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Abstract.A decade of NOAA-15 particle flux data offers an opportunity to test claims of correlations between seismic activity and effects on the ionosphere. Over the last two decades, potentially interesting observations in the ionosphere-magnetosphere transition region have been investigated. Specifically these consists of anomalous particle fluxes detected by several space experiments and correlated with the earthquake occurrence. These particle fluxes are characterised by anomalous short-term and sharp increases in high energy particle counting rates, referred to as particle bursts. In this work, more general rules for particle bursts selection have been defined and tested on the NOAA database, for particles inside and outside the South Atlantic Anomaly region. The whole period of ten years burst activity from NOAA-15 database is reported. Data from four satellites, NOAA-15, 16, 17 and 18, were analyzed during periods of solar quiet activity in connection with strong earthquakes, revealing presence of bursts detected on more than one satellite close to the time of the same seismic events. This preliminary study presented here concentrates on periods of major Indonesian earthquakes from 1998 to date, including Sumatra event M=9, during which geomagnetic Ap index was less than 16 and with no sudden ionospheric disturbances. During this period particle burst temporal distributions have shown some correspondence with earthquake times. The limits of the analysis presented in this papers are discussed as well as prospects for future work.

A seven-month collection of testimonials about the 6 April 2009 earthquake in Aquila, Abruzzo region, Italy, was compiled into a catalogue of non-seismic phenomena. Luminous phenomena were often reported starting about nine months before the strong shock and continued until about five months after the shock. A summary and list of the characteristics of these sightings was made according to 20th century classifications and a comparison was made with the Galli outcomes. These sightings were distributed over a large area around the city of Aquila, with a major extension to the north, up to 50 km. Various earthquake lights were correlated with several landscape characteristics and the source and dynamic of the earthquake. Some preliminary considerations on the location of the sightings suggest a correlation between electrical discharges and asperities, while flames were mostly seen along the Aterno Valley

NOAA polar orbiting satellite electron flux data have been studied for their time correlations with earthquakes. Electron and proton bursts have also been studied when precipitating into the atmosphere, in order to distinguish correlations with seismic activity from seasonal variations of particle fluxes and solar activity. Data from the dusk/noon NOAA-15 have been analysed using a set of adiabatic coordinates. Specifically, electron and proton data from July 1998 to December 2014 have been compared with nearly 1500 main shocks occurring worldwide during the same period, all with magnitudes greater than or equal to 6. When considering 30 -100 keV precipitating electron bursts, detected by the vertical NOAA-15 telescope and earthquake epicentre projections at altitudes greater than 1400 km, a significant correlation was observed. The electron precipitation excesses were detected 2 -3 hrs prior to large seismic events. The stability of this correlation was observed also when considering different electron bursts at each satellite semi-orbit; even if the correlation distribution was no longer a Poissonian. The significance of the correlation peak was evaluated utilising a super-Poissonian distribution. The observation of precipitating electron bursts was used to calculate an increasing probability of strong earthquake occurrence for the Indonesian Region. Citation:Fidani, C., 2018: Improving earthquake forecasting by correlations between strong earthquakes and NOAA electron bursts. Terr. Atmos.

Simple SummaryEarthquakes have been seldom associated with reported non-seismic phenomena observed weeks before and after shocks. Non-seismic phenomena are characterized by radio disturbances and light emissions as well as degassing of vast areas near the epicenter with chemical alterations of shallow geospheres (aquifers, soils) and the troposphere. Many animals are sensitive to even the weakest changes in the environment, typically responding with behavioral and physiological changes. A specific questionnaire was developed to collect data on these changes around the time of the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake.AbstractThe April 6, 2009 L’Aquila earthquake was the strongest seismic event to occur in Italy over the last thirty years with a magnitude of M = 6.3. Around the time of the seismic swarm many instruments were operating in Central Italy, even if not dedicated to biological effects associated with the stress field variations, including seismicity. Testimonies were collected using a specific questionnaire immediately after the main shock, including data on earthquake lights, gas leaks, human diseases, and irregular animal behavior. The questionnaire was made up of a sequence of arguments, based upon past historical earthquake observations and compiled over seven months after the main shock. Data on animal behavior, before, during and after the main shocks, were analyzed in space/time distributions with respect to the epicenter area, evidencing the specific responses of different animals. Several instances of strange animal behavior were observed which could causally support the hypotheses that they were induced by the physical presence of gas, electric charges and electromagnetic waves in atmosphere. The aim of this study was to order the biological observations and thereby allow future work to determine whether these observations were influenced by geophysical parameters.