Preseismic Perturbations and their Inhomogeneity as Computed from Ground- and Space-Based Investigation during the 2016 Fukushima Earthquake

Abstract

We present the atmospheric anomalies instigated through seismogenic sources by a multichannel observation using ground- and satellite-based systems. This study emphasizes the seismic event which happened on the east coast of Japan, near the Fukushima Prefecture on November 21, 2016 (in UTC), with a magnitude of 6.9 and a depth of 11.4 km. We mainly focus on the atmospheric and ionospheric irregularities via acoustic and electromagnetic channels originating from earthquakes in the process of the lithosphere, atmosphere, and ionospheric coupling (LAIC) mechanism. In the acoustic channel, we study the seismogenic atmospheric gravity wave (AGW) which perturbs the local lower atmosphere. The observation of nighttime fluctuations in the very low frequency (VLF) signals and total electron content (TEC) is used to investigate the atmospheric perturbation through the electromagnetic channel. For the ground-based observations, a VLF signal network consisting of 5 receivers in Japan is used to study by recording the VLF amplitude transmitted from the Japanese transmitter JJI (22.2 kHz). VLF nighttime fluctuation is used to check the unusualities due to the earthquake. Preseismic wavelike structures having periods of AGW are observed in the nighttime signal. Direct investigation of such AGWs is done by computing the potential energy related to AGW from the sounding of the atmosphere using broadband emission radiometry (SABER) temperature profiles mounted on the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite. Ionospheric TEC inspection is done by using a ground-based global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver from the International GNSS Survey (IGS) station MIZU in Japan and observing anomalies in diurnal TEC around 6 and 10 days prior to the earthquake. We also obtain the wavelike structure of AGW from the small-scale fluctuation of TEC using wavelet analysis. All the parameters are found to be preseismic for this earthquake; the acoustics channel gives more consistent outcomes than the electromagnetic channel.