NH4.1

The mechanism of seismic-electromagnetic phenomena (SEP) encouraged as precursors of earthquake forecast remains unrevealed. The previous studies reported that the surface charges of the frictional and fractured quartz are enough to cause electric discharge due to the dielectric breakdown of air. To verify the discharge occurrence, friction experiments between a diamond pin and quartz disk were performed under nitrogen gas with a CCD camera and UV-VIS photon spectrometer (e.g., Muto et al., 2006). The photon emission was observed at the pin-to-disk gap only during the friction. The photon spectra obtained from a friction experiment (normal stresses of 13-20 MPa, a sliding speed of 1.0×10^-2 m/s, and a gas pressure of 2.4×10⁴ Pa) showed that the photon was emitted through the second positive band (SPB) system of neutral nitrogen and the first negative band (FNB) system of ionized nitrogen. The estimated potential difference at the gap gave the breakdown electric field and surface charge density on the frictional surface at a gap, where photon was the most intense. These values were enough to cause dielectric breakdown of air. Therefore, the above results demonstrated that frictional discharge could occur on a fault asperity due to dielectric breakdown of ambient gases by frictional electrification. However, the details of electronic transition during the discharge and its type are unknown.
This study discussed the details of the gas pressure dependency for the photon emission intensity and distribution, and the discharge type using the electronic transition theory. Moreover, we compared the surface charge density estimated from the potential difference with that estimated from electron and hole trapping centre concentrations in the frictional quartz subsurfaces measured by electron spin resonance. From this comparison, we also discussed the possibility for the trapping centres to be the sources of the discharge. We could explain the nitrogen gas pressure dependency for the photon emission intensity and vibration temperature observed during our friction experiments using the electron transition theory. For example, Miura et al. (2004) reported that the gas pressure decreases with increasing vibration temperature of the SPB system and the relative intensity in the SPB system to the FNB system. This result showed that the vibration temperature and the relative intensity were about 2800 K and 0.1 during the friction experiment under a pressure of 2.4×10⁴ Pa. The FNB system is related to negative glow charge and the discharge observed during the friction experiments was spark and/or glow discharges. The gas pressure decreases with increasing vibration temperature and molecule density as shown in several previous studies and decrease with increasing electron temperature and density as explained the electron transition theory. This implies that the increase in the free path of excited molecules as gas pressure decreases can result in the photo emission pattern change. The surface charge density of a frictional quartz surface estimated from the potential difference to be 5.5×10^-5 C/m² included in the range of 6.51×10^-6–6.4×10^-3 C/m² estimated from the trapping centre concentrations. Hence, the trapping centres can be the sources of the frictional discharge.

How to cite: Tanaka, K., Muto, J., and Nagahama, H.: Mechanism of frictional discharge plasma at fault asperities, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3610, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3610, 2022.

Electromagnetic anomalies have become promising for short-term earthquake forecasting. One forecasting algorithm based on statistical moments of geoelectric data was developed and applied in Taiwan. The objective of our research was to investigate such a reliable, rigorously testable algorithm to issue earthquake forecasts. We tested the applicability of the forecasting algorithm and applied it to geoelectric data and an earthquake catalog in Kakioka, Japan with a long-term period of 26 years. We calculated the variance, skewness, and kurtosis of the geoelectric data each day, determined their anomalies, and then compared them with earthquake occurrences through the forecasting algorithm. We observed that the anomalies of variance, skewness, and kurtosis significantly precede earthquakes, suggesting that the geoelectric data distributions deviate from normal distributions before earthquakes. Furthermore, the forecasting algorithm can select robust optimal models and produce explicit forecasting probability for two-thirds of all experimental cases. Therefore, we concluded that the forecasting algorithm based on statistical moments of geoelectric data is universal and may contribute to short-term earthquake forecasting.

How to cite: Chen, H.-J., Hattori, K., and Chen, C.-C.: Regional applicability of earthquake forecasts using geoelectric statistical moments: Application to Kakioka, Japan, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10961, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10961, 2022.

Foreshocks may provide valuable information on the nucleation process of large earthquakes. The 2021 Ms 6.4 Yangbi, Yunnan, China, earthquake was preceded by abundant foreshocks in the ~75 hours leading up to the mainshock. To understand the space-time evolution of the foreshock sequence and its relationship to the mainshock nucleation, we built a high‐precision earthquake catalog using a machine-learning phase picker—EQtransformer and the template matching method. The source parameters of 17 large foreshocks and the mainshock were derived to analyze their interaction. Observed “back-and-forth” spatial patterns of seismicity and intermittent episodes of foreshocks without an accelerating pattern do not favor hypotheses that the foreshocks were a manifestation of a slow slip or fluid front propagating along the mainshock’s rupture plane. The ruptured patches of most large foreshocks were adjacent to one another with little overlap, and the mainshock eventually initiated near the edge of the foreshocks’ ruptured area where there had been a local increase in shear stress. These observations are consistent with a triggered cascade of stress transfer, where previous foreshocks load adjacent fault patches to rupture as additional foreshocks, and eventually the mainshock.

How to cite: Zhu, G., Yang, H., Tan, Y. J., Jin, M., Li, X., and Yang, W.: The Cascading Foreshock Sequence of the Ms 6.4 Yangbi Earthquake in Yunnan, China, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8924, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8924, 2022.

Earthquake prediction has always been a challenging task, and some researchers have proposed that it is an even impossible goal, concluding earthquakes are unpredictable events. Such a conclusion seems too extreme and in contrast with several pieces of evidence of alterations recorded by several instrumentations from the ground, atmosphere, and more recently by Earth Observation satellite. On the other side, it is clear that searching the “perfect precursor parameter” doesn’t seem to be a good way, since the earthquake process is a complex phenomenon. In fact, a precursor that works for one earthquake does not necessarily work for the next one, even on the same fault. In some cases, another problem for precursors identification is the recurrency time between the earthquakes, which could be very long and, in such cases, we don’t have comparable observations of earthquakes generated by the same fault system.

In past years, we concentrated mainly on two aspects: statistical and single case study; the first one consists of some statistical evidence on ionospheric disturbances possibly related to M5.5+ earthquakes (e.g., presented at EGU2018-9468, and published by De Santis et al., Scientific Report, 2019), furthermore, some clear signals in the atmosphere statistically preceded the occurrence of M8+ events (e.g., presented at EGU2020-19809). On the other side, we also investigated about 20 earthquakes that occurred in the last ten years, some of them by a very detailed and multiparametric investigation, like the M7.5 Indonesia earthquake (presented at EGU2019-8077 and published by Marchetti et al., JAES, 2020), or the Jamaica earthquake investigation presented at the last EGU2021-15456. We found that both approaches are very important. Actually, the statistical studies can provide proofs that at least some of the detected anomalies seem to be related to the earthquakes, while the single case studies permit us to explore deeply the details and the possible connections between the geolayers (lithosphere, atmosphere and ionosphere).

In this presentation, we want to show an update of the statistical study of the atmosphere and ionosphere, together with a new statistical investigation of the seismic acceleration before M7.5+ global earthquakes.

Finally, we demonstrate that it is essential to consider the earthquake not as a point source (that is the basic approximation), but in all its complexity, including its focal mechanism, fault rupture length and even other seismological constraints, in order to try to better understand the preparation phase of the earthquakes, and the reasons for their different behaviour. These studies give hope and fundamental (but not yet sufficient) tools for the possible achievement, one day, of earthquakes prediction capabilities.

How to cite: Marchetti, D., Zhu, K., De Santis, A., Campuzano, S. A., Zhang, D., Soldani, M., Wang, T., Cianchini, G., D’Arcangelo, S., Di Mauro, D., Ippolito, A., Nardi, A., Orlando, M., Perrone, L., Piscini, A., Sabbagh, D., Shen, X., Zhima, Z., and Zhang, Y. and the Zhu Kaiguang's earthquake research group in Jilin University: Multiparametric and multilayer investigation of global earthquakes in the World by a statistical approach, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3337, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3337, 2022.

Non-tectonic processes, namely solid earth tides and surface loads such as ocean, atmosphere, and continental water, constantly modify the stress field of the Earth's crust. Such stress perturbations may trigger earthquakes. Several previous studies reported that tides or hydrological loading could modulate seismicity in some areas. We elaborate on this idea and compute the total Coulomb stress change created by solid earth tides and surface loads together on active faults. We expect that computing a total stress budget over all non-tectonic processes would be more relevant than focusing on one of these processes in particular. The Coulomb stress change is a convenient approach to infer if a fault is brought closer to or further from its critical rupture when experiencing a given stress status. It requires to know 1) the fault's rake and geometry and 2) the value of the stress applied on it, which we retrieve from a subduction zone geometry model (Slab2) and a loading-induced Earth's stress database, respectively. In this study, we focus on the Coulomb stress variations on the Kuril-Japan fault over the few last years. By applying this method to the entire Slab2 catalogue and other known active faults, we aim at producing a database of non-tectonic-induced Coulomb failure function variations. Using earthquakes catalogues, this database can then be used to statistically infer the role of the non-tectonic process in earthquakes nucleation.

How to cite: Cai, Y. and Mouyen, M.: Non-tectonic-induced stress variations on active faults, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5375, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5375, 2022.

Large earthquakes are always followed by aftershocks sequence that last for months to years. Sometimes, these aftershocks are as destructive as the mainshocks. Hence, accurate and immediate prediction of aftershocks’ spatial and temporal distribution is of great importance for planning search and rescue activities. Despite large uncertainties associated with the calculation of Coulomb failure stress changes (ΔCFS), it is the most commonly used method for predicting spatial distributions of aftershocks. Recent studies showed that classical Coulomb failure stress maps are outperformed by alternative scalar stress quantities, as well as a distance-slip probabilistic model (R) and deep neural networks (DNN). However, these test results were based on the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) metric, which is not well suited for imbalanced data sets such as aftershock distributions. Furthermore, the previous analyses also ignored the potential impact of large secondary earthquakes.

In order to examine the effects of large events in spatial forecasting of aftershocks during a sequence, we use the 2017-2019 seismic sequence in western Iran. This sequence started by Azgeleh M7.3 mainshock (12 November 2017) and followed by Tazehabad M5.9 (August 2018) and Sarpol-e Zahab M6.3 (November 2018) events. Furthermore, 15 aftershocks with magnitude > 5.0 and more than 8000 aftershocks with magnitude > 1 were recorded by Iranian seismological center (IRSC) during this sequence (12.11.2017-04.07.2019). For this complex sequence, we applied the classical Coulomb failure stress, alternative stress scalars, and R forecast models and used the more appropriate MCC-F₁ metric to test the prediction accuracy. We observe that the receiver independent stress scalars (maximum shear and von-Mises stress) perform better than the classical CFS values relying on the specification of receiver mechanisms (ΔCFS resolved on master fault, optimally oriented planes, and variable mechanism). However, detailed analysis based on the MCC-F₁ metric revealed that the performance depends on the grid size, magnitude cutoff, and test period. Increasing the magnitude cutoff and decreasing the grid size and test period reduces the performance of all methods. Finally, we found that the performance of all methods except ΔCFS resolved on master fault and optimally oriented planes improve when the source information of large aftershocks is additionally considered, with stress-based models outperforming the R model. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for secondary stress changes in improving earthquake forecasts.

How to cite: Maleki Asayesh, B., Zafarani, H., Hainzl, S., and Sharma, S.: Testing spatial aftershock forecasts accounting for large secondary events during on going earthquake sequences: A case study of the 2017-2019 Kermanshah sequence, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1505, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1505, 2022.

The site effect has a great impact on seismic hazard assessment in urban and industrial regions.
For instance, a layer of soft soil with a thickness of several meters amplifies seismic waves from
1.5 to 6 times relative to the underlying bedrock. Therefore, investigating the main characteristics
of Quaternary deposits such as the granulometry and mechanical layering is crucial in site effect
studies. These parameters are directly related to the local geologic/geomorphic setting and genesis
processes of the Quaternary deposits. Nevertheless, large cities in development countries have 
rapidly been enlarged covering Quaternary terrains before being evaluated for the site effect. This
rather rapid growth in urbanization interested us to take advantage of ancient aerial photographs
reprocessed with new image processing techniques in order to provide 3D terrain models from
such kind of areas before the recent urbanization. It helped us in the geomorphic terrain
classification and the detection of regions with different site effects originally caused by the
geomorphic setting and genesis of the Quaternary terrains. For example, site effect in a river flood
plain will be different from surrounding areas underlined by alluvial conglomerates or bedrock.
The main target of this study is investigating the primary-level site effect in Urmia city using 3D
geomorphic models derived from ancient aerial photos taken in 1955. Urmia in NW Iran is one of
the populated high-risk areas according to the standard regulations of earthquake in Iran, and
covers a wide region from mountainous areas to the ancient coast of Lake Urmia, with the Shahr
Chai River as the axial drainage. We created the 3D terrain model through the Structure from
Motion (SfM) algorithm. We have provided a detailed geomorphic map of Plio-Quaternary terrains
using the 3D Anaglyph view, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), and orthophoto-mosaic of the
region. It was complemented by granulometry and mechanical layering information from the
available geotechnical boreholes to reconstruct a shallow soil structure model for the area. It
allowed us establishing a primary-level site effect zoning for Urmia. Our results reveal the
presence of five distinct geomorphic zones, with different genesis processes and soil characteristics
from piedmont to coastal zones, which represent different soil structures and probable site effects.
This zoning paves the way for performing complementary site effect investigations with lower
time consummation and cost. The developed method, proposes a sophisticated tool to evaluate
primary site effect in areas covered by urbanization subjected to future natural hazards like
earthquake, landslide and flood before designing geophysical networks for the measurement of
quantitative site effect parameters such as Nakamura microtremor H/V and Multichannel Analysis
of Surface Waves.
Key words: Earthquake hazard, Site effect, Image Processing, Aerial photos, Quaternary geology, Structure from
Motion 

How to cite: Pak Tarmani, Z., Masoumi, Z., and Shabanian, E.: Primary-level Site Effect Zoning in Developing Urban Areas Through the Geomorphic Interpretation of Landforms, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8280, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8280, 2022.

Some samples are given illustrating possible influences of the natural hazards those will occur in the future times for the seismic activities those occur at the present time in [1]. Those samples force to ask whether there exist operational connections originating from future time’s naturel events, NEs on the present time’s NEs or do not. The analytical basics orienting such cooperation are derived in here [2]-[3].

Both the past time’s NEs and the future time’s NEs are not exist at the present time’s NEs topology when we want to observe and measure all them at the same location in the present time as a matter of the event for the present time’s temporal and spatial metric or in a space-time differential displacement with other words [4]. This situation brings the fact on the absence and/or presence of NEs in a temporal topology as a principle about the occurrence of NEs in their specific manifolds [4]. The very simple example in below may be helpful to understand the fact:

Example 1: If you want to be a medical doctor in your future then you have to study and learn medical facts in an official way. Without doing this in your past times and present times you cannot earn the medical doctor degree in your future times.

Result 1: The future time’s NEs present cooperation in both the past and future time’s NEs.

Example 1 and connected result 1 illustrate the future time’s event of being medical doctor operates the past and present time’s event of learning medicine so the principle 1 in below brings the processes designing the cooperation among past, present, and future NEs:

Principle 1: There is either definitive and/or fuzzy cooperation among the NEs in the future time, pas time, and present time for NEs’ topology.

The retarded potential in gauge form is split into two parts: The first part is a part of Fourier transform given the future time’s NEs and the second part is a Fourier sinus transform. The first part involves the ingredients of future time’s NEs. The second part involves the ingredients of both NEs of past time and present time. The first part has the property as a forwarded potential. The second part fits to the properties as the events at the past and/or the present.

The principle 1 is checked during several earthquakes received in 1999-2004 [5]- [6] and some important results are shared in [1]. The present writer calls virtual earthquake (VEQ) future time’s earthquake activities cooperating with the past and/or present time’s seismic activities and presents the topological processes with their analytical extractions from the above-mentioned observations.

-------------------

¹Sengor T, http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/ EGU2020/EGU2020-22589.pdf.

²Sengor T, Helsinki University of Tech., Electromagnetics Lab. Report 344, Nov. 2000, ISBN 951-22-5258-9, ISSN 1456-632X.

³Sengor T, Helsinki University of Tech., Electromagnetics Lab. Report 347, Dec. 2000, ISBN 951-22-5274-0, ISSN 1456-632X.

⁴Sengor T, Invited paper. doi:10.23919/URSI- ETS.2019.8931455

⁵Sengor T, http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2019/EGU2019-17127.pdf.

⁶Sengor T, Helsinki University of Tech., Electromagnetics Lab. Report 368, May. 2001, ISBN 951-22-5275-1, ISSN 1456-632X.

How to cite: Sengor, T.: Virtual Earthquakes Cooperating with Natural Hazards and Simultaneously Scheduled Seismic Activities, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12275, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12275, 2022.

Diurnal geomagnetic variations are generated in the magnetosphere and last for about 24 hours. These can be seen on the recordings of all magnetic observatories, with amplitudes of several tens of nT, on all magnetic components. The shape and amplitude of diurnal variations strongly depend on the geographical latitude of the observatory. In addition to the dominant external source from the interaction with the magnetosphere, the diurnal geomagnetic variation is also influenced by local phenomena, mainly due to internal electric fields. External influence remains unchanged over distances of hundreds of kilometers, while internal influence may differ over very short distances due to the underground conductivity. The ration of the diurnal geomagnetic variation at two stations should be stable in calm periods and could be destroyed by the phenomena that can occur during the preparation of an earthquake, when at the station inside the seismogenic zone, the underground conductivity would change or additional currents would appear. The cracking process inside the lithosphere before and during earthquakes occurrence, possibly modifies the under- ground electrical structure and emits electro-magnetic waves.

In this paper, we study how the diurnal geomagnetic field variations are related to Mw>4.9 earthquakes occurred in Vrancea, Romania. For this purpose, we use two magnetometers situated at 150 km away from each other, one, the Muntele Rosu (MLR) observatory of NIEP, inside the Vrancea seismic zone and the other, the Surlari (SUA) observatory of IGR and INERMAGNET, outside the preparation area of moderate earthquakes. We have studied the daily ranges of the magnetic diurnal variation, R=DBMLR/DBSUA, during the last 10 years, to identify behavior patterns associated with external or internal conditions, where DB= Bmax-Bmin, during a 24 hours period.

As a first conclusion, we can mention the fact that the only visible disturbances appear before some earthquakes in Vrancea with Mw> 5.5, when we see a differentiation of the two recordings due to possible local internal phenomena at MLR. The differentiation consists in the decrease of the value of the vertical component Bzmax-Bzmin at MLR compared to the USA a few days before the earthquake and the return to the initial value after the earthquake. These studies need to be continued in order to determine if it is a repetitive behavior, or if it is just an isolated phenomenon.

Acknowledgments:

The research was supported by: the NUCLEU program (MULTIRISC) of the Romanian Ministry of Research and Innovation through the projects PN19080102 and by the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI) through the projects PN-III-P2-2.1-PED-2019-1693, 480 PED/2020 (PHENOMENAL) and PN-III-P4-ID-PCE- 2020-1361, 119 PCE/2021 (AFROS).

How to cite: Moldovan, I. A., Toader, V. E., Carnini, M., Petrescu, L., Placinta, A. O., and Enescu, B. D.: The study of the geomagnetic diurnal variation behavior associated with Mw>4.9 Vrancea (Romania) Earthquakes, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4417, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4417, 2022.

The Romanian National Institute of Earth Physics (NIEP) developed a radon monitoring network mainly for Vrancea seismic are characterized by deep earthquakes (a rectangle zone in longitude/ latitude 25.05⁰/ 46.21⁰ - 27.95⁰/ 44.69⁰, 60 Km – 250 Km). Few stations were relocated after a year of operation following inconclusive results regarding the relationship between radon and seismic activity. To the 5 stations that are in the Vrancea area (Bisoca, Nehoiu, Plostina, Sahastru and Lopatari) we added others positioned in areas with surface seismicity (Panciu, Râmnicu Vâlcea, Surlari and Mangalia). The last two are on the Intramoesica fault, which will be monitored in the future along with the Fagaras - Câmpulung fault. Radon together with CO₂ - CO is monitored at Râmnicu Vâlcea within the SPEIGN project near a 40 m deep borehole in which the acceleration in three directions, temperature and humidity are recorded. The same project funded the monitoring of radon, CO₂ and CO in Mangalia, which is close to the Shabla seismic zone. The last significant earthquake in the Panciu area with ML = 5.7 R occurred on 22.11.2014. The area is seismically active, which justified the installation of a radon detector next to a radio receiver in the ULF band within the AFROS project. Within the same project, radon monitoring is performed at Surlari, following the activity of the Intramoesica fault. In this location we also measure CO₂, CO, air temperature and humidity. The first results show a normal radon activity in Panciu. The measurements in Surlari have higher values than those in Panciu, possibly due to the forest where the sensors are located. A special case is Mangalia where the data indicate more local pollution than the effects of tectonic activity. Radon CO₂ and CO values vary widely beyond normal limits. The source of these anomalies may be the local drinking water treatment plant or the nearby shipyard. We also recorded abnormal infrasound values that are monitored in the same location. Determining the source of these anomalies requires at least one more monitoring point.

The purpose of expanding radon monitoring is to analyze the possibility of implementing a seismic event forecast. This can be done in a multidisciplinary approach. For this reason, in addition to radon, determinations of CO₂, CO, air ionization, magnetic field, inclinations, telluric currents, solar radiation, VLF - ULF radio waves, temperature in borehole, infrasound and acoustics are made.

This research helps organizations specializing in emergencies not only with short-term earthquake forecasts but also with information on pollution and the effects of climate change that are becoming increasingly evident lately. The methods and solutions are general and can be applied anywhere by customizing them according to the specifics of the monitored area.

The main conclusion is that only a multidisciplinary approach allows the correlation of events and ensures a reliable forecast.

How to cite: Toader, V.-E., Ionescu, C., Moldovan, I.-A., Marmureanu, A., Lingvay, I., and Ciogescu, O.: Extension of the radon monitoring network in seismic areas in Romania, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2152, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2152, 2022.

Among the different parameters, the fluctuations of Earth's thermally emitted radiation, as measured by sensors on board of satellite systems operating in the Thermal Infra-Red (TIR) spectral range and Earth's surface deformation as recorded by satellite radar interferometry, have been proposed since long time as potential earthquake precursors. Nevertheless, the spatiotemporal relationship between the two different phenomena has been ignored till now.

On September 27, 2021, a strong earthquake of magnitude M5.8 occurred in Crete, near the village of Arkalochori at 06:17:21 UTC, as the result of shallow normal faulting. The epicenter of the seismic event was located at latitude 35.15 N and longitude 25.27 E, while the focal depth was 10 km. Since the beginning of June, almost 4 months earlier, more than 400 foreshocks ranging in magnitude from M0.5 to M4.8 were recorded in the broader area while the strongest aftershock (M 5.3) occurred on September 28^th at 04:48:09 UTC.

10 years of MODIS Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity Daily L3 Global 1km satellite records were incorporated to the RETIRA index computation in order to detect and map probable pre-seismic and co-seismic thermal anomalies in the area of tectonic activation. At the same time, SAR images of the Sentinel-1 Copernicus satellite in both geometries of acquisition were used to create the differential interferograms and the displacement maps according to the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technique. Then, the two kinds of datasets (i.e thermal anomaly maps and crustal deformation maps) were introduced into a Geographic Information System environment along with geological formations, active faults, and earthquakes’ epicenters. By overlapping all the aforementioned data, their spatiotemporal relation is explored.

How to cite: Peleli, S., Kouli, M., and Vallianatos, F.: Investigating the spatiotemporal relationship between thermal anomalies and surface deformation; The Arkalochori Earthquake sequence of September 2021, Crete, Greece., EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7148, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7148, 2022.

This paper is one of a series of papers dealing with the investigation of  the Lower ionospheric variation on the occasion of an intense tectonic activity.In the present paper, we investigate the TEC variations during the intense seismic activity in Arkalochori of Crete on December 2021 over Europe. The Total Electron Content (TEC) data are been provided by the  Hermes GNSS Network managed by GNSS_QC, AUTH Greece, the HxGN/SmartNet-Greece of Metrica S.A, and the EUREF Network. These data were analysed using Discrete Fourier Analysis in order to investigate the TEC turbulence band content. The results of this investigation indicate that the High-Frequency limit f_o of the ionospheric turbulence content, increases as aproaching the occurrence time of the earthquake, pointing to the earthquake epicenter, in accordane to our previous investigations. We conclude that the Lithosphere Atmosphere Ionosphere Coupling, LAIC, mechanism through acoustic or gravity waves could explain this phenomenology.

Keywords: Seismicity, Lower Ionosphere, Ionospheric Turbulence, Brownian Walk, Aegean area.

How to cite: Contadakis, M. E., Arabelos, D. N., Pikridas, C., Bitharis, S., and Scordilis, E. M.: TEC variation over Europe during the intense tectonic activity in the area of  Arkalochori of Crete on December of 2021, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2979, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2979, 2022.

The scientific use of ground and space-based remote sensing technology is inherently vital for studying different lithospheric-tropospheric-ionospheric coupling mechanisms, which are imperative for understanding geodynamic processes. Current remote sensing technologies operating at a wide range of frequencies, using either sound or electromagnetic emitted waves, have become a valuable tool for detecting and measuring signatures presumably associated with earthquake events. Over the past two decades, numerous studies have been presenting promising results related to natural hazards mitigation, especially for earthquake precursors, while other studies have been refuting them. While highly impacting for geodynamic processes the controversy around precursors that may precede earthquakes yet remains significant. Thus, predicting where and when natural hazard event such as earthquake is likely to occur in a specific region of interest still remains a key challenging task in geo-sciences related research. Recently, it has been discovered that natural hazard signatures associated with strong earthquakes appear not only in the lithosphere, but also in the troposphere and ionosphere. Both ground and space-based remote sensing techniques can be used to detect early warning signals from places where stresses build up deep in the Earth’s crust and may lead to a catastrophic earthquake. Here, we propose to implement a machine learning Support Vector Machine (SVM) technique, applied with GPS ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) pre-processed time series estimations, extracted from global ionospheric TEC maps, to evaluate any potential precursory caused by the earthquake and is manifested as ionospheric TEC anomaly. Each TEC time series data was geographically extracted around the earthquake epicenter and calculated by weighted average of the four closest points to evaluate any potential influence caused by the earthquake. After filtering and screening our data from any solar or geomagnetic influence at different time scales, our results indicate that with large earthquakes (> 6 [Mw]), there is a potentially high probability of gaining true negative prediction with accuracy of 85.7% as well as true positive prediction accuracy of 80%. Our suggested method has been also tested with different skill scores such as Accuracy (0.8285), precision (0.85), recall (0.8), Heidke Skill Score (0.657) and Tue Skill Statistics (0.657).

How to cite: Reuveni, Y., Asaly, S., Inbar, N., and Gottlieb, L.: Utilizing machine learning techniques along with GPS ionospheric TEC maps for potentially predicting earthquake events, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10371, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10371, 2022.

In this study we investigate electric field perturbations from sub-ionospheric VLF/LF paths which cross seismic and volcanic active areas. We use waveguide cavity radio links from the transmitters TBB (26.70 kHz, Bafa, Turkey) and ITS (45.90 kHz, Niscemi, Sicily, Italy) to the seismo-electromagnetic receiver facility GRZ (Graz, Austria). The continuous real-time amplitude and phase measurements have a temporal resolution of 1 sec, events are analyzed for the period 2020-2021. Of high interest in this time span are paroxysms of the stratovolcano Mt. Etna, Sicily, Italy. We show electric field amplitude variations which could be related to atmospheric waves, occurred at the active crater and propagated up to the lower ionosphere. This corresponds to vertical coupling processes from the ground to the E-region, the upper waveguide boundary during night-time. Ionospheric variations possibly related to earthquakes are discussed for events along the TBB-GRZ path, assumed is an area given by the so-called effective precursor manifestation zone [1,2]. The findings indicate statistical relations between electric field amplitude variations of the ITS-GRZ path in the VLF/LF sub-ionospheric waveguide and high volcanic activity of Etna. For earthquakes multi-parametric observations shall be taken into account to diagnose physical processes related to the events. In summary, VLF/LF investigations in a network together with automated data processing can be an essential component of natural hazards characterization.

References:

[1] Dobrovolsky, I.P., Zubkov, S.I., and Miachkin, V.I., Estimation of the size of earthquake preparation zones, PAGEOPH 117, 1025–1044, 1979. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00876083

[2] Bowman, D.D., Ouillon, G., Sammis, C.G., Sornette, A., and Sornette, D., An observational test of the critical earthquake concept, JGR Solid Earth, 103, B10, 24359-24372, 1998. https://doi.org/10.1029/98JB00792

How to cite: Eichelberger, H. U., Schwingenschuh, K., Boudjada, M. Y., Besser, B. P., Wolbang, D., Solovieva, M., Biagi, P. F., Stachel, M., Aydogar, Ö., Schirninger, C., Muck, C., Grill, C., and Jernej, I.: Ionospheric perturbations related to seismicity and volcanic eruptions inferred from VLF/LF electric field measurements, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8420, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8420, 2022.

A VLF (10 – 47.5 kHz) radio receiver with call sign UWA has recently been installed at the University of West Attica in Athens (Greece) and is continuously monitoring the lower ionosphere by means of the receptions from many transmitters, in order to identify any possible pre-seismic signatures or other precursors associated with extreme geophysical and space phenomena. In this study, we examine the case of three very recent strong mainshocks with magnitude Mw ≥ 5.5 that happened in September and October of 2021 in the southeastern Mediterranean. The VLF data used in this work correspond to the recordings of one specific transmitter with the call sign “ISR” which is located in Negev (Israel). The borders of the 5th Fresnel zone of the corresponding sub-ionospheric propagation path (ISR-UWA) are close in distance with the epicenters of the two earthquakes (EQ), while the third one is located within the 5th Fresnel zone of the specific path. In this work, we computed the morlet wavelet scalogram of the nighttime amplitude signal in order to check for any embedded wave-like structures, which would indicate the existence of Atmospheric Gravity Waves (AGW) before each one of the examined EQs. In our investigation, we also checked for any other global extreme phenomena, such as geomagnetic storms and solar flares, which may have occurred close in time with the examined EQs and could have a contaminating impact on the obtained results. Our results revealed wave-like structures in the amplitude of the signal a few days before the occurrence of these three EQs.

How to cite: Politis, D. Z., Potirakis, S. M., Biswas, S., Sasmal, S., and Hayakawa, M.: Wave-like structures prior to very recent southeastern Mediterranean earthquakes as recorded by a VLF/LF radio receiver in Athens (Greece), EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7309, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7309, 2022.