Acoustic-gravity wave driven traveling ionospheric disturbances: Analytical modeling and application to 2025 Kamchatka earthquake GNSS data
We present an analytical framework for ionospheric ion velocity and density perturbations driven by acoustic-gravity waves generated by seismic sources. Neutral motions are computed using a horizontally layered model, and ion responses are obtained from the linearized frequency-domain momentum and continuity equations, including neutral-ion collisions and geomagnetic effects. Simulations show that ion motion undergoes an altitude-dependent transition from a collision-dominated regime to a magnetically controlled regime, producing strong anisotropy. We further show that total electron content (TEC) disturbances are strongly controlled by the geometry between the Line-of-Sight and the wavefront. A case study of the 2025 Kamchatka earthquake demonstrates that the modeled TEC perturbations reproduce key observational features, including Rayleigh-wave and gravity-wave arrivals. These results provide new insights into seismic-ionospheric coupling and support analytical modeling of coseismic TEC responses.
Authors
- Hengshan Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4302-1413)
- Chieh‐Hung Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5440-2142)
- Yongxin Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7529-8329)
- Junzhe Zhang
- Xuemin Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7462-4463)
Institutions
- University of Science and Technology of China (CN)
- Harbin Institute of Technology (CN)
- Chengdu University of Technology (CN)
- Heilongjiang Institute of Technology (CN)
- China Earthquake Administration (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Earth and Planetary Science Letters
- Published
- 2026-08-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2026.120299
- Primary Topic
- Earthquake Detection and Analysis
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection