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Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 10, 203-214, 2010
www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/10/203/2010/
doi:10.5194/nhess-10-203-2010
© Author(s) 2010. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.


The 6 April 2009 earthquake at L'Aquila: a preliminary analysis of magnetic field measurements

U. Villante1,2, M. De Lauretis1,2, C. De Paulis1,2, P. Francia1,2, A. Piancatelli1,2, E. Pietropaolo1,2, M. Vellante1,2, A. Meloni2,3, P. Palangio2,3, K. Schwingenschuh4, G. Prattes4, W. Magnes4, and P. Nenovski5
1Dipartimento di Fisica, Università L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
2Area di Ricerca in Astrogeofisica, L'Aquila, Italy
3Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Roma, Italy
4Institut für Weltraumforschung, Graz, Austria
5Geophysical Institute, Sofia, Bulgaria

Abstract. Several investigations reported the possible identification of anomalous geomagnetic field signals prior to earthquake occurrence. In the ULF frequency range, candidates for precursory signatures have been proposed in the increase in the noise background and polarization parameter (i.e. the ratio between the amplitude/power of the vertical component and that one of the horizontal component), in the changing characteristics of the slope of the power spectrum and fractal dimension, in the possible occurrence of short duration pulses. We conducted, with conventional techniques of data processing, a preliminary analysis of the magnetic field observations performed at L'Aquila during three months preceding the 6 April 2009 earthquake, focusing attention on the possible occurrence of features similar to those identified in previous events. Within the limits of this analysis, we do not find compelling evidence for any of the features which have been proposed as earthquake precursors: indeed, most of aspects of our observations (which, in some cases, appear consistent with previous findings) might be interpreted in terms of the general magnetospheric conditions and/or of different sources.

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Citation: Villante, U., De Lauretis, M., De Paulis, C., Francia, P., Piancatelli, A., Pietropaolo, E., Vellante, M., Meloni, A., Palangio, P., Schwingenschuh, K., Prattes, G., Magnes, W., and Nenovski, P.: The 6 April 2009 earthquake at L'Aquila: a preliminary analysis of magnetic field measurements, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 10, 203-214, doi:10.5194/nhess-10-203-2010, 2010.   Bibtex   EndNote   Reference Manager    XML
 

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