[News Terms] Is the Mysterious Light in the Sky over Turkey an 'Earthquake Light'?

Scientific Community Divided Over Claims of 'Jijin Jeonjohyeonsang' (Earthquake Precursors)

[Photo by Twitter capture]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] As the death toll from the powerful earthquake that shook T?rkiye and Syria continues to rise, the phenomenon known as 'Earthquake light (지진광)' witnessed just before the earthquake has attracted attention.

As of the 9th, a 38-second video filmed around the time of the early morning earthquake in T?rkiye on the 6th (local time) is spreading among netizens on Twitter.

The video shows flashes of light resembling lightning striking between buildings in a quiet city at midnight, followed by the entire night sky turning blue and then darkening repeatedly. During this, loud sounds resembling the ground shaking, buildings trembling, and objects falling are captured, presumed to be the moment of the earthquake.

Netizens who watched the video suggest that the mysterious blue light is earthquake light. Earthquake light is a phenomenon where light flashes in the sky during a large-scale earthquake, commonly known as a type of flash caused by strong collisions between geological layers. It has been witnessed just before earthquakes in the past, such as in Nagano, Japan from 1965 to 1967, Quebec, Canada in 1988, and Pisco, Peru in August 2007.

Some geophysicists argue that earthquake light is a theoretically possible phenomenon. In 2014, Dr. Robert Therrien of Natural Resources Canada in Quebec and Dr. John Deer of the Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory in the United States introduced a hypothesis related to the cause of luminous phenomena observed in the atmosphere before and after earthquakes by analyzing 65 past earthquakes in a paper published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. They explained, "Light is generated as if a battery is turned on in the Earth's crust by charges activated in certain types of rocks during seismic activity."

However, other scientists argue that earthquake light is a very rare and inconsistent phenomenon, making it difficult to consider it as a precursor to earthquakes. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) stated, "Various forms of earthquake light, such as stationary unusual lights near the epicenter, moving orb-shaped lights, and flame-like lights, have been reported during earthquakes," but added, "Some reports consider these to be related to electrical sparks caused by power lines shaking during earthquakes."