Ionospheric perturbations related to the earthquake in Vrancea area on November 22, 2014, as detected by electromagnetic VLF/LF frequency signals

Data from the European network of very low/ low frequency (VLF/LF) receivers has been used to study the response of the lower ionosphere to the earthquake of magnitude 5.5 in Vrancea area on November 22, 2014. Negative amplitude anomalies have been observed during 3 days before the earthquake and two days after, on the LF (45.9 kHz) signal passed above the seismic area. No perturbations have been found for the same signal in control paths during this period. Other possible influences both from above and below which can produce perturbations in the ionosphere have been taken into consideration

Low frequency signal spectrum analysis for strong earthquakes

We examined changes in the spectral composition of the low frequency (LF) subionospheric signals from the NRK transmitter (37.5 kHz) in Iceland that were received in Bari (Italy) relative to the earthquake that occurred in L’Aquila on April 6, 2009. In our previous studies, we have reported the occurrence of preseismic night-time anomalies using observations from three receivers located in Bari, Graz (Austria) and Moscow (Russia). The strongest anomalies in the signals were observed in the NRK-Bari propagation path during the period 5-6 days before the L’Aquila earthquake, as well as during the series of aftershocks. During this period, similar very low frequency (VLF)/LF amplitude anomalies were also observed along several other propagation paths that crossed the L’Aquila seismogenic zone. Spectral analysis of the LF signals filtered in the frequency range 0.28 mHz to 15 mHz shows differences in the spectra for seismo-disturbed days when compared to those for either quiet or geomagnetically disturbed days. These spectral anomalies, which are only observed in the propagation path between NRK and Bari, contain signals with periods of about 10 min to 20 min. These periodic signals are absent both in the spectra of the undisturbed signals for the control paths, and in the spectra of the signals received during geomagnetic storms. The same changes in the spectral composition were observed in the analysis of LF (40 kHz) signals from the JJY transmitter in Japan that were received in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (Russia) during the occurrence of three strong earthquakes with M ≥7.0. The results of this study support the theoretical prediction that the possible mechanism for energy penetration from the origin of an earthquake through the atmosphere and into the ionosphere is based on the excitation and upward propagation of internal gravity waves.

Ionospheric turbulence from ground-based and satellite VLF/LF transmitter signal observations for the Simushir earthquake (November 15, 2006)

International audienceSignals from very low frequency (VLF)/ low frequency (LF) transmitters recorded on the ground station at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and on board the French DEMETER satellite were analyzed for the Simushir earthquake (M 8.3; November 15, 2006). The period of analysis was from October 1, 2006, to January 31, 2007. The ground and satellite data were processed by a method based on the difference between the real signal at night-time and the model signal. The model for the ground observations was the monthly averaged signal amplitudes and phases, as calculated for the quiet days of every month. For the satellite data, a two-dimensional model of the signal distribution over the selected area was constructed. Preseismic effects were found several days before the earthquake, in both the ground and satellite observations.Nombre de références

The Ionospheric Precursor to the 2011 March 11 Earthquake Based upon Observations Obtained from the Japan-Pacific Subionospheric VLF/LF Network

By using network observation of subionospheric VLF (very low frequency)/LF (low frequency) signals in Japan and in Russia, we have found a significant ionospheric perturbation prior to the recent 2011 March 11 Japan earthquake (EQ) which occurred at sea proximate to the Tohoku area on the main island (Honshu) of Japan was an exceptionally huge plate-type EQ. A remarkable anomaly (with a decrease in the nighttime amplitude and also with enhancement in dispersion) was detected on March 5 and 6 along the propagation path from the NLK (Seattle, USA) transmitter to Chofu (together with Kochi and Kasugai). We also have observed the corresponding VLF anomaly during a prolonged period of March 1 - 6, with minima in the nighttime amplitude on March 3 and 4 along the path from JJI (Miyazaki, Kyushu) to Kamchatka, Russia. This ionospheric perturbation has been discussed extensively with respect to its reliability. (1) How abnormal is this VLF/LF propagation anomaly? (2) What was the temporal evolution of terminator times? (3) Were there any solar-terrestrial effects (especially the effect from geomagnetic storms) on the VLF/LF propagation anomaly? (4) The effect of any other EQs and foreshock activities on the VLF/LF anomaly? (5) Were there any correlations with other related phenomena? Finally, (6) are there any other examples of a VLF/LF propagation anomaly for oceanic EQs? We then compared the temporal properties of ionospheric perturbations for this EQ with those of a huge number of inland EQs and compared the corresponding spatial scale with the former result of the same oceanic 2004 Sumatra EQ with nearly the same magnitude. Finally, the generation mechanism of those seismo-ionospheric perturbations is briefly discussed

Neural network approach to the prediction of seismic events based on low-frequency signal monitoring of the Kuril-Kamchatka and Japanese regions

Very-low-frequency/ low-frequency (VLF/LF) sub-ionospheric radiowave monitoring has been widely used in recent years to analyze earthquake preparatory processes. The connection between earthquakes with M ≥5.5 and nighttime disturbances of signal amplitude and phase has been established. Thus, it is possible to use nighttime anomalies of VLF/LF signals as earthquake precursors. Here, we propose a method for estimation of the VLF/LF signal sensitivity to seismic processes using a neural network approach. We apply the error back-propagation technique based on a three-level perceptron to predict a seismic event. The back-propagation technique involves two main stages to solve the problem; namely, network training, and recognition (the prediction itself). To train a neural network, we first create a so-called ‘training set’. The ‘teacher’ specifies the correspondence between the chosen input and the output data. In the present case, a representative database includes both the LF data received over three years of monitoring at the station in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (2005-2007), and the seismicity parameters of the Kuril-Kamchatka and Japanese regions. At the first stage, the neural network established the relationship between the characteristic features of the LF signal (the mean and dispersion of a phase and an amplitude at nighttime for a few days before a seismic event) and the corresponding level of correlation with a seismic event, or the absence of a seismic event. For the second stage, the trained neural network was applied to predict seismic events from the LF data using twelve time intervals in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. The results of the prediction are discussed

The response of VLF signals to the passage of an atmospheric/ionospheric seismic wave after an earthquake in Chile.

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Sub-ionospheric VLF/LF waveguide anomalies over Europe

International audienceGround based long-term sub-ionospheric VLF/LF amplitude and phase measurements of propagation paths along spatially far away distributed transmitter and receiver facilities provide a powerful tool to characterize waveguide parameters and their variations under various endo-and exogenic dynamics. This monitoring service is usually one component of multi-parameter seismo-electromagnetic investigations. Figure 1 shows the dense web-like structure of the radio links with a focus on Europe, details and performance of the receiving facilities are given in [1, 2]

Sub-ionospheric VLF/LF waveguide anomalies over Europe

International audienceGround based long-term sub-ionospheric VLF/LF amplitude and phase measurements of propagation paths along spatially far away distributed transmitter and receiver facilities provide a powerful tool to characterize waveguide parameters and their variations under various endo-and exogenic dynamics. This monitoring service is usually one component of multi-parameter seismo-electromagnetic investigations. Figure 1 shows the dense web-like structure of the radio links with a focus on Europe, details and performance of the receiving facilities are given in [1, 2]

Ionospheric perturbations associated with two huge earthquakes in Japan, using principal component analysis for multiple subionospheric VLF/LF propagation paths

The presence of ionospheric perturbations in possible association with two huge earthquakes (Noto-hanto peninsula and Niigata-chuetu-oki earthquakes) in 2007 was studied on the basis of a conventional statistical study for a particular propagation path from the JJI transmitter in Miyazaki, Kyushu, to Moshiri in Hokkaido. This is based on automatic routine-based signal processing, in which the trend as the average nighttime amplitude is significantly decreased, with almost simultaneous significant enhancement in the night-time fluctuation as the night-time integration of negative fluctuation from the average. It is, however, shown that this routine-based signal analysis sometime suffers from artificial (or man-made) effects. Thus, in this study, we propose an additional use of principal component analysis (PCA) for simultaneous observation of a few VLF/LF propagation paths. With the application of this PCA method to multi-path data, the artificial effects can be reasonably removed, and also only the geophysical effects associated with earthquakes are detected, by focusing mainly on the third principal component. The satisfactory separation of the principal components is made possible by pre-analysis of the VLF data (extraction from the raw data of the average over a whole year). This PCA method enables us to identify the seismogenic effects in association with earthquakes with smaller magnitudes, down to M 5.5 or M 5.0.

Analysis of VLF/LF transmitter signals during the minimum of solar activity in the year 2018

International audienceWe report on VLF/LF transmitter signals observed in the year 2018 during the minimum of solar activity. Those signals were recorded in Graz (Austria) using INFREP (Biagi et al., Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 11, 2011) and UltraMSK (Schwingenschuh et al., Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 11, 2011) systems. This leads us to record fourteen transmitter signals in the frequency range between 19 kHz and up to 270 kHz. Six transmitter channels are common to both systems and are localized in Great-Britain (Anthorn, GBZ, 19.58kHz), Italy (Tavolara, ICV, 20.27kHz), Germany (Rhauderfehn, 23.4kHz,) and Island (Keflavik, NRK, 37.5kHz). Others are mainly LF broadcasting transmitters from Romania (Brasov, 153kHz), Luxembourg (Felsberg-Berus, 183kHz), Algeria (Berkaoui, 198kHz), Monte-Carlo (Roumoules, 216kHz) and Tchecki (Lualualei, 270kHz). In the year 2018, the solar activity decreased reaching its minimum in the end of 2019. We emphasize in this work on three aspects: (a) C-flares related to the solar activity, (b) Kp-index linked to the geomagnetic activity, and (c) seismic events in the southern part of Europe, i.e. Greece and Italy.  The dominant patterns observed on almost all transmitters are due to the solar flares. Geomagnetic activity is found to depend on the seasonal effect and mainly observed few weeks before and after the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere.  Few earthquakes occurred in the southern part of Europe, in Greece (6 events) and in Italy (2 events) with a magnitude of 5.5 Mw and depths less than 10 km. We discuss the disturbances of VLF/LF transmitter signals prior to EQs occurrences, and their links to external effects. Our results are compared to recent investigations of Zhang et al. (Radio Sci., 52, 2017) and Rozhnoi et al. (Ann. Geophys., 37, 2019) concerning, respectively, the spatial distribution of VLF transmitter signals recorded by Demeter satellite, and the solar X-flare effects on VLF/LF transmitter signals