The resonant response of the ionosphere imaged after the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake

By Luc Rolland, Philippe Lognonné, Elvira Astafyeva, Esfhan A. Kherani, N. Kobayashi, M. Mann, H. Munekane. 2011

182 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We provide here a preliminary analysis of the ionospheric perturbations observed after the 11 March 2011 Tohoku Earthquake using a GPS-derived Total Electron Content (TEC) technique. Such anomalies are routinely observed after seismic events of magnitude Mw = 6 and more. Here, we use the high density and the wide coverage of the Japanese Global Positioning System (GPS) network GEONET to image the ionosphere just after the main shock. We describe ionospheric perturbations with exceptional extension in amplitude and duration. As already seen in earlier events, a first intense signal is observed about 10 minutes after the seismic rupture; the first response consists in two modes: one propagating beyond 3 km/s and the other at nearly 1 km/s. A further analysis of TEC time series of the latter mode near the source shows the typical frequencies of acoustic resonance. Beyond 400 km from the source, both the tsunami induced gravity wave and a third mode are imaged, the latter for the first time. We show that the pattern of this slow (225 m/s ± 10 m/s) and long period gravity wave (1.8 ± 0.2 mHz) is most visible in the North-West of the epicentral area. This description is corroborated by a computation of the normal modes of the solid Earth-atmosphere system.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Geophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/40fa8100ef6a0f0188c171da38f0e16e69bc3815

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Citations in the corpus

Ionospheric electron enhancement preceding the 2011 Tohoku‐Oki earthquake (2011, background): “They include direct acoustic waves excited by vertical crustal movements [Heki et al., 2006], Rayleigh surface waves [Rolland et al., 2011a], and internal gravity waves [Occhipinti et al., 2008].”
From Sumatra 2004 to Tohoku‐Oki 2011: The systematic GPS detection of the ionospheric signature induced by tsunamigenic earthquakes (2013, background): “…the shorelines [Marghany and Hashim, 2011]; it also validates once more the ionospheric observations during the tsunami generation at the epicenter [Rolland et al., 2011b; Tsugawa et al., 2011] as well as its propagation in the open ocean where detections are performed not only by GPS but also,…”
GNSS ionospheric seismology: Recent observation evidences and characteristics (2015, background): “As clearly showed by Shinagawa et al. (2013) and Rolland et al. (2011), the TEC observations supplied by the dense GEONET network during the 11 March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and the 25 September 2003 Tokachi‐Oki earthquake, provide a unique chance to investigate the seismic ionospheric disturbances…”
Ionospheric signatures of Tohoku‐Oki tsunami of March 11, 2011: Model comparisons near the epicenter (2012, unknown): “…Davies and Baker , 1965; Kelley et al. , 1985; Calais and Minster , 1995], and have included recent observations of “ co-seismic ionospheric disturbances ” (CIDs) near Japan using the GEONET array [e.g., Heki and Ping , 2005; Heki et al. , 2006; Astafyeva et al. , 2009, Rolland et al. , 2011a].”
A review of GPS/GLONASS studies of the ionospheric response to natural and anthropogenic processes and phenomena (2013, methodology): “Following Calais et al. (1998), (Afraimovich et al. 2001a, 2006a, 2010a; Astafyeva & Afraimovich 2006; Astafyeva & Heki 2009; Astafyeva et al. 2009; Heki 2011; Rolland et al. 2011) conducted a detailed study of the CID spatial and temporal characteristics.”