Anomalous Variation in GPS Based TEC Prior to the 5 Earthquakes in 2009 and 2010

Kunvar S. Yadav; Sheetal P. Karia; Kamlesh N. Pathak

doi:10.4236/pos.2015.64010

Home > Journals > Computer Science & Communications > POS

Positioning > Vol.6 No.4, November 2015

Anomalous Variation in GPS Based TEC Prior to the 5 Earthquakes in 2009 and 2010 ()

Kunvar S. Yadav, Sheetal P. Karia, Kamlesh N. Pathak

Department of Applied Physics, S. V. National Institute of Technology, Surat, India.

DOI: 10.4236/pos.2015.64010 PDF HTML XML 3,317 Downloads 3,763 Views Citations

Abstract

The present paper reports the analysis of GPS based TEC measurement corresponding to 5 earthquakes (M > 6.0) that have occurred in 2009 and 2010 during low solar activity period and quiet geomagnetic conditions. The No. of satellites registering high TEC at low elevation angles is observed prior to these earthquakes. The earthquakes are 1) Loyalty Island (22^o36'S, 170^o54'E) M-6.6 on 19 January 2009, 2) Izu Island (32^o48'N, 140^o36'E) M-6.6 on 12 August 2009, 3) Ryukyu Islands (23^o30'N, 123^o30'E) M-6.7 on 17 August 2009, 4) Haiti (18^o24'N, 72^o30'W) M-7.0 on 12 Jan 2010, 5) Chile (34^o12'S, 71^o48'W) M-6.9 on 11 March 2010. To identify anomalous behavior of TEC, we compute interquartile range associated with median TEC so as to get upper and lower bound of TEC variation. The results show occurrence of anomalies in VTEC 1 - 13 days prior to the earthquake. The VTEC shows enhancement for all the earthquakes. Enhancement in No. of satellites registering high TEC at low elevation has been observed prior to earthquakes.

Keywords

Total Electron Content, Refractivity, Earthquake

Share and Cite:

Yadav, K. , Karia, S. and Pathak, K. (2015) Anomalous Variation in GPS Based TEC Prior to the 5 Earthquakes in 2009 and 2010. Positioning, 6, 96-106. doi: 10.4236/pos.2015.64010.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Ondoh, T. (2000) Seismo-Ionospheric Phenomena. Advances in Space Research, 26, 1267-1272. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0273-1177(99)01215-6
[2]	Liperovsky, V., Pokhotelov, O., Liperovskaya, E., Parrot, M., Meister, C.-V. and Alimov, O. (2000) Modification of Sporadic E-Layers Caused by Seismic Activity. Surveys in Geophysics, 21, 449-486. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1006711603561
[3]	Pulinets, S., Legen’Ka, A., Gaivoronskaya, T. and Depuev, V.K. (2003) Main Phenomenological Features of Ionospheric Precursors of Strong Earthquakes. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 65, 1337-1347. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2003.07.011
[4]	Ryu, K., Lee, E., Chae, J., Parrot, M. and Oyama, K.I. (2014) Multisatellite Observations of an Intensified Equatorial Ionization Anomaly in Relation to the Northern Sumatra Earthquake of March 2005. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 119, 4767-4785. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2013ja019685
[5]	Dabas, R., Das, R., Vohra, V. and Devasia, C. (2006) Space Weather Impact on the Equatorial and Low Latitude F- Region Ionosphere over India. Annales Geophysicae, 24, 97-105. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/angeo-24-97-2006
[6]	Pulinets, S. and Legen’ka, A. (2003) Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of Large Scale Disturbances of Electron Density Observed in the Ionospheric F-Region before Strong Earthquakes. Cosmic Research, 41, 221-230. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1024046814173
[7]	Devi, M., Barbara, A.K. and Depueva, A. (2004) Association of Total Electron Content (TEC) and foF2 Variations with Earthquake Events at the Anomaly Crest Region. Annals of Geophysics, 47, 83-91.
[8]	Liu, J., Chen, Y., Chuo, Y. and Tsai, H. (2001) Variations of Ionospheric Total Electron Content during the Chi-Chi Earthquake. Geophysical Research Letters, 28, 1383-1386. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2000GL012511
[9]	Pulinets, S. and Ouzounov, D. (2011) Lithosphere-Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling (LAIC) model—An Unified Concept for Earthquake Precursors Validation. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 41, 371-382. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2010.03.005
[10]	Karia, S., Sarkar, S., Pathak, K., Sharma, A.K., Ranganath, H. and Gwal, A.K. (2013) Analysis of Space- and Ground- Based Parameters Prior to an Earthquake on 12 December 2009. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 34, 7779- 7795. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2013.827341
[11]	Singh, O., Chauhan, V. and Singh, B. (2013) GPS Based Total Electron Content (TEC) Anomalies and Their Association with Large Magnitude Earthquakes Occurred around Indian Region. Indian Journal of Radio & Space Physics, 42, 131-135.
[12]	Karia, S.P., Pathak, K.N., Yadav, K.S., Chaudhary, N.P. and Ranjan Jana, N.C.P. (2014) Modification in Atmospheric Refractivity and GPS Based TEC as Earthquake Precursors. Positioning, 5, 46-52. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/pos.2014.52006
[13]	Tronin, A.A. (1999) Satellite Thermal Survey Application for Earthquake Prediction. In: Hayakawa, M., Ed., Atmospheric and Ionospheric Electromagnetic Phenomena Associated with Earthquakes, TERRAPUB, Tokyo, 717-746.
[14]	Karia, S. and Pathak, K. (2011) Change in Refractivity of the Atmosphere and Large Variation in TEC Associated with Some Earthquakes, Observed from GPS Receiver. Advances in Space Research, 47, 867-876. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2010.09.019
[15]	Devi, M., Barbara, A., Depueva, A., Ruzhin, Y.Y. and Depuev, V. (2010) Anomalous Total Electron Content (TEC) and Atmospheric Refractivity Prior to the Very Strong China Earthquake of May 2008. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 31, 3589-3599. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01431161003727663
[16]	Rao, P.R., Niranjan, K., Prasad, D., Krishna, S.G. and Uma, G. (2006) On the Validity of the Ionospheric Pierce Point (IPP) Altitude of 350 km in the Indian Equatorial and Low-Latitude Sector. Paper Presented at the Annales Geophysicae.
[17]	Akhoondzadeh, M. and Saradjian, M. (2011) TEC Variations Analysis Concerning Haiti (January 12, 2010) and Samoa (September 29, 2009) Earthquakes. Advances in Space Research, 47, 94-104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2010.07.024
[18]	Choi, B., Park, J. and Lee, S. (2012) Ionospheric Anomalies Observed Over South Korea Preceding the Great Tohoku Earthquake of 2011. Advances in Space Research, 50, 311-317. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2012.04.011
[19]	Parrot, M. (1995) Use of Satellites to Detect Seismo-Electromagnetic Effects. Advances in Space Research, 15, 27-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0273-1177(95)00072-M
[20]	Yadav, K.S., Karia, S.P. and Pathak, K.N. (2015) Removal of Solar Radiation Effect Based on Nonlinear Data Processing Technique for Seismo-Ionospheric Anomaly before Few Earthquakes. Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk, 1-15. (ahead-of-print) http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19475705.2015.1021864
[21]	Pulinets, S., Boyarchuk, K., Hegai, V., Kim, V. and Lomonosov, A. (2000) Quasielectrostatic Model of Atmosphere- Thermosphere-Ionosphere Coupling. Advances in Space Research, 26, 1209-1218. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0273-1177(99)01223-5
[22]	Freund, F. (2007) Pre-Earthquake Signals? Part II: Flow of Battery Currents in the Crust. Natural Hazards and Earth System Science, 7, 543-548. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/nhess-7-543-2007
[23]	Uyeda, S., Nagao, T. and Kamogawa, M. (2009) Short-Term Earthquake Prediction: Current Status of Seismo-Elec- tromagnetics. Tectonophysics, 470, 205-213. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2008.07.019
[24]	Hayakawa, M. and Molchanov, O. (2002) Seismo-Electromagnetics: Lithosphere-Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling. TERRAPUB, Tokyo, 477.
[25]	Molchanov, O.A. and Hayakawa, M. (2008) Seismo-Electromagnetics and Related Phenomena: History and Latest Results, Vol. 190. TERRAPUB, Tokyo.
[26]	Molchanov, O., Fedorov, E., Schekotov, A., Gordeev, E., Chebrov, V., Surkov, V., Rozhnoi, A., Andreevsky, S., Iudin, D. and Yunga, S. (2004) Lithosphere-Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling as Governing Mechanism for Preseismic Short-Term Events in Atmosphere and Ionosphere. Natural Hazards and Earth System Science, 4, 757-767. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/nhess-4-757-2004
[27]	Liu, J.-Y., Chen, Y., Chuo, Y. and Chen, C.-S. (2006) A Statistical Investigation of Preearthquake Ionospheric Anomaly. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111, A05304.
[28]	Hartmann, G. (1969) Tropospheric Diffraction Phenomena of Radio Signals from the Beacon Satellite Explorer 22. Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics, 31, 663-669. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0021-9169(69)90126-3
[29]	Hayakawa, M. (2004) Electromagnetic Phenomena Associated with Earthquakes: A Frontier in Terrestrial Electromagnetic Noise Environment. Recent Research Development Geophysics, 6, 81-112.