Post-seismic ionospheric response to the 11 April 2012 East Indian Ocean doublet earthquake

Abstract

The 11 April 2012 East Indian Ocean earthquake is unique because of its largest ever recorded aftershock. The main earthquake occurred with a magnitude of 8.6 Mw and was followed by a strong aftershock (8.2 Mw). Our analysis of the main shock indicates that the rupture was a mixture of strike-slip and thrust faults, and significant vertical surface displacements were observed during the event. The prime interest here is to study the post-seismic ionospheric disturbances, along with their characteristics. As both earthquakes had large magnitudes, they provided an opportunity to minimize the ambiguity in identifying the corresponding seismic-induced ionospheric disturbances. Approximately 10 min after both seismic events, the nearby ionosphere started to manifest electron density perturbations that were investigated using GPS-TEC measurements. The epicenters of both events were located south of the magnetic equator, and it is believed that the varying magnetic field inclination might be responsible for the observed north-south asymmetry in the post-seismic total electron content (TEC) disturbances. These disturbances are observed to propagate up to approximately 1,500 km towards the north side of the epicenter and up to only a few hundred kilometers on the south side. The frequency analysis of the post-seismic TEC disturbances after both earthquakes exhibits the dominant presence of acoustic frequencies varying between approximately 4.0 to 6.0 mHz. The estimated propagation velocities of the post-seismic TEC disturbances during the main shock (0.89 km/s) and aftershock (0.77 km/s) confirm the presence of an acoustic frequency as the generative mode for the observed TEC fluctuations.