Investigation of lonotphmc perturbation due to Seismic activity using satellite and ground based observations

There is some intriguing research about whether large magnitude earthquakes are associated with ionospheric changes caused by electromagnetic signals released by the crushing of rock and their crystalline structures. If so then ionospheric changes might be a mechanism for major earthquake prediction. Prior to some recent quakes, scientists have detected electromagnetic and other disturbances in the ionosphere, the planet’s tenuous envelope of charged particles extending from about 80 to 1000 kilometres up and above “ There are definitely hints of something happening in the region of earthquakes before the earth moves”. Says Colin Price a geophysicist al Tel Aviv University Israel. . Seismo ionospheric effects cover a variety of phenomenon starting from the bottom side of the ionosphere (D-layer) to upper ionosphere up to the magnetosphere: This involves the variations of plasma parameters, electromagnetic emissions in a large frequency ranges, perturbations of ionospheric layers, anomalies recorded in the VLF transmitter signals, night airglow observations etc. There appear macroscopic changes in the ionospheric parameters above future epicenters prior to the occurrence of earthquakes. They are the variation of ion composition, electron concentration, scale height, electron temperature etc which could be measured, experimentally from ground and various experiments onboard satellites. The lithosphereatmosphereionosphere coupling is a very complicated subject involving a lot of physical effects and the interactions on all levels starting from underground up to the earth’s ionosphere. There is a natural divide in the subject reflected in the existence of two groups of scientists. One of them is involved in studies of seismo-eiectromagnetie phenomena expressed mainly in electromagnetic emissions and fields associated with seismic activity and another one dealing with ionospheric and space plasma variations observed before and after the earthquakes. The earth’s ionosphere is composed of partially ionized gases that envelop the earth and its regular behavior is interpreted in terms of solar and geomagnetic activity.