Schumann Resonance Today: Current 7.83 Hz Frequency Reading
The Schumann resonance fundamental today is close to 7.83 Hz, as it is every day, with further peaks near 14, 20, 26 and 32 Hz. What changes is signal strength. How to read the live Tomsk chart, what the white "whiteouts" really are, and why the resonance never jumps to 40 Hz.
The Schumann resonance fundamental frequency today is close to 7.83 Hz, as it is every day. It has been measured near 7.8 Hz since the first clear observations in 1960 (Balser and Wagner 1960), and the Tomsk station in Siberia, which has recorded it continuously since March 1997, reports a long term average of 7.75 Hz (sos70.ru). What changes from hour to hour is mostly the strength of the signal, driven by global thunderstorm activity, plus small shifts of the peak frequency with the time of day, the season and the Sun.
If you want a live snapshot, our home page at schumannresonance.today shows the latest Tomsk chart next to the current Kp index.
What the “frequency today” actually means
When people ask “what is the Schumann resonance today?” they usually mean one of three things:
| Question | What it actually refers to | Typical value |
|---|---|---|
| Today’s frequency | Where the lowest peak sits | Close to 7.8 Hz, shifting by tenths of a hertz at most |
| Today’s strength (amplitude) | How strong the signal is | Varies through the day with global lightning |
| Today’s “spike” or “whiteout” | A bright patch on a colour chart | Often lightning near the station, see below |
The frequency is set by the size of the cavity between the ground and the ionosphere: the resonance peaks occur where the wavelength matches the planet’s circumference of about 40,000 km, pulled somewhat lower by energy losses in the ionosphere (Price 2016). That is why it does not wander far. Most of what makes Schumann charts look dramatic is strength, and that is what most “Schumann update” posts are actually showing.
The 40 Hz myth
A claim that keeps coming back: “the Schumann resonance has jumped to 40 Hz” (or to 30, 36 or some other number). It has not. Here is why the number keeps appearing.
The Tomsk chart stops at 40 Hz. The most shared Schumann chart, from the Tomsk station, shows frequencies from 0 to 40 Hz (sos70.ru). When a burst of signal is strong across all frequencies, it shows up as a bright vertical column that fills the whole height of the chart and touches the 40 Hz edge. That is a burst of strength at one moment, not the fundamental moving to 40 Hz. The chart cannot show anything above 40 Hz, so it cannot show a jump beyond it either.
The higher peaks were always there. The resonance has several peaks. The Tomsk station lists long term averages of 7.75, 14.17, 20.23 and 25.88 Hz for the first four, and a fifth lies near 32 Hz (Palmer et al. 2006). Seeing a bright band near 26 or 32 Hz on a chart is not the 7.83 Hz peak having moved. Those bands were already in the measurements of 1960, which showed maxima near 7.8, 14, 20, 26 and 32 Hz.
Measured shifts are tenths of a hertz. The biggest changes researchers have reported come with strong solar events: a rise of about 0.2 Hz during solar X-ray bursts (Roldugin et al. 2004), a drop of about 0.15 Hz during solar proton events (Roldugin et al. 2001), and up to about 0.6 Hz in one magnetic component during a 2012 proton event (Zhou and Qiao 2015). None of these studies reports a jump of tens of hertz, and the Tomsk long term average for 1997 to 2023 is still 7.75 Hz.
What the white “whiteouts” on the Tomsk chart are
“Whiteout” is the popular name for the white or near-white areas on the Tomsk chart, often shared as proof of an energy surge. The station that runs the instrument explains its chart this way (sos70.ru, in Russian):
- White vertical stripes are bursts of increased signal level caused by a local thunderstorm. Each click of lightning near the station shows up as a bright stripe.
- Black vertical stripes mean no data: nothing was recorded for that period.
- Thin horizontal lines are man-made signals from nearby power lines, transformer substations and machinery.
- Signals from distant lightning, which travel around the Earth several dozen times before fading, are what form the Schumann resonances themselves: the broader horizontal bands.
So a whiteout on the Tomsk chart usually means a thunderstorm near Tomsk. It says nothing about conditions where you are, and it is not a change in Earth’s frequency.
Amplitude is not frequency
These two words get mixed up constantly, so here they are side by side.
- Frequency is where a band sits on the chart’s frequency axis. For the first Schumann peak that is close to 7.8 Hz, and it barely moves.
- Amplitude is how strong the signal is at that frequency. On a colour chart it is shown by colour and brightness, and it changes a lot through the day.
A brighter chart means a stronger signal, not a higher frequency.
Why “amplitude” numbers on tracking sites are not picotesla
The real natural field is tiny. In research, the magnetic part of the Schumann resonance is measured in picotesla and the electric part in millivolts per metre (Price 2016). Measuring it takes calibrated instruments.
The Tomsk colour chart does not give you such a value. Its colour bar has no numbers or units. And the Tomsk instrument is a vertical antenna that records the electric part of the field (sos70.ru), so even the station’s own raw data is not a magnetic field in picotesla.
That matters for every “Schumann amplitude” or “intensity” number you see online, including on this site. When software reads the colours of the Tomsk image and turns them into a number, the result is a relative, dimensionless index. Whatever the scale, 0 to 10, 0 to 100 or 10 to 300, it is not picotesla, and it cannot be compared with values in research papers. Our own intensity score is built this way from the Tomsk image, as the methodology page explains.
How to read a live Schumann chart
The Tomsk chart at sos70.ru is a spectrogram (the station calls it a sonogram) of the last three days:
- Vertical axis: frequency from 0 to 40 Hz. On this chart 0 Hz is at the top and 40 Hz at the bottom.
- Horizontal axis: time in hours, with the dates along the top.
- Colour: signal strength, from dark blue for weak through green and yellow to red and white for strong. The colour bar has no numbers.
Step by step:
- Find the first band. Near the 8 Hz mark, close to the top of the chart, you should see a persistent horizontal band. That is the fundamental.
- Look below it for the next bands, near 14, 20 and 26 Hz. They are fainter.
- Separate the vertical stripes from the bands. White vertical stripes are local lightning, black ones are missing data. Neither changes where the bands sit.
- Ignore thin, perfectly straight horizontal lines. They are man-made interference, not new Schumann frequencies.
- Compare with the previous days. The chart shows three days. A pattern that repeats every day is the normal daily rhythm.
What counts as a normal day?
Global lightning follows the Sun. Thunderstorms peak in the local afternoon over South East Asia, Africa and South America, and a station in Israel records three matching maxima of the first resonance around 9, 14 and 20 UT (Price 2016). The exact times and heights change with the season.
Tomsk also reports regular daily and seasonal patterns in the frequencies of all four peaks it tracks (sos70.ru). A day that looks like the day before is a normal day.
When the frequency does shift slightly
- Solar X-ray bursts have raised the first peak by about 0.1 to 0.2 Hz while the burst lasted (Roldugin et al. 2004; Zhou and Qiao 2015).
- Solar proton events have lowered it at some stations, by about 0.15 Hz and in one case up to about 0.6 Hz in one component (Roldugin et al. 2001; Zhou and Qiao 2015).
- Time of day and season move all the peaks slightly and regularly (sos70.ru).
These shifts are small and temporary. To see whether the Sun is active, check the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center or our Kp index page.
Where to follow the resonance
| Station | Location | What it measures | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomsk (Space Observing System 70) | Tomsk, Siberia, Russia | Electric field, vertical antenna | Public three-day chart at sos70.ru; continuous since March 1997 |
| Hylaty | Bieszczady Mountains, Poland | Magnetic field components | Low noise research station of the Jagiellonian University, automatic since 2004 (Kulak et al. 2014) |
| HeartMath Global Coherence Monitoring System | California, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Lithuania, New Zealand, South Africa | Magnetic field (magnetometer network) | Six sites as of 2026 (HeartMath Institute) |
| Cumiana | Italy | Independent station | Used on this site as a second station for cross-checks, see methodology |
Different stations use different sensors, sites and processing, so their charts never look identical. A real global event, such as an extremely strong lightning discharge anywhere on Earth, reaches stations around the world at almost the same moment. Researchers use recordings from several stations to locate such “Q-bursts” (Price 2016). A local thunderstorm shows up at one station only. If a dramatic screenshot comes from one station and you cannot find the same event elsewhere, it is most likely local.
Common misconceptions about today’s reading
- “The Schumann is at 40 Hz today.” No. The Tomsk chart ends at 40 Hz, and measured shifts are tenths of a hertz. See the section on the 40 Hz myth above.
- “The whiteout means an energy surge.” On the Tomsk chart, white vertical stripes are a local thunderstorm, according to the station.
- “It is the highest ever recorded.” A colour chart without a number scale cannot tell you that. Records need calibrated, long term data from several stations.
- “The chart went black, something is being hidden.” Black stripes mean the instrument recorded no data for that period. Outages happen at any research station.
How today’s reading connects to you
If you follow Schumann data out of interest, look at patterns over several hours or days, not single bright patches, and read the chart next to the Kp index. Whether the natural resonance affects people is a separate and much less settled question. We summarise the evidence in is the Schumann resonance scientifically proven and explain spikes in Schumann resonance spikes and what they mean for your energy levels.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Schumann resonance frequency right now? Close to 7.83 Hz, as always. The current Tomsk chart is on our home page.
Why does it look like the frequency changed today? Almost always because the signal got stronger or a local thunderstorm lit up the chart. Strength shows as colour, not as a change in frequency.
Did the Schumann resonance jump to 40 Hz? No. The Tomsk chart only goes up to 40 Hz, so a bright column that fills the chart touches that edge. Measured shifts of the resonance are a few tenths of a hertz.
What is a Schumann whiteout? The popular name for white areas on the Tomsk chart. The station explains white vertical stripes as a local thunderstorm near the instrument.
What do the black bars on the Schumann chart mean? No data. The instrument did not record for that period.
Is the Schumann amplitude measured in picotesla? The physical magnetic field is, in research. The “amplitude” or “intensity” numbers on tracking sites, including this one, are read from chart colours and are relative indices without a unit, not picotesla.
Is there an “official” Schumann resonance number? No central authority publishes one value. Stations report their own measurements, and the first peak sits close to 7.8 Hz at all of them.
How often is the Tomsk chart updated? The public chart covers the last three days. For its own analysis, the station derives the frequency, amplitude and quality factor of the first four peaks every three minutes (sos70.ru).
Can I see historical Schumann data? The Tomsk station shows its long term seasonal and daily frequency patterns, based on data from March 1997 onward, on its variations page. Its weekly bulletins mainly cover solar and geomagnetic conditions. Long term comparisons need the underlying measurements, not screenshots.
What time of day does the signal usually peak? Strength follows global lightning, with maxima around 9, 14 and 20 UT linked to South East Asia, Africa and South America (Price 2016). The exact pattern shifts with the season.
Sources
- Space Observing System 70, Tomsk (in Russian): ELF sonogram and how to read it, history and measured frequencies, measurement method, seasonal and daily variations.
- Balser, M., Wagner, C. A. (1960). Observations of Earth-Ionosphere Cavity Resonances. Nature 188, 638 to 641. doi:10.1038/188638a0
- Price, C. (2016). ELF Electromagnetic Waves from Lightning: The Schumann Resonances. Atmosphere 7(9), 116. doi:10.3390/atmos7090116
- Roldugin, V. C. et al. (2004). Schumann resonance frequency increase during solar X-ray bursts. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 109(A1). doi:10.1029/2003JA010019
- Roldugin, V. C., Maltsev, Y. P., Petrova, G. A., Vasiljev, A. N. (2001). Decrease of the first Schumann resonance frequency during solar proton events. Journal of Geophysical Research 106(A9), 18555 to 18562. doi:10.1029/2000JA900118
- Zhou, H., Qiao, X. (2015). Studies of the variations of the first Schumann resonance frequency during the solar flare on 7 March 2012. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 120(10), 4600 to 4612. doi:10.1002/2014JD022696
- Palmer, S. J., Rycroft, M. J., Cermack, M. (2006). Solar and geomagnetic activity, extremely low frequency magnetic and electric fields and human health at the Earth’s surface. Surveys in Geophysics 27, 557 to 595. doi:10.1007/s10712-006-9010-7
- Kulak, A. et al. (2014). Extremely low frequency electromagnetic field measurements at the Hylaty station and methodology of signal analysis. Radio Science 49, 361 to 370. doi:10.1002/2014RS005400
- HeartMath Institute: Global Coherence Monitoring System.
- NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center: swpc.noaa.gov.