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Ionospheric and atmospheric perturbations due to two major earthquakes (M >7.0)

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Abstract

The perturbation produced in the atmosphere/ionosphere associated with earthquake precursors during seismic activity of two major earthquakes which occurred on (1) 24 June 2019 in Indonesia (M = 7.3) and (2) on 19 August 2018 at Ndoi, Fiji (M = 8.2), are studied. Based on statistical analysis of total electron content (TEC) data, the presence of ionospheric perturbations 5 days before and after the main shock are found, which depends on the distance as well as direction of observation point from the epicentre. In general, ionospheric perturbations after the EQ at all the stations are found larger than that before the EQ. Probable mechanisms behind these perturbations associated with EQ are also being discussed. The ionospheric perturbations are observed at stations which are at larger distances from the epicentre, but not observed over other stations in different directions which are comparatively closer to the epicentre. These results suggest that seismic induced ionospheric anomaly is not isotropic in nature. Ozone data from three satellites: AIRS, OMI, and TOMS-like and MERRA-2 model are also analyzed 5 days before the EQ day and compared to the monthly average level. A strong link between anomalous variation in ionospheric TEC and atmospheric ozone data prior to both the EQs is noticed.

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Acknowledgements

The work is financially supported by CSIR-New Delhi under Scientists Pool Scheme [(13(9049-A)/2019-POOL]. International GNSS Services (IGS) team is acknowledged for providing GPS data through IGS network (http://ftp://cddis.gsfc.nasa.gov). Authors are thankful to both the reviewers for their constructive comments which helped to improve the manuscript quality.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Atmospheric Research Laboratory, Department of Physics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221 005, India

    Sanjay Kumar, A K Singh & R P Singh

  2. Department of Geo-Physics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221 005, India

    Prashant Kumar Singh & Rohtash Kumar

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  1. Sanjay Kumar
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  2. Prashant Kumar Singh
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  3. Rohtash Kumar
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  4. A K Singh
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Sanjay Kumar carried out literature review, study design, result interpretation, manuscript preparation, and Prashant K Singh collected the data and helped to revise the MS. Prof R P Singh and Prof A K Singh conceptualized and supervised the methodology, reviewed, revised, provided inputs for improvement. Dr Rohtash Kumar checked the revised MS and approved the final manuscript during peer-review process.

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Correspondence to Sanjay Kumar.

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Communicated by Suresh Babu

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Kumar, S., Singh, P.K., Kumar, R. et al. Ionospheric and atmospheric perturbations due to two major earthquakes (M >7.0). J Earth Syst Sci 130, 149 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-021-01650-x

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