Skyquake

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A skyquake is a phenomenon where a loud banging sound is reported to originate from the sky. The sound may cause noticeable vibration in the ceiling or across a particular room. Those who experience skyquakes typically do not have a clear explanation for what caused them and they are perceived as mysterious.

Contents

They have been heard in several locations around the world, including the banks of the river Ganges, Marwadi/Marawadi (मरवड़ी/मराड़ी) village in Himachal Pradesh, Hanswar, Uttar Pradesh, the East Coast and inland Finger Lakes of the United States, the city of Hudson, Wisconsin, the Magic Valley in south-central Idaho, the Municipality of Anchorage and Southcentral Alaska, Colombia, Southern Canada, as well as areas of the North Sea, Japan, Finland, Australia, Italy, Ireland, India, The Netherlands, Norway, Tierra del Fuego in Argentina, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Indonesia (particularly Jakarta and Java).

Local names

Names (according to area) are:

In 1804, they were reportedly heard during the Lewis and Clark Expedition near Great Falls. Meriwether Lewis wrote “since our arrival at the falls we have repeatedly witnessed a noise which proceeds from a direction a little to the N. of West as loud and resembling precisely the discharge of a piece of ordinance of 6 pounds at the distance of three miles.” William Clark added in his notes, “…a rumbling like Cannon at a great distance is heard to the west of us; the Cause we Can’t account.” [5]

They have been reported from an Adriatic island in 1824; Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria in Australia; Belgium; frequently on calm summer days in the Bay of Fundy and Passamaquoddy Bay, New Brunswick, Canada; Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland; Scotland; Cedar Keys, Florida; Franklinville, New York in 1896; and northern Georgia in the United States. [6]

Their sound has been described as being like distant but inordinately loud thunder while no clouds are in the sky large enough to generate lightning. Those familiar with the sound of cannon fire say the sound is nearly identical. The booms occasionally cause shock waves that rattle plates. Early white settlers in North America were told by the native Haudenosaunee Iroquois that the booms were the sound of the Great Spirit continuing his work of shaping the earth.[ citation needed ]

The terms "mistpouffers" and "Seneca guns" both originate in Seneca Lake, NY, and refer to the rumble of artillery fire. James Fenimore Cooper, author of The Last of the Mohicans, wrote "The Lake Gun" in 1850, a short story describing the phenomenon heard at Seneca Lake, which seems to have popularized the terms.

Hypotheses

Their origin has not been positively identified. Given the long time that they have been known and reported, but with no proposal experimentally confirmed, it seems likely that the occur for more than one reason. Proposed explainations have been:

See also

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References

  1. T.D. LaTouche, "On the Sounds Known as Barisal Guns", Report (1890-8) of the annual meeting By British Association for the Advancement of Science, Issue 60, pp. 800.
  2. Eraldo Baldini, "Tenebrosa Romagna", Il Ponte Vecchio, 2014, p. 21.
  3. William R. Corliss, Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds, and related phenomena (The Sourcebook Project, 1983).
  4. M.G.J.Minnaert, De Natuurkunde van 't Vrije Veld, Deel 2: Geluid, Warmte, Elektriciteit, § 48: Mistpoeffers, bladzijden 63-64.
  5. "Artillery Sounds Heard By Lewis and Clark (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov.
  6. Appletons' Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events. 1899. p. 440.
  7. 1 2 "Earthquake booms, Seneca guns, and other sounds". usgs.gov. United States Geological Survey. 29 October 2013.
  8. "Milkshakes: Unusual earthquakes [that] strike Wisconsin". Ars Technica (online magazine). 25 February 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  9. Wilson, D. Keith; Noble, John M.; Coleman, Mark A. (October 2003). "Sound propagation in the nocturnal boundary layer". Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences . 60 (20): 2473–2486. doi: 10.1175/1520-0469(2003)060<2473:SPITNB>2.0.CO;2 . ISSN   0022-4928.
  10. Ouzounov, Dimitar; Pulinets, Sergey; Romanov, Alexey; Romanov, Alexander; Tsybulya, Konstantin; Davidenko, Dimitri; et al. (2011). "Atmosphere-ionosphere response to the M9 Tohoku earthquake, revealed by joined satellite and ground observations: Preliminary results". arXiv: 1105.2841 [physics.geo-ph].