[Space Science] 921 Chi-Chi Earthquake Caused Coseismic Ionospheric Disturbances, NCU Scientists Find Proof

[Space Science] 921 Chi-Chi Earthquake Caused Coseismic Ionospheric Disturbances, NCU Scientists Find Proof (Chinese Version)

National Education Radio (2010/09/21) A research team of National Central University (NCU) has proved that the waves into the space caused by the vibration of the force of 921 Chi-Chi earthquake should be magnified more than ten thousand times when entering the space. Consequently, the GPS (global positioning system) in the space would be disturbed. The team uses the signals of the disturbances to back-infer the observed earthquake and finds a new direction for earthquake prediction. The findings have been published in the new issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research.

During an earthquake, the atmospheric disturbances cause waves like sound waves, said Professor Jann-Yenq LIU, Institute of Space Science, NCU. Because the atmospheric density decreases gradually when adding up the altitude, with the law of the conservation of energy, the energy of the waves gets magnified from ten to one hundred thousand times. That is, an eight-meter surface dislocation on earth may cause an eighty-kilometer space dislocation. Reversely, with the information of the coseismic ionospheric disturbances, the information of the coseismic source on earth can be traced.

Associate Professor Horng-Yuan YEN, Department of Earth Science, NCU, said, GPS signals would be disturbed by the earthquakes as well. The causal relationship can be used for earthquake prediction. YEN pointed out, as long as we analyze the time lag data of the GPS transmission, the earthquake center on earth surface can be inferred. The data will become important bases for the investigation of earthquake prediction.


Reference:
National Education Radio 2010/09/21 (Chinese)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
National Science Council International Cooperation Sci-Tech Newsbrief
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



(編輯記錄)