Ionospheric response to the 2020 Samos earthquake and tsunami

On 30 October 2020 at 11:51 UT, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred in the Dodecanese sea (37.84°N, 26.81°E, 10 km depth) and generated a tsunami with an observed run-up of more than 1 m on the Turkish coasts. Both the earthquake and the tsunami produced acoustic and gravity waves that propagated upward, triggering co-seismic and co-tsunamic ionospheric disturbances. This paper presents a multi-instrumental study of the ionospheric impact of the earthquake and related tsunami based on ionosonde data, ground-based Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) data and data from DORIS beacons received by Jason3 in the Mediterranean region. Our study focuses on the Total Electron Content to describe the propagation of co-seismic and co-tsunami ionospheric disturbances (CSID, CTID), possibly related to gravity waves triggered by the earthquake and tsunami. We use simultaneous vertical ionosonde soundings to study the interactions between the upper and lower atmosphere, highlighting the detection of acoustic waves generated by the seismic Rayleigh waves reaching the ionosonde locations and propagating vertically up to the ionosphere. The results of this study provide a detailed picture of the Lithosphere-Atmosphere–Ionosphere coupling in the scarcely investigated Mediterranean region and for a relatively weak earthquake. Graphical abstract