On the biophysical mechanism of sensing atmospheric discharges by living organisms

2026 · Harm · Very low evidence

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HarmVery low evidencePaper 2231

Study snapshot

Publicationmanual · 2026

Study typereview

Reported directionHarm

Evidence ratingVery low

Abstract

On the biophysical mechanism of sensing atmospheric discharges by living organisms Dimitris J. Panagopoulos, Alfonso Balmori. On the biophysical mechanism of sensing atmospheric discharges by living organisms. Science of the Total Environment. 599-600:2026-2034. Dec 1, 2017. doi.org The symptoms are mainly headache, fatigue, sleep disorders etc. • Sferics consist of partially polarized electromagnetic pulses. • Sferics have adequate intensity and polarization to cause biological/health effects. • We provide a novel biophysical explanation for sensing sferics by living organisms. Abstract Atmospheric electrical discharges during thunderstorms, and the related electromagnetic fields (EMFs)/waves called sferics, can be sensed by humans at long distances through a variety of symptoms, mainly headache, fatigue, etc. Up to today there is no explanation for this association. Sferics consist of partially polarized electromagnetic pulses with an oscillating carrier signal in the very low frequency (VLF) band and a pulse repetition frequency in the extremely low frequency (ELF) band. Their ELF intensity may reach ~ 5 mV/m at global ranges, and ~ 0.5 V/m at ~ 1000 km from the lightning. The health symptoms associated with sferics are also associated with antennas of mobile telephony base stations and handsets, which emit radio frequency (RF) radiation pulsed on ELF, and expose humans at similar or stronger electric field intensities with sferics. According to the Ion Forced-Oscillation mechanism, polarized ELF EMFs of intensities down to 0.1-1 mV/m are able to disrupt any living cell's electrochemical balance and function by irregular gating of electro-sensitive ion channels on the cell membranes, and thus initiate a variety of health symptoms, while VLF EMFs need to be thousands of times stronger in order to be able to initiate health effects. We examine EMFs from sferics in terms of their bioactivity on the basis of this mechanism. We introduce the hypothesis that stronger atmospheric discharges may reasonably be considered to be ~ 70% along a straight line, and thus the associated EMFs (sferics) ~ 70% polarized. We find that sferics mainly in the ELF band have adequate intensity and polarization to cause biological/health effects. We provide explanation for the effects of sferics on human/animal health on the basis of this mechanism. sciencedirect.com

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AI evidence extraction

Structured fields below were generated from the paper’s abstract and metadata to make the evidence easier to inspect. Automated extraction may be incomplete or incorrect; verify important details against the original paper.

Study typereview

Effect directionharm

Populationhumans (also mentions human/animal health)

Sample sizeNot supplied

ExposureELF/VLF

Evidence strengthVery lowConfidence: 74% · Peer reviewed: yes

Main findings

The paper proposes a biophysical explanation (Ion Forced-Oscillation mechanism) for how partially polarized sferics from thunderstorms, particularly in the ELF band, could be sensed by humans via symptoms such as headache, fatigue, and sleep disorders. It argues that reported ELF electric-field intensities of sferics (up to ~5 mV/m at global ranges and ~0.5 V/m at ~1000 km) and assumed polarization could be sufficient to initiate biological/health effects, whereas VLF fields would need to be much stronger.

Outcomes measured

headache
fatigue
sleep disorders
health symptoms (non-specific)
electrochemical balance/function disruption (proposed)
ion channel gating disruption (proposed)

Limitations

Appears to be hypothesis/mechanism-based rather than reporting new experimental or epidemiologic data in the abstract
Key assumptions are introduced (e.g., ~70% polarization of stronger discharges)
No sample size, study design details, or quantitative health effect estimates are provided in the abstract

View raw extracted JSON

{
  "study_type": "review",
  "exposure": {
    "band": "ELF/VLF",
    "source": "atmospheric discharges (sferics); comparison to mobile telephony base stations/handsets",
    "frequency_mhz": null,
    "sar_wkg": null,
    "duration": null
  },
  "population": "humans (also mentions human/animal health)",
  "sample_size": null,
  "outcomes": [
    "headache",
    "fatigue",
    "sleep disorders",
    "health symptoms (non-specific)",
    "electrochemical balance/function disruption (proposed)",
    "ion channel gating disruption (proposed)"
  ],
  "main_findings": "The paper proposes a biophysical explanation (Ion Forced-Oscillation mechanism) for how partially polarized sferics from thunderstorms, particularly in the ELF band, could be sensed by humans via symptoms such as headache, fatigue, and sleep disorders. It argues that reported ELF electric-field intensities of sferics (up to ~5 mV/m at global ranges and ~0.5 V/m at ~1000 km) and assumed polarization could be sufficient to initiate biological/health effects, whereas VLF fields would need to be much stronger.",
  "effect_direction": "harm",
  "limitations": [
    "Appears to be hypothesis/mechanism-based rather than reporting new experimental or epidemiologic data in the abstract",
    "Key assumptions are introduced (e.g., ~70% polarization of stronger discharges)",
    "No sample size, study design details, or quantitative health effect estimates are provided in the abstract"
  ],
  "evidence_strength": "very_low",
  "confidence": 0.74,
  "peer_reviewed_likely": "yes",
  "keywords": [
    "sferics",
    "thunderstorms",
    "atmospheric electrical discharges",
    "ELF",
    "VLF",
    "electromagnetic pulses",
    "polarization",
    "Ion Forced-Oscillation mechanism",
    "ion channels",
    "headache",
    "fatigue",
    "sleep disorders",
    "base stations",
    "mobile phones",
    "pulsed RF"
  ],
  "suggested_hubs": [
    {
      "slug": "who-icnirp",
      "weight": 0.2,
      "reason": "Discusses proposed health effects from environmental EMFs and compares with mobile telephony exposures, potentially relevant to exposure guideline discussions."
    }
  ]
}

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AI-extracted fields are generated from the abstract and metadata and may be incomplete or incorrect. This material is for informational purposes and is not medical advice.

Identifiers and source

DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.05.089
PubMed: Not supplied

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