A new mode of radio wave diffraction via the terrestrial surface plasmon on mountain range

Abstract

AbstractIt is shown that a new mode of radio wave diffraction occurs at the peak of mountains mediated via the terrestrial surface plasmon. If mobile electrical charges exist on the Earth's surface, the electromagnetic theory predicts strong coupling between the radio wave and the surface plasmon on the ground. If sufficient amount of electrical charges of the same sign appear on the ground as a consequence of some underground preseismic activity, they will be subject to the electrical repulsive forces. The surface electrical charges will then move toward topographic highs of nearby mountain peaks. Radio waves are then shown to interact with such electrical charges and create collective oscillations of the surface charges to induce a surface plasmon. Here it is clarified with numerical analyses on a massively parallel supercomputer that such interactions occur on the peak of mountains, hence causing peculiar phenomena of random diffraction. Depending on the density of the electrical charges on the ground surface, the interaction becomes strong enough to cause intense and random scattering and diffraction of the radio wave from the rough surface of the mountain topography. Mountain peaks thus act as a secondary source of radio waves; unexpectedly, radio waves are reradiated from the peaks into various directions by the anomalous diffraction and scattering, and the reradiated wave can propagate beyond the line of sight over mountains to reach distant locations. Such effects may arise randomly but concurrently with some preseismic activity in the crustal rocks, of which observation may allow statistical analysis of the critical state of crustal rocks over a broad area of a few hundred kilometers.