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Remote Sensing of Atmospheric and Ionospheric Signals Prior to the Mw 8.3 Illapel Earthquake, Chile 2015

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Abstract

In the present study, a number of atmospheric and some ionospheric anomalies are analyzed, which were recorded prior to the Mw 8.3 Illapel earthquake of September 16, 2015. This very large earthquake occurred in Central Chile, close to the coast, as the result of thrust faulting on the interface between the Nazca Plate and South American continent. Using remotely sensed data extracted from NASA/Giovanni, NOAA/NCEP, and NOAA/NGDC, atmospheric and ionospheric anomalies were observed that co-registered 35–40 and 25–30 days prior to the main shock, respectively. With reference to long-term time series over the epicentral area, significant atmospheric anomalies were recorded for cloud cover, geopotential height, precipitation rates, surface air pressure, omega, stream function, and wind vectors—all in the time window of August 5–10, 2015, 35–40 days prior to the main shock. Anomalous TEC maps were recorded for the same time period. Satellite images indicate the formation of an unusual cyclone, presumably triggered by air turbulences and abnormal atmospheric conditions over the epicentral area, including strong vertical winds. Data from the Jicamarca radio observatory in Peru, more than 2000 km to the North, reveal anomalous ionospheric variations on August 15–20, 2015 with respect to international reference ionosphere thickness parameters and the altitude of the F layer. The observed anomalies are consistent with processes that occur at the ground-to-air interface due to the stress activation of peroxy defects in the hypocentral volume. The flow of positive hole charge carriers to the Earth surface expected to have led to massive air ionization, generating at first primarily positive airborne ions, then negative air ions plus ozone. Understanding the sequence of processes inside the Earth’s crust and at the ground-to-air interface provides information not previously available about the causal and temporal linkages between the various pre-earthquake phenomena and the future seismic event.

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Notes

  1. The Earthquake Preparation Zone was defined by Dobrovolsky et al. (1979) rom empirical observations as a circle around the epicenter of an earthquake assuming that stresses would be able to couple this far within the crust. With the radius of this circle being given as r = 100.43M km, where M is the magnitude. For the Illapel Mw 8.3 event the Earthquake Preparation Zone radius would have reached as far as ~3700 km.

  2. Geospatial Interactive Online Visualization and Analysis Infrastructure.

  3. In atmospheric sciences the term of geopotential height is defined as the actual height of a pressure surface above mean sea-level. Geopotential heights are lower in cold air masses and higher in warm air masses (http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu).

  4. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center.

  5. Zonal vector of wind refers to the east–west direction.

  6. Meridional vector of wind refers to the north–south direction.

  7. Air vertical motion.

  8. Asia Pacific Data Research Center Live Access Server.

  9. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory.

  10. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Centers for Environmental Prediction.

  11. Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite Thermal Infrared.

  12. Space Physics Interactive Data Resource.

  13. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Geophysical Data Center.

  14. International GNSS Service.

  15. Global Positioning System.

  16. Total Electron Content.

  17. Global Ionosphere Maps.

  18. IONosphere map EXchange.

  19. Center for Orbit Determination in Europe, University of Berne, Switzerland.

  20. European Space Operations Center of ESA, Darmstadt, Germany.

  21. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA.

  22. Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain.

  23. Dense Regional And Worldwide INternational GNSS-TEC observation.

  24. National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Japan.

  25. Space Weather Prediction Center.

  26. International Reference Ionosphere.

  27. Receiver Independent Exchange.

  28. Root mean square.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge the NASA and NOAA online data centers for global transmission of reanalysis data. Friedemann T. Freund acknowledges support from the NASA ESI grant NNX12AL71G through the San Jose State University Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Natural Hazards, Research Institute of Shakhes Pajouh, Isfahan, Iran

    Mohammad Reza Mansouri Daneshvar

  2. NASA Ames Research Center, Code SCR, Moffett Field, Mountain View, CA, 94035-1000, USA

    Friedemann T. Freund

  3. Carl Sagan Center, SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA, 94043, USA

    Friedemann T. Freund

  4. Department of Physics, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, 95192-0106, USA

    Friedemann T. Freund

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Correspondence to Mohammad Reza Mansouri Daneshvar.

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Mansouri Daneshvar, M.R., Freund, F.T. Remote Sensing of Atmospheric and Ionospheric Signals Prior to the Mw 8.3 Illapel Earthquake, Chile 2015. Pure Appl. Geophys. 174, 11–45 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-016-1366-0

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