RPL becomes active. If you injure your right parietal lobe, you have “disorders of the self” such as ignoring the left side of space (in extreme cases individuals deny that their left arm/leg is theirs). The bottom line---if you injure your RPL you will focus less on yourself, or expressed another way, you become more “selfless.” (Johnstone)
Living organisms are not only information detectors and generators, but also transformers of electromagnetic energy.
In Paramagnetism certain materials are attracted by an externally applied magnetic field. In contrast, diamagnetic materials are repelled by magnetic fields.
Biological systems generate their own magnetic mediums through a "dia-par", or diamagnetic process to paramagnetic transition. In this model of living bioplasma, a wide spectrum of genetic mechanisms are influenced by surrounding electromagnetic fields. We are complex electrodynamic creatures. We are sensitive to natural and artificial EM waves. When we went into space, we learned that field deprivation led to undesirable psychophysical breakdown. Those fields had to be replaced artificially.
Physical science accepts that consciousness is a fundamental part of the equation of existence but mostly sees consciousness as an electrical phenomenon generated (by extension at the physical level) by aggregations of base atomic and then molecular matter forming itself into organisms. Yet it is unable to answer the question of how it is that organic life can somehow emerge from apparently ‘dead’ matter – or why it should do so.
Hu and Wu's spin mediated theory, backed up by numerous experiments of Michael Persinger's team, considers individual consciousness as a transduction of universal consciousness: "As stated earlier, our own theoretical and experimental studies [1-15] have shown that: (1) human Consciousness is non-spatial and non-temporal and not in the brain but in prespacetime; (2) brain is an interface between human Consciousness and the external world; (3) quantum spin is the mind-pixel; (4) magnetic field is manifested by the internal world based on the Principle of Existence [12-14]."
In this model, consciousness exists independent of time and becomes a primary component of reality. Our brain activity also emits photons (light). Our consciousness can potentially connect to others' consciousness through magnetic flux. This may also connect independent consciousness with "the whole". Through shifts in resonant frequency, self-organizing neural networks oscillate synchronously at specific frequencies. Different classes of oscillations and their associated behavior patterns are found in all mammals, implying such brains have a universal mechanism. Short and long-term consolidation of information and consciousness might be the result of such synchronized network activity.
When consciousness is itself inherent in all the kingdoms of Nature, the universe in toto may be considered as a psychologically based organism. A study in the Oct. 2001 journal Nature, Scientific Reports, claims the universe may grow in the same way as a giant brain - with the electrical firing between brain cells 'mirrored' by the shape of expanding galaxies.
In such a wide spectrum of intelligence, spirit and matter are qualitatively polarized aspects of one and the same principle. Jung and Pauli suggested the same, and tried to find a common language for psyche and matter. In Jung's model, alchemy involves mind and matter – one’s mind must be confronted, killed, purified and resurrected in much the same way that physical matter is handled, in a sort of 'conservation of energy' model of the soul.
Alchemy is a method that facilitates our personal development by applying natural processes that have been heated by conscious intention, love, and a personal confrontation with the unconscious. As a result, we gain, according to Jung, self-knowledge: a transcendent relationship with the unconscious that essentially frees us from the duality of the opposites, such as time and space. In other words, we become our own true, authentic self – the true gold of the alchemists. As Dorn put it, “Thou wilt never make from others the One which thou seekest, except first there be made one thing of thyself…”
Geopsychopathology
Solar storms, geomagnetic pulsation, and perturbed ambient EM field activity impact behavior in clinically significant ways, such as producing hallucinations. Neural entrainment confuses the brain into skewed perception it accepts as sensory information. Magnetic influences on the pineal hormone, melatonin are suggested as a possible source of variation. Research shows perturbations also affect the mind and heart, and slow reaction time, while increasing gastric distress, irritability and violence, even suicidal tendencies.
Magnetic fields influence neural processes and can scramble the brain. Intense atmospheric charging coupled with earthquake precursor activity is suggested for anomalous effects on animals – even birds falling from the sky. Earth’s field fluctuates continually. We are conditioned by this environment in which we have grown, but what if its electromagnetic signature is changing? Is it protecting us like it used to?
Geomagnetic storms disturb that magnetic field with gusts of solar wind and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Charged particles emanate from solar flares and penetrate our atmosphere. During a geomagnetic storm the amount of charged solar material reaching the earth increases and the earth’s magnetic field is significantly perturbed. Northern Lights are one visible effect. Some research shows such turbulent field conditions reduce reports of telepathic experience, especially in dreams, like static on a radio. (Krippner)
While susceptibility differs, solar bursts can modulate mood and behavior and disrupt sleep and chemical processes in the body. Symptoms include headache, palpitations, mood swings, perceptual distortions, and feeling generally unwell. Chaotic or confused thinking and erratic behaviors also increase. Fluctuating geomagnetic effects blur the boundary of conscious and subconscious, by impairing the brain.
In addition, Earth's geomagnetic field intensity is dropping slowly but steadily. At some time in the distant future, Earth’s internal nuclear dynamo will stop spinning, melting magma, creating the aura of Earth’s geomagnetic field, and turn cold. The atmosphere will be relentlessly stripped away by the force of the solar winds, until our planet becomes a gamma ray bombarded husk like Mars. But long before that happens there will be more cycles of normal reversals in the polarity of our magnetic field.
If Earth’s local and global fields continue to weaken, can we expect more reports of strange psychophysical phenomena emerging at an increasing rate? Known effects of geomagnetic pulsation include synesthesia, anomalous cognition and lucid dreams, psi events, and paranormal phenomena as well as heart attack, depression and suicidal tendencies. We simply don’t know how to screen ourselves from such phenomena.
Under certain conditions humans affect local geomagnetic fields. Field codes are context dependent. Local geomagnetic field fluctuations are seen to dramatically change as a function of directed mental protocols. These same fields are also changed and uniquely altered when measured in close coupling to the human body. It appears that mental protocols that send out thoughts and energy, even from distant points around the world, can directly affect the local geomagnetic fields in accordance with intentions. Mankind is closely tied to Earth's geomagnetic fields, as quantum entanglement vehicles of information transfer. Fields underlie extraordinary forms of communication such as telepathy (Chouinard). We might even find evidence that dark matter is charged (Pitkanen).
When the Sun Licks Your Brain
Fluctuating geomagnetic effects can lead to increased liminality and anomalous experiences by perturbing mind and body. Field effects include hallucinations and temporal lobe microseizures, as described by Krippner and Persinger. Threshold states blur the boundaries of reality and imagination. People feel confused, betwixt and between, have mystical and paranormal experiences and odd visions.
Tiny field fluctuations can have dramatic effects. Some are sudden and unexpected. If the geomagnetic field (GMF) should destabilize, scientists tell us magnetic fields of flux both entering and flowing from the Earth would become much more randomized. Earth could have a few poles for a while. That is not to say it will happen in our lifetimes, but that it can happen and surely will at some indefinite point in the future.
Tectonic activity, “lensing”, and concentrating of Earth’s magnetic field definitely have biological effects. Can ambient magnetic fields lead to disregulation of the mindbody creating magnetic hallucinations? Is our sanity, as well as our satellites, at risk as Earth’s field fluctuates more and more?
Pioneering biophysics work has shown that DNA and living tissues interact with electric and magnetic fields in unexpected and dramatic ways. Living organisms are not only information detectors and generators, but also transformers of electromagnetic energy. A wide spectrum of genetic mechanisms are under the influence of surrounding electromagnetic fields.
Electromagnetism connects the entire Solar System in a profound way. Earth's geomagnetic field intensity, a dipole-dominated field, is dropping slowly but steadily. Earth's field is losing energy. At some time in the distant future -- Geomagnetic Zero Point -- the deep Earth reactor will stop spinning, melting magma, creating the aura of Earth’s geomagnetic field, and turn cold. The atmosphere will be relentlessly stripped away by the force of the solar winds, until our planet becomes a gamma ray bombarded husk like Mars. But long before that happens, we can expect normal reversals in the polarity of our magnetic field.
Global Field Effects
HiPsiFi: The brain is affected by geomagnetic fields. Fluctuating geomagnetic effects can lead to increased liminality and anomalous experiences by perturbing the human mindbody. Liminality is a dissociative weakening of the threshold between our rational and irrational minds and is relevant to paranormal experience, both "life-potentiating" and "life depotentiating."
Field effects include "creative" and "toxic" hallucinations and temporal lobe microseizures [Krippner and Persinger]. Liminality is mediated by the temporal lobes and modulated by fields. These experiences may changes one's beliefs or worldview. Weird, strange, ambiguous or supernatural events are assigned a high reality value. This is not to say all strange events are reduced to field effects. Some things remain mysteries.
Transliminality is a consciousness variable. Regardless of their initiating source, transliminal excursions are like brief trips to the Land of Oz. Transliminality is related to ungated temporal lobe functioning which conditions mystical, religious and "high weirdness" events. Those with higher transliminality, an index of neurological interconnectedness, will experience more perceptual anomalies. (Thalbourne, 2002)
Tiny magnetic field fluctuations can have dramatic effects. Some fluctuations are sudden and unexpected. If the GMF should destabilize, scientists tell us magnetic fields of flux both entering and flowing from the Earth would become much more randomized. That is not to say it will happen in our lifetimes, but that it can happen and surely will at some point in the future.
As Earth’s local and global fields continue to weaken, can we expect more reports of strange psychophysical phenomena emerging at an increasing rate? Known effects of geomagnetic pulsation include synesthesia, anomalous cognition and [lucid] dreams, psi events, and paranormal phenomena as well as heart attack, depression and suicidal tendencies. Can ambient magnetic fields lead to disregulation of the mindbody creating magnetic hallucinations? Is our sanity at risk as the Earth’s field fluctuates more and more?
Human Effects
Geopsychopathology: The geomagnetic field fluctuates continually. The geodynamic model has fractal properties. Even minor fluctuations in earth fields are related to psychophysical anomalies in human beings. Geomagnetism underlies and perturbs the human brain, cognitive/affective and sense perceptions. One study (Dimitrova and Stoylova) indicated that "most of the persons examined irrespective of their health status could be sensitive to the geomagnetic changes, which influence directly self-confidence and working ability." Another (Starbuck, et al, 2002) finds that motivation is influenced by geomagnetics. For some individuals and in certain locations on the globe, effects are even more pronounced and open the realm of paranormal experience. Locations with a negative effect are called geopathic stress zones because they interfere with normal immune function. They became places to avoid.
Sacred Places Attuned to Nature: The field arising from magnetic materials in the Earth's crust varies on all spatial scales and is often referred to as the anomaly field. A knowledge of the crustal magnetic field is often very valuable as a geophysical exploration tool for determining the local geology. In prehistory, our ancestors survived geomagnetic reversals, which may be the source of some creation myths. Indigenous people identified mythical locations of geomagnetic anomalies and amplified their highly-charged effects by building sacred sites for healing, dream incubation, vision quests, and as portals to deeper levels of the spirit world. Some of these vortex sites remain active. Modern research (Hild, 2006, "Places and States of Mind for Healing") confirms evidence of psychophysical effects opening a deeper awareness of the interplay of spirit and matter through weak electromagnetic interactions of Earth's telluric and cosmic fields.
We know that the iron core of our earth vibrates at 40 Hertz (40 pulses per second.) Our earth's crust has a different vibrational speed at around 7.5 Hertz. When we are at the height of our brain thinking activity we record roughly 40 Hertz and in meditative states a 7.5 Hertz low brain activity. This draws a direct correlation between the earth’s core environment, the earth's outer crust environment pulse rate and our upper and lower end brain function.
Rhythmically changing electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields are ubiquitous in our environment. Some of these fields are natural; others are produced by household appliances and technologies. Many people are adversely affected by natural and/or artificial energy fields (clinically termed weather or electromagnetic sensitivity). Often affected individuals do not recognize the sources of their ailments.
There is positive correlation between EEG and geomagnetic activity. Disturbances in geomagnetic fields (e.g. caused by solar and terrestrial magnetic storms) have been correlated with the onset of a variety of disorders, including heart attacks, increased blood pressure, seizures and strokes. Also, decreases in nocturnal melatonin, enhanced anxiety, heart rate, sleep disturbance, psychiatric admissions (Persinger), light sensitivity, SIDS, depression, suicide and sudden death. www.electric-fields.bris.ac.uk/ge...pdf
Persinger has conclusively demonstrated that electromagnetic fields can trigger mini-seizures. Geomagnetic fluctuations have been studied in this regard. Abnormalities in the temporal lobes (TLE) caused by genetics, injury, or infections can lead to amplification of "spiritual" characteristics in the personality.
Are some people predisposed to psychism, mystical visions, or religious zeal? What lies at the root of the personality to drive the "seeker" in a spiritual quest? How does one come by an intensely personal, even idiosyncratic perception of paranormal effects or presences, such as gods or demons, aliens or nature spirits? Are we hardwired for religious beliefs? Or do some of us just have more magnetite in our bodies?
Temporal lobe seizures mimic or perhaps even embody certain essentially religious experiences -- God Experiences. This tendency may be reinforced by a kindling process potentiating pathways to the amygdala and other parts of the brain. Emotional tone and multisensory content of these experiences is dependent on which lobe and portion of the temporal lobes become unstable and subject to seizures, clinical or sub-clinical.
The phenomena which appear pathologically in TLE can also appear in the general population, and are often even encouraged by the practice of meditation. The union of brain science and theology is called neurotheology, which studies all related religious and spiritual phenomena and their neurological roots. We might also look to the magnetic environment for subtle triggers. (Miller, 2003, neurotheology.50megs.com/whats...9.html )
If magnetic force is strong enough, TLTs can be kindled in normal individuals. Among the most electrically unstable portions of the brain, the temporal lobes are quite sensitive to extremely low magnetic frequencies (Persinger). Persinger has tickled the temporal lobes of enough individuals to define the parameters of electromagnetic shifts on brain function. Medical use of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to relieve psychological symptoms such as depression indicates that the mind may be an electromagnetic field.
There is a continuum of temporal lobe lability or sensitivity, and even normal individuals have sub-clinical microseizures frequently, particularly during REM or dreams. The full-blown effects of such electrical storms are seen in petit mal and grand mal seizures of epilepsy.
Epileptic seizures propagate across the brain through a process called “kindling.” Nerve signals are amplified exponentially, resulting in a chaotic electrical storm that can entrain more than one brain area. For example, in temporal lobe epilepsy, spreading includes the temporal lobe, underlying limbic structures and hippocampus; all of them fire in an overexcited manner, especially if serotonin levels are low.
Epilepsy is triggered by different parts of the brain. Behavioral changes immediately preceding an epileptic seizure indicate what portion of the brain is the focus of the seizure. Electrical lability, or seizures in the temporal lobes do not usually cause physical convulsions, unless they propagate to the motor regions.
Not all those with intense spiritual experiences have temporal lobe epilepsy. Meditators often sit for years before experiencing the slightest tingles or visions of light. But often once manifestations begin, they increase in frequency and tend to stabilize. They can come as sounds, smells, intense feeling, visionary landscapes or forms of living entities, or amorphous lights. These inner experiences feel as real or seem more real than external perception.
The temporal lobes host many structures and functions including memory, orientation of self in space and time, interpretations of meaning and emotional significance, organization of audio and visual patterns, smell, and language. Local discharges can be potentiated by specific memory recall or extremely low biofrequency magnetic fields penetrating brain tissue.
Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is accompanied by classic personality changes. Though some researchers disagree, attributed characteristics include the following: loss of humor; intense affect; moodswings (peaks or highs, depressions, distortions, aggression); suggestibility; existential anxiety; neophobia; hypergraphia; an intense active interest in dreams, religion and philosophy; reports of psi experiences. Supreme faith is placed in the validity of subjective experience. Unusual experiences are assigned special personal meaning. They accept logical incongruities, displaying a rigid core of private beliefs.
This later spiritual interest can be rooted in subjective experiences of a variety of phenomena kindled by electrical instabilities in the brain. They include, but are not limited to depersonalization, time distortion, anxiety or panic, floating or falling sensations, peripheral imagery, a sense of presence either sacred or malefic, apparitions, downloading of memory sequences and false memory confabulations or fantasies, voices and visionary experiences ranging from heavenly to hellish, and a panoply of psychophysical manifestations.
New research shows evidence that mankind is closely tied to Earth's geomagnetic fields (GMF) through quantum entanglement. Fields underlie extraordinary forms of communication such as telepathy. Even weak EM fields have a subtle but measurable impact on our emotional states. Historically, metaphysical and philosophical arguments about the nature of spiritual phenomena have defined such experiences, some of which may correlate with geomagnetic flux and anomalies.
Here we suggest some physical, physiological and psychological explanations, rather than non-physical, mystical and supernatural ones. Often the "parapsychology of religion" or paranthropology walks a fine line in interpreting anecdotal material and spiritual memes. In anecdotal cases, it becomes a theoretical interpretation of a personal interpretation of subjective experience or phenomena.
More rigorous experimental protocols are leading to improved science in these areas, which characterize themselves as 'frontier', rather than 'fringe' studies. We are not so much concerned here with religious memes of ‘faith’ and ‘ecstasy’ as with isolating variables and less literalistic and more subtle meanings, including changes in the proximal geomagnetic field. Persinger has demonstrated such modulations with transcranial magnetic stimulation and coupled beat frequencies. Such resonant magnetic effects may play a role in some reports of spiritual 'transcendence'.
The 2013 results of Persinger et al, support Hu and Wu’s "concepts of spin-spin interactions at the nuclear level and action potentials, evoke several considerations that could be relevant to more profound understanding between quantum phenomena, neuronal activity, and consciousness." and suggest that "the strength of these experimentally applied fields could interact or alter the photon emissions."
"Hu and Wu’s (2006) spin-mediated theory of consciousness assumes that quantum spin is the “seat of consciousness”. In this model, consciousness is not emergent but a fundamental feature of the universe. Within a dynamic process spins are the interface between the particulate composition of the brain and the energetic or wave functions associated with the electromagnetic fields of cognition. Spin is embedded in the microscopic structure of space-time and may be more fundamental than space-time itself." http://jcer.com/index.php/jcj/article/view/277/306
Spirituality is a complex phenomenon where multiple areas of the brain are responsible for aspects of spiritual experiences. The transdisciplinary field of Neurotheology describes numerous parameters of brain function susceptible to transcranial magnetic stimulation, including the role of the right parietal lobe in self-awareness and "self-orientation", increased activity in the frontal lobe, and temporal lobe lability in the subjective interpretation of anomalous cognition.
Working with traumatic brain injuries, Johnstone has also shown that "people can learn to minimize the functioning of the right side of their brains to increase their spiritual connections during meditation and prayer."
"In a nutshell, the right parietal lobe (RPL) of the brain is associated with “self-orientation.” If you look at a picture of yourself, the RPL becomes active. If you injure your right parietal lobe, you have “disorders of the self” such as ignoring the left side of space (in extreme cases individuals deny that their left arm/leg is theirs). The bottom line---if you injure your RPL you will focus less on yourself, or expressed another way, you become more “selfless.” (Johnstone)
Living organisms are not only information detectors and generators, but also transformers of electromagnetic energy.
In Paramagnetism certain materials are attracted by an externally applied magnetic field. In contrast, diamagnetic materials are repelled by magnetic fields.
Biological systems generate their own magnetic mediums through a "dia-par", or diamagnetic process to paramagnetic transition. In this model of living bioplasma, a wide spectrum of genetic mechanisms are influenced by surrounding electromagnetic fields. We are complex electrodynamic creatures. We are sensitive to natural and artificial EM waves. When we went into space, we learned that field deprivation led to undesirable psychophysical breakdown. Those fields had to be replaced artificially.
Physical science accepts that consciousness is a fundamental part of the equation of existence but mostly sees consciousness as an electrical phenomenon generated (by extension at the physical level) by aggregations of base atomic and then molecular matter forming itself into organisms. Yet it is unable to answer the question of how it is that organic life can somehow emerge from apparently ‘dead’ matter – or why it should do so.
Hu and Wu's spin mediated theory, backed up by numerous experiments of Michael Persinger's team, considers individual consciousness as a transduction of universal consciousness: "As stated earlier, our own theoretical and experimental studies [1-15] have shown that: (1) human Consciousness is non-spatial and non-temporal and not in the brain but in prespacetime; (2) brain is an interface between human Consciousness and the external world; (3) quantum spin is the mind-pixel; (4) magnetic field is manifested by the internal world based on the Principle of Existence [12-14]."
In this model, consciousness exists independent of time and becomes a primary component of reality. Our brain activity also emits photons (light). Our consciousness can potentially connect to others' consciousness through magnetic flux. This may also connect independent consciousness with "the whole". Through shifts in resonant frequency, self-organizing neural networks oscillate synchronously at specific frequencies. Different classes of oscillations and their associated behavior patterns are found in all mammals, implying such brains have a universal mechanism. Short and long-term consolidation of information and consciousness might be the result of such synchronized network activity.
When consciousness is itself inherent in all the kingdoms of Nature, the universe in toto may be considered as a psychologically based organism. A study in the Oct. 2001 journal Nature, Scientific Reports, claims the universe may grow in the same way as a giant brain - with the electrical firing between brain cells 'mirrored' by the shape of expanding galaxies.
In such a wide spectrum of intelligence, spirit and matter are qualitatively polarized aspects of one and the same principle. Jung and Pauli suggested the same, and tried to find a common language for psyche and matter. In Jung's model, alchemy involves mind and matter – one’s mind must be confronted, killed, purified and resurrected in much the same way that physical matter is handled, in a sort of 'conservation of energy' model of the soul.
Alchemy is a method that facilitates our personal development by applying natural processes that have been heated by conscious intention, love, and a personal confrontation with the unconscious. As a result, we gain, according to Jung, self-knowledge: a transcendent relationship with the unconscious that essentially frees us from the duality of the opposites, such as time and space. In other words, we become our own true, authentic self – the true gold of the alchemists. As Dorn put it, “Thou wilt never make from others the One which thou seekest, except first there be made one thing of thyself…”
Geopsychopathology
Solar storms, geomagnetic pulsation, and perturbed ambient EM field activity impact behavior in clinically significant ways, such as producing hallucinations. Neural entrainment confuses the brain into skewed perception it accepts as sensory information. Magnetic influences on the pineal hormone, melatonin are suggested as a possible source of variation. Research shows perturbations also affect the mind and heart, and slow reaction time, while increasing gastric distress, irritability and violence, even suicidal tendencies.
Magnetic fields influence neural processes and can scramble the brain. Intense atmospheric charging coupled with earthquake precursor activity is suggested for anomalous effects on animals – even birds falling from the sky. Earth’s field fluctuates continually. We are conditioned by this environment in which we have grown, but what if its electromagnetic signature is changing? Is it protecting us like it used to?
Geomagnetic storms disturb that magnetic field with gusts of solar wind and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Charged particles emanate from solar flares and penetrate our atmosphere. During a geomagnetic storm the amount of charged solar material reaching the earth increases and the earth’s magnetic field is significantly perturbed. Northern Lights are one visible effect. Some research shows such turbulent field conditions reduce reports of telepathic experience, especially in dreams, like static on a radio. (Krippner)
While susceptibility differs, solar bursts can modulate mood and behavior and disrupt sleep and chemical processes in the body. Symptoms include headache, palpitations, mood swings, perceptual distortions, and feeling generally unwell. Chaotic or confused thinking and erratic behaviors also increase. Fluctuating geomagnetic effects blur the boundary of conscious and subconscious, by impairing the brain.
In addition, Earth's geomagnetic field intensity is dropping slowly but steadily. At some time in the distant future, Earth’s internal nuclear dynamo will stop spinning, melting magma, creating the aura of Earth’s geomagnetic field, and turn cold. The atmosphere will be relentlessly stripped away by the force of the solar winds, until our planet becomes a gamma ray bombarded husk like Mars. But long before that happens there will be more cycles of normal reversals in the polarity of our magnetic field.
If Earth’s local and global fields continue to weaken, can we expect more reports of strange psychophysical phenomena emerging at an increasing rate? Known effects of geomagnetic pulsation include synesthesia, anomalous cognition and lucid dreams, psi events, and paranormal phenomena as well as heart attack, depression and suicidal tendencies. We simply don’t know how to screen ourselves from such phenomena.
Under certain conditions humans affect local geomagnetic fields. Field codes are context dependent. Local geomagnetic field fluctuations are seen to dramatically change as a function of directed mental protocols. These same fields are also changed and uniquely altered when measured in close coupling to the human body. It appears that mental protocols that send out thoughts and energy, even from distant points around the world, can directly affect the local geomagnetic fields in accordance with intentions. Mankind is closely tied to Earth's geomagnetic fields, as quantum entanglement vehicles of information transfer. Fields underlie extraordinary forms of communication such as telepathy (Chouinard). We might even find evidence that dark matter is charged (Pitkanen).
- We are complex electrodynamic, rather than merely chemical beings, sensitive to natural and artificial EM fields;
- SR frequencies coincide with human brain waves, affecting subtle and gross brain-wave generation, regulating homoeostasis, healing and psi;
- There is strong correlation between human behavioral disturbance and geomagnetic field turbulence or isolation from Schumann Wave frequencies. (Miller)
When the Sun Licks Your Brain
Fluctuating geomagnetic effects can lead to increased liminality and anomalous experiences by perturbing mind and body. Field effects include hallucinations and temporal lobe microseizures, as described by Krippner and Persinger. Threshold states blur the boundaries of reality and imagination. People feel confused, betwixt and between, have mystical and paranormal experiences and odd visions.
Tiny field fluctuations can have dramatic effects. Some are sudden and unexpected. If the geomagnetic field (GMF) should destabilize, scientists tell us magnetic fields of flux both entering and flowing from the Earth would become much more randomized. Earth could have a few poles for a while. That is not to say it will happen in our lifetimes, but that it can happen and surely will at some indefinite point in the future.
Tectonic activity, “lensing”, and concentrating of Earth’s magnetic field definitely have biological effects. Can ambient magnetic fields lead to disregulation of the mindbody creating magnetic hallucinations? Is our sanity, as well as our satellites, at risk as Earth’s field fluctuates more and more?
Pioneering biophysics work has shown that DNA and living tissues interact with electric and magnetic fields in unexpected and dramatic ways. Living organisms are not only information detectors and generators, but also transformers of electromagnetic energy. A wide spectrum of genetic mechanisms are under the influence of surrounding electromagnetic fields.
Electromagnetism connects the entire Solar System in a profound way. Earth's geomagnetic field intensity, a dipole-dominated field, is dropping slowly but steadily. Earth's field is losing energy. At some time in the distant future -- Geomagnetic Zero Point -- the deep Earth reactor will stop spinning, melting magma, creating the aura of Earth’s geomagnetic field, and turn cold. The atmosphere will be relentlessly stripped away by the force of the solar winds, until our planet becomes a gamma ray bombarded husk like Mars. But long before that happens, we can expect normal reversals in the polarity of our magnetic field.
Global Field Effects
HiPsiFi: The brain is affected by geomagnetic fields. Fluctuating geomagnetic effects can lead to increased liminality and anomalous experiences by perturbing the human mindbody. Liminality is a dissociative weakening of the threshold between our rational and irrational minds and is relevant to paranormal experience, both "life-potentiating" and "life depotentiating."
Field effects include "creative" and "toxic" hallucinations and temporal lobe microseizures [Krippner and Persinger]. Liminality is mediated by the temporal lobes and modulated by fields. These experiences may changes one's beliefs or worldview. Weird, strange, ambiguous or supernatural events are assigned a high reality value. This is not to say all strange events are reduced to field effects. Some things remain mysteries.
Transliminality is a consciousness variable. Regardless of their initiating source, transliminal excursions are like brief trips to the Land of Oz. Transliminality is related to ungated temporal lobe functioning which conditions mystical, religious and "high weirdness" events. Those with higher transliminality, an index of neurological interconnectedness, will experience more perceptual anomalies. (Thalbourne, 2002)
Tiny magnetic field fluctuations can have dramatic effects. Some fluctuations are sudden and unexpected. If the GMF should destabilize, scientists tell us magnetic fields of flux both entering and flowing from the Earth would become much more randomized. That is not to say it will happen in our lifetimes, but that it can happen and surely will at some point in the future.
As Earth’s local and global fields continue to weaken, can we expect more reports of strange psychophysical phenomena emerging at an increasing rate? Known effects of geomagnetic pulsation include synesthesia, anomalous cognition and [lucid] dreams, psi events, and paranormal phenomena as well as heart attack, depression and suicidal tendencies. Can ambient magnetic fields lead to disregulation of the mindbody creating magnetic hallucinations? Is our sanity at risk as the Earth’s field fluctuates more and more?
Human Effects
Geopsychopathology: The geomagnetic field fluctuates continually. The geodynamic model has fractal properties. Even minor fluctuations in earth fields are related to psychophysical anomalies in human beings. Geomagnetism underlies and perturbs the human brain, cognitive/affective and sense perceptions. One study (Dimitrova and Stoylova) indicated that "most of the persons examined irrespective of their health status could be sensitive to the geomagnetic changes, which influence directly self-confidence and working ability." Another (Starbuck, et al, 2002) finds that motivation is influenced by geomagnetics. For some individuals and in certain locations on the globe, effects are even more pronounced and open the realm of paranormal experience. Locations with a negative effect are called geopathic stress zones because they interfere with normal immune function. They became places to avoid.
Sacred Places Attuned to Nature: The field arising from magnetic materials in the Earth's crust varies on all spatial scales and is often referred to as the anomaly field. A knowledge of the crustal magnetic field is often very valuable as a geophysical exploration tool for determining the local geology. In prehistory, our ancestors survived geomagnetic reversals, which may be the source of some creation myths. Indigenous people identified mythical locations of geomagnetic anomalies and amplified their highly-charged effects by building sacred sites for healing, dream incubation, vision quests, and as portals to deeper levels of the spirit world. Some of these vortex sites remain active. Modern research (Hild, 2006, "Places and States of Mind for Healing") confirms evidence of psychophysical effects opening a deeper awareness of the interplay of spirit and matter through weak electromagnetic interactions of Earth's telluric and cosmic fields.
We know that the iron core of our earth vibrates at 40 Hertz (40 pulses per second.) Our earth's crust has a different vibrational speed at around 7.5 Hertz. When we are at the height of our brain thinking activity we record roughly 40 Hertz and in meditative states a 7.5 Hertz low brain activity. This draws a direct correlation between the earth’s core environment, the earth's outer crust environment pulse rate and our upper and lower end brain function.
Rhythmically changing electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields are ubiquitous in our environment. Some of these fields are natural; others are produced by household appliances and technologies. Many people are adversely affected by natural and/or artificial energy fields (clinically termed weather or electromagnetic sensitivity). Often affected individuals do not recognize the sources of their ailments.
There is positive correlation between EEG and geomagnetic activity. Disturbances in geomagnetic fields (e.g. caused by solar and terrestrial magnetic storms) have been correlated with the onset of a variety of disorders, including heart attacks, increased blood pressure, seizures and strokes. Also, decreases in nocturnal melatonin, enhanced anxiety, heart rate, sleep disturbance, psychiatric admissions (Persinger), light sensitivity, SIDS, depression, suicide and sudden death. www.electric-fields.bris.ac.uk/ge...pdf
Persinger has conclusively demonstrated that electromagnetic fields can trigger mini-seizures. Geomagnetic fluctuations have been studied in this regard. Abnormalities in the temporal lobes (TLE) caused by genetics, injury, or infections can lead to amplification of "spiritual" characteristics in the personality.
Are some people predisposed to psychism, mystical visions, or religious zeal? What lies at the root of the personality to drive the "seeker" in a spiritual quest? How does one come by an intensely personal, even idiosyncratic perception of paranormal effects or presences, such as gods or demons, aliens or nature spirits? Are we hardwired for religious beliefs? Or do some of us just have more magnetite in our bodies?
Temporal lobe seizures mimic or perhaps even embody certain essentially religious experiences -- God Experiences. This tendency may be reinforced by a kindling process potentiating pathways to the amygdala and other parts of the brain. Emotional tone and multisensory content of these experiences is dependent on which lobe and portion of the temporal lobes become unstable and subject to seizures, clinical or sub-clinical.
The phenomena which appear pathologically in TLE can also appear in the general population, and are often even encouraged by the practice of meditation. The union of brain science and theology is called neurotheology, which studies all related religious and spiritual phenomena and their neurological roots. We might also look to the magnetic environment for subtle triggers. (Miller, 2003, neurotheology.50megs.com/whats...9.html )
If magnetic force is strong enough, TLTs can be kindled in normal individuals. Among the most electrically unstable portions of the brain, the temporal lobes are quite sensitive to extremely low magnetic frequencies (Persinger). Persinger has tickled the temporal lobes of enough individuals to define the parameters of electromagnetic shifts on brain function. Medical use of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to relieve psychological symptoms such as depression indicates that the mind may be an electromagnetic field.
There is a continuum of temporal lobe lability or sensitivity, and even normal individuals have sub-clinical microseizures frequently, particularly during REM or dreams. The full-blown effects of such electrical storms are seen in petit mal and grand mal seizures of epilepsy.
Epileptic seizures propagate across the brain through a process called “kindling.” Nerve signals are amplified exponentially, resulting in a chaotic electrical storm that can entrain more than one brain area. For example, in temporal lobe epilepsy, spreading includes the temporal lobe, underlying limbic structures and hippocampus; all of them fire in an overexcited manner, especially if serotonin levels are low.
Epilepsy is triggered by different parts of the brain. Behavioral changes immediately preceding an epileptic seizure indicate what portion of the brain is the focus of the seizure. Electrical lability, or seizures in the temporal lobes do not usually cause physical convulsions, unless they propagate to the motor regions.
Not all those with intense spiritual experiences have temporal lobe epilepsy. Meditators often sit for years before experiencing the slightest tingles or visions of light. But often once manifestations begin, they increase in frequency and tend to stabilize. They can come as sounds, smells, intense feeling, visionary landscapes or forms of living entities, or amorphous lights. These inner experiences feel as real or seem more real than external perception.
The temporal lobes host many structures and functions including memory, orientation of self in space and time, interpretations of meaning and emotional significance, organization of audio and visual patterns, smell, and language. Local discharges can be potentiated by specific memory recall or extremely low biofrequency magnetic fields penetrating brain tissue.
Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is accompanied by classic personality changes. Though some researchers disagree, attributed characteristics include the following: loss of humor; intense affect; moodswings (peaks or highs, depressions, distortions, aggression); suggestibility; existential anxiety; neophobia; hypergraphia; an intense active interest in dreams, religion and philosophy; reports of psi experiences. Supreme faith is placed in the validity of subjective experience. Unusual experiences are assigned special personal meaning. They accept logical incongruities, displaying a rigid core of private beliefs.
This later spiritual interest can be rooted in subjective experiences of a variety of phenomena kindled by electrical instabilities in the brain. They include, but are not limited to depersonalization, time distortion, anxiety or panic, floating or falling sensations, peripheral imagery, a sense of presence either sacred or malefic, apparitions, downloading of memory sequences and false memory confabulations or fantasies, voices and visionary experiences ranging from heavenly to hellish, and a panoply of psychophysical manifestations.
III. PSI & Anomalous Phenomena
Is Psi Real?
Michael Persinger has discovered that the same type of brain stimulation can create metal states conducive to human telepathy. “What we have found is that if you place two different people at a distance and put a circular magnetic field around both, and you make sure they are connected to the same computer so they get the same stimulation, then if you flash a light in one person’s eye the person in the other room receiving just the magnetic field will show changes in their brain as if they saw the flash of light. We think that’s tremendous because it may be the first macro demonstration of a quantum connection, or so-called quantum entanglement. If true, then there’s another way of potential communication that may have physical applications, for example, in space travel.” http://www.skeptiko.com/michael-persinger-discovers-telepathic-link/
Psi as a Geomagnetic Field Correlate
Persinger has shown that paranormal experiences (sensed presence, time distortion, information acquisition, death crisis, eccentric thinking) can be "induced" by a variety of fields. They are associated with geomagnetic activity or lack of it and neuronal activity of the temporal lobes. Sources of stimuli range from chaotic activity to field effects. Paranormal beliefs are related to paranormal experiences, often substituting for traditional religious beliefs.
We live in a dense soup of natural and artificial magnetic fields induced by electric charges moving through electric fields. Each event we experience as humans is centered in its own electromagnetic field. Psi phenomena [healing, telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, remote viewing, psychokinesis, poltergeists, hauntings] have been described as complex field effects. A field is a matrix, a region of influence that invisibly connects two or more nonlocal points in space or time with visible, informational or energetic effects.
A 1991 article in Bioelectromagnetics Magazine is called, "The Solar Wind and Hallucinations, --a possible relation due to magnetic disturbances.” Walter and Steffani Randall recount breakthrough research showing psychophysical correlations with increased GMF (geomagnetic field) periods. Data from the 19th century on hallucinations and magnetic disturbances were found to exhibit a direct and statistically significant correlation. Magnetic influences on the pineal hormone, melatonin, are suggested as a possible source of variation.
Geomagnetic activity is related to mental activity. Research suggests lower geomagnetic activity correlates with increased psi activity such as telepathy and anomalous dreams. Conversely, magnetically stormy days correlate with violent crime, bereavement hallucinations, (sleep) paralysis episodes, psychokinesis and poltergeist phenomena.
This nonlocal field may be enhanced or disrupted by a variety of environmental conditions [Krippner, Persinger, Spottiswoode, McTaggart, Lazslo]. Bursts of creativity in all cultural forms flourish in years of highest solar activity. The same covariance was found between hallucinations and magnetic disturbances.
Geomagnetic Field effects have yet to be conclusively demonstrated. Do geomagnetic fields carry psi information or effect the modulation of brainwave activity? We might suspect field coherence or resonance phenomena. Is this field phenomenon more perceptible in shamanic or altered states of consciousness?
In "Geomagnetic Field Effects in Anomalous Dreams and the Akashic Field," Krippner reports a relationship between geomagnetic fluctuations, lunar cycle, and sunspot activity with anomalous dreams, including telepathic, clairvoyant and precognitive content. Other factors, including the holographic mechanism (vacuum wave interference patterns) of the nonlocal zero-point field may also be influential. In psi tests, "hits" and "misses" are statistically significant relative to geomagnetic fields.
S. James P. Spottiswoode (1997) summarizes in “Geomagnetic fluctuations and free-response anomalous cognition: a new understanding,” as follows:
For some years there has been speculation that anomalous cognition (AC) performance may be correlated with global geomagnetic field (GMF) fluctuations. This idea arose from the work of Persinger (e.g., Persinger & Schout, 1988), who found that anecdotal cases of putative AC occurred on days when GMF fluctuations were significantly lower than on the preceding and following days. Many workers have investigated whether or not this interesting observation could be extended to laboratory anomalous cognition, but with mixed results.
Tart (1988) and Persinger and Krippner (1989) found an association between high-scoring AC trials and low GMF fluctuations, while Haraldsson and Gissurarson (1987) and Nelson and Dunne (1986) did not. In an unpublished meta-analysis, this author collected 1,468 free-response trials from 21 studies, reasoning that the effect, if it existed, would be most easily detected in a large database with high effect size; in fact, the overall correlation was a disappointing -0.0002 (Spearman's [Rho], N = 1,468, ns). The first step to understanding the physics of anomalous cognition will probably be the discovery of physical variables that unambiguously modulate the effect.
Persinger has experimented with weak complex, time-varying magnetic fields applied to the brains of human subjects. Some people are more susceptible to field variance than others. This application has been dubbed EIF or Experience Inducing Fields. Not all magnetic anomalies have implications for experience. Ambient geomagnetic fields are usually considered too weak to initiate but always undergird anomalous events, including hallucination. Neural entrainment confuses the brain into hallucinations it accepts as sensory information). EIF’s are fluctuations on top of the local dynamic field.
Visual hallucinations include circles, ellipses and triangles. Persinger conjectures that geomagnetic activity may enhance the receptivity of the brain to extrasensory signals, noting in particular that sudden decreases in geomagnetic activity may decrease the likelihood of certain types of electrical seizures in the brain. Persinger contends that increases in geomagnetic activity tend to lower seizure thresholds and may even precipitate convulsions in epileptics.
Some scientists (e.g., Radin, McAlpine & Cunningham, 1994; and Adair, 1991) have, however, expressed skepticism that changes in the geomagnetic field would have sufficient strength to produce any physiological effects on the human body at all. As a second possibility, Persinger suggests that lowered geomagnetic activity might enhance the signal carrying the ESP message, which he has speculated may consist in part of extremely low frequency electromagnetic radiation.
Adrian Ryan [2008] reports,
Geomagnetic field measurements were collected from the SAMNET array of magnetometers in Northern Europe. Measurements were selected from the nearest operating magnetometer at the time of each ESP trial; the mean distance between magnetometer and ESP trial location was 126 km (minimum 2 km, maximum 261 km). The sampling interval was 5 seconds until mid-November 1995 and 1 second thereafter. The amplitude resolution of the measurements is 0.1 nT. The field measurements were converted by fast Fourier transform into power within five frequency bands. Pulsations with frequency > 0.1 Hz were found to be highly geographically localized, therefore data for these frequency bands were discarded for all but the 99 remote viewing trials conducted at in York, for which the magnetometer was also located in York.
Two patterns were observed: ESP was found to succeed only during periods of enhanced pulsation activity within the 0.2-0.5 Hz band, but ESP effect was absent during the most disturbed periods of activity in the 0.025-0.1 Hz band.
Analysis of the continuous record of geomagnetic field measurements between November 1996 and March 2005 revealed that activity in the 0.025-0.1 Hz range is strongly correlated with the global index of geomagnetic activity ap, but no such relationship exists between activity in the 0.2-0.5 Hz band and ap, which may account for the overall slight negative correlation between ESP and ap reported in the literature.
As each frequency band of geomagnetic pulsation exhibits distinct seasonal and/or interacting seasonal/daily variation, they make excellent candidates for explaining the associations between ESP and LST that have been reported in the literature. To explore this possibility, the ESP effect size for trials in the database was plotted by LST; the resultant pattern was similar to that found by Spottiswoode (1997a, 1997b). Modeling revealed that this shape was partially attributable to the pattern of ESP results by pulsation activity in the 0.2-0.5 Hz band.
Vortex Phenomena
Naturally occurring electromagnetic waves entrain human brainwaves. Unusual magnetic areas – “hotspots” -- provide mini-laboratories for investigating anomalous geomagnetic effects. They have been honored or feared by primal peoples from the dawn of time. Magnetic vortexes, such as those found in the iron-rich soil of Sedona, Southern Oregon and elsewhere are legendary places where unusual electromagnetic phenomena abound.
Hopi Indians say the earth energy field is damaged in some way. Like many indigenous people around the world who preserve the ancient wisdom, they insist that nuclear testing and the high-tech mining of ‘power places’ is somehow short-circuiting the system – that the "hoop of the world has been broken". In fact, the old people say, "The big blow is going to come again!" (White, 1993)
These hotspot areas of subtle earth energies often have a deep base of crystalline rock. Ten percent of the earth's total magnetic field fluctuates significantly over decade time scales, apparently reflecting the unsteady exchange of angular momentum between the core and the mantle in the velocity field.
Initially a skeptic, electrical engineer, Ben Lonetree describes iron-rich soil as “focusing” non-dipole geomagnetism that exhibits upward and downward motion. This is a Vortex. Lonetree was able to conclusively demonstrate what others have long conjectured.
During a vortex event, monitoring equipment detects no N-S polarity. Compass instabilities plus upswing and downswing in field intensity can indicate vortex activity. You can catch a vortex in the act of dramatically increasing local field activity by orders of magnitude. Lonetree calls this a “Sudden Magnetic Impulse event.”
When the event passes, a compass will once again behave normally as outflow or inflow ceases. Lonetree has verified his readings by observing Schumann Resonances (SR), difficult to filter from ambient, artificial electronic noise or “smog.” He uses one computer to monitor SR and another to monitor magnetic intensity. Lonetree also makes it clear, despite the pseudo-scientific assertions of others, that SR is NOT rising, as his longterm readings clearly show.
Lonetree made observations, locally and globally, of Schumann Resonances in various areas of Arizona to see if distinctions emerged in the vortex hotspots. Schumann Resonance is 20,000 times less in intensity than the earth’s magnetic field. The SR pulse acts as a "driver" of our brains and might also potentially carry information. Entrainment is a process of synchronization where vibrations cause an object to oscillate at the same rate, affecting psychology and physiology.
He generated spectrographs to, “provide a point of reference to discuss and demonstrate Geomagnetic affects on the first resonance." Each of the seven Schumann Resonances occupies a bandwidth of 1 Hz. In other words, each of the resonances is 1 Hz. wide: 7.83 Hz, 14 Hz, 21 Hz, 26 Hz, 33 Hz, 39 Hz, and 45 Hz.
“Vortex Action” increases the intensity (strength) of correlated SR readings. For example, the 7.83 Hz Resonance increases in strength relative to that of the vortex event. The peak of the magnetic amplitude is coincidental with the peak of SR amplitude.
Certain geophysical conditions also function like amplifiers and speakers, making the natural electromagnetic ‘voice’ of the planet louder. Lonetree’s gut-feeling is that these are not waves of electromagnetic energy, but rather a gentle oscillation of the Earth’s magnetosphere.
This frequency also happens to fall between two of the human brainwaves, Alpha and Theta. There are four altogether: Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Theta. When our brain is functioning restfully in the predominantly alpha/theta zone, we become more relaxed or peaceful. The human brain acts like an electrical circuit called a phase-lock loop. A local external (outside the body) electromagnetic signal, as long as it is stronger than our brainwaves, initiates a resonance effect where the brain locks onto and resonates at that frequency.
Inflow and outflow are intermittent with typical events lasting 90 seconds to 2 minutes – a spike in magnetic activity. Twisted, rotating spiral or circular lines of magnetic force enter and emerge from the earth in specific local areas. They can be monitored electronically with Fluxgate detectors, induction coils or proton precession magnetometers, measuring the strength and direction of the local field.
Vortex activity causes trees to grow in gnarled and twisted patterns, creating other observational and perceptual clues to their existence, beyond the subjective. They are also purported to have unique psychophysical effects on certain individuals, mostly relevant to health and well-being.
We are complex electrodynamic, rather than chemical beings. We are subject to natural and artificial EM fields. SR frequencies coincide with human brain waves. There is a strong correlation between human behavioral disturbance or enhancement and geomagnetic field turbulence.
Hot Spot Alpha
One of the effects of meditation is to "quiet the mind" to facilitate the "free-run" (or silent thalamic periods) that allows entrainment by natural geophysical rhythms. This tuning or "magnetoreception" is mediated by the pineal gland, (30% of its cells are magnetically sensitive), and organic magnetite-containing tissues.
Up-flow Vortexes are said to boost healing, creativity, visions, spiritual skills, exhilaration, and expand consciousness. Many claim to experience increases in UFO sightings and presence. Places labeled as a magnetic vortex are areas of inflow energy. Some claim an area labeled an electric vortex is an area of up-flow energy.
Lonetree laudes the virtues of magnetically-supercharged brainwave entrainment. With his spectrographic evidence, he knowledgeably declares, “Sitting on top of a magnetic outflow while the first Schumann Resonance promotes a state of Alpha / Theta is an experience you will never forget!”
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Persinger, M.A., & Derr, J.S. Geophysical variables and behavior: LXII. Temporal coupling of UFO reports and seismic energy release within the Rio Grande rift system: discriminative validity of the tectonic strain theory. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1990, 71, 567-572.
Persinger, M.A. Geophysical variables and behavior: LXVI. Geomagnetic storm sudden commencements and commercial aircrashes. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1991, 72, 476-478.
Phillips, Tony, (2008) Magnetic Portals Connect Earth to Sun, http://science1.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/30oct_ftes/
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Randall, Walter and Steffani, (1991), Bioelectromagnetics Magazine, "The Solar Wind and Hallucinations.
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Sidebar: from Mitch Battros Earth Changes Media
http://http://earthchangesmedia.com
Recent discoveries suggest charged particles and their interplay with Earth’s magnetic field has an effect far beneath the Earth’s surface. Researcher Denis Andrault, a mineral physicist at Blaise Pascal University, was recently published in the scientific journal ‘Nature’. His research shows mantel plumes form narrow streams of molten rock which horizontally expand as they rise to the surface. http://earthchangesmedia.com/what-is-the-cause-of-heat-variance-part-ii?utm_source=wysija&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyUpdates
by Mitch Battros - Earth Changes Media
June 24th 2013
Earth's magnetic field is generated by what is known as the "dynamo or dipole" theory which involves the convection of liquid iron in the outer core. The latest data continues to show Earth's magnetic field is weakening. Ongoing studies supported by the NSF (National Science Foundation) indicate a connection between submarine troughs (rifts), Earth's mantle, and Earth's outer core. New research illustrates the shifting of magnetic flux, via Earth's magnetic field - has a direct and symbiotic relationship to Earth's outer core, mantle, lithosphere, and crust.
Right now the magnetic field is weakening significantly. This will continue until it reaches zero point, at which time there will be a full magnetic reversal. Until this time, we will witness magnetic north bouncing in the northern hemisphere. Closer to the moments of a full reversal, we will see magnetic north drop down below the equator. During this phase of a weakening field, charged particles can penetrate through all levels of inner and outer atmosphere further descending to Earth's core. Evidence for such events has been found in sediment cores taken from deep ocean floors revealing magnetic polarity shifts and its effect on Earth's core.
June 24th 2013
Earth's magnetic field is generated by what is known as the "dynamo or dipole" theory which involves the convection of liquid iron in the outer core. The latest data continues to show Earth's magnetic field is weakening. Ongoing studies supported by the NSF (National Science Foundation) indicate a connection between submarine troughs (rifts), Earth's mantle, and Earth's outer core. New research illustrates the shifting of magnetic flux, via Earth's magnetic field - has a direct and symbiotic relationship to Earth's outer core, mantle, lithosphere, and crust.
Right now the magnetic field is weakening significantly. This will continue until it reaches zero point, at which time there will be a full magnetic reversal. Until this time, we will witness magnetic north bouncing in the northern hemisphere. Closer to the moments of a full reversal, we will see magnetic north drop down below the equator. During this phase of a weakening field, charged particles can penetrate through all levels of inner and outer atmosphere further descending to Earth's core. Evidence for such events has been found in sediment cores taken from deep ocean floors revealing magnetic polarity shifts and its effect on Earth's core.
One such area is the Mid-Atlantic Rift where the North American and European continental plates are spreading as the result of mantle plumes where viscous molten rock ebbs and flows as a product of an over-heated or cooling core. As lava solidifies, it creates a record of the orientation of past magnetic fields much like that of tree rings.
41,000 years ago, the Earth's magnetic field faded and practically disappeared, leaving our planet unprotected from the bombardment of cosmic rays. A team of submarine geologist discovered this event in sediment cores collected off the coasts of Portugal and Papua New Guinea. In their samples, they found an excess of beryllium-10, an isotope produced by cosmic rays and atoms of nitrogen and oxygen. In sedimentary beds dating from the age of the Laschamp excursion, the researchers found up to twice as much 10Be as normal, evidence of the intense cosmic ray bombardment that the Earth underwent.
41,000 years ago, the Earth's magnetic field faded and practically disappeared, leaving our planet unprotected from the bombardment of cosmic rays. A team of submarine geologist discovered this event in sediment cores collected off the coasts of Portugal and Papua New Guinea. In their samples, they found an excess of beryllium-10, an isotope produced by cosmic rays and atoms of nitrogen and oxygen. In sedimentary beds dating from the age of the Laschamp excursion, the researchers found up to twice as much 10Be as normal, evidence of the intense cosmic ray bombardment that the Earth underwent.
The magnetic north pole had moved at approximately 10 miles per year in the early 1800's more than 600 miles (1,100 km). It is now moving faster at more than 40 miles per year since around 2001. This current trend of a weakening magnetic field suggests that Earth might undergo an excursion similar to the one that took place 41,000 years ago. Since high energy cosmic rays has an effect on Earth's core and can cause cell damage, such an event would have a significant impact on biodiversity, and in particular on humans. This is why researchers are seeking to find out a more accurate prediction of future magnetic field excursions and reversals.
Voyager 1 Discovers Bizarre and Baffling Region at Edge of Solar System
- By Adam Mann
- 06.27.13
Not content with simply being the man-made object to travel farthest from Earth, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft recently entered a bizarre new region at the solar system’s edge that has physicists baffled. Their theories don’t predict anything like it.
Launched 36 years ago, Voyager 1 and its twin Voyager 2 made an unprecedented tour of the outer planets, returning spectacular data from their journey. The first Voyager sped out of the solar system in 1980 and it has since been edging closer and closer to interstellar space. The probe is currently out more than 120 times the distance between the Earth and the sun.
Scientists initially thought that Voyager’s transition into this new realm, where effects from the rest of the galaxy become more pronounced, would be gradual and unexciting. But it’s proven to be far more complicated than anything researchers had imagined, with the spacecraft now encountering a strange region that scientists are struggling to make sense of.
“The models that have been thought to predict what should happen are all incorrect,” said physicist Stamatios Krimigis of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, who is lead author of one of three new papers on Voyager appearing in Science on June 27. “We essentially have absolutely no reliable roadmap of what to expect at this point.”
The sun produces a plasma of charged particles called the solar wind, which get blown supersonically from its atmosphere at more than 1 million km/h. Some of these ions are thrown outward by as much as 10 percent the speed of light. These particles also carry the solar magnetic field.
Eventually, this wind is thought to hit the interstellar medium – a completely different flow of particles expelled from the deadly explosions of massive stars. The extremely energetic ions created in these bursts are known as galactic cosmic rays and they are mostly blocked from coming into the solar system by the solar wind. The galaxy also has its own magnetic field, which is thought to be at a significant angle to the sun’s field.
Researchers know that Voyager 1 entered the edge of the solar wind in 2003, when the spacecraft’s instruments indicated that particles around it were moving subsonically, having slowed down after traveling far from the sun. Then, about a year ago, everything got really quiet around the probe. Voyager 1’s instruments indicated at the solar wind suddenly dropped by a factor of 1,000, to the point where it was virtually undetectable. This transition happened extremely fast, taking roughly a few days.
At the same time, the measurements of galactic cosmic rays increased significantly, which would be “just as we expected if we were outside the solar wind,” said physicist Ed Stone of Caltech, Voyager’s project scientist and lead author of one of the Science papers. It looked almost as if Voyager 1 had left the sun’s influence.
So what’s the problem? Well, if the solar wind was completely gone, galactic cosmic rays should be streaming in from all directions. Instead, Voyager found them coming preferentially from one direction. Furthermore, even though the solar particles had dropped off, the probe hasn’t measured any real change in the magnetic fields around it. That’s hard to explain because the galaxy’s magnetic field is thought to be inclined 60 degrees from the sun’s field.
No one is entirely sure what’s going on.
“It’s a huge surprise,” said astronomer Merav Opher of Boston University, who was not involved in the work. While the new observations are fascinating, they are likely something that theorists will debate about for some time, she added.
“In some sense we have touched the intergalactic medium,” Opher said, “but we’re still inside the sun’s house.”
Extending this analogy, it’s almost as if Voyager thought it was going outside but instead found itself standing in the foyer of the sun’s home with an open door that allows wind to blow in from the galaxy. Not only were scientists not expecting this foyer to exist, they have no idea how long the probe will stay inside of it. Stone speculated that the probe could travel some months or years before it reaches interstellar space.
“But it could happen any day,” he added. “We don’t have a model to tell us that.” Even then, Stone said, Voyager would not have really left the solar system but merely the region where the solar wind dominates.
For his part, Krimigis didn’t even want to speculate on what Voyager might encounter next because theorists’ models have so far not worked extremely well.
“I’m convinced that nature is far more imaginative than we are,” he said.
Launched 36 years ago, Voyager 1 and its twin Voyager 2 made an unprecedented tour of the outer planets, returning spectacular data from their journey. The first Voyager sped out of the solar system in 1980 and it has since been edging closer and closer to interstellar space. The probe is currently out more than 120 times the distance between the Earth and the sun.
Scientists initially thought that Voyager’s transition into this new realm, where effects from the rest of the galaxy become more pronounced, would be gradual and unexciting. But it’s proven to be far more complicated than anything researchers had imagined, with the spacecraft now encountering a strange region that scientists are struggling to make sense of.
“The models that have been thought to predict what should happen are all incorrect,” said physicist Stamatios Krimigis of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, who is lead author of one of three new papers on Voyager appearing in Science on June 27. “We essentially have absolutely no reliable roadmap of what to expect at this point.”
The sun produces a plasma of charged particles called the solar wind, which get blown supersonically from its atmosphere at more than 1 million km/h. Some of these ions are thrown outward by as much as 10 percent the speed of light. These particles also carry the solar magnetic field.
Eventually, this wind is thought to hit the interstellar medium – a completely different flow of particles expelled from the deadly explosions of massive stars. The extremely energetic ions created in these bursts are known as galactic cosmic rays and they are mostly blocked from coming into the solar system by the solar wind. The galaxy also has its own magnetic field, which is thought to be at a significant angle to the sun’s field.
Researchers know that Voyager 1 entered the edge of the solar wind in 2003, when the spacecraft’s instruments indicated that particles around it were moving subsonically, having slowed down after traveling far from the sun. Then, about a year ago, everything got really quiet around the probe. Voyager 1’s instruments indicated at the solar wind suddenly dropped by a factor of 1,000, to the point where it was virtually undetectable. This transition happened extremely fast, taking roughly a few days.
At the same time, the measurements of galactic cosmic rays increased significantly, which would be “just as we expected if we were outside the solar wind,” said physicist Ed Stone of Caltech, Voyager’s project scientist and lead author of one of the Science papers. It looked almost as if Voyager 1 had left the sun’s influence.
So what’s the problem? Well, if the solar wind was completely gone, galactic cosmic rays should be streaming in from all directions. Instead, Voyager found them coming preferentially from one direction. Furthermore, even though the solar particles had dropped off, the probe hasn’t measured any real change in the magnetic fields around it. That’s hard to explain because the galaxy’s magnetic field is thought to be inclined 60 degrees from the sun’s field.
No one is entirely sure what’s going on.
“It’s a huge surprise,” said astronomer Merav Opher of Boston University, who was not involved in the work. While the new observations are fascinating, they are likely something that theorists will debate about for some time, she added.
“In some sense we have touched the intergalactic medium,” Opher said, “but we’re still inside the sun’s house.”
Extending this analogy, it’s almost as if Voyager thought it was going outside but instead found itself standing in the foyer of the sun’s home with an open door that allows wind to blow in from the galaxy. Not only were scientists not expecting this foyer to exist, they have no idea how long the probe will stay inside of it. Stone speculated that the probe could travel some months or years before it reaches interstellar space.
“But it could happen any day,” he added. “We don’t have a model to tell us that.” Even then, Stone said, Voyager would not have really left the solar system but merely the region where the solar wind dominates.
For his part, Krimigis didn’t even want to speculate on what Voyager might encounter next because theorists’ models have so far not worked extremely well.
“I’m convinced that nature is far more imaginative than we are,” he said.
Cosmic Ray Effect on Our Sun and Earth’s Core
http://earthchangesmedia.com/cosmic-ray-effect-on-our-sun-and-earths-core
The latest evidence based on NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory research suggest the escalation of earth changing events such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and various extreme weather events are caused by natural cyclical oscillations of Earth’s core produced by an increase of cosmic rays charged particles.
Fluctuation of heating and cooling cycles on our planet are driven by exchanges of energy between the Earth’s atmospheric surface winds (jet stream), its ocean currents, and the Earth’s core process of convection. Scientists are now better equipped to measure small changes in Earth’s temporal and spatial orientation using astronomical and geometric observations.
Recent studies suggest changes in atmosphere and oceans are due to the flow of liquid iron within Earth’s outer core, where Earth’s magnetic field originates. This fluid interacts with Earth’s mantle to affect Earth’s rotation. While scientists cannot observe these flows directly, they can deduce their movements by observing Earth’s magnetic field.
Previous studies have shown that this flow of liquid iron in Earth’s outer core oscillates, in waves of motion that last for decades with timescales that correspond closely to long-duration variations in Earth’s climate. With new spacecraft monitoring our Sun and further beyond our solar system into our galaxy Milky Way – recent observations of charged particles such as galactic cosmic rays, gamma rays and solar winds influx coincide with Earth’s weakening magnetic field.
Researchers have found that Earth’s rotation, along with movements in Earth’s core and global surface air temperature corresponds to solar variance. Scientists mapped existing data from a model of fluid movements within Earth’s core and data on yearly averaged temperature observations against two time series – one from NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies in New York that extends back to 1880, and another from the United Kingdom’s Met Office that extends back to 1860.
Observations found that temperature data correlated strongly with movements of Earth’s core disrupting Earth’s magnetic field which shields Earth from charged particles such as cosmic ray flux. Simultaneously, solar flares and CMEs coming from the Sun might provide a multiplying effect which has been evidenced in our history on at least six occasions concluding in full magnetic flip.
http://earthchangesmedia.com/cosmic-ray-effect-on-our-sun-and-earths-core
The latest evidence based on NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory research suggest the escalation of earth changing events such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and various extreme weather events are caused by natural cyclical oscillations of Earth’s core produced by an increase of cosmic rays charged particles.
Fluctuation of heating and cooling cycles on our planet are driven by exchanges of energy between the Earth’s atmospheric surface winds (jet stream), its ocean currents, and the Earth’s core process of convection. Scientists are now better equipped to measure small changes in Earth’s temporal and spatial orientation using astronomical and geometric observations.
Recent studies suggest changes in atmosphere and oceans are due to the flow of liquid iron within Earth’s outer core, where Earth’s magnetic field originates. This fluid interacts with Earth’s mantle to affect Earth’s rotation. While scientists cannot observe these flows directly, they can deduce their movements by observing Earth’s magnetic field.
Previous studies have shown that this flow of liquid iron in Earth’s outer core oscillates, in waves of motion that last for decades with timescales that correspond closely to long-duration variations in Earth’s climate. With new spacecraft monitoring our Sun and further beyond our solar system into our galaxy Milky Way – recent observations of charged particles such as galactic cosmic rays, gamma rays and solar winds influx coincide with Earth’s weakening magnetic field.
Researchers have found that Earth’s rotation, along with movements in Earth’s core and global surface air temperature corresponds to solar variance. Scientists mapped existing data from a model of fluid movements within Earth’s core and data on yearly averaged temperature observations against two time series – one from NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies in New York that extends back to 1880, and another from the United Kingdom’s Met Office that extends back to 1860.
Observations found that temperature data correlated strongly with movements of Earth’s core disrupting Earth’s magnetic field which shields Earth from charged particles such as cosmic ray flux. Simultaneously, solar flares and CMEs coming from the Sun might provide a multiplying effect which has been evidenced in our history on at least six occasions concluding in full magnetic flip.
New Discovery Shows Galactic Cosmic Rays More Abundant
July 1, 2013
Scientists using Voyager 1 data provides new detail of a region where our solar systems heliosphere (the bubble around our Sun and all its planets) and interstellar space connect. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have discovered a curious and unexpected charged-particle environment – in a region known as the “magnetic highway”. For the first time, scientists can now see the highest level so far of cosmic ray particles from outside the heliosphere coming from our galaxy ‘Milky Way’.
Three papers just published in the journal Science, describe how Voyager 1′s entry into this region called the magnetic highway, resulted in simultaneous observations of the highest rate so far of charged particles from outside heliosphere and the disappearance of charged particles from inside the heliosphere.
July 1, 2013
Scientists using Voyager 1 data provides new detail of a region where our solar systems heliosphere (the bubble around our Sun and all its planets) and interstellar space connect. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have discovered a curious and unexpected charged-particle environment – in a region known as the “magnetic highway”. For the first time, scientists can now see the highest level so far of cosmic ray particles from outside the heliosphere coming from our galaxy ‘Milky Way’.
Three papers just published in the journal Science, describe how Voyager 1′s entry into this region called the magnetic highway, resulted in simultaneous observations of the highest rate so far of charged particles from outside heliosphere and the disappearance of charged particles from inside the heliosphere.
Scientists have seen two of the three signs of interstellar arrival they expected to see…charged particles disappearing as they zoom out along the solar magnetic field and cosmic rays from far outside zooming in. Scientists are looking for a third sign – showing an abrupt change in the direction of the magnetic field indicating the presence of the interstellar magnetic field.
The heliosphere extends at least 8 billion miles (13 billion kilometers) beyond all the planets in our solar system. It is dominated by the Sun’s magnetic field and an ionized wind expanding outward from the Sun. Outside the heliosphere, interstellar space is filled with matter from other stars and the magnetic field present in the nearby region of the Milky Way.
Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena said: “If you looked at the cosmic ray and energetic particle data in isolation, you might think Voyager had reached interstellar space, but the team feels Voyager 1 has not yet gotten there because we are still within the domain of the Sun’s magnetic field.”
Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena said: “If you looked at the cosmic ray and energetic particle data in isolation, you might think Voyager had reached interstellar space, but the team feels Voyager 1 has not yet gotten there because we are still within the domain of the Sun’s magnetic field.”
Scientists do not know exactly how far Voyager 1 has to go to reach interstellar space. They estimate it could take several more months, or even years, to get there.
Voyager 2 is about 9 billion miles (15 billion kilometers) from the Sun and still inside the heliosphere. Voyager 1 was about 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) from the Sun on Aug. 25th 2012 when it reached the magnetic highway – a connection to interstellar space. This region allows charged particles to travel into and out of the heliosphere along a smooth magnetic field line, instead of bouncing around in all directions as if trapped on local roads. For the first time in this region, scientists could detect low-energy cosmic rays that originate from dying stars.
Stamatios Krimigis, principal investigator at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory says: “We saw a dramatic and rapid disappearance of the solar-originating particles. They decreased in intensity by more than 1,000 times, as if there was a huge vacuum pump at the entrance ramp onto the magnetic highway. We have never witnessed such a decrease before, except when Voyager 1 exited the giant magnetosphere of Jupiter, some 34 years ago.”
Voyager 2 is about 9 billion miles (15 billion kilometers) from the Sun and still inside the heliosphere. Voyager 1 was about 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) from the Sun on Aug. 25th 2012 when it reached the magnetic highway – a connection to interstellar space. This region allows charged particles to travel into and out of the heliosphere along a smooth magnetic field line, instead of bouncing around in all directions as if trapped on local roads. For the first time in this region, scientists could detect low-energy cosmic rays that originate from dying stars.
Stamatios Krimigis, principal investigator at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory says: “We saw a dramatic and rapid disappearance of the solar-originating particles. They decreased in intensity by more than 1,000 times, as if there was a huge vacuum pump at the entrance ramp onto the magnetic highway. We have never witnessed such a decrease before, except when Voyager 1 exited the giant magnetosphere of Jupiter, some 34 years ago.”
Other charged particle behavior observed by Voyager 1 also indicates the spacecraft still is in a region of transition to the interstellar medium. While crossing into the new region, the charged particles originating from the heliosphere that decreased most quickly were those shooting straightest along solar magnetic field lines. Particles moving perpendicular to the magnetic field did not decrease as quickly. However, cosmic rays moving along the field lines in the magnetic highway region were more intense than those moving vertically to the field. In interstellar space, the direction of the moving charged particles is not expected to matter.In the span of about 24 hours, the magnetic field originating from the Sun also began piling up, like cars backed up on a freeway exit ramp. But scientists were able to quantify that the magnetic field barely changed direction — by no more than 2 degrees. “A day made such a difference in this region with the magnetic field suddenly doubling and becoming extraordinarily smooth,” said Leonard Burlaga, the lead author of one of the papers, and based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “But since there was no significant change in the magnetic field direction, we’re still observing the field lines originating at the Sun.”
Astrosphere showing interstellar wind
An illustration showing how a mantle plume can be emitted from the core-mantle boundary of the Earth to reach the Earth's crust. Due to the movement of tectonic plates at the Earth's surface, the mantle plumes can create a series of aligned hot spot volcanoes. A mid-ocean ridge and a subducted plate are also shown in this schematic from a study in the July 19, 2012 issue of the journal Nature. CREDIT: ESRF/Denis Andrault/Henri Samuel
Plumes of Molten Rock Could Drive Biodiversity, Climate Cycles
Charles Q. Choi, OurAmazingPlanet
30 April 2013
Giant pillars of hot molten rock from near Earth's core might help drive major cycles in the diversity of life on the planet and the global climate, according to one team of scientists who looked at the connections between these seemingly disparate phenomena.
In recent years, various research teams have uncovered evidence that several kinds of biological and geological events occur in regular cycles of similar lengths.
For example, a prior study of marine fossils discovered the diversity of all these species over the past 540 million years apparently grew and shrank in cycles, one of which was about 62 million years and the other 140 million years long. Other research has uncovered signs of a 140-million-year cycle in long-term fluctuations in global climate, a 59-million-year cycle in sea-level changes and a 56-million-year cycle in how much sediment gets deposited in North America.
"The Earth seems to have a pulse," said Michael Rampino, a geologist at New York University who studied prior research to try to find a connection among these cycles.
Mantle plume cycles
If the 60-million- and 140-million-year biodiversity cycles are real, that makes them much longer than the well-known cycles of fluctuations in Earth's orbit and tilt, which are on the order of millennia. So instead of turning to space for the drivers behind the biodiversity cycles, Rampino and his colleagues looked within the planet itself. One phenomenon they're investigating is mantle plumes — jets of magma that rise from Earth's depths to penetrate overlying material like a blowtorch. [Infographic: Tallest Mountain to Deepest Ocean Trench]
Past research suggests mantle plumes are powerful enough to cause the changes seen in these cycles. For instance, the plumes may play a role in the formation of island chains, such as the Hawaiian Islands. There are signs they also triggered episodes of even more massive volcanic activity, such as one that spewed lava across 580,000 square miles (1.5 million square kilometers) at the Deccan Plateau region (now part of modern-day India) about 65 million years ago, coinciding with the end of the Age of the Dinosaurs.
Now, Rampino and his team suggest mantle plumes might generate these areas of massive volcanic eruptions — known as large igneous provinces — in regular patterns and, in turn, drive biological and geological cycles.
"Most people thought or think that mantle plumes would be sort of random in time," Rampino told OurAmazingPlanet. "This work suggests these plumes are coming up on a regular schedule."
Cycle causes
Other scientists at Carleton University in Ottawa analyzed eruptions from large igneous provinces over the past 250 million years. They found evidence of eruption cycles around the globe with lengths of 62 million and 140 million years, as well as one 35 million years long, especially in the last 135 million years. [50 Amazing Volcano Facts]
"I was quite surprised to find this very clear indication of these regular changes in geological data," Rampino said. "These regular pulsations are probably due to mantle plumes."
As to why these plumes might recur in a cyclical manner, the mantle-plume researchers suspect these jets arise from instabilities in the layer of rock just above the boundary between the Earth's core and mantle layer. These instabilities may reach critical thresholds and cause plumes every 50 million to 100 million years, depending on how long it takes buoyant rock to amass in the lower mantle and become unstable enough to rise.
The cycles might also be caused by the way the tectonic plates making up Earth's surface can dive or subduct under one another. This leads to cold matter accumulating underground, potentially triggering regular avalanches of material from the upper mantle into the lower mantle — which might, in turn, cause matter from the hot, deep mantle to flow upward and set off volcanic eruptions.
Another possibility is that these cycles are rooted in supercontinents such as Pangaea, in which all of Earth's continents were joined as one landmass. A number of different research teams have suggested that supercontinents can act like blankets over the mantle, causing heat to build up, thus leading to hotspots and massive eruptions to occur. This would suggest that supercontinents carry the seeds of their own destruction.
Future research needs to determine whether these volcanic cycles are, indeed, real — or at least not find evidence to disprove them — as well as model how mantle plumes are generated. "Scientists who model what's going on inside the Earth using computer models should see if they can produce the same pulsations we see in the geological record," Rampino said.
Rampino added that although sea level is currently rising and climate is getting warmer, "this has nothing to do with the Earth's internal cycles, which are on a much, much longer time scale."
Rampino and his colleague Andreas Prokoph, of Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, detailed their findings in the March 19 issue of the journal Eos.
http://www.livescience.com/29191-mantle-plumes-global-cycles.html
Charles Q. Choi, OurAmazingPlanet
30 April 2013
Giant pillars of hot molten rock from near Earth's core might help drive major cycles in the diversity of life on the planet and the global climate, according to one team of scientists who looked at the connections between these seemingly disparate phenomena.
In recent years, various research teams have uncovered evidence that several kinds of biological and geological events occur in regular cycles of similar lengths.
For example, a prior study of marine fossils discovered the diversity of all these species over the past 540 million years apparently grew and shrank in cycles, one of which was about 62 million years and the other 140 million years long. Other research has uncovered signs of a 140-million-year cycle in long-term fluctuations in global climate, a 59-million-year cycle in sea-level changes and a 56-million-year cycle in how much sediment gets deposited in North America.
"The Earth seems to have a pulse," said Michael Rampino, a geologist at New York University who studied prior research to try to find a connection among these cycles.
Mantle plume cycles
If the 60-million- and 140-million-year biodiversity cycles are real, that makes them much longer than the well-known cycles of fluctuations in Earth's orbit and tilt, which are on the order of millennia. So instead of turning to space for the drivers behind the biodiversity cycles, Rampino and his colleagues looked within the planet itself. One phenomenon they're investigating is mantle plumes — jets of magma that rise from Earth's depths to penetrate overlying material like a blowtorch. [Infographic: Tallest Mountain to Deepest Ocean Trench]
Past research suggests mantle plumes are powerful enough to cause the changes seen in these cycles. For instance, the plumes may play a role in the formation of island chains, such as the Hawaiian Islands. There are signs they also triggered episodes of even more massive volcanic activity, such as one that spewed lava across 580,000 square miles (1.5 million square kilometers) at the Deccan Plateau region (now part of modern-day India) about 65 million years ago, coinciding with the end of the Age of the Dinosaurs.
Now, Rampino and his team suggest mantle plumes might generate these areas of massive volcanic eruptions — known as large igneous provinces — in regular patterns and, in turn, drive biological and geological cycles.
"Most people thought or think that mantle plumes would be sort of random in time," Rampino told OurAmazingPlanet. "This work suggests these plumes are coming up on a regular schedule."
Cycle causes
Other scientists at Carleton University in Ottawa analyzed eruptions from large igneous provinces over the past 250 million years. They found evidence of eruption cycles around the globe with lengths of 62 million and 140 million years, as well as one 35 million years long, especially in the last 135 million years. [50 Amazing Volcano Facts]
"I was quite surprised to find this very clear indication of these regular changes in geological data," Rampino said. "These regular pulsations are probably due to mantle plumes."
As to why these plumes might recur in a cyclical manner, the mantle-plume researchers suspect these jets arise from instabilities in the layer of rock just above the boundary between the Earth's core and mantle layer. These instabilities may reach critical thresholds and cause plumes every 50 million to 100 million years, depending on how long it takes buoyant rock to amass in the lower mantle and become unstable enough to rise.
The cycles might also be caused by the way the tectonic plates making up Earth's surface can dive or subduct under one another. This leads to cold matter accumulating underground, potentially triggering regular avalanches of material from the upper mantle into the lower mantle — which might, in turn, cause matter from the hot, deep mantle to flow upward and set off volcanic eruptions.
Another possibility is that these cycles are rooted in supercontinents such as Pangaea, in which all of Earth's continents were joined as one landmass. A number of different research teams have suggested that supercontinents can act like blankets over the mantle, causing heat to build up, thus leading to hotspots and massive eruptions to occur. This would suggest that supercontinents carry the seeds of their own destruction.
Future research needs to determine whether these volcanic cycles are, indeed, real — or at least not find evidence to disprove them — as well as model how mantle plumes are generated. "Scientists who model what's going on inside the Earth using computer models should see if they can produce the same pulsations we see in the geological record," Rampino said.
Rampino added that although sea level is currently rising and climate is getting warmer, "this has nothing to do with the Earth's internal cycles, which are on a much, much longer time scale."
Rampino and his colleague Andreas Prokoph, of Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, detailed their findings in the March 19 issue of the journal Eos.
http://www.livescience.com/29191-mantle-plumes-global-cycles.html
Cosmic rays may spark Earth's lightning
Science
May 8, 2013
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/cosmic-rays-may-spark-earths-lightning-1C9841286?franchiseSlug=sciencemain
Science
May 8, 2013
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/cosmic-rays-may-spark-earths-lightning-1C9841286?franchiseSlug=sciencemain
Lightning flashes on Earth about 100 times per second, but what triggers it in thunderstorms remains mostly unknown.
By Charles Q. Choi
LiveScience
All lightning on Earth may have its roots in space, new research suggests.
Lightning flashes on Earth about 100 times per second, but what triggers lightning in thunderstorms remains mostly unknown. Especially odd is the fact that decades of analysis suggest electrical fields within thunderclouds have only a tenth or so of the strength needed to spark a lightning bolt.
More than 20 years ago, physicist Alex Gurevich at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow suggested lightning might be initiated by cosmic rays from outer space. These particles strike Earth with gargantuan amounts of energy, surpassing anything the most powerful atom smashers on the planet are capable of.
When cosmic rays slam into air molecules, they can make them spit out huge numbers of electrons. This shower of electrons would collide into still more air molecules, generating more electrons. All in all, cosmic rays could each set off an avalanche of electrons, a chain reaction Gurevich calls a runaway breakdown.
However, to kindle lightning, initial calculations suggested very high-energy cosmic rays were needed. These are relatively rare — thunderclouds should each see only one a day, not enough to account for the amount of lightning occurring daily.
The answer to this mystery might lie in how thunderclouds possess vast numbers of electrically charged water droplets and ice nuggets, which Gurevich and his colleagues call "hydro meteors." In such energetic surroundings, cosmic rays 10,000 to 100,000 times less energetic than thought could generate the cascades of electrons needed for lightning. Such cosmic rays hit Earth about as often as lightning flashes on the planet.
Gurevich and his colleague Anatoly Karashtin at the Radiophysical Research Institute in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, analyzed radio pulses from nearly 3,800 lightning strikes detected in Russia and Kazakhstan. The nature of these pulses suggests they may be created by the kind of electrons one would expect to see in the runaway breakdowns from cosmic rays.
If correct, this work "could resurrect the notion that cosmic rays are involved in lightning initiation, an idea that has been questioned in recent years," said physicist Joseph Dwyer, a professor at Florida Institute of Technology, who did not take part in this research.
To help confirm or refute this idea, simultaneous measurements of the showers of energetic particles produced by cosmic rays and the radio pulses from lightning are needed, Dwyer explained. "Such experiments are already being done at several places," Dwyer told OurAmazingPlanet.
Gurevich and Karashtin detailed their findings May 2 in the journal Physical Review Letters.
By Charles Q. Choi
LiveScience
All lightning on Earth may have its roots in space, new research suggests.
Lightning flashes on Earth about 100 times per second, but what triggers lightning in thunderstorms remains mostly unknown. Especially odd is the fact that decades of analysis suggest electrical fields within thunderclouds have only a tenth or so of the strength needed to spark a lightning bolt.
More than 20 years ago, physicist Alex Gurevich at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow suggested lightning might be initiated by cosmic rays from outer space. These particles strike Earth with gargantuan amounts of energy, surpassing anything the most powerful atom smashers on the planet are capable of.
When cosmic rays slam into air molecules, they can make them spit out huge numbers of electrons. This shower of electrons would collide into still more air molecules, generating more electrons. All in all, cosmic rays could each set off an avalanche of electrons, a chain reaction Gurevich calls a runaway breakdown.
However, to kindle lightning, initial calculations suggested very high-energy cosmic rays were needed. These are relatively rare — thunderclouds should each see only one a day, not enough to account for the amount of lightning occurring daily.
The answer to this mystery might lie in how thunderclouds possess vast numbers of electrically charged water droplets and ice nuggets, which Gurevich and his colleagues call "hydro meteors." In such energetic surroundings, cosmic rays 10,000 to 100,000 times less energetic than thought could generate the cascades of electrons needed for lightning. Such cosmic rays hit Earth about as often as lightning flashes on the planet.
Gurevich and his colleague Anatoly Karashtin at the Radiophysical Research Institute in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, analyzed radio pulses from nearly 3,800 lightning strikes detected in Russia and Kazakhstan. The nature of these pulses suggests they may be created by the kind of electrons one would expect to see in the runaway breakdowns from cosmic rays.
If correct, this work "could resurrect the notion that cosmic rays are involved in lightning initiation, an idea that has been questioned in recent years," said physicist Joseph Dwyer, a professor at Florida Institute of Technology, who did not take part in this research.
To help confirm or refute this idea, simultaneous measurements of the showers of energetic particles produced by cosmic rays and the radio pulses from lightning are needed, Dwyer explained. "Such experiments are already being done at several places," Dwyer told OurAmazingPlanet.
Gurevich and Karashtin detailed their findings May 2 in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Plasmaspheric wind
Detection of a plasmaspheric wind in the Earth’s magnetosphere by Discussions the Cluster spacecraft
I. Dandouras University of Toulouse, UPS-OMP, UMR5277, IRAP (Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie), Toulouse, France CNRS, IRAP, 9 Av. Colonel Roche, BP 44346, 31028 Toulouse cedex 4, France Correspondence to: I. Dandouras ([email protected])
Received: 2 April 2013 – Revised: 26 May 2013 – Accepted: 27 May 2013 – Published: 2 July 2013
Abstract. Plumes, forming at the plasmapause and released outwards, constitute a well-established mode for plasmaspheric material release to the Earth’s magnetosphere. They are associated to active periods and the related electric field change. In 1992, Lemaire and Shunk proposed the existence of an additional mode for plasmaspheric material release to the Earth’s magnetosphere: a plasmaspheric wind, steadily transporting cold plasmaspheric plasma outwards across the geomagnetic field lines, even during prolonged periods of quiet geomagnetic conditions. This has been proposed on a theoretical basis. Direct detection of this wind has, however, eluded observation in the past. Analysis of ion measurements, acquired in the outer plasmasphere by the CIS experiment onboard the four Cluster spacecraft, provide now an experimental confirmation of the plasmaspheric wind. This wind has been systematically detected in the outer plasmasphere during quiet and moderately active conditions, and calculations show that it could provide a substantial contribution to the magnetospheric plasma populations outside the Earth’s plasmasphere. Similar winds should also exist on other planets, or astrophysical objects, quickly rotating and having an atmosphere and a magnetic field.
http://www.ann-geophys.net/31/1143/2013/angeo-31-1143-2013.pdf
Detection of a plasmaspheric wind in the Earth’s magnetosphere by Discussions the Cluster spacecraft
I. Dandouras University of Toulouse, UPS-OMP, UMR5277, IRAP (Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie), Toulouse, France CNRS, IRAP, 9 Av. Colonel Roche, BP 44346, 31028 Toulouse cedex 4, France Correspondence to: I. Dandouras ([email protected])
Received: 2 April 2013 – Revised: 26 May 2013 – Accepted: 27 May 2013 – Published: 2 July 2013
Abstract. Plumes, forming at the plasmapause and released outwards, constitute a well-established mode for plasmaspheric material release to the Earth’s magnetosphere. They are associated to active periods and the related electric field change. In 1992, Lemaire and Shunk proposed the existence of an additional mode for plasmaspheric material release to the Earth’s magnetosphere: a plasmaspheric wind, steadily transporting cold plasmaspheric plasma outwards across the geomagnetic field lines, even during prolonged periods of quiet geomagnetic conditions. This has been proposed on a theoretical basis. Direct detection of this wind has, however, eluded observation in the past. Analysis of ion measurements, acquired in the outer plasmasphere by the CIS experiment onboard the four Cluster spacecraft, provide now an experimental confirmation of the plasmaspheric wind. This wind has been systematically detected in the outer plasmasphere during quiet and moderately active conditions, and calculations show that it could provide a substantial contribution to the magnetospheric plasma populations outside the Earth’s plasmasphere. Similar winds should also exist on other planets, or astrophysical objects, quickly rotating and having an atmosphere and a magnetic field.
http://www.ann-geophys.net/31/1143/2013/angeo-31-1143-2013.pdf
Sun’s 2013 solar activity peak weakest in 100 years
The sun is currently at the maximum of Solar Cycle 24, but as this graph shows, there are far fewer sunspots during this peak than there have been in past cycles. (Hathaway/NASA/MSFC)
Though the sun is currently in the peak year of its 11-year solar weather cycle, our closest star has been rather quiet over all, scientists say.
This year’s solar maximum is shaping up to be the weakest in 100 years and the next one could be even more quiescent, scientists said July 11.
“It’s the smallest maximum we’ve seen in the Space Age,” David Hathaway of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., told reporters in a teleconference.
During a solar maximum, the number of sunspots increases. These dark temporary regions on the surface of the sun are thought to be caused by interplay between the sun’s plasma and its magnetic field. Sunspots are the source of the solar flares and ejections that can send charge particles hurtling toward Earth, which can damage satellites, surge power grids, cause radio blackouts and, more benignly, produce dazzling auroras above the planet.
About every 11 years, the sun goes through a cycle defined by an increasing and then decreasing number of sunspots. Solar Cycle 24 has been underway since 2011 and its peak was expected in 2013, but there have been fewer sunspots observed this year compared with the maximums of the last several cycles.
Giuliana de Toma, a scientist at the High Altitude Observatory in Colorado, said the sunspots occurring during a calm maximum have the same brightness and area as the ones observed during a more turbulent peak.
“We just have fewer of them and this is normal,” de Toma said during Thursday’s briefing. “This is why weak cycles are weak.”
The quiet maximum is allowing scientists to test their knowledge of how the sun works and hone their predictions of the strength of future solar cycles.
“You might think that having a small cycle is disappointing to us but it’s quite the contrary,” Hathaway said.
North-south, or meridional, flows carry magnetic elements from sunspots to the sun’s poles, building up the polar magnetic fields until they eventually flip around the time of the solar maximum, Hathaway explained. Scientists are noticing that the strength of the polar fields when a new cycle begins influences the strength of the cycle, he added. For example, weak polar fields observed in 2008 led to the current weak cycle, while strong polar fields in 1986 spawned a strong Cycle 22.
The polar fields have been slowly reversing at this maximum, Hathaway said, suggesting that they are not going get much stronger during Cycle 24. This also sets the stage for an even smaller maximum during Cycle 25, scientists believe.
“We’re seeing fields that suggest the next sun cycle will be even weaker than this one,” Hathaway said.
A small Cycle 24 also fits in with a 100-year pattern of building and waning solar cycles. Scientists don’t know exactly what causes this trend, but there were weak solar cycles in the beginning of the 19th and 20th centuries.
This year’s solar maximum is shaping up to be the weakest in 100 years and the next one could be even more quiescent, scientists said July 11.
“It’s the smallest maximum we’ve seen in the Space Age,” David Hathaway of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., told reporters in a teleconference.
During a solar maximum, the number of sunspots increases. These dark temporary regions on the surface of the sun are thought to be caused by interplay between the sun’s plasma and its magnetic field. Sunspots are the source of the solar flares and ejections that can send charge particles hurtling toward Earth, which can damage satellites, surge power grids, cause radio blackouts and, more benignly, produce dazzling auroras above the planet.
About every 11 years, the sun goes through a cycle defined by an increasing and then decreasing number of sunspots. Solar Cycle 24 has been underway since 2011 and its peak was expected in 2013, but there have been fewer sunspots observed this year compared with the maximums of the last several cycles.
Giuliana de Toma, a scientist at the High Altitude Observatory in Colorado, said the sunspots occurring during a calm maximum have the same brightness and area as the ones observed during a more turbulent peak.
“We just have fewer of them and this is normal,” de Toma said during Thursday’s briefing. “This is why weak cycles are weak.”
The quiet maximum is allowing scientists to test their knowledge of how the sun works and hone their predictions of the strength of future solar cycles.
“You might think that having a small cycle is disappointing to us but it’s quite the contrary,” Hathaway said.
North-south, or meridional, flows carry magnetic elements from sunspots to the sun’s poles, building up the polar magnetic fields until they eventually flip around the time of the solar maximum, Hathaway explained. Scientists are noticing that the strength of the polar fields when a new cycle begins influences the strength of the cycle, he added. For example, weak polar fields observed in 2008 led to the current weak cycle, while strong polar fields in 1986 spawned a strong Cycle 22.
The polar fields have been slowly reversing at this maximum, Hathaway said, suggesting that they are not going get much stronger during Cycle 24. This also sets the stage for an even smaller maximum during Cycle 25, scientists believe.
“We’re seeing fields that suggest the next sun cycle will be even weaker than this one,” Hathaway said.
A small Cycle 24 also fits in with a 100-year pattern of building and waning solar cycles. Scientists don’t know exactly what causes this trend, but there were weak solar cycles in the beginning of the 19th and 20th centuries.
http://robertscribbler.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/the-arctic-methane-monster-stirs-nasas-carve-finds-plumes-as-large-as-150-kilometers-across-amidst-year-of-troubling-spikes/
In late June and early July, Barrow Alaska showed two methane readings in excess of 1975 parts per billion. Sadly, this most recent methane spike is likely not to be an outlier.
The Barrow spike came in conjunction with a number of other anomalously high methane readings in the Arctic region during 2013. Most notably, the Kara, Barents and Norwegian Seas all showed atmospheric methane levels spiking to as high as 1935 parts per billion during the first half of 2013.
Averages in this and other regions around the Arctic are at new record highs even as atmospheric methane levels continue inexorably upward. For reference, Mauna Loa shows average global atmospheric methane levels are now at around 1830 parts per billion. These levels were around 700 parts per billion at the start of the industrial revolution before they rocketed upward, roughly alongside increasing CO2 concentrations, as fossil fuel based industry saw its dramatic expansion over the past couple of centuries.
Now, human global warming is beginning to unlock a monstrous store of methane in the Arctic. A source that, in the worst case, could be many times the volume of the initial human emission. To this point, areas around the Arctic are now showing local methane levels above 1950 parts per billion with an ever-increasing frequency. The issue is of great concern to scientists, a number of which from NASA are now involved in an investigative study to unearth how large and damaging this methane beast is likely to become. (You can keep account of these methane spike regions in real time using the Methane Tracker Google app linked here. )
CARVE Finds 150 Mile Wide Methane Plumes
A NASA program is now surveying Arctic methane releases to determine their level of amplifying feedback to human caused warming. Understanding the Arctic’s response to human warming is very important because vast stores of carbon many times the volume of human emissions over the past 200 years lay locked in both permafrost and in methane hydrates throughout the Arctic. As humans have caused the Earth to warm, sea ice and tundra melt have allowed organic carbon to decompose and bubble up in the form of methane and CO2 with ever greater force. Since a significant fraction of these Arctic carbon releases are in the form of methane, and because methane provides as much as 100 times the warming effect of CO2 by volume, even a small proportionate release of this vast carbon store could provide an extraordinarily powerful amplifying feedback to human caused climate change.
Recent studies have found that only a 1.5 degree Celsius global temperature increase puts these stores in jeopardy of large release. The amount of warming since the start of the Industrial Revolution is already at least .8 degrees Celsius (about 1/6th the difference between now and the last ice age, but on the side of hot). Perhaps more importantly, temperature forcing by human greenhouse gas emissions have done proportionately more work to melt ice and warm oceans than previously expected. As a result, the ice which locks in these vast carbon stores is disappearing at a rate far greater than most global models anticipated. This more rapid pace of thaw causes Earth Systems feedbacks to human warming to be an increasingly dire issue now.
As a result, we already have numerous instances of increased methane release around the Arctic. In 2011, a Russian expedition to the East Siberian Arctic shelf found vast plumes of methane 1 kilometer across rising up from the sea bed. All across the Arctic, researchers are finding methane bubbling up from tundra melt ponds. The concentrations of some of these melt ponds are so high that, in some cases, they burst into plumes of flame when lit.
These methane sources also provide a serious fire hazard to the fragile Arctic environment, serving as fuel to massive tundra fires. Such fuel sources likely worsened a number of Arctic fires including this year’s Quebec inferno in which a single fire consumed 1,600,000 acres and sent plumes of smoke all the way across the Atlantic to Europe or last year’s Siberian fires that consumed millions of acres and whose smokes crossed the Pacific to fill valleys in Canada. The soot from these fires is yet one more amplifying feedback to climate change, as evidenced in a recent Los Alamos Laboratories study. Arctic fires, of late, have packed a punch far more powerful than even their southern brethren who’ve caused so much damage and loss to communities in recent years. The explosive nature of these tundra fires is plainly visible in this image of a massive Alaska blaze, larger than Rhode Island, provided below:
Now, CARVE is finding its own evidence of massive Arctic methane emissions. Charles Miller, NASA’s principle investigator for the CARVE project, in a recent article, noted that the mission had discovered numerous atmospheric methane plumes in the Arctic. Some of these atmospheric plumes were of immense and troubling size, stretching as wide as 150 miles across.
Miller also notes:
“As temperatures warm, it’s thought that … organic materials could decompose more rapidly and give rise to gases such as carbon dioxide and methane,” Miller said. “The anticipated release of carbon should accelerate climate change…I think the experts all agree that that’s the case. The question that we’re grappling with is how much carbon might be vulnerable to release, and how fast might it be released.”
The CARVE mission is still in progress and end results are pending. But these initial reports from Miller and his team add to the disturbing evidence already arising from the Arctic. Evidence that became widely apparent in 2012 as Arctic methane release emerged as a powerful amplifying feedback to human-caused warming. In short, it appears that the Arctic methane response to human warming began sometime late last century and ramped up throughout the 2000s. Now, the Arctic appears to be providing an increasingly powerful amplifying feedback to human caused warming. It is a dangerous situation and one that should be abated as swiftly as possible through a prompt series of ongoing actions.
Global warming is not likely to unfold in a manner similar to the events depicted in the sci-fi movie “The Day After Tomorrow.” The pace of damage will be slower at first with weather worsening over time, sea level rise gradually worsening, and impacts to crops and agriculture increasing year by year, decade by decade. In this long ramping up period, there are increasing risks of single catastrophic events. But such events won’t have a neat finish. They will happen again and again, with risks and effects worsening as atmospheric heat energy increases. Perhaps, most importantly, humans will have to recover from these events in base conditions that are already difficult to manage.
As such, human climate change represents a long emergency of increasingly worsening base conditions even as the risk of increasingly damaging catastrophic events continues to rise over time. It is this ratcheting effect of climate change that makes it so deadly. The increasingly difficult base conditions make maintenance of human civilization far more difficult even as it reduces the chance that human systems will effectively recover from a number of devastating catastrophes that are surely in the pipe.
Once the climate juggernaut gets rolling it unleashes and multiplies a number of terribly monstrous and ever-worsening events. And it is for this critical reason that we need to get a handle on our carbon emissions as rapidly as possible.
Links:
NOAA
NASA’s CARVE Mission
Methane Tracker
Methane Forum Posts: Arctic Ice Blog
Vast Reservoirs of Arctic Carbon Could Effect Global Warming
A4R Methane Tracking
In late June and early July, Barrow Alaska showed two methane readings in excess of 1975 parts per billion. Sadly, this most recent methane spike is likely not to be an outlier.
The Barrow spike came in conjunction with a number of other anomalously high methane readings in the Arctic region during 2013. Most notably, the Kara, Barents and Norwegian Seas all showed atmospheric methane levels spiking to as high as 1935 parts per billion during the first half of 2013.
Averages in this and other regions around the Arctic are at new record highs even as atmospheric methane levels continue inexorably upward. For reference, Mauna Loa shows average global atmospheric methane levels are now at around 1830 parts per billion. These levels were around 700 parts per billion at the start of the industrial revolution before they rocketed upward, roughly alongside increasing CO2 concentrations, as fossil fuel based industry saw its dramatic expansion over the past couple of centuries.
Now, human global warming is beginning to unlock a monstrous store of methane in the Arctic. A source that, in the worst case, could be many times the volume of the initial human emission. To this point, areas around the Arctic are now showing local methane levels above 1950 parts per billion with an ever-increasing frequency. The issue is of great concern to scientists, a number of which from NASA are now involved in an investigative study to unearth how large and damaging this methane beast is likely to become. (You can keep account of these methane spike regions in real time using the Methane Tracker Google app linked here. )
CARVE Finds 150 Mile Wide Methane Plumes
A NASA program is now surveying Arctic methane releases to determine their level of amplifying feedback to human caused warming. Understanding the Arctic’s response to human warming is very important because vast stores of carbon many times the volume of human emissions over the past 200 years lay locked in both permafrost and in methane hydrates throughout the Arctic. As humans have caused the Earth to warm, sea ice and tundra melt have allowed organic carbon to decompose and bubble up in the form of methane and CO2 with ever greater force. Since a significant fraction of these Arctic carbon releases are in the form of methane, and because methane provides as much as 100 times the warming effect of CO2 by volume, even a small proportionate release of this vast carbon store could provide an extraordinarily powerful amplifying feedback to human caused climate change.
Recent studies have found that only a 1.5 degree Celsius global temperature increase puts these stores in jeopardy of large release. The amount of warming since the start of the Industrial Revolution is already at least .8 degrees Celsius (about 1/6th the difference between now and the last ice age, but on the side of hot). Perhaps more importantly, temperature forcing by human greenhouse gas emissions have done proportionately more work to melt ice and warm oceans than previously expected. As a result, the ice which locks in these vast carbon stores is disappearing at a rate far greater than most global models anticipated. This more rapid pace of thaw causes Earth Systems feedbacks to human warming to be an increasingly dire issue now.
As a result, we already have numerous instances of increased methane release around the Arctic. In 2011, a Russian expedition to the East Siberian Arctic shelf found vast plumes of methane 1 kilometer across rising up from the sea bed. All across the Arctic, researchers are finding methane bubbling up from tundra melt ponds. The concentrations of some of these melt ponds are so high that, in some cases, they burst into plumes of flame when lit.
These methane sources also provide a serious fire hazard to the fragile Arctic environment, serving as fuel to massive tundra fires. Such fuel sources likely worsened a number of Arctic fires including this year’s Quebec inferno in which a single fire consumed 1,600,000 acres and sent plumes of smoke all the way across the Atlantic to Europe or last year’s Siberian fires that consumed millions of acres and whose smokes crossed the Pacific to fill valleys in Canada. The soot from these fires is yet one more amplifying feedback to climate change, as evidenced in a recent Los Alamos Laboratories study. Arctic fires, of late, have packed a punch far more powerful than even their southern brethren who’ve caused so much damage and loss to communities in recent years. The explosive nature of these tundra fires is plainly visible in this image of a massive Alaska blaze, larger than Rhode Island, provided below:
Now, CARVE is finding its own evidence of massive Arctic methane emissions. Charles Miller, NASA’s principle investigator for the CARVE project, in a recent article, noted that the mission had discovered numerous atmospheric methane plumes in the Arctic. Some of these atmospheric plumes were of immense and troubling size, stretching as wide as 150 miles across.
Miller also notes:
“As temperatures warm, it’s thought that … organic materials could decompose more rapidly and give rise to gases such as carbon dioxide and methane,” Miller said. “The anticipated release of carbon should accelerate climate change…I think the experts all agree that that’s the case. The question that we’re grappling with is how much carbon might be vulnerable to release, and how fast might it be released.”
The CARVE mission is still in progress and end results are pending. But these initial reports from Miller and his team add to the disturbing evidence already arising from the Arctic. Evidence that became widely apparent in 2012 as Arctic methane release emerged as a powerful amplifying feedback to human-caused warming. In short, it appears that the Arctic methane response to human warming began sometime late last century and ramped up throughout the 2000s. Now, the Arctic appears to be providing an increasingly powerful amplifying feedback to human caused warming. It is a dangerous situation and one that should be abated as swiftly as possible through a prompt series of ongoing actions.
Global warming is not likely to unfold in a manner similar to the events depicted in the sci-fi movie “The Day After Tomorrow.” The pace of damage will be slower at first with weather worsening over time, sea level rise gradually worsening, and impacts to crops and agriculture increasing year by year, decade by decade. In this long ramping up period, there are increasing risks of single catastrophic events. But such events won’t have a neat finish. They will happen again and again, with risks and effects worsening as atmospheric heat energy increases. Perhaps, most importantly, humans will have to recover from these events in base conditions that are already difficult to manage.
As such, human climate change represents a long emergency of increasingly worsening base conditions even as the risk of increasingly damaging catastrophic events continues to rise over time. It is this ratcheting effect of climate change that makes it so deadly. The increasingly difficult base conditions make maintenance of human civilization far more difficult even as it reduces the chance that human systems will effectively recover from a number of devastating catastrophes that are surely in the pipe.
Once the climate juggernaut gets rolling it unleashes and multiplies a number of terribly monstrous and ever-worsening events. And it is for this critical reason that we need to get a handle on our carbon emissions as rapidly as possible.
Links:
NOAA
NASA’s CARVE Mission
Methane Tracker
Methane Forum Posts: Arctic Ice Blog
Vast Reservoirs of Arctic Carbon Could Effect Global Warming
A4R Methane Tracking
Newly discovered flux in the Earth may solve missing-mantle mystery
http://phys.org/news/2013-07-newly-flux-earth-missing-mantle-mystery.html
It's widely thought that the Earth arose from violent origins: Some 4.5 billion years ago, a maelstrom of gas and dust circled in a massive disc around the Sun, gathering in rocky clumps to form asteroids. These asteroids, gaining momentum, whirled around a fledgling solar system, repeatedly smashing into each other to create larger bodies of rubble—the largest of which eventually cooled to form the planets.
Countless theories, simulations and geologic observations support such a scenario. But there remains one lingering mystery: If the Earth arose from the collision of asteroids, its composition should resemble that of meteoroids, the small particles that break off from asteroids.
But to date, scientists have found that, quite literally, something doesn't add up: Namely, the Earth's mantle—the layer between the planet's crust and core—is missing an amount of lead found in meteorites whose composition has been analyzed following impact with the Earth.
Much of the Earth is composed of rocks with a high ratio of uranium to lead (uranium naturally decays to lead over time). However, according to standard theories of planetary evolution, the Earth should harbor a reservoir of mantle somewhere in its interior that has a low ratio of uranium to lead, to match the composition of meteorites. But such a reservoir has yet to be discovered—a detail that leaves Earth's origins hazy.
Now researchers in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences have identified a "hidden flux" of material in the Earth's mantle that would make the planet's overall composition much more similar to that of meteorites. This reservoir likely takes the form of extremely dense, lead-laden rocks that crystallize beneath island arcs, strings of volcanoes that rise up at the boundary of tectonic plates.
As two massive plates push against each other, one plate subducts, or slides, under the other, pushing material from the crust down into the mantle. At the same time, molten material from the mantle rises up to the crust, and is ejected via volcanoes onto the Earth's surface.
According to the MIT researchers' observations and calculations, however, up to 70 percent of this rising magma crystallizes into dense rock—dropping, lead-like, back into the mantle, where it remains relatively undisturbed. The lead-heavy flux, they say, puts the composition of the Earth's mantle on a par with that of meteorites.
"Now that we know the composition of this flux, we can calculate that there's tons of this stuff dropping down from the base of the crust into the mantle, so it is likely an important reservoir," says Oliver Jagoutz, an assistant professor of geology at MIT. "This has a lot of implications for understanding how the Earth evolved through history."
Jagoutz and his colleague Max Schmidt, of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, have detailed their results in a paper published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
A Mantle Exposed
Measuring the composition of material that has dropped into the mantle is a nearly impossible task. Jagoutz estimates that such dense rocks would form at a depth of 40 to 50 kilometers below the surface, beyond the reach of conventional sampling techniques.
There is, however, one place on Earth where such a depth of the crust and mantle is exposed: a region of northern Pakistan called the Kohistan arc. Forty million years ago, this island arc was crushed between India and Asia as the two plates collided.
"When India came in, it slammed into the arc, and the arc extended and rotated itself," Jagoutz says. "Because of that, we now have a cross-section of the mantle-to-crust transition. This is the only place on Earth where this exists."
On various trips from 2000 to 2007, Jagoutz trekked through the Kohistan arc region, collecting rocks from various parts of the arc's crust and mantle. Bringing them back to the lab, he analyzed the rocks' density and composition, discovering that some were "density-unstable"—much denser than the mantle. These denser rocks could potentially sink into the mantle, creating a hidden reservoir.
Adding Up to an Asteroid Origin
The researchers measured the rocks' composition, and found that the denser rocks contained much more lead than uranium—exactly the ratio predicted for the missing reservoir of material. Jagoutz then performed a mass balance (a simple conservation-of-mass calculation) to determine how much dense rock drops into the mantle, based on the composition of the region's crust, rocks and mantle: Essentially, the mass of the Kohistan arc, minus whatever material drops into the mantle, should equal the material that comes out of the mantle.
Jagoutz and Schmidt solved the equation for 10 common elements. From their calculations, they found that 70 percent of the magma that rises from the mantle must ultimately drop back down, relatively heavy with lead. Applying this statistic to other island arcs in the world—such as the Andean volcanic belt and the Cascade Range—they found that the amount of material dropped into the mantle globally equals the composition and quantity of the so-called missing reservoir—a finding that suggests that Earth did indeed form from the collision of meteorites.
"If we are right, one of the questions we have is: Why is the Earth capable of hiding something from us? Why is there never a volcano that brings up these rocks?" Jagoutz adds. "You'd think it'd come back up, but it doesn't. It's actually interesting."
Explore further: Ancient Earth crust stored in deep mantle
More information: dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2013.03.051
Journal reference: Earth and Planetary Science Letters