Abstract
The response of the vertical ionospheric electron density structure to the Mw 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake on 12 May 2008 was recorded by the FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (F3/C) radio occultation (RO) precise orbit determination (POD) total electron content (TEC). The horizontal propagation characteristics of the seismo-traveling ionospheric disturbances were identified by combining ground-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) TEC data and RO TEC data. The postseismic ionospheric infrasound wavefront with wavelength of around 80 km at altitude of 150–350 km was scanned vertically by an individual RO TEC profile. A large amount of TEC profiles around the epicenter from 0000 to 1200 UT provide evidence of continental earthquake-induced vertical oscillations that lasted in the ionosphere for several hours. RO-observed vertical perturbations appear on both the southward and northward sides of the epicenter. The vertical structure of the ionospheric oscillations with wavelength ranging from 10 to 80 km increased with altitude between 230 and 650 km.
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