Natural Hazards and Earth System Science www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net 1561-8633 1684-9981 10 1 2010 10.5194/nhess-10-7-2010 http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/10/7/2010/ http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/10/7/2010/nhess-10-7-2010.html http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/10/7/2010/nhess-10-7-2010.pdf 7 18 2010-01-11 Electron and ion density variations before strong earthquakes (<i>M</i>>6.0) using DEMETER and GPS data M. Akhoondzadeh makhonz@ut.ac.ir M. Parrot M. R. Saradjian Remote Sensing Division, Surveying and Geomatics Engineering Department, School of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace (LPC2E)/CNRS, UMR6115, Orléans, France Using IAP (plasma analyzer) and ISL (Langmuir probe) experiments onboard DEMETER (Detection of Electromagnetic Emissions Transmitted from Earthquake Regions) satellite and GPS (Global Positioning System) measurements, we have statistically analyzed the variations of the electron and ion densities to search for disturbances in the vicinity of four large earthquakes prior to events. The indices <i>D</i>_st and <i>K</i>_p were used to distinguish pre-earthquake anomalies from the other anomalies related to the geomagnetic activities. For each studied case, a very good agreement was found between the different parameters estimated by DEMETER and GPS data in the detection of pre-seismic anomalies. 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