Last update: September 26, 2006. Number of entries: EQL 360; seismic precursors 141; atmospheric electricity: 39; TST: 188.

Within the CISU Committee for Luminous Phenomena in the Atmosphere (LPA), a special project is devoted to earthquake lights (EQL), i.e. those special luminous phenomena sometimes associated to seismic events.

Since this project started (1999) we have collected 360 bibliographic references concerning testimonies, reports and relevant scientific studies. Some of these 360 sources are not owned by the project coordinator, since they were published in journals not available through Italian public libraries.

At the same time, we have also collected a complementary bibliography aimed at completing the first part and achieving a better understanding of such phenomena: this secondary bibliography (contained in the second, third and fourth parts of the chapter on EQL) refers to some other phenomena similar or connected to EQL. We expanded as much as possible the collection to the so-called "seismic precursors" including, for example, radon gas emissions from the soil, changes in underwater level, electromagnetic signals in different radio bands (ULF, ELF, VLF, etc.), anomalies in the lithosphere, possible interactions between the lithosphere and the ionosphere, anomalies in animals behaviour, sudden changes in the electric field of the focal areas, and so on.

We also chose to extend our bibliography to include the several contributions published since 1973 by the Canadian neurologist Michael Persinger about so-called Tectonic Stress Theory (TST), which at first tried to explain sightings of various anomalous light phenomena (and also of the so-called UFOs) as events linked to some special lithospheric conditions in or near the local area where those events occurred. Later, with the help of other researchers (expecially the eminent American geologist John Derr), Persinger refined his theory: not only did he apply some statistical analysis tools to his database showing some possible correlations between earthquakes and luminous phenomena apparitions, but he also expanded the significance of the TST with the support of laboratory experiments, where he recorded possible interactions between low-frequency electromagnetic emissions (ELF-VLF) and induced hallucinations or altered perception of reality.