Electric field and infrared radiation in the troposphere before earthquakes

• Published in: Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
• Main Authors: V. A. Liperovsky, C.-V. Meister, V. V. Mikhailin, V. V. Bogdanov, P. M. Umarkhodgaev, E. V. Liperovskaya
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2011
• Subjects: Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering; TD1-1066; Geography. Anthropology. Recreation; G; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Geology; QE1-996.5; Kamchatka
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-11-3125-2011; https://doaj.org/article/914240adf8274ef1979f5d94058314bf

Some years ago, a model of the generation of local electric fields in the atmosphere a few days before earthquakes and up to a few days after the seismic shock was proposed. In the model, the generation of the electric fields occurs because of an increased ionisation intensity of the atmosphere in the presence of aerosols. The generation of the electric field is the result of the fact that the larger aerosols, which are mainly negatively charged, have a larger velocity of gravitational precipitation than the smaller, which are mainly positively charged aerosols. The ionisation in such atmospheric regions is caused by radon, the concentration of which increases in earthquake preparation regions. The formation of mosaic-likely distributed areas of electric fields with intensities of 3 × 10 2 – 10 5 Vm −1 and, on the other hand, large areas with increased electrical conductivity cause a series of physical effects, e.g. the occurrence of infrared emissions with a specific spectrum, which may be studied using earth-based, atmospheric and satellite observations. In the present paper, the model of the generation of local electric fields is further developed, improving the description of the force balance on the aerosols in the atmosphere. A recently proposed laboratory experiment is briefly discussed, which is carried out to prove the theoretically predicted intensification of infrared emissions some hours-days before earthquakes. Besides the experiment described, it will be operated on Kamchatka in the near future to scan mosaic-likely distributed regions of electric fields in the atmosphere during earthquake preparation times.