Electromagnetic anomaly before earthquakes measured by electromagnetic experiments

Three experiments are carried out for earthquake monitoring using electromagnetic （EM） methods in recent years. Some earthquakes occurred in chance of the measurement time period for each experiment and the anomalies were recorded before the shocks. The observation at a site 20 km away from the epicenter of Zhangbei Ms6.2 earthquake in 1998 shows that the apparent resistivity decreases in the strike direction before and/or during the earthquake and the resistivity increases in the decline direction. This anomalous variation in apparent resistivity accounts for about 20%. The apparent resistivities at a site in the epicentral area decrease in the strike and decline directions before and/or during the earthquake and increase after shocks. The experiments using artificial electromagnetic signals with super low frequency carried out in 1999 show that the resolution and stability of electric and magnetic spectra are improved. The spectra of electric and magnetic fields and apparent resistivity at the Baodi station began to anomalously change two days before the Qian＇an earthquake with 120 km distant to the station. The anomalous variation of electric and magnetic spectra is about twice as great as normal variation and the apparent resistivity changes by about 20%. The measurements in active seismic area of Yunnan province in the year 2005 indicate that the electric and magnetic spectra anomalously change by one order before the Taoyuan earthquake about 100 km away from the observatories. But the measurements at the sites in Beijing area 2 000 km away from the epicenter do not show any anomaly.

Detecting seismic electromagnetic ELF anomalies associated with the 2010 Yushu earthquake in China by DEMETER observations and ELF Lithosphere-Atmosphere-Ionosphere coupling propagating model

Over the last century,abnormal electromagnetic(EM)emissions associated with earthquake(EQ)activities have been widely reported and recorded by ground-based and satellite observations.However,the frequency at which abnormal EM emissions have been detected varies.In addition,whether low Earth orbit(LEO)satellites can detect EM anomalies from EQs remains controversial.In this paper,we take the Yushu earthquake as an example to address these concerns by DEMETER satellite observations and a newly constructed lithosphere-atmosphere-ionosphere model of extremely low frequency(ELF)wave propagation.The results illustrate that the frequency of ELF EM anomalies of the Yushu earthquake is mainly at 200–400 Hz.The observations and simulations illustrate that the power-frequency curve of the ELF EM wave from an underground source has a peak power frequency at 200–400 Hz,which is significantly different from the ELF EM wave radiated from the ground source.