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- Title
Can Radioactive Emanations in a Seismically Active Region Affect Atmospheric Electricity and the Ionosphere?
- Authors
Surkov, V. V.; Pilipenko, V. A.; Silina, A. S.
- Abstract
Abstract—Anomalous variations in radon emissions from the soil are sometimes observed before and after strong earthquakes. In this paper, we theoretically analyze the known hypothesis that these variations in radioactive emanations in the surface layer of the atmosphere cause variations in the vertical background current in the atmosphere with subsequent changes in the electron density in the lower ionosphere. For this purpose, we will first assess the relation between radon emission variations and the vertical atmospheric current flowing into the ionosphere. Then we will solve a model problem concerning the spatial distribution of plasma density and electric field perturbations occurring in the E-layer of the ionosphere caused by an inflowing vertical current. It was believed that the current flowing into this layer contains only an electron component and is attenuated only by the recombination of electrons. The estimate of the maximum variation is at least 3–5 orders of magnitude smaller than the observed anomalous variations, which allows us to conclude that this hypothesis is not plausible.
- Publication
Izvestiya, Physics of the Solid Earth, 2022, Vol 58, Issue 3, p297
- ISSN
1069-3513
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1134/S1069351322030090