Application of empirical mode decomposition to very low frequency signals for identification of seismic-ionospheric precursor phenomena

This study investigates the application of empirical mode decomposition to signals from very low frequency transmitters in Europe that were received in Thessaloniki, Greece, to provide a method for depicting seismic-ionospheric precursor phenomena that occur prior to an earthquake. The basis for ionosphere interactions with seismic phenomena has been well documented in past studies, and the depiction of disturbances applied from the earthionosphere waveguide on the received signals was the purpose of this study. Empirical mode decomposition is a method for processing of nonlinear and nonstationary signals, to decompose them into their functional components, known as intrinsic mode functions. This method can provide high pass filtering to signals, thus depicting a clearer image of any abnormal disturbances in the signals that are not part of the normal noise content. Observations of such precursor phenomena are presented and correlated to earthquakes, to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method.