Investigation of TEC and VLF space measurements associated to L'Aquila (Italy) earthquakes

G Stangl (1) , M.Y. Boudjada (2) , P. F. Biagi (3) , S Krauss (2) , A Maier (2) , K Schwingenschuh (2) , E Al-Haddad (4) , Michel Parrot (5) , W Voller (2)

1 BEV - Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying [Vienna]
2 IWF - Space Research Institute of Austrian Academy of Sciences
3 Department of Physics [Bari]
4 University of Applied Sciences [Graz]
5 LPC2E - Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace

In this study, we report on Total Electron Content (TEC) and Very Low Frequency (VLF) space measurements derived from Global Positioning System (GPS) and DEME-TER satellites, respectively. These measurements are associated with the earthquake (EQ) of a magnitude of 6.3, which occurred on 6 April 2009, in L'Aquila (Italy). Anomaly features are derived from the analysis of TEC and VLF observations recorded two weeks before and after the seismic event occurrence. A TEC map with an interpolated regional pixel resolution of 1 • × 1 • × 15 min in latitude, longitude and time was generated, allowing for the checking of a possible presence of disturbances over the L'Aquila region. This analysis is combined with the study of the time profile associated to the VLF flux density variations recorded by the Instrument Champ Electrique (ICE) experiment on-board DEMETER satellite. We discuss, on the one hand, the combination efficiency of the electronic density and the VLF electromagnetic measurements and, on the other hand, the difficulty to distinguish between global effects and regional ones related to the earthquake.

Domaines: Planète et Univers [physics]

G Stangl, M.Y. Boudjada, P. F. Biagi, S Krauss, A Maier, et al.. Investigation of TEC and VLF space measurements associated to L'Aquila (Italy) earthquakes. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 2011, 11, pp.1019-1024. ⟨10.5194/nhess-11-1019-2011⟩. ⟨insu-01180191⟩