Analysis of Barber-Pole Color and Speckle Noises Recorded 6 and a Half Hours before the Kobe Earthquake

Abstract

Barber-pole color shift and speckle noise in the images on the videotape of a TV program recorded six and a half hours before the Kobe earthquake have been analyzed and are considered to be due to electromagnetic (EM) noise of a few tens of mV/m around 217 MHz and pulsed noise with a width of about µs, respectively. Such images were reproduced by artificial means using a microwave synthesizer and from air-gap discharges using a Van de Graaff generator. An EM model of a fault with piezo-compensating free charges around quartz in granitic rocks gave pulsed EM waves having a pulse width of 0.5 µs and height of 0.5 V/m at a point 50 km from the fault.