Multi-channel singular spectrum analysis of soil radon concentration, Japan: Relationship between soil radon flux and precipitation and the local seismic activity

Recently, there are many papers on electromagnetic pre-earthquake phenomena such as geomagnetic, ionospheric, and atmospheric anomalous changes. Ionospheric anomaly preceding large earthquakes is one of the most promising phenomena. Lithosphere-Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling (LAIC) model has been proposed to explain these phenomena. In this study, to evaluate the possibility of chemical channel of LAIC by observation, we have installed sensors for atmospheric electric field, atmospheric ion concentration, atmospheric Rn concentration, soil radon Rn concentration (SRC), and weather elements at Asahi station, Boso, Japan. Since the atmospheric electricity parameters are very much influenced by weather factors, it is necessary to remove these effects as much as possible. In this aim, we apply the MSSA (Multi-channel Singular Spectral Analysis) to remove these influences from the variation of GRC and estimate the soil Rn flux (SRF). We investigated the correlations (1) between SRF and precipitation and (2) between SRF and the local seismic activity around Asahi station. The preliminary results show that SRF was significantly increased by heavy precipitations of 20 mm or more in total for 2 hours. We proposed two types of models, a rainwater load model and a rainwater infiltration model, and it is appropriate for both models to work and (2) between SRF and local seismicity within an epicenter distance of 50 km from the station.