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Lithosphere atmosphere ionosphere coupling associated with the 2019 Mw 7.1 California earthquake using GNSS and multiple satellites

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Abstract

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)–based Earthquake (EQ) anomalies in the ionosphere and troposphere provide explicit evidences to study the coupling between seismic events, atmosphere, and ionosphere in epicentral breeding regions consequent to the EQ day in the preparation period. EQs are still not predicted, but the space-based EQ anomalies aid in the development of monitoring pre- and post-seismic precursors around the seismogenic zone and associated fault lineament regions. In this paper, tropospheric and ionospheric anomalies are investigated for the July 06, 2019, Mw 7.1 California EQ from GNSS tropospheric delays and Total Electron Content (TEC), respectively. We noticed that atmospheric and ionospheric anomalies from GNSS stations within 5–10 days before the main shock and storm-induced ionospheric variations occur beyond the 5th day after the EQ. Similarly, synchronized and collocated lower atmospheric anomalies are also recorded in the long-term temporal values of SO2 and SO4 within 1-month before and after July 2019, which validates the existence of Lithosphere-Atmosphere–Ionosphere Coupling (LAIC) over the EQ epicenter. On the other hand, EQ anomalies occur during quiet geomagnetic storm activity (Kp < 3; Dst < − 20 nT) and geomagnetic storm triggered high-intensity ionospheric variations during Kp > 3. All these atmospheric and ionospheric perturbations support the development in EQ precursors with satellite measurements, which are indispensable towards the forecasting of future EQ.

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Data availability

The GNSS data is freely available on the UNAVCO webpage (https://www.unavco.org/data/gps-gnss/gps-gnss.html). The atmospheric data (OLR, etc.) is obtained from NASA NOAA (https://psl.noaa.gov/data/composites/day/).

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Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge the USGS, NASA, and NOAA online data centers for global transmission of reanalysis data. We are also thankful to UNAVCO for providing preprocessed tropospheric delay data and GPS RINEX files which were used for TEC calculation using software provided by IONOLAB. The authors are also thankful to IONOLAB for providing support and useful software. We are also thankful to NCGSA for providing support in conducting the research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of GNSS, Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Saqib Mehdi, Munawar Shah & Najam Abbas Naqvi

  2. Space Education and GNSS Laboratory, National Center of GIS and Space Application, Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Munawar Shah & Najam Abbas Naqvi

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  1. Saqib Mehdi
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Correspondence to Munawar Shah.

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Mehdi, S., Shah, M. & Naqvi, N.A. Lithosphere atmosphere ionosphere coupling associated with the 2019 Mw 7.1 California earthquake using GNSS and multiple satellites. Environ Monit Assess 193, 501 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09278-6

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