Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
7th International Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Seismology, Antalya, Türkiye, 6 - 10 Kasım 2023, ss.591-608
Earthquake light is flashes of light from the ground which occur during earthquakes at night and is now well established as real from numerous video records, but data are still being gathered for explanation of those records. The Kahramanmaraş earthquakes (Turkey, 6 February 2023, M7.8 and M7.6), approximately doubled the international video records available with at least 127 new videos, and recording some new phenomena. 700 flashes were examined. The largest flash was on a limestone hilltop, Mt. Ahir, height 2301 m which is to the north above Kahramanmaraş City, and the 10 km light-spread on the ground is about ten times larger than others recorded internationally. There were a large number of videos actually recorded within blue and white light occurrences. A few videos showing “speckles” in the sky probably showed local condensation of water vapour due to seismic waves within the atmosphere. In spite of the catastrophe the Turkish earthquake light was an important contribution to the scientific research. It was found that (i) The predominant colours were white and blue as for previous videos from other countries. (ii) There were far more examples of pink colours than usual. (iii) Earthquake lights did not physically harm people inside the lights. (iv) There was no evidence for light being produced from large-scale electrical grid problems. (v) The light did not seem useful for predicting earthquake at least for now. (vi) The median length was 0.3 s. (vii) A unique example was found in daylight. (viii) Snow does not seem to prevent the light.
