Ezekiel's vision: Visual evidence of Sterno‐Etrussia geomagnetic excursion?

Abstract

In the Eos article,“Ezekiel and the Northern Lights: Biblical Aurora Seems Plausible” (16 April 2002), Siscoe et al. presented arguments showing that coronal auroras can occur at low latitudes under the condition of increased geomagnetic dipole field strength. From this standpoint, they give an interpretation of the “reported” Ezekiel's vision (the Bible's Book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament). The site of the Ezekiel's vision was about 100 km south of Babylon (latitude ˜32° N, longitude ˜5°E), and the date of the vision was around 593 B.C.Auroral specialists believe that Ezekiel's vision was inspired by a very strong magnetic storm accompanied by coronal auroras at low latitudes. However, as justly noted by Siscoe et al. [2002],to adopt this interpretation, several questions should be answered. Can auroras be seen at the latitude where Ezekiel reportedly was? More important, can they reach a coronal stage of development, which is what the vision requires? Was the tilt of the dipole axis favorable? Was the general level of solar activity favorable? The principal question is, no doubt, the second one.