[Duffy]

(02-13-2015, 04:43 AM)Skywise Wrote: Duffy, in your post with all those charts (which was really informative), you mentioned that you believe radon that is released prior to an earthquake may be interacting with the D Layer of the ionosphere, as a possible explanation for your measurements.

Radon gas has a density of 9.73 grams/liter, and sea level standard pressure air is only 1.2 g/L. That means radon is 8 times heavier than air. This is why it's such a danger in unventilated spaces such as basements.

The D layer region, although the lowest layer of the ionosphere, is generally 60km to 90km high.

How would you explain for radon to get up that high?

I don't think radon would explain your measurements. Even so, that doesn't negate your theory. Just that your suggested causal mechanism may be incorrect.

Brian

Hi Brian

I have just been reviewing my last post here, and realised I seemed to be ranting and quoting other researchers theories about the Radon phenomenon, which is un-scientific and can put the brakes on what could be an interesting debatable subject. I had attended a close Aunties funeral the day before and had a couple of beer's (German of course) which I'm not use to as I don't drink. I think the hangover showed itself on the key pad, so by way of appology, I've gone through the monitor archive, and found some interesting images to include in this Radon thread.

   

I thought I'd start with this image as I've found this intriguing because it contains several manmade and natural anomolies, and the theorised Radon phenomena. It was recorded on Friday 27th June 2014, there was a heavy thunder storm with major lightning activity persisting most of the day, which accounts for the chaotic trace lines. There was no Solar activity of any significance, and national grid reports showed no iregularities in the electrical supply.

It's obviouse from the image that something happened in the D-layer at 15:10 UT, and had the effect of lowering some traces and raising others. Not only that, it also appears the French navy (call sign"FTA") experienced some long term communication disruption during the trace drops. I could suggest this is routine again, but I've found 6 more in the archives, linked to EM anomolies, posted 3 on Earthwaves including this one, so I think coincidence is becoming the less favourable answer.

As for the cause of the trace instabilities, you can probably guess from my last post what I believe this is, but lets just assume this "could" be linked to the Radon phenomena. How its produced and propogates are the theories of other researchers, what matters here is, a) have I recorded a theoretical gas, b) if so, were did it originate from, and c) why have no other online VLF monitorists recorded the same signal.

The first question would suggest I've recorded something affecting the lower atmosphere, but has had the strange effect of lowering the radio ceiling for some traces (NRK Iceland, U-K 3 unknown, NSY Italy, NAU porto Rico) and slightly raising it for others (GBZ and GQD Scotish Borders). I have checked all the above posibilities, and I think equipment problems or human error can be ruled out, unless I pushed the wrong button and accidently zapped a French Sub in the process. When all known probabilities have been covered, you end up with someone elses theory that Radon Gas interacts with the lower atmosphere. I would welcome any suggestions of other causalities I may have missed or I'm unaware of.

If it is Radon Gas, were did it come from?, there are 3 posibilities, a leak from a nuclear power plant, or from volcanic or tectonic activity. The first two I haven't checked, but there were 2 mag 6+ Earthquakes 2 days later, (29th June) a 6.9 in the South Sandwich Islands region, South Pacific, and a 6.7 near Visokoi Island, South Atlantic. My money would be on Visokoi Island, it is closer to my location, and the Porto Rico trace (purple trace near bottom of image) in my experiance is a bit of a give away. Many off or low power stations near the noise line are generally unaffected by Solar activity, but can be influenced by phenomenon like this, and more so if high consentrations of something with EM properties is in the vicinity of the transmitter.

I did look online for data from other VLF sites, but we seem to be as rare as a four leaf clover, the few I did find, tend to compress their on screen data into 12 hour plot images, thus negating any chance of selecting finer detail. As luck would have it, I've recorded a very recent example to tag on here, I left the original black background because the detail is more disernable.

   

I recorded this image yesterday morning, (19th Feb) hoping it was building up to a predictable signal. First indication of anything here is the EM spiking before 10:00 UT, followed by a very small step up in the noise line at 10:08 UT. This carries through to NML (North Dakota) raising it prematurly before sunrise, at the same time a small down step appears in the dark blue line next to NML, this line represents Israel (call sign "UNID"). If you continue up, you come to the pale blue trace of the Italian navy (call sign "ICV") which drops due to signal loss (4 Subs and counting). At 10:28 UT, the noise line drops a few dB's, taking with it the bright blue trace of JXN Norway (Atomic clock signal) which is not transmitting at this time, and raising NML again for a further 45 minutes before it resumed normal levels. Finally, at 10:56 UT, there is a distinct drop in several traces at the 115 dB level, and causes disruption to other traces, including the Italian navy again, for a further 30 minutes.

I didn't see this untill I arrived home from work in the afternoon, it is a quake signature but I'm unsure why it's such a weak signal. The Earth is currently transiting a Solar wind stream at the moment, and has the effect of compressing the magnetic field, so this may have attributed to some kind of suppression. I purposely gave the best discription I could to show the advantage of un-compressed data, if this was a 12 hour plot screen image, very little of this would have been noticed. The monitors are very old tec, set at a specific rate to capture the fine detail, and couldn't handle larger sample rates, if it's found upgrading is worth the expendature, larger sample rates will be available in the future (hope Roger see's my point).

The significance of the image is, the EM signals and a possible Radon signature, Which could be related to the 6.4 quake in Vanuatu at couple of hours later at 13:18 UT. Or is it linked to the 6.3 in Miako, Japan at 04:25 UT this morning (20th Feb) which is doubtful as I believe this was an aftershock from the 6.7 on the 16th, and it doesn't usually record aftershocks. Heeding Chris's warning, this data couldn't be used as they cancel each other out.

A couple of questions, Brian; if Radon is a constituent of electromagnetism, do you think it's theoretically possible to detect in the VLF spectrum, from a given frequency?.

Taking the two images into account, and my location, I've theorised that if I am detecting radon, it could be propogating by means of Earths magnetic field lines, or somehow interacting with electrostatic energy in Global jet streams. any of this sound feasable?.

I have other examples I can use in future posts, including the May 2014 Etna eruption, when I find which laptop it's on. My broadband problem hasn't changed yet, so Im still using a friends desktop, I started talking science to him but he fell asleep!!!, so I took the oportunity to do this post.

I hope you found the images enlightening, and hopefully someone will have gained some knowledge from this, apart from Duffy can't handle his liquor, I think I've behaved myself in this post, but no guarantees for whoever posts me next (Haven't met Chris yet ).


Duffy;