HF radar detection of infrasonic waves generated in the ionosphere by the 28 March 2005 Sumatra earthquake

Surface waves generated by earthquakes create atmospheric waves detectable in the ionosphere using radio waves techniques: i.e., HF Doppler sounding, GPS and altimeter TEC measurements, as well as radar measurements. We present observations performed with the over-the-horizon (OTH) radar NOSTRADAMUS after the very strong earthquake (M=8.6) that occurred in Sumatra on March 28, 2005. An original method based on the analysis of the RTD (Range-Time-Doppler) image is suggested to identify the multi-chromatic ionospheric signature of the Rayleigh wave. The proposed method presents the advantage to preserve the information on the range variation and time evolution, and provides comprehensive results, as well as easy identification of the waves. In essence, a Burg algorithm of order 1 is proposed to compute the Doppler shift of the radar signal, resulting in sensitivity as good as obtained with higher orders. The multi-chromatic observation of the ionospheric signature of Rayleigh wave allows to extrapolate information coherent with the dispersion curve of Rayleigh waves, that is, we observe two components of the Rayleigh waves with estimated group velocities of 3.8 km/s and 3.6 km/s associated to 28 mHz (T~36 s) and 6.1 mHz (T~164 s) waves, respectively. Spectral analysis of the RTD image reveals anyway the presence of several oscillations at frequencies between 3 and 8 mHz clearly associated to the transfer of energy from the solid-Earth to the atmosphere, and nominally described by the normal modes theory for a complete planet with atmosphere. Oscillations at frequencies larger than 8 mHz are also observed in the spectrum but with smaller amplitudes. Particular attention is pointed out to normal modes 0S29 and 0S37 which are strongly involved in the coupling process. As the proposed method is frequency free, it could be used not only for detection of ionospheric perturbations induced by earthquakes, but also by other natural phenomena as well as volcanic explosions and particularly tsunamis, for future oceanic monitoring and tsunami warning systems.