Ionospheric remote sensing of the Denali Earthquake Rayleigh surface waves

Using the Global Positioning System, we have detected ionospheric disturbances associated with the long‐period Rayleigh waves from the 2002 Denali earthquake (M s = 7.9). The dense California GPS networks allowed us to map the ionospheric perturbations and to compute the group velocity with a high spatial resolution above the Pacific coasts. Due to a low sampling rate, a large error in the velocity determination remains. Nonetheless, it demonstrates that bi‐static remote sensing measurements of seismic waves with GPS networks can be performed. Monostatic measurements with a dedicated satellite could possibly be used to record in the ionosphere surface waves originating from large earthquakes. Such a space‐based remote sensing of the local group velocity of Rayleigh surface waves would effectively complement the seismic networks for high‐resolution global tomography of the Earth's lithosphere.