A new physics-based modeling approach for tsunami-ionosphere coupling

作者：Meng X^*; Komjathy A; Verkhoglyadova O P; Yang Y M; Deng Y; Mannucci A J

来源：Geophysical Research Letters, 2015, 42(12): 4736-4744.

DOI：10.1002/2015GL064610

• traveling ionospheric disturbance
• ionospheric modeling
• gravity wave
• tsunami

Tsunamis can generate gravity waves propagating upward through the atmosphere, inducing total electron content (TEC) disturbances in the ionosphere. To capture this process, we have implemented tsunami-generated gravity waves into the Global Ionosphere-Thermosphere Model (GITM) to construct a three-dimensional physics-based model WP (Wave Perturbation)-GITM. WP-GITM takes tsunami wave properties, including the wave height, wave period, wavelength, and propagation direction, as inputs and time-dependently characterizes the responses of the upper atmosphere between 100km and 600km altitudes. We apply WP-GITM to simulate the ionosphere above the West Coast of the United States around the time when the tsunami associated with the March 2011 Tohuku-Oki earthquke arrived. The simulated TEC perturbations agree with Global Positioning System observations reasonably well. For the first time, a fully self-consistent and physics-based model has reproduced the GPS-observed traveling ionospheric signatures of an actual tsunami event.

• 出版日期2015-6-28