Satellite data reveals electromagnetic anomalies up to 19 days before 2023 Turkey earthquake

Earthquakes can reveal their impending presence much earlier than previously thought through various anomalies present in the ground, atmosphere and ionosphere that can be detected using satellites, a recent study says Journal of Applied Geodesy suggests.

The development of earthquake early warning systems could be very useful in preventing death and destruction. One such proposed technique involves using satellites to monitor various physical and chemical parameters in the earth, the atmosphere, and the layer of charged particles that exists above it, called the ionosphere.

Such anomalies are known as earthquake precursors, and although scientists are aware of them, it has been difficult to definitively identify the pattern of so-called red flags that could indicate an impending earthquake. This is due to the complexity of precursor interactions and their variability in different earthquakes and geographic regions. But with each earthquake that researchers analyze using increasingly sophisticated satellite technology, these patterns are slowly emerging.

Professor Mehdi Akhoondzadeh of the University of Tehran evaluated a series of satellite data from before and after two earthquakes that occurred on February 6, 2023, near the Turkey-Syria border. This included data from the Chinese seismo-electromagnetic satellite CSES-01 and the Swarm satellite mission, which consists of three European Space Agency satellites.

Surprisingly, he observed anomalies in land surface temperature from the earthquake region as early as 12–19 days before the earthquake and anomalies in atmospheric parameters between 5–10 days before the earthquake. This involved measuring water vapor, methane, ozone and carbon monoxide levels.

When Professor Akhoondzadeh investigated anomalies in the ionosphere, including measurements of parameters such as electron density and electron temperature, he found clear and striking anomalies 1-5 days before the earthquake.

The times at which the anomalies appeared in the ground, atmosphere, and ionosphere indicate that these signals originated from the ground and eventually manifested at higher levels in the atmosphere and finally in the ionosphere.

Studying these phenomena could pave the way for earthquake early warning systems, but scientists will need to assess other earthquakes in the future to fully understand these patterns.

“Using CSES-01 satellite data, anomalies in the ionosphere prior to the February 6, 2023 Turkey earthquake were detected for the first time,” Professor Akhoondzadeh said. “By studying the anomalies associated with many earthquake precursors, the uncertainty in detecting true anomalies is reduced, which can be effective in creating earthquake warning systems with low false alarms.”