Precursory Anomaly in VLF/LF Recordings Prior to the Çaglayan (Erzincan-Turkey) Earthquake on July 30th, 2009

Year 2015, , 18 - 23, 07.06.2015

Aydın Büyüksaraç , Ali Pınar , Sinan Koşaroğlu

https://doi.org/10.17678/beujst.63189

Cited By: 1

Abstract

An international project network consisting of six receivers for sampling LF and VLF radio signals has been going on to record the data in Europe from different transmission stations around the World. One of them was established in Resadiye, Turkey, located just on the North Anatolian Fault Zone. The receiver works in VLF and LF bands monitoring ten frequencies (16.4, 21.75, 37.5, 45.9, 153, 180, 183, 216 and 270 kHz) with one minute sampling interval.

An earthquake of Mw = 4.9 took place 225 km away from the VLF/LF station at the eastern tip of the Erzincan basin at 4 km depth on July 30, 2009. We observed some anomalies on the radio signals (37.5 and 153 kHz) that initiated about 7 days before the earthquake and disappeared soon after the earthquake. We attribute this anomaly to the Mw=4.9 earthquake as a seismo-electromagnetic precursor. The radio anomaly that appeared 7 days before the occurrence of the 2009 Caglayan (Erzincan) earthquake is in good agreement with other results indicating precursory anomalies in the project network mostly observed in seismically active countries such as Italy and Greece.

Keywords

Earthquake precursors, VLF/LF, Erzincan, Resadiye, NAFZ

References

• Ambeh WB, Fairhead JD (1991). Spectral characteristics and source parameters of micro earthquakes from the Mt
• Cameroon volcanic region, West Africa. Geophys. J. Int. 106, 229–237.
• Bella F, Biagi PF, Caputo M, Cozzi E, Della Monica G, Ermini A, Plastino W, Sgrigna V (1998). Field strength variations of LF
• radio waves prior to earthquakes in Central Italy. Phys. Earth Planet. Int. 105, 279–286.
• Biagi PF, Piccolo R, Ermini A, Martellucci S, Bellecci C, Hayakawa M, Capozzi V, Kingsley SP (2001). Possible earthquake
• precursors revealed by LF radio signals. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. 1, 9-14.
• Biagi PF, Castellana L, Maggipinto T, Loiacono D, Schiavulli L, Ligonzo T, Fiore M, Suciu E, Ermini A (2010). A pre seismic
• radio anomaly revealed in the area where the Abruzzo earthquake (M=6.3) occurred on 6 April 2009. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. 10, 215–216.
• Biagi PF, Maggipinto T, Righetti F, Loiacono D, Schiavulli L, Ligonzo T, Ermini A, Moldovan IA, Moldovan AS, Buyuksarac A,
• Silva HG, Bezzeghoud M, Contadakis ME (2011). The European VLF/LF radio network to search for earthquake precursors: setting up and natural/man-made disturbances. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. 11, 333–341.
• Brune JN (1970). Tectonic stress and the spectra of seismic shear waves from earthquakes. J. Geophy. Res. 75, 4997–5010.
• Chen YI, Liu JY, Tsai YB, Chen CS (2004). Statistical tests for pre-earthquake ionospheric anomaly. Terr. Atm. Ocean Sci. 15,
• –396.
• Gokhberg MB, Gufeld IL, Rozhnoy AA, Marenko VF, Yampolsky VS, Ponomarev EA (1989). Study of the seismic influence on
• the ionosphere by super long-wave probing of the Earth-ionosphere waveguide. Phys. Earth Planet. Inter. 57, 4–67
• Hanks TC, Wyss M (1972). The use of body wave spectra in the determination of seismic source parameters. Bull. Seism.
• Soc. Am. 62, 561-589.
• Hayakawa M, Sato H (1994). Ionospheric perturbations associated with earthquakes, as detected by subionospheric VLF
• propagation, in: Electromagnetic Phenomena Related to Earthquake Prediction, (Eds) Hayakawa, M. and Fujinawa, Y., Terrapub, Tokyo, 391–397.
• Hayakawa M, Molchanov OA, Ondoh T, Kawai E (1996). Anomalies in the subionospheric VLF signals for the 1995 Hyogo-
• ken earthquake. J. Phys. Earth 44, 413–418.
• Hayakawa M (2007). VLF/LF Radio Sounding of Ionospheric Perturbations Associated with Earthquakes. Sensors 7, 1141-
• -
• Kuge K (2003). Source modeling using strong-motion waveforms: Toward automated determination of earthquake fault planes and moment-release distributions. Bull. Seismo. Soc. Amer. 93, 639-654.
• Liu JY, Chuo YJ, Shan SJ, Tsai YB, Pulinets SA, Yu SB (2004). Pre-earthquake ionospheric anomalies monitored by GPS TEC.
• Ann. Geophys. 22, 1585–1593.
• Molchanov OA, Hayakawa M (1998). Subionospheric VLF signal perturbations possibly related to earthquakes. J. Geophys.
• Res. 103, 17489-17504.
• Morgounov VA, Ondoh T, Nagai S (1994). Anomalous variation of VLF signals associated with strong earthquakes (M≥7.0),
• in: Electromagnetic Phenomena Related to Earthquake Prediction, (Eds) Hayakawa, M. and Fujinawa, Y., Terrapub, Tokyo, ISBN: 4887041136,9784887041134.
• Pulinets SA, Boyarchuk KA, Lomonosov AM, Khegai VV, Liu JY (2002). Ionospheric precursors to earthquakes: a
• preliminary analysis of the foF2 critical frequencies at Chung-Li ground-based station for vertical sounding of the ionosphere (Taiwan island). Geomag. and Aeron.42, 508–513.
• Pulinets SA, Legenka AD (2003). Spatial-temporal characteristics of the large scale disturbances of electron concentration
• observed in the F-region of the ionosphere before strong earthquakes. Cosm. Res. 41, 221–229.
• Pulinets SA, Boyarchuk KA (2004). Ionospheric Precursors of Earthquakes, Springer, Berlin, ISBN: 978-3-540-20839-6.
• Rozhnoi A, Solovieva MS, Molchanov OA, Hayakawa M (2004). Middle latitude LF (40 kHz) phase variations associated
• with earthquakes for quiet and disturbed geomagnetic conditions. Phys. Chem. Earth. 29, 589–598.