Propagation of seismogenic electric currents through the Earth's atmosphere

Abstract

Seismogenic models have been recently proposed to explain precursors before earthquakes occurrences. Those models refer to physical processes linking the lithosphere, the atmosphere, and the ionosphere. We analyze in this work the curl-free current model describing the current flow from the lithosphere to the ionosphere through the atmosphere. We use a numerical simulation based on the finite element method to derive the current between the ground and the ionosphere. We have shown that the curl-free approximation of the atmospheric current density leads to significant and unpredictable distortions of the solutions of the electrical conductivity. Hence, it incorrectly expands the ionospheric disturbed region associated to lithospheric currents. It is shown that horizontally homogeneous vertical underground external currents cannot create currents from ground to the atmosphere.