Abstract
We study the impact of the severe equatorial earthquakes on the ionospheric Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA) to check the variations in the shape of electron concentrations along the earthquake longitudes as the possible precursors to the earthquakes by considering a case study of a strong Mw 7.3 seismic event from Honduras occurred in 2009. We have observed sharp increments in the atmospheric chemical potential and surface air temperature time series along with an abrupt decrease in the relative humidity simultaneously about 5–8 days before the impending earthquake indicating the procreation of the air ionization due to increased radon activity around the earthquake's epicenter. We further investigated the ionospheric conditions by estimating the total electron content (TEC) from 6 IGS stations. The results suggested that the 2 IGS stations operating within the earthquake preparation area (EPA) showed prominent TEC enhancements about 5 days before the impending earthquake, consistent with the seismic atmospheric circulations. The other 3 IGS stations, operating outside the EPA, did not show any perturbation. These TEC variations are quantified based on two different methods: (1) running interquartile method and (2) method of cognitive recognition (applied on station BOGT). Moreover, the TEC and electron density profiles, retrieved from station BOGT and the ISL probe of the DEMETER satellite, respectively, revealed that the local TEC enhancements further dispersed toward the magnetic equator at higher altitudes by developing an enormous two-hump-like EIA structure near the epicentral longitude that verifies the generation of the seismogenic electric field through air ionization. We believe that our multi-precursory analysis is another step forward in comprehending the seismic lithosphere–ionosphere interactions.
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Data availability
All the datasets used in this study are publicly available at the following online links: https://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/datasets?project=MERRA (Atmospheric humidity and air temperature); https://omniweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/ (Geomagnetic Data); https://geomag.colorado.edu/real-time-model-of-the-ionospheric-electric-fields.html (PPEFs); https://cddis.nasa.gov/Data_and_Derived_Products/ (IGS products for TEC estimation); https://data.cosmic.ucar.edu/gnss-ro/ (COSMIC datasets); http://demeter.cnrs-orleans.fr (DEMETER datasets).
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Acknowledgements
The authors are extremely thankful to two anonymous referees for constructive comments and suggestions. We would like to pay gratitude to IGS, NASA OmniWeb, and COSMIC Data Analysis and Archive Center (CDAAC) for sharing GNSS, space weather, and TEC profile data, respectively. We are also grateful to DEMETER, NASA's MERRA, and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) for sharing their valuable data. Furthermore, we are also grateful to USGS for providing earthquake information.
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Adil, M.A., Pulinets, S.A., Şentürk, E. et al. GNSS atmosphere seismology for equatorial earthquakes: a case study from Central America. GPS Solut 26, 112 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10291-022-01300-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10291-022-01300-9