Thanks Sharon. Sharon presents an article refuting Mr. Aym here.
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FROM SHARON:
Whoa, whoa, whoa. You need to stop and take a deep breath. You are doing a disservice by suggesting this scaremongering is based in reality. IT IS NOT.
The article you cite by Mr. Aym is not “news” but “propaganda” promoting his website, books, and crazy ideas. These are unfounded claims of someone who is spouting pseudoscience (he is NOT a scientist), who is warping some discordant ideas about the earth, and projecting it onto some doomesday scenario.
There is no established scientific connection between the concept of superstorms (or even weather itself) and the Earth’s magnetic fields. So, right there, this idea is off the mark.
There is no evidence that wandering of the poles (happening constantly since the earth HAD poles) or weakening of the earth’s magnetic field is indicative of a pole reversal. “The field intensity has often exhibited significant variation, with both decreases and increases in intensity, without there always being a coincident reversal.” http://geomag.usgs.gov/faqs.php
I’ll take conclusions based on empirical data – put through the scientific process of replication, peer review and critique – before I would take the speculative word of some media Dude out to make a name for himself with his apocalyptic world view.
I strongly suggest you visit the Bad Astronomy site, run by an astronomer and well-researched. This post debunks the baloney claims of Mr. Aym. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/02/09/no-a-pole-shift-wont-cause-global-superstorms/
“Aym makes scientific claims that are completely unfounded in reality, and sometimes says things that are simply dead wrong.”
It’s understandable, if frustrating, that people find exciting the scary stories that the wrath of the earth is decending upon us. But there is NO EVIDENCE for that. I’ve given some scientific basis for the sky noises in the post that you so kindly linked to on DoubtfulNews.com. Unfortunately, and I think you realize this, people are not interested in hearing that the majority of these videos going around are fakes, copies or completely explainable by normal causes. The scant few sky noise events that have been documented by multiple witnesses may not be explanable right now, may have logical explanations (or we may NEVER know exactly how they originated). It does not follow that you can assume something terrible is occuring just because we can’t find an non-terrible cause. That a global catastrophe is upon is us NOT a logical explanation. I do not agree that increasing the panic about such an event is the right thing to do.
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FROM JAY MAN; Mr Aym does site sources in his article (at the bottom) and there is scientific basis for magnetic shifts in poles here. I think he’s basing his idea on this controversial Danish Study here. Links are on Henrik Svensmarks’s page. His theory is that the magnetic shifts are causing climate change. Why would it be a leap to discuss the idea that the pole changes are causing earthquakes and extreme weather. It’s as good a theory as any. I presented it because with sky roars (I don’t mean Kiev sounds) the nature of them suggests that something is happening above the troposphere. Because the air is usually still when observed, perhaps the jet stream in the stratosphere has changed (sky roars obviously sound like loud wind) and is making the noise above it. The height of each changes according to temperature meaning it is affected by it and of course temperature relates to climate change.
We can all agree that climate change is occurring and that the weather is getting more extreme. This is an observable fact here. Even Al Gore predicted superstorms but when he says it people believe.
I think people that cling to the idea that the only reason for global warming being manmade are no different than people believing Conklin. They love the idea that climate change has to be caused by humans because it’s an ego trip, meaning that good or bad humankind can change the earth’s weather. It’s also a racket and generates lots of money for some people. This article here starts to pick the idea apart. The info from NASA is here. It’s from NASA, the undisputed source.
I can’t get bogged down in a discussion about global warming because there are entire blogs devoted to it. The reason people in the world doubt global warming being manmade is that they’ve been lied to too many times. They don’t trust science because obviously the nature of science is to discount old ideas that were presented as fact only a few years before.
Jayman: I’m wondering why you felt you had to call my reply out specifically and respond to it.
I am noticing that your blog is not very science friendly, so I’m not surrounded by sympathetic readers.
Mr. Aym does NOT have scientific training and is selling stuff. To put him on the same level as informed opinions on this topic is unjustified. It’s like putting a creation “scientist” up there with an evolutionary biologist. It’s a leap to go from pole shifts to increased earthquakes and extreme weather because that would be guessing and unsupported speculation. Pole shifts don’t happen overnight, the field gets weaker, it’s very gradual. We aren’t seeing anomalous tectonic plate movement – they are still moving in the direction they’ve been going. Earthquake rates and intensities are not increasing. Large weather events MAY be larger and more frequent but there are other plausible reasons for that.
Why do I not take Aym’s sciencey-sounding stuff seriously? Because it’s not OK to go around speculating it could be this or that. That’s opinion, not fact. “Theory” is not a guess. A “theory” in science has been tested quite thoroughly, published and discussed/argued about (theory of relativity, theory of evolution, Big Bang theory, etc.). Aym has not published his ideas in the scientific community and he has misinterpreted the science, warped it to suit his ends. He is pseudoscientific. It’s very dangerous to go down the path forged by a pseudoscientist. It sounds very good on the surface, but underneath, there is no substance. I write a column on this very topic for the Center for Inquiry website. http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/archive/category/sounds_sciencey
I’m unclear why you went into global warming. Global warming is an overwhelming fact. But, I also have no intention of discussing it; I’m not seeing how it applies directly here. You seem to be mixing a lot of things together here that are complicated enough on their own and not necessarily related.
Let’s take a step back and start with common ground. The common things we might agree upon is that some of these sounds are hoaxed, it’s becoming an internet “thing” to catch and post them, and that some may be genuine. I certainly accept that some are genuine. But there are reasonable, documented explanations for their origin. I’m frustrated that people don’t really want to know about that but want to jump to the extreme, conspiratorial and supernatural conclusions first. That’s today’s society – we love weird stories. What’s the most plausible explanations? That they are natural sounds (we can’t quite pinpoint), mistaken identifications or deliberately faked.
My view on this phenomenon has ALWAYS been: there are strange sounds. There are multiple natural, but unusual, means by which we can explain them. Let’s not go speculating wildly and follow some doom sayers off the edge. Don’t panic.
I called it out because I respect your opinion as a blogger that writes about these sorts of things and felt that you had a good point.
Some basic info on geomagnetism and the atmosphere: The ionosphere, consisting of charged particles, is the layer surrounding Earth that is affected by electromagnetism. This is why neither the geomagnetic field nor HAARP (another darling of the conspiracy crowd) do not affect the troposphere or stratosphere, which is where weather systems exist.
Neither is there sufficient particle density in the ionosphere to generate audible noise which could propagate to the Earth, even if it were possible for the geomagnetic field to reverse polarity rapidly enough to produce an audible frequency.
Therefore, if you’re hearing sounds coming from the sky, you can rest assured they are not coming from the ionosphere, and cannot be related to the geomagnetic field or HAARP.
Flame away…