Great eruptions occurred suddenly at the Izu-Oshima volcano Oshima Island, Japan from the evening of November 15 to November 22, 1986. In this period, atmospherics of 160kHz were observed at Koganei, Tokyo which is located 101km north of the volcano, and atmospherics of 80kHz were observed at Inubo, Chiba prefecture, located 194km northeast of the volcano.
For propagation distances above 100km, hop-mode waves, via ionospheric reflection, dominate over ground-mode waves. The atmospherics from the Izu-Oshima volcano were detected only during the night at Koganei and Inubo, since LF radio waves are strongly absorbed in the ionospheric
D region produced by solar X-rays and solar EUV radiation during the daytime.
Nighttime intensity enhancements of 160kHz atmospherics with 10dB or more above the normal night levels of November 14 and 15 were observed at Koganei from November 16 to 20, 1986. The nighttime enhancements of 160kHz atmospherics from November 16 to 19 show characteristic time variations with periods from 10 minutes to 15 minutes, corresponding to the time intervals of repeated eruptions at the summit of the Izu-Oshima volcano. Nighttime intensity enhancements of 80kHz atmospherics of 5dB or more above the normal night level were also observed at Inubo from November 16 to 20, 1986.
According to weather maps issued by the Japanese Meteorological Agency, no meteorological phenomena occurred to cause the observed nighttime intensity enhancements of LF atmospherics, such as thunderstorms or rain clouds, in those districts during that time. Also, no local artificial noises occurred corresponding to the observed enhancements of LF atmospherics in the vicinity of the receiving sites in that period, and local noise was about 10dB lower than the enhanced level of LF atmospherics during the nighttime.
Attenuation of electromagnetic waves in magma, wet soil and dry crust are numerically examined. It seems improbable that LF electromagnetic waves propagate through magma and moist soil from a volcano's interior to the ground because of strong attenuation, even if the LF electromagnetic waves were generated inside the volcano.
Lightning discharges generated by eruption smoke have been reported for decades and in fact, some pictures of lightning discharges over the volcano were broadcast by television during the Izu-Oshima volcano eruptions. Therefore, the nighttime intensity enhancements of LF atmospherics observed at Koganei and Inubo from November 16 to 20, 1986 seem to have been generated by lightning discharges in eruption smoke and ascending warm air currents heated locally by hot lava over the crater lake.
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