The Earth’s ‘Hum’– What Does Schumann Resonance Actually Tell Us?
Our colleague Dr. József Bór, an atmospheric physics researcher at the HUN-REN Institute of Earth Physics and Space Science, explains this often misunderstood phenomenon in an interview with Index.
Schumann resonance is commonly known in esoteric circles as the “heartbeat of the planet,” but it is more accurately a natural, low-frequency electromagnetic hum generated by the 50–100 lightning strikes that hit the Earth every second, resonating between the Earth’s surface and the lower boundary of the ionosphere. The phenomenon is named after German physicist Winfried Otto Schumann, who described it mathematically as early as 1952, and whose findings were subsequently confirmed by measurements.
The frequencies are remarkably stable — but not entirely fixed. They are influenced by solar activity (e.g., solar flares alter the height of the ionosphere), the global distribution of thunderstorm activity, and even the distance between the measuring station and the world’s active storm regions. Measurements of this kind have been conducted at the Széchenyi István Geophysical Observatory in Nagycenk since 1993, and since 2024 a new monitoring site has also been operating at the Jeli Arboretum, where the magnetic field component can be tracked with particular precision.
And what about health effects?
Research suggests that Schumann resonance may actually support the body’s ability to cope with stress and recover. A direct causal link between negative effects (headaches, anxiety, etc.) and SR anomalies has not been scientifically established. Alarm claims in this area are worth treating with a critical eye.
We are currently investigating how the effects of major atmospheric events — such as the El Niño phenomenon and Arctic cold air intrusions — show up in measurement data, and how seasonal changes are reflected in the readings.
The full interview is available on Index:
