Total electron content variations over the earthquakes epicenters

Abstract

In this work the total electron content variations over the strongest earthquakes epicenters for the period 1999-2014 was investigated. In order to provide good accuracy of local total electron content estimation the picenters in the territory with closely replaced GPS receivers was chosen. There were 10 earthquakes with a magnitude of more than 6.5 for listed conditions. For the chosen periods the geophysical conditions was investigated. It was shown that the local total electron content of the ionosphere the day before the earthquake increases for about 0.11-0.23 percents, But for cases of geomagnetic activity periods the electron density decreased for about 0.12 percents.

Keywords

• earthquake
• ionosphere
• the global electric circuit
• total electron content