Co-seismic magnetic field perturbations detected by swarm three-satellite constellation

Abstract

The first 5.3 years of magnetic data from three Swarm satellites have been systematically analyzed, and possible co-seismic magnetic disturbances in the ionosphere were investigated just a few minutes after the occurrence of large earthquakes. We preferred to limit the investigation to a subset of earthquakes selected in function of depth and magnitude. After a systematic inspection of the available data around (in time and space) the seismic events, we found 12 Swarm satellite tracks with co-seismic disturbances possibly produced by ten earthquakes from Mw5.6 to Mw6.9. The distance of the satellite to the earthquake epicenter corresponds to the measured distance-time arrival of the disturbance from the surface to the ionosphere, confirming that the identified disturbances are most likely produced by the seismic events. Secondly, we found a good agreement with a model that combined a propagation of the disturbance to the F2 ionospheric layer with an acoustic gravity wave at a velocity of about (2.2 ± 0.3) km/s and a second faster phenomenon that transmits the disturbance from F2 layer to the Swarm satellite with a velocity of about (16 ± 3) km/s as an electromagnetic scattering propagation.