Observing the Ionospheric Signature of Ocean Tsunamis Using GPS Total Electron Content

Details Observing the Ionospheric Signature of Ocean Tsunamis Using GPS Total Electron Content Observing the Ionospheric Signature of Ocean Tsunamis Using GPS Total Electron Content

Dec 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsa51e..05g&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SA51E-05

Physics

[2427] Ionosphere / Ionosphere/Atmosphere Interactions, [2435] Ionosphere / Ionospheric Disturbances, [2494] Ionosphere / Instruments And Techniques, [4200] Oceanography: General

Scientific paper

Ocean tsunami wavelengths are sufficiently long to produce atmospheric internal gravity waves that propagate up to the ionosphere, creating disturbances in ionospheric electron density that travel with the ocean waves below. Such traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) can be observed using measurements of integrated ionospheric electron density (known as total electron content, or TEC) between Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites and receivers on the ground. GPS receivers onboard satellites in low Earth orbit, such as in the COSMIC constellation of radio-occultation measurement satellites, may also be useful in observing these tsunami-driven TIDs. Ground-based GPS TEC observations show variations consistent with tsunami-driven internal gravity waves in several recent events we have investigated, including the American Samoa tsunami of September 2009, and the Chile tsunami of February 2010. Fluctuations in TEC correlated in time, space, and wave properties with these tsunamis were observed in TEC estimates processed using JPL’s Global Ionospheric Mapping Software. These TEC estimates were band-pass filtered to remove variations with wavelengths and periods outside the typical range of internal gravity waves caused by tsunamis. Significant TEC variations were not always seen when a tsunami was present, but the regions where a strong tsunami was observed coincided with clear TEC variations, while a lack of clear TEC variations coincided with smaller tsunami amplitudes. Where variations were observed, the typical amplitude has been found to be on the order of 1% of the background TEC measurement. These observations are compared to estimates of TEC perturbations produced by the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University’s Spectral Full Wave Model, an atmosphere-ionosphere coupling model. The potential exists to apply these detection techniques to real-time GPS TEC measurements, providing estimates of tsunami speed and amplitude that may be useful for early warning systems. Analysis techniques that may be automated, such as singular spectrum analysis, can potentially contribute to the goal of real-time identification of tsunami-driven TIDs.

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