Atmospheric anomalies and anomalies of electricity in the near-surface atmosphere before the Kamchatka earthquake of January 30, 2016, based on the data from the Paratunka Observatory

Abstract

The 15-min data of vertical ionosphere sounding and 10-min data from measurements of the vertical component (Ez) of the near-surface quasistatic atmospheric electrical field and the respective values of electrical conductance of near-surface air at the Paratunka complex geophysical observatory in the period from January 28 to January 30, 2016 have been analyzed to reveal the possible anomalies preceding the M = 7.2 earthquake that occurred on January 30, 2016, at 0325 UT. The distance between the observatory and epicenter was 117 km. These anomalies have been revealed, and the majority of them, in our opinion, may be related to the processes of earthquake preparation.