Author(s)

Michael E. Contadakis¹, Dimitrios N. Arabelos¹, George S. Vergos¹, Emmanuel M. Scordilis²

¹Department of Geodesy and Surveying, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
²Department of Geophysics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.

In this paper we investigate the ionospheric turbulence from TEC observations before and during the intense seismic activity of October of 2018 at Zakynthos area (λ = 20.51°E, φ = 37°34'N), (Main shock: ML 6.6, 60.6 km SW of Zakynthos). The Total Electron Content (TEC) data of 5 Global Positioning System (GPS) stations of the EUREF network, which are being provided by IONOLAB (Turkey), were analyzed using Discrete Fourier Analysis in order to investigate the TEC variations. The results of this investigation indicate that the High-Frequency limit fo, of the ionospheric turbulence band content, increases as the site and the moment of the earthquake occurrence are approaching, pointing to the earthquake locus. We conclude that the LAIC mechanism through acoustic or gravity wave could explain this phenomenology.

Seismicity, Lower Ionosphere, Ionospheric Turbulence, Brownian Walk

Contadakis, M. , Arabelos, D. , Vergos, G. and Scordilis, E. (2019) Lower Ionospheric Turbulence Variations during the Intense Tectonic Activity of October, 2018 at Zakynthos Area, Greece. Open Journal of Earthquake Research, 8, 255-266. doi: 10.4236/ojer.2019.84015.