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Geomagnetic Field Effects on Living Systems

Krylov (2017) reviewed and proposed that the understanding of mechanisms by which geomagnetic

storms afect organisms will help to minimize their harmful impact on human health. More specifcally,

Krylov (2017) made the following proposals as future research to be solved: It is necessary to study cor­

relations between geomagnetic activity and biological parameters at a higher temporal resolution (hour

or less); one must determine relationships between the magnitude of the biological response, the local

time when a geomagnetic storm was registered, and the dynamics of a storm’s fuctuations with respect

to the usual dynamics of diurnal geomagnetic variation; one must investigate the similarities and dif­

ferences between the mechanisms of the impact of geomagnetic activity on organisms and magnetic

orientation. Te following research could be carried out to solve this problem: studying changes in the

concentrations and functions of melatonin, CRYs, and protein-coding by the CG8198 gene, which Qin

et al. (2016) called the magnetoreceptor protein (MagR) as described above, in response to simulated

geomagnetic storms; and studying changes in the expression of CRY and CG8198 genes, as well as genes

coded for enzymes involved in melatonin synthesis in response to simulated geomagnetic storms. Based

on the idea suggested by Breus et al. (2016), the production of these molecules may be the biochemical

integrator averaging and cumulating the signal of GMF fuctuations (Krylov, 2017). Experiments, where

desynchronization of circadian Zeitgebers (diurnal geomagnetic variation which is shifed relative to

the alternation of day and night) is used as treatment may also contribute to the confrmation or rejec­

tion of this proposed hypothesis (Krylov, 2017).

6.4.3 Schumann Resonance

Apart from the above-mentioned infuence of the GMF cycles, other quasi-periodic ELF processes

are caused by oscillations in the plasmasphere and magnetosphere of solar wind and by the resonant

oscillations, so-called “Schumann resonance” of the ionosphere of the Earth (Vladimirsky et al., 1980;

Temurjants et al., 1992). Schumann resonance (SR), which is globally propagating ELF waves, is hypoth­

esized to be “the possible biological mechanism” that explains biological and human health efects of

geomagnetic activity (Cherry, 2002). SR is a background stationary EM noise that propagates in the cav­

ity between the Earth’s surface and the lower boundary of the ionosphere at altitudes of 45–50 km, in the

frequency range between 5 and 50 Hz (Schumann, 1952; Bliokh et al., 1980; Sentman, 1995). In brief, SR

is a series of ELF-EMF resonances caused by lightning discharges in the atmosphere (Nickolaenko and

Hayakawa, 2014). Te phenomenon was named afer Winfried Otto Schumann who is a German physi­

cist at the Technical University of Munich and frst predicted and discussed it in the 1950s (Schumann,

1952). In the 1950s, Winfried Otto Schumann and Herbert König frst measured frequencies that were

similar to a mathematical model that predicted a magnetic wave resonance between the Earth and iono­

sphere (Schumann and König, 1954). Herbert König, who became Schumann’s follower at the University

of Munich, further showed a clear connection between SR and brain rhythms. He compared human EEG

recordings with the natural ELF-EMFs of the environment and found that the main frequency produced

by Schumann oscillations is extremely close to the frequency of α rhythms (König and Ankermüller,

1960; König et al., 1981). Schumann (1952) showed that the resonance frequencies are given by an equa­

tion of the form:

fn = 7.49(n(n +1))

1/2

(6.2)

Tis formula predicts a fundamental mode frequency (n = 1) of f1 = 10.6 Hz with overtones (or harmon­

ics) at 18.4, 26.0, 33.5, and 41.1 Hz (Barr et al., 2000). Te frst defnite experimental confrmation of

Schumann’s prediction was the ELF noise spectral analysis of Balser and Wagner (1960). Tus, these

resonance frequencies were predicted by Schumann (1952) and detected by Balser and Wagner (1960).

As illustrated by Polk (1983), these spectra actually have maxima near 7.8, 14.2, 19.6, 25.9, and 32 Hz cor­

responding to the frst fve modes in Schumann’s formula.