Resumen de On the detection of ionospheric waves, relationship with earthquakes and tsunamis
Heng Yang
The research of this thesis addresses the detection and characterization of ionospheric waves and its application to traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) induced by the natural events, such as earthquakes and tsunamis. The characterization is done from regional detrended Vertical Total Electron Content (VTEC) maps which are obtained from a set of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) satellites. Note that from the mathematical and signal-processing point of view, the problem presents two key difficulties that are (a) the fact that ionospheric sampling is nonuniform, with different density of samples that somehow reflect the distribution of stations over the earth surface, and (b), that the estimation method can not introduce any constraints in the number of disturbances and their propagation parameters.
In the first contribution of the thesis, we propose a method for detecting the number of simultaneous TIDs from a time series of high-pass-filtered VTEC maps and their parameters. The method, which we refer to as the Atomic Decomposition Detector of TIDs (ADDTID), is tested on the detrended VTEC map corresponding to a simulated realistic scenario from the dense GNSS network, Global Positioning System Earth Observation Network (GEONET) in Japan. The contribution consists of the detection of the exact number of independent TIDs from a nonuniform sampling of the ionospheric pierce points. The solution to the problem is set as the estimation of the representative perturbations from a dictionary of atoms that span a linear space of possible TIDs by means of a variation of the LASSO algorithm. These atoms consist of plane waves characterized by a wavelength, direction, and phase on a surface defined, the part of the ionosphere sounded by the GNSS observation.
As the second contribution, we apply ADDTID on actual VTEC data to the GEONET network. We have studied the Medium Scale TIDs (MSTIDs) during the Spring Equinox day of 21 March 2011. The geophysical contribution is: (a) detection of circular MSTID waves compatible by time and center with a specific earthquake; (b) simultaneous superposition of two distinct MSTIDs, with almost the same azimuth; and (c) the presence of nighttime MSTIDs with velocities in the range 400-600 m/s.
In the third contribution we provide a detailed characterization of the TIDs originated from the total solar eclipse of 21 August 2017, the shadow of which crossed the United States from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean. This can be modeled in part as if the umbra and penumbra were moving cylinders that intersects with variable elevation angle a curved surface. The result of this is reflected in the time evolution of the TID wavelengths produced by the eclipse, which depend on the vertical angle of the sun with the surface of the earth, and also a double bow wave phenomenon, where the bow waves are generated in advance to the umbra. Finally, we detected a clear pattern of MSTIDs, which appeared in advance of the penumbra, which we could hypothesize as soliton waves associated with the bow wave.
In the fourth contribution we characterized the MSTIDs generated during the Japan Tohoku earthquake of 11 March 2011. We found: (a) a confirmation of the performance of the algorithm in face of simultaneous multi-TID, the robustness to the curvature of the wave fronts of the perturbations and the accuracy of the estimated parameters. The results were double checked by the additional visual inspection from VTEC maps and keogram plots; (b) The detection of different wave fronts between the west and east MSTIDs around the epicenter, consistent in time and space with the post-earthquake tsunami; (c) The complete evolution of the circular MSTIDs driven by the tsunami during the GNSS observable area; (d) The detection of the fast and short circular TIDs related to the acoustic waves of earthquake.
