Hessdalen lights produced by electrically active inversion layer

Abstract

Hessdalen lights are unusual, free-floating light balls presenting different shapes and light colors, observed in the Hessdalen valley in rural central Norway. In this work, it is shown that these ghostly light balls are produced by an electrically active inversion layer above Hessdalen valley during geomagnetic storms. Puzzling geometric shapes and energy content observed in the HL phenomenon may be explained through a little-known solution of Maxwell’s equations to electric (and magnetic) field lines: they can form loops in a finite space, called “unusual electromagnetic disturbance”. “Natural battery”, aerosols and global atmospheric electric circuit may play a crucial role for the electrification of the temperature inversion layers.