HIGH RESOLUTION GPS TOTAL ELECTRON CONTENT (TEC) MAP OF

IONOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES AFTER LARGE EARTHQUAKES

Nadiatul Fatiha binti Hussin, Alina Marie Hasbi, Mardina Abdullah
Abstract: This paper proposes a research on high resolution Global Positioning System (GPS)
total electron content map of ionospheric disturbances after large earthquakes. Ionospheric
disturbances response to earthquake can be observed by total electron content variations. In this
project the total electron content will be map to indicate the mechanism movement on
ionospheric disturbances after earthquake.

I. INTRODUCTION

Doppler sounding technique was used in 1960s to detect the occurrence of ionospheric
disturbances after large earthquakes (Yuen et al. 1969). Nowadays, with the increasing number
of continuous GPS receiver station, ionospheric disturbances after large earthquakes can be
observed by GPS based on variation of Total Electron Content (TEC). TEC is referring to the
number of electrons integrated along the line-of-sights (Heki and Ping 2005). During an
earthquake, the vertical crustal movement causes the changes on the Earth’s atmosphere and
excites atmospheric waves (Tsugawa et al. 2011; Otsuka et al. 2004). The atmospheric waves are
believed to have propagated up to the thermosphere thus modulating the ionospheric plasma
density. This causes variations in TEC known as co-seismic the ionospheric disturbances.

The scope of this is to investigate the co-seismic ionospheric disturbances in the Sumatran
region. The GPS data will be collected from the GPS receivers of Sumatran GPS Array
(SUGAR) and the Malaysian Mapping and Surveying Department (JUPEM) GPS receivers
station surrounding the strong earthquake epicenter with M>7. There is not many research done
for investigation on the propagation parameters such as directivity, horizontal velocity, period
and time lag of the co-seismic ionospheric disturbances in the Sumatran region. This problem
leads to the objectives of this project.

The objectives of this project are:

1) To investigate the ionospheric disturbances after the large earthquake event in Sumatran
region using high resolution GPS total electron content maps.

2) To analyze the TEC factors that influence the co-seismic ionospheric disturbances
This research proposal are organized as follows. In section II, the literature review of this project
is presented. Next, in section III the research methodology used in this project is illustrated. The
project progress planning is put in the work schedule in section IV. This project is concluded in
section V and finally, the reference used for now are listed in section VI.
 II. LITERATURE REVIEW

a. Ionospheric disturbances
Co-seismic ionospheric disturbances occur because the propagation of atmospheric waves
excited by the earthquake reach the ionosphere and they cause the irregularities in the
ionospheric electron density (Heki et al. 2006). The ionospheric disturbances caused by
atmospheric waves can be summarized to three sources (Heki et al. 2006). The first source is
called direct atmospheric acoustic wave from the focal area. The second source is gravity
atmospheric wave propagating obliquely upward from the focal area or from propagating
tsunami. The third is source is referred as secondary acoustic wave excited in areas away from
the epicenter by the Rayleigh surface wave. The atmospheric waves are illustrated in Figure
1.The properties of each atmospheric acoustic wave are presented in Table 1.

Fig. 1: Three types of atmospheric waves could cause ionospheric disturbances and observe by
GPS-TEC variation (Heki et al. 2006)

No. Ionospheric disturbances sources Horizontal velocity Period (s)

(m/s)
1. Direct acoustic wave 700 – 1200 240 – 300
2. Gravity wave 200 – 250 600 – 1200
3. Secondary acoustic wave (Rayleigh 3500 225
surface wave)
Table 1: Properties of ionospheric disturbances sources
 

 
b. Total electron content (TEC)
GPS-TEC can be acquired from the parameters in GPS receiver data which are differential phase
advance (L1-L2) and differential group delay (P1-P2) (Hasbie et al. 2005). Otsuka et al. 2006
also mentioned that carrier phase delays and group delays (P-code pseudoranges) are parameters
of dual frequency provided by the GPS receiver station. The parameters are proportional to the
TEC along the line of sight satellite and receiver station. Useful information regarding
ionospheric disturbances can be provided by the GPS-TEC. Therefore, TEC is an important
measurement to investigate ionospheric disturbances after large earthquake.

III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The project is about investigation on the ionospheric disturbances after the earthquake event in
Sumatra. Investigation is by using high resolution GPS-TEC maps. In order to conduct the
investigation, first is to collect GPS data from various networks, surrounding strong earthquake
epicentres (M>7) over Sumatra. Second, derive the TEC from the pseudo-ranges and phases of
the dual frequency GPS signals. Next is detrending the TEC measurement to remove long term
variations so we only focus on the investigation for short and medium period ionospheric
disturbances due to earthquakes. Based on the detected ionospheric disturbances, the parameters
on propagation wave such as direction, velocity and time lag is going to be calculated
determined. Figure 2 illustrates the flowchart diagram for the project.

Data Processing
-extract GPS observables
GPS Data Collection L1, L2
- Use the information to
calculate TEC
Detrending
Co-sismic ionosperic
disturbances
identification
- TEC (deterend) = TEC
(raw) – TEC (filtered)

Calculation and
Co-seismic analysis Understanding of the
determination of
through TEC maps physical mechanism of
propagation
ionospheric disturbances
parameters

Fig. 2: Flowchart diagram of the project

 IV. WORK SCHEDULE
 

Phase Activities Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May

Pre Project Title Selection

Project Literature Review
Research Proposal
Sem I writing
GPS Data Collection
Data Processing (To
produce TEC)
Sem II Detrending TEC
Coeismic Analysis
through TEC maps
Calculation and
determination of
propagation parameters
Understanding of the
physical
mechanism of
ionospheric
disturbances
Thesis writing

V. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, ionospheric disturbances can be observed by TEC variations. The TEC values can
be calculated from parameters provided by GPS receiver stations surrounding the earthquake.
The propagation parameters of atmospheric wave could also be determined by analyzing the
TEC map.

VI. REFERENCE
Hasbi, A. M., Momani, M. A., Mohd Ali, M. A., Misran, N., Shiokawa, K., Otsuka, Y. &
Yumoto, K. 2009. Ionospheeric and geomagnetic disturbances during the 2005
Sumatran earthquakes. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 71.
Heki, K. & Ping, J. 2005. Directivity and apparent velocity of the coseismic ionospheric
disturbances observed with a dense GPS array. Earth and Planetary Science Letters
236: 845-855.
Heki, K., Otsuka, Y., Choosakul, N., Hemmakorn, N., Komolmis, T. & Maruyama, T. 2006.
Detection of ruptures of Andaman fault segments in the 2004 great Sumatra earthquake
with coseismic ionospheric disturbances. Journal of Geophysical Research 111.
Tsugawa, T., Saito, A., Otsuka, Y., Nishioka, M., Maruyama, T., Kato, H., Nagatsuma, T. &
Murata, K. T. 2001. Ionospheric disturbances detected by GPS total electron content
observation after the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake. Earth Planets
Space 63: 875-879.
Otsuka, Y., Kotake, N., Tsugawa, T., Shiokawa, K., Ogawa, T., Effendy, Saito, S., Kawamura,
M., Maruyama, T., Hemmakorn, N., & Komolmis, T. 2006. GPS detection of total
electron content variations over Indonesia and Thailand following the 26 December
2004 earthquake. Earth Planets Space 58: 159-165.
Yuen, P. C., Weaver, P. F. & Suzuki, R. K. 1969. Continuous, traveling coupling between
seismic waves and the ionosphere evident in May 1968 Japan earthquake data. Journal
of Geophysical Research 74(9): 2256– 2264.