Ionospheric GPS total electron content (TEC) disturbances triggered by the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami

Abstract

[1] Tsunami ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) of the 26 December 2004 M w 9.3 Sumatra earthquake are detected by the total electron content (TEC) of ground-based receivers of the global positioning system (GPS) in the Indian Ocean area. It is found that the tsunami waves triggered atmospheric disturbances near the sea surface, which then traveled upward with an average velocity of about 730 m/s (2700 km/hr) into the ionosphere and significantly disturbed the electron density within it. Results further show that the TIDs, which have maximum height of about 8.6-17.2 km, periods of 10-20 min, and horizontal wavelengths of 120-240 km, travel away from the epicenter with an average horizontal speed of about 700 km/hr (190 m/s) in the ionosphere.

Detection of ionospheric disturbances driven by the 2014 Chile tsunami using GPS total electron content in New Zealand

“…The tsunami-driven TIDs have also been detected in other tsunamigenic earthquakes [Artru et al, 2005;Liu et al, 2006b;Rolland et al, 2010;Occhipinti et al, 2013]. As in those previous studies, the tsunami-driven TIDs following the Chile earthquake show propagation characteristics (travel time, horizontal velocity, and direction) that are similar to that of the tsunami waves.…”

“…However, both Doppler sounding networks and altimetry satellites have limited coverage, which make it difficult to study the propagation characteristics of TIDs in detail. With the progress of high-density global positioning system (GPS) stations network, the GPS TEC data have been widely used in ionospheric monitoring and tsunami detection [Artru et al, 2005;Liu et al, 2006b;DasGupta et al, 2006;Rolland et al, 2010;Liu et al, 2011;Makela et al, 2011;Tsugawa et al, 2011;Galvan et al, 2012;Komjathy et al, 2012;Occhipinti et al, 2013;Tang et al, 2015].…”

Seismo-Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances Triggered by the 12 May 2008 M 8.0 Wenchuan Earthquake

“…Recently, the total electron content (TEC) derived from data recorded by dense ground-based receivers of the global positioning system (GPS) have been employed to examine STIDs such as Rayleigh, gravity, shock, and tsunami waves triggered by earthquakes (Calais and Minster 1995;Afraimovich et al 2001;Ducic et al 2003;Artru et al 2005;Heki and Ping 2005;Astafyeva and Afraimovich 2006;Jung et al 2006;Liu et al 2006b;Astafyeva and Heki 2009;Astafyeva et al 2009;Liu et al 2010Liu et al , 2011. Based on Calais and Minster (1995), most scientists find the timedistance relationship between the triggered disturbances and the epicenter to estimate STID speeds.…”

“…Based on Calais and Minster (1995), most scientists find the timedistance relationship between the triggered disturbances and the epicenter to estimate STID speeds. On the other hand, Jung et al (2006) and Liu et al (2006b and2010) employed the beam-forming and/or the ray-tracing methods analyzing GPS TEC observations to locate the origin and compute average propagation speeds of STIDs triggered by the 13 January 2001 M w 7.6 El Salvador Earthquake, the 26 December 2004 M w 9.3 Sumatra Earthquake, and the 20 September 1999 M w 7.6 Chi-Chi Earthquake, respectively. The paper briefly reviews the amplification effect, the ground-based GPS TEC observation, and the exiting methods of STID analyses.…”

Tsunami Detection by Ionospheric Sounding: New Tools for Oceanic Monitoring

“…These perturbations could be the ionospheric signature of IGWs coupled at sea level with the tsunami or the atmospheric gravity waves generated at the epicenter. Comparable TEC observations were done for five GPS stations (twelve station-satellite couples) scattered in the Indian Ocean (Liu et al, 2006b). The 30 sec differential amplitudes are equal to or smaller than Comparison between oceanic sea-level measured by tide-gauge at Coco Island and the TEC measured by the co-located GPS shows similarity in the waveform suggesting that the ionosphere is sensitive to the tsunami propagation as well as the ocean (Occhipinti et al, 2008b).…”