[M-IS25] Atmospheric electricity: Electrical phenomena associated with extreme weather

[MIS25-06] Radioluminescence appeared above the epicenter immediately before and after the 1995 Kobe earthquake

*Yuji Enomoto¹, Tsuneaki Yamabe¹, Shigeki Sugiura², Hitoshi Kondo² (1.Shinshu Univeristy, Ueda Campus Fii, 2.Genesis Research Institute Inc.)

Keywords:1995Kobe earthquake, Radioluminescence, Earthquake lights

Immediately before and after the Kobe earthquake that occurred at 05:46 (LT) on January 17, 1995, the night sky, which should have been dark, became as bright as the daytime. While there were many eyewitness testimonies, photographs demonstrating this phenomena was taken by N. Yokota, who lives in Izumi-Ohtsu, Osaka. A total of 5 photographs were taken, and from these photographs, fairly bright illuminants can be seen in two places above near the epicenter. This illuminant stays at an altitude of about 0.7km-2.5km, and linear mottled clouds are emitted from the illuminants. This luminescence / streak cloud has almost no change during the shooting time of several minutes and thus has a long life. By referring to other electromagnetic and radon observation data, it was concluded that this illuminants should be attributed to radioluminescence (α-ray, γ-ray) due to the decay of radon emanated from the fault.