Ionospheric fluctuations inferred from observations of total electron content have previously been attributed to tsunamis and have confirmed the strong coupling between Earth’s ocean and ionosphere via atmospheric gravity waves (AGWs). To further advance our understanding of this wave coupling process we employ a linear full-wave model and a nonlinear time-dependent model to examine the ionospheric response to the AGW perturbations induced by the 2004 Sumatra and the 2011 Tohoku tsunamis. In the 2004 case, our modeling analyses reveal that one component of the propagating AGWs becomes dynamically unstable in the E-region ionosphere at a range exceeding 2000 km in a direction 340° clockwise from north. Another component becomes convectively unstable in the E-region ionosphere at a range exceeding 700 km in a direction 250° clockwise from north. In the 2011 case, a significant enhancement in the ionospheric disturbance occurs in a direction northwest from the epicenter about 1 h following the tsunami onset, in general agreement with observations. Our simulations also indicate that the AGW propagating toward the southeast is responsible for a traveling ionospheric disturbance that remains of an observable amplitude for over 4 h during which time it propagates horizontally almost 4000 km.

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Ionospheric signatures of gravity waves produced by the 2004 Sumatra and 2011 Tohoku tsunamis: A modeling study

Tsunamis propagating along the ocean surface generate internal gravity waves which can be detected in the atmosphere and ionosphere using airglow or total electron content (TEC) measurements. Since the late 1960s, the summation of the seismic normal modes of the Earth allows to simulate the seismic ground motions measured by seismometers. We present a detailed case study of the same technique extended to the whole solid Earth–ocean–atmosphere system and show how the extended normal modes can be used to retrieve the tsunami signature not only in the ocean but also in the atmosphere and the ionosphere. On the example of the tsunami triggered by the 2012 Mw = 7.8 Haida Gwaii earthquake, we illustrate the coupling mechanisms under play and investigate in details the propagation properties of Lamb modes, atmospheric gravity modes and tsunami modes. The computed normal modes show a resonance between the tsunami modes and the atmospheric gravity modes at specific frequencies: 1.5, 2 and 2.5 mHz. We highlight that only the 1.5 mHz resonance of the tsunami modes can survive up to the ionospheric heights. Other remarkable features are also presented, such as the arrival of fundamental mode gravity waves prior to the (extended in the atmosphere) tsunami wave and the increased ocean/atmosphere coupling efficiency for larger ocean depths and during daytime. At last, for the purpose of validating the technique, we apply it to three real tsunami events and evaluate how well we quantitatively reconstruct the main features of the sea level anomaly measured by Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis buoys and the global positioning system (GPS)-derived TEC perturbation.

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01737686/document

Tsunami modeling with solid Earth–ocean–atmosphere coupled normal modes

Many characteristics of tsunami-driven gravity waves (TDGWs) enable them to easily propagate into the thermosphere and ionosphere with appreciable amplitudes capable of producing detectable perturbations in electron densities and total electron content (TEC). The impact of vertically varying background and tidal wind structures on TDGW propagation is investigated with a series of idealized background wind profiles to assess the relative importance of wave reflection, critical-level approach, and dissipation. These numerical simulations employ a 2D non-linear anelastic finite-volume neutral atmosphere model which accounts for effects accompanying vertical GW propagation such as amplitude growth with altitude. The GWs are excited by an idealized tsunami forcing with a 50 cm sea-surface displacement, a 400 km horizontal wavelength, and a phase speed of 200 ms-1 consistent with previous studies of the tsunami generated by the 26 December 2004 Sumatra earthquake. Results indicate that, rather than partial reflection and trapping, the dominant process governing TDGW propagation to thermospheric altitudes is refraction to larger and smaller vertical scales, resulting in respectively larger and smaller vertical group velocities and respectively reduced and increased viscous dissipation. Under all considered background wind profiles TDGWs were able to attain ionospheric altitudes with appreciable amplitudes. Finally, evidence of non-linear effects is observed and the conditions leading to their formation is discussed.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/2016JD025673

Tsunami-driven gravity waves in the presence of vertically varying background and tidal wind structures

In this paper, we study the 10 traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) observed at zobs∼283 km by the TIDDBIT ionospheric sounder on 30 October 2007 at 0400-0700 UT near Wallops Island, USA. These TIDs propagated northwest/northward, and were found to be secondary gravity waves (GWs) from tropical storm Noel [Vadas and Crowley, 2010]. An instrumented sounding rocket simultaneously measured a large neutral wind peak uH′ with a similar azimuth at z ∼ 325 km [Earle et al., 2010]. Using the measured TID amplitudes and wavevectors from the TIDDBIT system, together with ion-neutral theory, GW dissipative polarization relations and ray tracing, we determine the GW neutral horizontal wind and density perturbations as a function of altitude from 220 to 380 km. We find that there is a serious discrepancy between the GW dissipative theory and the observations unless the molecular viscosity, μ, decreases with altitude in the mid to upper thermosphere. Assuming that μ∝ρ¯q, where ρ¯ is the density, we find using GW dissipative theory that the GWs could have been observed at zobs and that one or more of the GWs could have caused the uH′ wind peak at z≃325 km if q ∼ 0.67 for z≥220 km. This implies that the kinematic viscosity, ν=μ/ρ¯, increases less slowly with altitude for z≥220 km: ν∝1/ρ¯0.33. This dependence makes sense because as ρ¯→0, the distance between molecules goes to infinity, which implies no molecular collisions and therefore no molecular viscosity μ.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/2016JA023828

Neutral wind and density perturbations in the thermosphere created by gravity waves observed by the TIDDBIT sounder

The first 5.3 years of magnetic data from three Swarm satellites have been systematically analyzed, and possible co-seismic magnetic disturbances in the ionosphere were investigated just a few minutes after the occurrence of large earthquakes. We preferred to limit the investigation to a subset of earthquakes selected in function of depth and magnitude. After a systematic inspection of the available data around (in time and space) the seismic events, we found 12 Swarm satellite tracks with co-seismic disturbances possibly produced by ten earthquakes from Mw5.6 to Mw6.9. The distance of the satellite to the earthquake epicenter corresponds to the measured distance-time arrival of the disturbance from the surface to the ionosphere, confirming that the identified disturbances are most likely produced by the seismic events. Secondly, we found a good agreement with a model that combined a propagation of the disturbance to the F2 ionospheric layer with an acoustic gravity wave at a velocity of about (2.2 ± 0.3) km/s and a second faster phenomenon that transmits the disturbance from F2 layer to the Swarm satellite with a velocity of about (16 ± 3) km/s as an electromagnetic scattering propagation.

Co-Seismic Magnetic Field Perturbations Detected by Swarm Three-Satellite Constellation

Previous GPS observations have revealed that while ionospheric TIDs were seen propagating in all directions away from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake epicenter, the total electron content (TEC) fluctuations associated with the subsequent tsunami were largest for waves propagating toward the northwest of the epicenter. Ionospheric motions observed approximately 10 min after the earthquake were attributed to fast acoustic waves directly produced by the earthquake. Waves that first appeared about 40 min after the tsunami onset in TEC measurements were attributed to atmospheric gravity waves. In this paper, we conjecture that the remarkably different responses observed for the eastward and westward propagating waves noted in previous observations can be explained by the different ocean depths associated with the two directions of travel and by the effects of the mean winds. The former has consequences for the generated gravity waves (wave spectrum), while their combination has consequences for the ability of the waves to propagate to higher altitudes. Because the ocean depth to the east of the epicenter is greater than that to the west, the eastward propagating tsunami travels faster than the westward propagating tsunami; and hence, the eastward propagating gravity waves that are generated will be faster than the westward waves. We demonstrate that the faster eastward waves encounter regions of evanescence that inhibits their upward propagation, with the result that the westward propagating waves reach the lower thermosphere sooner and with much larger amplitudes than those of the eastward propagating waves. However, at much higher altitudes the slower westward propagating waves are severely damped by viscosity, with the result that only the eastward propagating waves survive to F region altitudes. These results are clearly seen in our full-wave model simulations and also in the evolution of the wave momentum flux calculated using our 2-D, time-dependent model.

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Zhiyu Yan

Papers

Lower thermospheric response to atmospheric gravity waves induced by the 2011 Tohoku tsunami