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Volume 56 Supplement 12

Special Issue: Slip and Flow Processes in and below the Seismogenic Region (2)

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Understanding the “SEKKI” phenomena in Japanese historical literatures based on the modern science of low-latitude aurora

Abstract

“SEKKI” phenomena often appear in the Japanese historical literatures as distinct red emission in the nocturnal sky. The Japanese word “SEKKI” means the red atmosphere. We compile 16 events of SEKKI for 12–19th centuries in the literatures. In order to understand the SEKKI phenomena, we compared 2 events of SEKKI on February 21, 1204, and September 17, 1770, with the characteristics of low-latitude auroras studied recently by modern scientific methods. We conclude that these historical SEKKI phenomena are probably giant low-latitude auroras.

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Correspondence to Yoh Nakazawa.

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Nakazawa, Y., Okada, T. & Shiokawa, K. Understanding the “SEKKI” phenomena in Japanese historical literatures based on the modern science of low-latitude aurora. Earth Planet Sp 56, e41–e44 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353323

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353323

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