Tsunami + UFO's = Arthur C Clarke's Ball lightning?

elivsvonchiaing

http://ufoinfo.com/roundup/v10/rnd1002.shtml

This link convinced me this post deserved its own thread... The UFO that hit California is the one...

Original post...

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Remember this from his series years ago about unexplained phenomenon. One episode was devoted to the phenomenon of ball-lightning - which has been observed over the centuries only a few dozen times. It is a plasmoid that lives only for a few seconds.

From the program I remember one theoretical source of this is tectonic activity.

This event was 9 on richter scale so can imagine hundreds could have been generated. Most just cutting a path through the miles of ocean - allowing a precious few to escape.

They would be highly visible points of light on their own trajectory, gradually being deflected by the Earths magnetic field. Only lasting 10s or so.

Maybe, just maybe, this is what people saw!

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These UFOs were reported all over the world from Dec 24th. Really think this is indeed the ball lightning phenomenon - just can't prove it. I would however imagine that a 3-4 metre ball of plasma would make its own way up from the ocean floor - quite diminished of course. Think with the result - 9 on Richter scale this seems plausible.

I know this is "hunch" post and not "Science" - just didn't know where else to post it tbh!

elivsvonchiaing

Seems this phenomenon has been witnessed at lot more than I thought. "A few dozen times" was the impression I had from seeing the program some 20 years ago.

From this link: http://www.tbns.net/mediapoet/tech19b.htm I found out about real lightning - which really is a form of lightning.

To quote from the next link I found: ""UFO's are non-sentient, geophysically produced phenomena - transient pockets of energy or tenuous matter - produced anywhere under the right conditions (the full range of which we are currently ignorant) but particularly in areas of geological faulting or disturbance - which also tend to be areas of mineral enrichment and low thunderstorm activity."
- Paul Devereaux, Earthlights "
http://www.mystae.com/restricted/streams/ufos/phenomenon.html

Not convinced the phenomenon are exactly the same or even closely related.

What would be interesting is if evidence shows up. I.e. a crater is found on Sumatra with glassy/flecks of glass throughout it, might provide a better explanation of this.

GuanYin

I dunno, this sounds more like a Paranormal posting to me, can you give me an argument to keep it here?

On an aside, it sound suspiciously like the "mothman" type sighting that are seen at natural disasters all around the world.

Many reports suggest a "UFO" was present at the 911 attacks. I believe there are even some images, although I'm not sure how legitimate they are.

CerebralCortex

This should be a mystery post for anyone who wants to be a paranormal detectiv. It is a post concerning what the truth is not about logical analysis.
If it was sensient or intelligent lifeforms trying to warn us about the tsumnami they would have been sucessful. I might find the ball lightening phenomenon more plausible.

elivsvonchiaing

syke wrote:

I dunno, this sounds more like a Paranormal posting to me, can you give me an argument to keep it here?

On an aside, it sound suspiciously like the "mothman" type sighting that are seen at natural disasters all around the world.

Many reports suggest a "UFO" was present at the 911 attacks. I believe there are even some images, although I'm not sure how legitimate they are.

I am convinced this area is in need of scienctific explanations. - just not enough has been done. If you think the links in my second post hold any water e.g. "The 'piezo-electric effects of more than 100,000 volts per meter' caused by seismic activity within the crystal-mantel matrix and focused by ' the natural 'architecture' of the subsurface rocks' could result in the formation of highly localized transient columnlike electric field formations.' Within the columns, the ' transient ionization of the air' could create luminosities which could, according to Dr. Persinger, ' display marked mobility, from almost perfect horizontal or lateral movement to sudden alterations in altitude in either vertical directions (into the sky or into the ground)." - from second link in second post.

This does seem plausible to me; it's an area of science in infancy imho. Do with this as you see fit.

Capt'n Midnight

Can anyone propose a mechanism to keep ball lightning stable underwater.

Static electricity is DC but is limited to surface area and 100,000 volts is not a lot - the static off your TV screen is up to 36,000 volts and while it can crackle and cause visible sparks in a dark room it just don't have the energy density for ball lightning. You could suppose that ball lightning is a form of resonalt electric-magnetic interaction, but that would be AC and under water power cables are invariably DC because water is a conductor and so you would have a large capacitive effect.

Any geologists out there - the Pizeo effect is only seen in some types of rocks, are these the right type ?