Space technologies for short-term earthquake warning Original Research Article

Recent theoretical and experimental studies explicitly demonstrated the ability of space technologies to identify and monitor the specific variations at near-earth space plasma, atmosphere and ground surface associated with approaching severe earthquakes (named as earthquake precursors) which appear several days (from 1 to 5) before the seismic shock over the seismically active areas. Several countries and private companies are in the stage of preparation (or already launched) the dedicated spacecrafts for monitoring of the earthquake precursors from space and for short-term earthquake prediction. The present paper intends to outline the optimal algorithm for creation of the space-borne system for the earthquake precursors monitoring and for short-term earthquake prediction. It takes into account the following: 1. Selection of the precursors in the terms of priority, considering their statistical and physical parameters. 2. Configuration of the spacecraft payload. 3. Configuration of the satellite constellation (orbit selection, satellite distribution, operation schedule). 4. Different options of the satellite systems (cheap microsatellite or comprehensive multisatellite constellation). Taking into account that the most promising are the ionospheric precursors of earthquakes, the special attention is devoted to the radiophysical techniques of the ionosphere monitoring. The advantages and disadvantages of such technologies as vertical sounding, in-situ probes, ionosphere tomography, GPS TEC and GPS MET technologies are considered.