Comparative study on earthquake and ground based transmitter induced radiation belt electron precipitation at middle latitudes

Abstract

Abstract.We examined (peak-to-background flux ratio p/b > 20) energetic electron bursts in the presence of VLF activity, as observed from the DEMETER satellite at low altitudes (∼700 km). Our statistical analysis of measurements during two 6-month periods suggests that: (a) the powerful transmitter NWC causes the strongest effects on the inner radiation belts in comparison with other ground-based VLF transmitters, (b) the NWC transmitter was responsible for only ∼1.5 % of total electron bursts examined during the 6-month period (1 July 2008 to 31 December 2008), (c) VLF transmitter-related electron bursts are accompanied by the presence of a narrow band emission centered at the radiating frequency emission, whereas the earthquake-related electron bursts are accompanied by the presence of broadband emissions from a few kHz to >20 KHz, (d) daytime events are less preferable than nighttime events, but this asymmetry was found to be less evident when the powerful transmitter NWC was turned off and (d) seismic activity most probably dominated the electromagnetic interactions producing the electron precipitation at middle latitudes. The results of this study support the proposal that the detection of radiation belt electron precipitation, besides other kinds of studies, is a useful tool for earthquake prediction research.

Burst increases of precipitating electrons recorded by the DEMETER satellite before strong earthquakes

“…These longer time differences are in agreement with the latest DEMETER IDP findings, where increases in energetic electron fluxes were observed a few days before earthquakes (Anagnostopoulos et al, 2010a, b;Sidiropoulos et al, 2011). Based on this, we set out to verify by how many and how high EBs increased prior to strong earthquakes over the entire DEMETER IDP survey period from 2005 to 2010.…”

“…A possible model for describing high energy particle precipitation associated with seismic activity might include ultra-low frequency (ULF) and very low frequency (VLF) electromagnetic emissions (EME), which have been reported to be generated in seismic regions and are believed to propagate upwards into the atmosphere, ionosphere and even into the magnetosphere (Molchanov and Majaeva, 1994;Pulinets and Boyarchuk, 2004;Sidiropoulos et al, 2011). In fact, the magnetosphere is characterised by regions that are filled with charged particles trapped in the geomagnetic field, known as Van Allen belts (VAB) (McIlwain, 1966).…”

Particle precipitation prior to large earthquakes of both the Sumatra and Philippine Regions: A statistical analysis

“…The calculated time differences between CRs by IDP and EQs were longer than those of previously published works, and increases in energetic electron fluxes were observed a few days before EQs (Anagnostopoulos et al, 2010), accompanied by broadband kHz emissions (Anagnostopoulos et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2012) and compared to the VLF transmitter contributions (Sidiropoulos et al, 2011;Sauvad et al, 2014). Furthermore, a statistical similarity between high energy charged particle fluxes detected by DEMETER and EQs has also been reported (Wang et al, 2014).…”

Temporal and spatial analyses on seismo-electric anomalies associated with the 27 February 2010 <i>M</i> = 8.8 Chile earthquake observed by DEMETER satellite

“…In general, whistlers with high dispersion come from the opposite hemisphere or are due to whistlers going several times back and forth in the magnetosphere (Hayakawa et al, 1993;Elie et al, 1999). In fact, ELF and VLF waves are related not only to lightning but also to earthquakes (Pulinets and Boyarchuk, 2004;Athanasiou et al, 2011;Sidiropoulos et al, 2011;Anagnostopoulos et al, 2012). Hayakawa et al (1993) statistically examined whistlers at low latitudes and found that whistlers with anomalous dispersions are likely to be closely correlated with M = 6.0 earthquakes.…”