Search

—In their paper published in Izvestiya, Physics of the Solid Earth, G.A. Sobolev et al. (2020) discussed the results of their study. Firstly, it is noted that the most important element of the magnetic storm affecting seismicity is the Pc5 geomagnetic pulsations. In the context of magnetohydrodynamics, Pc5 are interpreted as standing Alfven waves. It is perhaps the Alfven waves that induce oscillations recorded by the authors of the cited paper. Secondly, it is hypothesized that the Pc5 spectrum is contributed by solar 5-min oscillations known in helioseismology. Thus, it is likely that there is yet another channel through which the Sun may affect the Earth and, inter alia, the Earth’s seismicity. Special focus is placed on the question of instrumental noise.

The theory of plasma density redistribution and polar wind acceleration acceleration under the affect on the magnetosphere of the ponderomotive forces induced by the ultra-low frequency electromagnetic waves is presented. Our attention is focused mainly on the important question about the necessity of experimental verification of fairly certain theoretical predictions. It is pointed out that experimental validation is not only necessary for the development of the theory but also for replenishing the knowledge about the structure and dynamics of the near-Earth space. An original method for indirect verification is presented. The idea of this method is based on the dependence of the foreshock locations on the orientation of the field lines of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) in front of the magnetosphere relative to the plane of the geomagnetic equator.

Based on the observation data for hundreds of the main shocks and thousands of aftershocks, the existence of effect of round-the-world surface seismic waves is demonstrated (let us conditionally refer to them as a round-the-world seismic echo) and the manifestations of this effect in the dynamics of the repeated shocks of strong earthquakes are analyzed. At the same time, we by no means believe this effect has been fully proven. We only present a version of our own understanding of the physical causes of the observed phenomenon and analyze the regularities in its manifestation. The effect is that the surface waves excited in the Earth by the main shock make a full revolution around the Earth and excite a strong aftershock in the epicentral zone of the main shock. In our opinion, the physical nature of this phenomenon consists in the fact that the superposition leads to a concentration of wave energy when the convergent surface waves reach the epicentral zone (cumulative effect). The effect of the first seismic echo is most manifest. Thus, the present work supports our hypothesis of the activation of rock failure under the cumulative impact of an round-the-world seismic echo on the source area which is releasing (“cooling”) after the main shock. The spatial regularities in the manifestations of this effect are established, and the independence of the probability of its occurrence on the main shock magnitude is revealed. The effect of a round-the-world seismic echo can be used to improve the reliability of the forecasts of strong aftershocks in determining the scenario for the seismic process developing in the epicentral zone of a strong earthquake that has taken place.

The sample analysis of threshold phenomena in the lithosphere, atmosphere, and magnetosphere is conducted. The phenomena due to the flow of electric current and pore fluid in the rocks are considered, the scenario of wind-driven generation of atmospheric electricity is suggested, and the model of the geomagnetic storm time Dst variation is analyzed. An important general conclusion consists in the fact that in the geophysical media there is a wide class of threshold phenomena that are affine with phase transitions of the second kind. These phenomena are also related to the critical transitions in self-oscillatory systems with soft self-excitation. The integral representation of bifurcation diagrams for threshold phenomena is suggested. This provides a simple way to take into account the influence of the fluctuations on the transition of a system through the threshold. Fluctuations remove singularity at the threshold point and, generally, lead to a certain shifting of the threshold. The question concerning the hard transition through the threshold and several aspects of modeling the blow-up instability which is presumed to occasionally develop in the geophysical media are discussed.

Previously, we predicted and then observed in practice the property of aftershocks which consists in the statistically regular clustering of events in time during the first hours after the main shock. The characteristic quasi-period of clustering is three hours. This property is associated with the cumulative action of the surface waves converging to the epicenter, whereas the quasi-period is mainly determined by the time delay of the round-the-world seismic echo. The quasi-period varies from case to case. In the attempt to find the cause of this variability, we have statistically explored the probable dependence of quasi-period on the magnitude of the main shock. In this paper, we present the corresponding result of analyzing global seismicity from the USGS/NEIC earthquake catalog. We succeeded in finding a significant reduction in the quasiperiod of the strong earthquakes clustering with growth in the magnitude of the main shock. We suggest the interpretation of this regularity from the standpoint of the phenomenological theory of explosive instability. It is noted that the phenomenon of explosive instability is fairly common in the geophysical media. The examples of explosive instability in the radiation belt and magnetospheric tail are presented. The search for the parallels in the evolution of explosive instability in the lithosphere and magnetosphere of the Earth will enrich both the physics of the earthquakes and physics of the magnetospheric pulsations.

Recently, Izvestiya, Physics of the Solid Earth has published the empirical results certainly indicating the influence of the free oscillations of the Earth on earthquake activity. It is known that free oscillations are excited by the earthquakes. Therefore, we may hypothesize that the Earth experiences self-excited oscillations. In this paper, it is shown that the very fact that free oscillations affect global seismicity does not necessarily mean that resonant self-excited oscillations of the Earth do exist. At the same time, the signs of selfexcited relaxation oscillations are in some cases probably observed in the form of hidden periodicity with a quasi period of ~3 h in the aftershock sequences from the strong earthquakes. The further research on this subject appears to be promising.

This methodical note is devoted to the nonlinear impact of convergent seismic waves on a medium. Special attention is paid to the similarity and distinctions of the phenomena occurring in the Earth, on one hand, and on the Moon and Mercury, on the other hand. The importance of the experimental and theoretical study of the round-the-world seismic echo which induces repeated shocks in the epicentral zones of the earthquakes is noted.

A question concerning the influence of permanent Pc3-band pulsations (periods from 10 to 45 s) on the excitation of sporadic Pi2-band pulsations (40 to 150 s) is raised. It is hypothesized that, being generated ahead of the front of the Earth’s magnetosphere, the Pc3 penetrate into the geomagnetic tail where they cause local depression in the electric current in the neutral sheet and, under favorable conditions, initiate tearing instability. This leads to the reconnection of the magnetic field lines and explosion-like release of the magnetic energy stored in the tail. As a result, a substorm arises with the sporadic Pi2 pulsations being its important element. Ways are suggested to theoretically substantiate and experimentally validate this hypothesis.

This work, largely methodological, is devoted to the analysis of the key equation of geoelectrics. In the one-dimensional (1D) case, when the electric conductivity only depends on a single Cartesian coordinate, the equation of geoelectrics is reduced to the form of the Helmholtz equation. As an application, a nontrivial expansion of Hummel’s classical problem on the electric field of an ore body is considered. The generalized model predicts parametric excitation of a special type of seismoelectric signals. It is suggested to use continuous observations of the electric field from the ore body for monitoring the sharp (impulse) changes in the groundwater level caused by the natural and industrial processes.

The specific enhancement of ultra-low-frequency (ULF) electromagnetic oscillations a few hours prior to the strong earthquakes, which was previously mentioned in the literature, motivated us to search for the distinctive features of the mechanical (foreshock) activity of the Earth’s crust in the epicentral zones of the future earthquakes. Activation of the foreshocks three hours before the main shock is revealed, which is roughly similar to the enhancement of the specific electromagnetic ULF emission. It is hypothesized that the round-the-world seismic echo signals from the earthquakes, which form the peak of energy release 2 h 50 min before the main events, act as the triggers of the main shocks due to the cumulative action of the surface waves converging to the epicenter. It is established that the frequency of the fluctuations in the foreshock activity decreases at the final stages of the preparation of the main shocks, which probably testifies to the so-called mode softening at the approach of the failure point according to the catastrophe theory.

The aftershocks of the catastrophic Sumatra-Andaman earthquake of December 26, 2004 (M = 9.0) are analyzed in the general context of the theory of critical phenomena. The analysis relies on the idea that, according to this theory, critical transitions have two key properties. The first is that the intensity of the fluctuations in a dynamical system monotonically increases with the approach of the bifurcation point, so that at a certain time instant, a sufficiently strong internal pulse initiates the catastrophe. This transition can be treated as spontaneous. The second property is that the reactance of the dynamical system drastically increases on the approach of the bifurcation. Even a weak external perturbation in the near-threshold interval can result in a catastrophe. In this case, it is reasonable to refer to the critical transition as an induced transition. The aftershocks of the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake are likely to demonstrate the typical features of induced seismicity. First, the strongest aftershock (M = 7.2) occurred 3 h 20 min after the main shock. It could have probably been induced by the round-trip seismic echo. Second, it was found that the spectral density of the aftershock sequence significantly increases at about ∼0.3 mHz, which is close to the frequency of the spheroidal mode 0S2. This suggests that the spheroidal oscillations of the Earth, which are excited by the main seismic shock, modulate the aftershock activity. Both hypotheses are supported by the analysis of the aftershocks of the Tohoku earthquake of March 11, 2011 (M = 9.0).

A simple classification is proposed for magnetic precursors of earthquakes. The highlatitude observations of the socalled Big Magnetic Pulses (BMP)—isolated highamplitude magnetic pulses that sporadically arise against the undisturbed magnetic background—are used for searching for a probable cor� relation between BMPs and earthquakes. It is shown by the superposed epoch analysis that seismic activity slightly increases after BMPs. A wide maximum in the number of the earthquakes is observed within the first hour after the BMP. Thus, probably, a new type of magnetic precursors has been found. However, the mech� anism of the relationship between BMPs and earthquakes remains open to discussion.

The so-called hour-mark effect, which reflects a response of the lithosphere to anthropogenic forcing, was initially detected when processing the earthquake catalogues by the method of synchronous detection. When attempting to reveal this effect by spectral analysis, we encountered an interesting feature of global seismicity. Namely, the spectrum of seismic activity indeed contains a peak at a frequency of 0.277 mHz, and this peak has a clearly anthropogenic origin (the hour-mark effect). At the same time, the spectrum also contains a stronger peak at a frequency of 0.309 mHz, which corresponds to a period of 54 min. We have independently detected this period in the aftershock sequences in the epicentral zones of large earthquakes and in the variations of seismicity in the antipodal zones. The 54-min periodicity coincides with the fundamental mode 0S2 of the free oscillations of the Earth. It is suggested that oscillations of the Earth as a whole result in a weak but detectable modulation of seismic activity.

Synchronism in geophysical events became the focus of the research in the second half of the last century when the study of this subject was almost simultaneously launched in the former Soviet Union and the United States. Interest in this issue has recently risen after a 20�year hiatus. The impetus was provided by the successful application of the synchronous detection technique to analyzing vast volumes of digital data on the electromagnetic waves in the magnetosphere and on the earthquakes. These studies revealed signs of the strictly periodic synchronous influence of the technosphere on the regime of electromagnetic oscillations in cosmic plasma and on seismic activity. The phenomenon of synchronism between the electromagnetic and seismic events manifests itself in the form of the socalled hourmark effect and the weekend effect. The hour� mark effect shows itself in the 24th, 48th, and 96th harmonics, and the weekend effect, in the 7th subhar� monic of the circadian rhythm. The both effects indicate that the technosphere has a nontrivial impact on the magnetosphere and lithosphere. The present review aims to introduce the morphology of the phenomenon and to focus the attention of researchers on the physical interpretation of the effects of synchronism, which is a challenging problem. Both the fundamental and practical value of the problem is analyzed. In particular, it is hypothesized that the study of the anthropogenic modulation of the natural wave processes will promote the development of energy saving technologies.

This work addresses the experimental study of an important aspect in the general problem of lithosphere-magnetosphere coupling, namely the correlation between the Pc1 electromagnetic waves (0.2–5 Hz) and the earthquakes. Using long time series of measurements from the catalogues of Pc1 and earthquakes, we revealed a new effect: the diurnal Pc1 activity in the middle latitudes is statistically higher the lower the diurnal global seismic activity. We assume that the influence of earthquake-related acoustic waves on the upper atmosphere suppresses the activity of the Pc1 waves.

According to the data of the IMAGE network of magnetometers the latitudinal profile of the amplitude of the Pc5 geomagnetic pulsations is constructed, which are excited in the Earth’s magnetosphere in the form of the resonance Alfven magnetohydrodynamic pulsations. The approaches to the solution of two problems are studied on a specific example. The first concerns the anharmonicity of Alfven’s resonances. The displacement of the peak of the resonance curve towards to the north with the reduction of the amplitude of the pulsations is discovered. Based on the results of measurements, the nonlinear distortion coefficient of the latitudinal profile is determined. The second problem is connected with the magnetotelluric sounding. Information about the resonance structure of the Alfven pulsations is useful for magnetotelluric sounding. This information gives the possibility of evaluating the accuracy of the sounding with the application of the local impedance relationship and of introducing corrections if necessary.

The paper is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the formulation of the Leontovich impedance boundary condition. This boundary condition is applied in geophysics for sounding of the lithosphere and diagnostics of the magnetosphere by electromagnetic waves. The use of the Leontovich condition is shown to open new possibilities for investigating the anharmonicity of MHD oscillations of the magnetosphere. The differential impedance equation, which is derived with the aid of the Leontovich boundary condition, can prove useful in the investigation of the electroconductivity of the lithosphere by the method of inductive sounding. It is shown within the framework of a simple model that the method of the Leontovich parabolic equation makes it possible to find a correction to the Leontovich boundary condition caused by the fact that, in general, the relation between the horizontal components of an electromagnetic field is not local. It is shown that the anharmonicity of MHD oscillations of the magnetosphere coupled with the nonlocality of the boundary condition on the Earth’s surface can lead to an apparent nonlinearity of the surface impedance calculated in accordance with the classical technique of magnetotelluric sounding.

The paper presents a brief review of problems of physics of ultralow-frequency electromagnetic waves studied by the author at the Borok Geophysical Observatory (BGO) Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, RAS, in the period from 1964 through 1980. Some problems solved by the author in close cooperation with BGO staff members in the subsequent years are also briefly considered.

A review of studies devoted to the problem of exciting magnetic signals in the crust associated with the formation of the major rupture in an earthquake source and with the propagation of seismic waves was given in [Sgrigna et al., 2004]. However, this review contains incorrect citations from original papers and several erroneous statements concerning inertial and inductive mechanisms of conversion of the energy of rock motion into magnetic field energy. These mistakes are analyzed in the present paper. The formal and physical similarity between seismomagnetic waves in the crust and Alfven waves in the magnetosphere is used in the analysis. A comparative analysis of the inertial and inductive mechanisms of seismomagnetic field generation is performed. The Cherenkov criterion of Alfven wave generation due to the ionospheric effect of acoustic waves from earthquakes and explosions is derived. Attention is also given to nonlinear phenomena (nonlinearity of a mechanomagnetic conversion in the crust and anharmonicity and self-focusing of Alfven waves in the magnetosphere).

Electromagnetic oscillations generated by surface Love waves in the Earth’s crust were detected by the spectral polarization method at the Mondy and Sodankyla observatories, located at distances of 5390 and 8798 km from the epicenter of the strong Sumatra earthquake of December 26, 2004. Detailed analysis of this event is instructive because it indicates that the difficulty in detecting the coseismic magnetic oscillations predicted by theory is only due to the presence of strong noise. Observations of this type are shown to be significant for experimental studies of mechanoelectromagnetic conversions in the crust.

Relevant tasks, disputable issues, and unsettled problems of the physics of ultralow-frequency electromagnetic waves of natural origin (a period range of 0.2–600 s) are discussed in the paper. Waves excited by intra-and extraterrestrial sources are considered. Subjects associated with some closely interrelated problems in the physics of both the solid and plasma shells of the planet are discussed. Common features of electrodynamic phenomena in geophysical media are emphasized. It is inferred that recent progress in the investigation of ultralow-frequency waves does not eliminate the necessity for careful study of unsolved problems posed in the past.