ON THE SPACE-TIME LOCALIZATION OF INCIPIENT EARTHQUAKES BY DIAGNOSTICS OF DISTURBANCES IN THE IONOSPHERIC PLASMA USING A SPACE PROBE

This paper reports the results of in-situ probe diagnostics of local disturbances in the ionospheric plasma. The results are presented as the space-time distributions of the charged particle temperatures and densities measured by the electric probes onboard the DEMETER (France) and the distributions of the electron and neutral particle temperatures and densities measured by the Langmuir probe and the two-channel pressure probe onboard the Sich-2 (Ukraine). By the example of interpreting the output signals of the electric probes onboard the DEMETER (France), the Sich-2 (Ukraine), and the CSES (China), it is found that maxima in the electron and neutral particle temperature and density distributions along the spacecraft orbit in the ionospheric plasma correspond to the location of the epicenters of earthquakes incipient on the ground track. An additional parameter that improves the epicenter localization accuracy is the electron energy gain rate in the ionospheric plasma. It is shown that the relaxation times of maxima in the electron and neutral particle temperatures in the ionospheric plasma determine the time to the first shock of an earthquake incipient on the ground track.