Near-field TEC response to the main shock of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake

Edward L Afraimovich (1) , Ding Feng (2) , Vladislav V Kiryushkin (1) , Elvira Astafyeva (1, 3, 4)

1 ISTP - Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics [Irkutsk]
2 IGG - Institute of Geology and Geophysics [Beijing]
3 Hokkaido University [Sapporo, Japan]
4 IPGP - Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris

We have registered near-field TEC response to the Wenchuan earthquake on 12 May 2008, for the first time. We found that an intensive N-shape shock-acoustic wave with a plane waveform and with half-period of about 200 sec propagated south-eastward with a velocity of 600 m/s for distance about 1000 km. The wavefront of N-shaped disturbance was parallel with the earthquake rupture direction (from SW to NE). The main directional lobe of shock-acoustic wave emitter is directed southeastward, i.e. transversely to the rupture. We suppose that the above properties of TEC response are determined by the geodynamics of the Wenchuan earthquake.

Keywords: total electron content; Wenchuan earthquake; earthquakes; GPS

Domains: Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]

Edward L Afraimovich, Ding Feng, Vladislav V Kiryushkin, Elvira Astafyeva. Near-field TEC response to the main shock of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Earth Planets and Space, 2009, 62 (11), pp.899-904. ⟨10.5047/eps.2009.07.002⟩. ⟨insu-02148609⟩