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Pilot Photographs Orange/Red "Glow" Over Pacific

mrpoultice

Fen-dwelling Slodger
Joined
Jan 28, 2003
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374
Now this odd.

The story comes from the website of a chap called JPC Van Heist, who is an aviation photographer. Last night he was 5 hours into a flight from Japan heading towards Alaska and seems to have caught something quite strange. he writes:

Last night over the Pacific Ocean, somewhere South of the Russian peninsula Kamchatka I experienced the creepiest thing so far in my flying career.
After about 5 hours in flight we left Japan long time behind us and were cruising at a comfortable 34.000ft with about 4,5 hours to go towards Alaska.
We heard via the radio about earthquakes in Iceland, Chile and San Francisco, and since there were a few volcanos on our route that might or might not be going off during our flight, we double checked with dispatch if there was any new activity on our route after we departed from Hongkong.
Then, very far in the distance ahead of us, just over the horizon an intense lightflash shot up from the ground. It looked like a lightning bolt, but way more intense and directed vertically up in the air. I have never seen anything like this, and there were no flashes before or after this single explosion of light.
Since there were no thunderstorms on our route or weather-radar, we kept a close lookout for possible storms that might be hiding from our radar and might cause some problems later on.

I decided to try and take some pictures of the night sky and the strange green glow that was all over the Northern Hemisphere. I think it was sort of a Northern Lights but it was much more dispersed, never seen anything like this before either. About 20 minutes later in flight I noticed a deep red/orange glow appearing ahead of us, and this was a bit strange since there was supposed to be nothing but endless ocean below us for hundreds of miles around us. A distant city or group of typical Asian squid-fishing-boats would not make sense in this area, apart from the fact that the lights we saw were much larger in size and glowed red/orange, instead of the normal yellow and white that cities or ships would produce.
The closer we got, the more intense the glow became, illuminating the clouds and sky below us in a scary orange glow. In a part of the world where there was supposed to be nothing but water.
The only cause of this red glow that we could think of, was the explosion of a huge volcano just underneath the surface of the ocean, about 30 minutes before we overflew that exact position.
Since the nearest possible airport was at least 2 hours flying away, and the idea of flying into a highly dangerous and invisible ash-plume in the middle of the night over the vast Pacific Ocean we felt not exactly happy. Fortunately we did not encounter anything like this, but together with the very creepy unexplainable deep red/orange glow from the ocean's surface, we felt everything but comfortable. There was also no other traffic near our position or on the same routing to confirm anything of what we saw or confirm any type of ash clouds encountered.

We reported our observations to Air Traffic Control and an investigation into what happened in this remote region of the ocean is now started.

Two photos included, hardly edited except for watermark and resize. Note that photos are taken with extremely high ISO (sensor sensitivity) so quality might be a bit poor. Also an overview of our route + marking of the location is included.

Now I'm just hoping that if a new island has been formed there, at least it can be named after me as the official discoverer. :)
That would be pretty cool!

The webpage with the all important photos is HERE

Mr P over and out...
 
Fascinating! Looking at the geographical location, I think the most likely explanation is an underwater eruption of some kind.
 
I agree some kind of undersea crack opening up sounds right but the lights look "round" and then there this...

Then, very far in the distance ahead of us, just over the horizon an intense lightflash shot up from the ground. It looked like a lightning bolt, but way more intense and directed vertically up in the air.

Which sounds odd and not very volcanic?
 
That does sound pretty extraordinary...yes.
Earthlights? Triboluminescence?

Or perhaps the Deros have finally made it to the surface... :shock:
 
My interpretation is that it's an interior shot inside the cockpit, with the lights visible to the left through a side window. The interior glass surface is reflecting the cockpit interior to add some confusion.
 
I wonder if this ties in with the seismic activity that's been going on recently?
 
It appears to me that the picture was taken by someone standing behind the pilot's seat / station, looking out a window on the port (pilot) side. The pilot was moving either to or from a position leaning to his left (port side) and peering out a side window forward of the one through which the photo was taken. The pilot's shoulder and left arm are clear enough, but he was apparently moving his head when the camera was triggered.

There are two important points I can't seem to pin down from the original Web postings:

(1) What type of aircraft this is, and ...

(2) The time of the sighting(s).
 
OneWingedBird said:
I wonder if this ties in with the seismic activity that's been going on recently?

The USGS earthquake center notes an earthquake in the area, to the west or southwest of the plane's position(s), on the 24th. That's why I'm interested in finding out exactly when these photos were taken.
 
Then, very far in the distance ahead of us, just over the horizon an intense lightflash shot up from the ground. It looked like a lightning bolt, but way more intense and directed vertically up in the air. I have never seen anything like this, and there were no flashes before or after this single explosion of light.

Since there were no thunderstorms on our route or weather-radar, we kept a close lookout for possible storms that might be hiding from our radar and might cause some problems later on.
This might be a Sprite...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(lightning)

or a Blue Jet...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper-atm ... _lightning

As for the other blobs of light, well, it's yer orbs, innit?! ;)
 
We can't discount that what was described as looking like a lightning bolt was, in fact, a lightning bolt, especially if we go with the possibility of volcanic event as the cause for the lights. Volcanoes are common causes of lightning, below is lightning at Mt. Merapi.

ht_volcano_lightning_studied_mount_merapi_2_ll_120613_wblog.jpg
 
garrick92 said:
...
Given that the photographer states that the aircraft was cruising at 34,000ft and that the phenomena occurred below the 'plane (and indeed, apparently below cloud), I think we can discount both of those suggestions, Rynner.
You're ignoring this, which is clearly NOT below the aircraft:
Then, very far in the distance ahead of us, just over the horizon an intense lightflash shot up from the ground. It looked like a lightning bolt, but way more intense and directed vertically up in the air. I have never seen anything like this, and there were no flashes before or after this single explosion of light.

Since there were no thunderstorms on our route or weather-radar, we kept a close lookout for possible storms that might be hiding from our radar and might cause some problems later on.

According to Wolfram Alpha, the horizon seen from 34,000 ft is 227 miles away, which gives a minimum distance to the bolt. But it could have been much further away if it was associated with a storm which was below the horizon and unseen (and therefore still undetectable by radar).

Whatever the case, it was not "below the 'plane".
 
Thanks Mr Poultice for linking to this fascinating incident. Its exactly the type of thing i love about the FTMB.

Ive read through the FlyingDutchmans site and these are the conclusions ive drawn:
He's an experienced airline pilot, clearly used to several different aircraft types and daylight / night time aviation.
He's proficient with a good piece of camera equipment, and capable of capturing conditions such as aurora and star fields from a cruising jetliner
He comes across as sensible and pragmatic in his account of the phenomena he witnessed, including full co-ordinates of the event and appropriate reporting of the happening to the relevant authorities
He's not a tinfoil wearing fluffy woowoo (subjective opinion i know).

As for the phenomena itself, i'll admit to not really having a clue. A vague explanation would be some sort of poorly-understood (at least scientifically) energy transfer between surface and atmosphere, in the same vein as tectonic earthlights or events of that nature.
People on his site have posited the recent tectonic activity on the ring of fire zone, and others have mentioned the fact that water absorbs the red light spectrum very readily, so the activity must be close to the surface, but the location cited is actually deepwater, meaning the lights must be close to the surface, or of an incredible intensity.

FWIW i dont think he's an attention seeking crank, im sure theres a logical explanation, but i can't help thinking of the last few minutes of 'The Abyss', when the alien mothership rises from the Stygian depths...
 
Aannd this story has been picked up by the* sob* DailyFail.

dailym.ai/1p78LAZ

Only confirmed/added the statement that flyingdutchman and co-pilot witnessed the event, which i was unsure of reading his account.

A genuine case of: remember folks, you read it here first!
 
kamalktk said:
We can't discount that what was described as looking like a lightning bolt was, in fact, a lightning bolt, especially if we go with the possibility of volcanic event as the cause for the lights. Volcanoes are common causes of lightning, below is lightning at Mt. Merapi.

Excellent point, I think.
Is it possible, though, that the huge static discharge could travel up through the water? Just questioning that, as the water would act as an earth, and restrict the free flow of ions required.
 
I suspect the single flash that 'looked like lightning' and the red glow at sea were two unrelated phenomena. This is because I think I know what caused the flash.

A test flight of the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon was aborted 4 seconds after launch from the Kodiak Launch Complex (Kodiak Island, Alaska). News reports indicate this occurred circa 12:25 AM local (Kodiak) time.

Kodiak Island's time zone is +14 hours relative to GMT. The location of the plane would appear to be in the time zone at + 10 hours relative to GMT (or maybe + 11 hours). This means the AHW explosion occurred circa dusk at the plane's location.

The plane was heading northeast - straight toward Alaska.

News reports indicate there was a big bright explosion when the rocket was terminated by mission control and hit the ground. You can see for yourself - a local radio station reporter's photograph of the explosion can be accessed at:

http://www.kmxt.org/images/stories/klc-explosion.jpg
 
Does a hypersonic weapon give off a huge flash?
That looks almost as scary as a nuke.
 
Mythopoeika said:
Does a hypersonic weapon give off a huge flash?
That looks almost as scary as a nuke.

There was no 'live' weapon involved - it was just a test of the delivery vehicle with the hypersonic 'bomber' unit atop it (or so they say ...).

The scale of the explosion reflects a full load of rocket fuel, not a weapon detonation.
 
This CBC News article:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/advan ... -1.2746995

... includes another photo taken after the initial explosion / flash.

This CBC photo was taken from Cape Greville, Kodiak Island. According to Google Maps, the photographer's location would have been circa 12 miles northeast of the launch complex.

The news report associated with the earlier photo I cited stated that photo was also taken from a distance of 12 miles away.
 
Use the lat / long coordinates annotated on the photographer's website and Google Maps to see the plane's location. It was northeast of northernmost Japan and southeast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at that time.

A quick 'n' dirty run against an online lat / long distance calculator indicates the plane's position (noted on the diagrams) would have been on the order of 1750 - 1800 nautical miles from Kodiak Island. This translates into something on the order of 3300 km.

It wasn't my intention to suggest the aircrew had direct line of sight on the missile explosion. My guess is the flash was either (a) a bright visible light reflection from 'way over the horizon or maybe (b) a transient aurora-style flash triggered by the explosion's energy.

Option (b) may be the more likely of the two. The diffuse green glow reported is the common form of auroral display under low (electromagnetic 'storm') intensity conditions, indicating the atmosphere in the plane's direction of travel was 'primed' for auroral presentations. Kodiak Island lies within the known extent of the auroral zone in its region.
 
That's right; there are green lights in there, as well as orange lights, which seems to suggest something artificial. Probably squid boats after all, with green navigation lights visible on some of them.
 
eburacum said:
That's right; there are green lights in there, as well as orange lights, which seems to suggest something artificial. Probably squid boats after all, with green navigation lights visible on some of them.
Boat navigation lights concentrate their power near the horizontal plane, rather like a lighthouse with its Fresnel lens, but not to the same degree - boat lights need to be visible even if the boat is rolling.

Even so, very lttle green light would be emitted at high angles from the horizon, and it would be very weak seen from altitude.
 
rynner2 said:
Then, very far in the distance ahead of us, just over the horizon an intense lightflash shot up from the ground. It looked like a lightning bolt, but way more intense and directed vertically up in the air. I have never seen anything like this, and there were no flashes before or after this single explosion of light.

Since there were no thunderstorms on our route or weather-radar, we kept a close lookout for possible storms that might be hiding from our radar and might cause some problems later on.
This might be a Sprite...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(lightning)

or a Blue Jet...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper-atm ... _lightning

As for the other blobs of light, well, it's yer orbs, innit?! ;)


I'm really hoping one of these is the answer and that event wasn't the sea starting to set itself on fire as rising tempertures release methane from the ocean floor. (Yes, I saw "Dimming the Sun," and, no, I will not forget it.)
 
SHAYBARSABE said:
Anyone mention Tamu Massif (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamu_Massif), yet? It's extinct, so they say. But big. Really, really big.

Based on the photographer site's indication of the sighting location, the Tamu Massif would seem to have been on the order of 1000 km south of their position (essentially behind rather than in front of the aircraft).
 
eburacum said:
That's right; there are green lights in there, as well as orange lights, which seems to suggest something artificial. Probably squid boats after all, with green navigation lights visible on some of them.

I keep circling back to that sort of conclusion as well, and for the same reasons.

Unless a volcanic seamount just happened to erupt and breach the surface, I don't believe they would have seen such a bright display caused by any volcano.

Bathymetric maps indicate there are some suggestively round and possibly conical 'bumps' on the seafloor in the area of the sighting, but as far as I can tell they're all quite far beneath the surface.

As a result, I've tentatively concluded the lights were on the ocean surface.

I've done some searching for clues to collective surface vessel operations in that area at the time (whaling; military exercises; exploration / drilling; search and rescue, etc.), but I haven't found anything that recommends itself as a clear candidate.

Russia has been conducting military exercises in the southern Kuril Islands nearby (to the west), and over the last few weeks there have been one or two alleged confrontations between Russian Navy antisubmarine squadrons and Japanese / US subs in that general region. I haven't found any news item that would indicate these lights were from Russian Navy vessels, but they've been known to be operating in the vicinity.

My default working theory remains a group of vessels - probably fishing vessels.
 
EnolaGaia said:
SHAYBARSABE said:
Anyone mention Tamu Massif (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamu_Massif), yet? It's extinct, so they say. But big. Really, really big.

Based on the photographer site's indication of the sighting location, the Tamu Massif would seem to have been on the order of 1000 km south of their position (essentially behind rather than in front of the aircraft).

That's good, then.
 
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