Recent Advances and Challenges in the Seismo-Electromagnetic Study: A Brief Review

Abstract

Due to their potential application in earthquake forecasting, seismo-electromagnetic phenomena were intensively studied for several decades all over the world. At present, measurements from ground to space have accumulated a large amount of observation data, proving an excellent opportunity for seismo-electromagnetic study. Using a variety of analytical methods to examine past earthquake events, many electromagnetic changes associated with earthquakes have been independently reported, supporting the existence of pre-earthquake anomalies. This study aimed to give a brief review of the seismo-electromagnetic studies preceding earthquakes and to discuss possible ways for the application of seismo-electromagnetic signals at the current stage. In general, seismo-electromagnetic signals can be classified into electric and magnetic changes in the lithosphere and perturbations in the atmosphere. We start with seismo-electromagnetic research in the lithosphere, and then we review the studies in the lower atmosphere and upper atmosphere, including some latest topics that aroused intense scholarly interest. The potential mechanisms of seismo-electromagnetic phenomena are also discussed. It was found that although a number of statistical tests show that electromagnetic anomalies may contain predictive information for major earthquakes, with probability gains of approximately 2–6, it is still difficult to make use of seismo-electromagnetic signals efficiently in practice. To address this, finally, we put forward some preliminary ideas about how to apply the seismo-electromagnetic information in earthquake forecasting.

Earthquakes and related anomalous electromagnetic radiation

“…the induced magnetic field will also be polarized due to the polarization of the OY component (Figure 1). These magnetic field anomalies can also be observed in nature during earthquakes [Bleier, et al, 2009[Bleier, et al, , 2010Chen et al, 2013Chen et al, , 2022Hayakawa et al, 2019Hayakawa et al, , 2022.…”

An earthquake precursor mobile network

“…1). These magnetic field anomalies can also be observed in nature during earthquakes (Liu, et al, 2006;Bleier, et al, 2009Bleier, et al, , 2010Chen C. H.,, et al, 2013;Chen, H et al, 2022;Hayakawa et al, 1996Hayakawa et al, , 2019Hayakawa et al, , 2021 The electric field at the separating border of two mediums -the earth, and atmosphere -suffers discontinuation, but the induced magnetic field spreads in the zone between the earth and the ionosphere, creating a polarized eddy electric field in the atmosphere.…”

Global correlations of the Earth's magnetic field and their connection with strong earthquakes

“…The study of the relationship between the magnetic field and the seismic process is a traditional research topic [Chen et al, 2022;Jin et al, 2015]. In [Duma and Ruzhin, 2003;Thomas et al, 2009;Xu et al, 2013;Kappler et al, 2019;Love and Thomas, 2013] the results of a search for the behavior of the magnetic field preceding strong earthquakes are presented.…”