Mesopause Airglow Disturbances Driven by Nonlinear Infrasonic Acoustic Waves Generated by Large Earthquakes

Near-epicenter mesopause airglow (MA) perturbations, driven by infrasonic acoustic waves (AWs) during a nighttime analog of the 2011 M9.1 Tohoku-Oki earthquake, are simulated through the direct numerical computation of the 3D nonlinear Navier-Stokes equations. Surface dynamics from forward seismic wave propagation simulation, initialized with a kinematic slip model and performed with the SPECFEM3D-Globe model, are used to excite AWs at ground level. Simulated airglow perturbations include steep oscillations and depletion up to 50% and 70% from the background state, respectively, for hydroxyl OH(3,1) and oxygen O(1S) 557.7 nm emissions. Results suggest that AWs excited near the epicenter may be strong enough to drive fluctuations in MA, that would be readily detectable with both ground- and satellite-based imagers. It is plausible that future observations can be used for the characterization of earthquake mechanism and surface seismic waves propagation and complementing tsunami early-warning systems based on Total Electron Content (TEC) observations.

Key points:

• Mesopause airglow responses to infrasonic acoustic waves generated by near-epicentral seismic motions are investigated numerically in 3D
• Large earthquakes can drive substantial and detectable perturbations in mesopause airglow via acoustic waves
• Airglow observations may help to investigate earthquake dynamics and supplement tsunami early-warning systems

This collection hosts the data associated with the journal article, Mesopause airglow disturbances driven by nonlinear infrasonic acoustic waves generated by large earthquakes.  The full-text manuscript is published in JGR: Space Physics.

https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JA027628