Disturbances in a VLF radio signal prior the <i>M</i>=4.7 offshore Anzio (central Italy) earthquake on 22 August 2005

Abstract

On 22 August 2005 an earthquake with magnitude M=4.7 occurred in the Anzio (central Italy) offshore area. From 2002, a VLF-LF radio receiver is into operation in Bari (southern Italy). The intensity and the phase of the signals transmitted by GB (f=16 kHz, United Kingdom), FR (f=20.9 kHz, France), GE (f=23.4 kHz, Germany), IC (f=37.5 kHz, Island) and IT (f=54 kHz, Sicily, Italy) has been monitored with a 5 s sampling rate. The previous epicenter is near enough to some of the radio paths and the data collected were studied in order to reveal possible seismic effects. The raw analysis revealed a clear drop in the intensity of the FR radio signal on 19 August. Then the wavelet analysis was applied to the intensity and the phase data of the different radio signals. In the mentioned day an increase in the band 60–120 min was revealed in the spectra of the FR signal. Then the principal component analysis was applied and again the 19 August stood up as an anomalous day for the FR radio signal. The path of this signal, among the paths of the five radio signals collected by the Bari receiver, is the nearest to the mentioned epicentre and the anomaly revealed on 19 August appears as a precursor of the earthquake. This result confirms the possible precursor revealed by other researchers in the air Rn content in a site located 5 miles far from the epicenter.