Earthquake predictors

The December 2005 issue of IEEE Spectrum has an article by Tom Bleier and
Friedeman Freund, titled "Earthquake Alarm". The subtitle reads "Days and weeks
before an earthquake strikes, it causes strange lights in the sky, anomalies on
satellite images, and other electromagnetic disturbances. Reliable forecasts
are surely only a few years away."

The article suggests that deformation of the rock in the vicinity of the
impending fault causes very large currents to flow in the rock, through some
mechanism akin to the piezoelectric effect, and that these currents cause the
observed visual and magnetic effects.

Spectrum is a relatively low-tech news magazine which summarises new
developments in the profession for members who are not experts in that
particular branch of the profession. See http://spectrum.ieee.org/dec05/2367/2

James McNangle
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