The waves created by lightning do not look like the up and down waves of the ocean, but they still oscillate with regions of greater energy and lesser energy. These waves remain trapped inside an atmospheric ceiling created by the lower edge of the \"ionosphere\" - a part of the atmosphere filled with charged particles, which begins about 60 miles up into the sky. In this case, the sweet spot for resonance requires the wave to be as long (or twice, three times as long, etc) as the circumference of Earth. This is an extremely low frequency wave that can be as low as 8 Hertz (Hz) - some one hundred thousand times lower than the lowest frequency radio waves used to send signals to your AM/FM radio. As this wave flows around Earth, it hits itself again at the perfect spot such that the crests and troughs are aligned. Voila, waves acting in resonance with each other to pump up the original signal.
While they'd been predicted in 1952, Schumann resonances were first measured reliably in the early 1960s. Since then, scientists have discovered that variations in the resonances correspond to changes in the seasons, solar activity, activity in Earth's magnetic environment, in water aerosols in the atmosphere, and other Earth-bound phenomena.", "items": [], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 350257, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10891/#media_group_350257", "widget": "Video player", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "Animation of Schumann resonance in Earth's atmosphere.", "items": [ { "id": 324803, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 480077, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010800/a010891/SchumannAnim_00759.jpg", "filename": "SchumannAnim_00759.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Animation of Schumann resonance in Earth's atmosphere.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } }, { "id": 324799, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 480067, "url": 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"role": "Producer", "people": [ { "name": "Walt Feimer", "employer": "HTSI" } ] }, { "role": "Writer", "people": [ { "name": "Karen Fox", "employer": "ADNET Systems, Inc." } ] } ], "missions": [], "series": [], "tapes": [], "papers": [], "datasets": [], "nasa_science_categories": [ "Earth" ], "keywords": [ "Atmosphere", "C/NOFS", "Earth Science", "HDTV", "Lightning" ], "recommended_pages": [], "related": [ { "id": 10985, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10985/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Lightning Reverb", "description": "Lightning flashes some 50 times every second on Earth. These discharges release bursts of ultra-low-frequency energy that coalesce and get stronger, ultimately creating a beating pulse of electromagnetic waves around the planet. This phenomenon is called Schumann resonance, and it takes place between the ground and the lower ionosphere, a region of charged particles about 60 miles up in the atmosphere. Scientists had thought Schumann resonance was confined within the atmosphere and could only be observed from the planet's surface. Using NASA's Vector Electric Field Instrument (VEFI) aboard a U.S. Air Force satellite, scientists recently discovered that energy from the resonance sometimes leaks beyond Earth and can be detected from above, providing a new tool to analyze the chemical and physical makeup of the atmosphere. The animation shows how the electromagnetic energy from lightning gradually resonates around the planet and occasionally even reaches out into space. || ", "release_date": "2012-07-03T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:52:58.013662-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 476206, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010900/a010985/nssl0016_1024x576.jpg", "filename": "nssl0016_1024x576.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Energy waves sparked by lightning resonate around Earth and reveal a leaky barrier to space.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } ], "sources": [], "products": [], "newer_versions": [], "older_versions": [], "alternate_versions": [] }