Post-seismic ionospheric effects

Detection of post-seismic ionospheric effects with coincident Digisonde VI and Swarm LP observations. The figure shows the ionospheric plasma response to the earthquake (EQ) of magnitude 8.3, and to the related seismic activity and tsunami triggered by the mainshock in Chile-Illapel region, at 22:54UTC, in the evening of September 16, 2015. Two tracks of Swarm A satellite over the Boa Vista area occurred at 19:11 UTC on September 17, 2015 (20 hrs after the main shock) and at 06:55 UTC on September 18, 2015 (34 hrs after the main shock). The Digisonde recorded MSTID and spread F, while plasma irregularities were detected by Swarm LP instrument at an altitude of ~ 450 km, demonstrating a case of bottomside/topside ionosphere coupling.

The plot to the left presents the ionospheric characteristics observed in Boa Vista Digisonde. The red line corresponds to the time of the earthquake onset and the two dashed black lines correspond to the Swarm A pass over the Digisonde. The plots to the right present the topside electron density characteristics detected with Swarm A satellite LP instrument during the two passes over the Digisonde.