ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CHANGES IN THE TOTAL ELECTRON CONTENT OF THE IONOSPHERE BEFORE STRONG KAMCHATKA EARTHQUAKES AND THOSE IN THE SPECIFIC ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY OF THE GEOMEDIUM

The article assesses the possibility of influence of changes in the electrical resistivity of the upper horizons of the Earth’s crust on the formation of large-scale anomalies of the ionospheric total electron content (TEC), recorded before strong earthquakes in various seismically active regions of the world. The results of monitoring the ionospheric TEC at the final preparatory stages of the Zhupanov (January 30, 2016, M w =7.2) and Shipunsky (August 17, 2024, M w =7.0) earthquakes were compared with changes in the electrical resistivity of the geomedium in the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky geodynamic polygon. The presented results allow us to conclude that the changes in the ionospheric TEC at the final preparatory stages of these earthquakes are significantly correlated with the changes in the electrical resistivity of the upper (up to approximately 1000 m) part of the Earth’s crust in the corresponding subionospheric regions. The paper discusses a possible physical basis for the obtained results.