Electric field and infrared radiation in the troposphere before earthquakes

Some years ago, a model of the generation of lo- cal electric fields in the atmosphere a few days before earth- quakes and up to a few days after the seismic shock was proposed. In the model, the generation of the electric fields occurs because of an increased ionisation intensity of the at- mosphere in the presence of aerosols. The generation of the electric field is the result of the fact that the larger aerosols, which are mainly negatively charged, have a larger veloc- ity of gravitational precipitation than the smaller, which are mainly positively charged aerosols. The ionisation in such atmospheric regions is caused by radon, the concentration of which increases in earthquake preparation regions. The formation of mosaic-likely distributed areas of electric fields with intensities of 3 ◊ 10 2 10 5 Vm 1 and, on the other hand, large areas with increased electrical conductivity cause a series of physical effects, e.g. the occurrence of infrared emissions with a specific spectrum, which may be studied using earth-based, atmospheric and satellite observations. In the present paper, the model of the generation of local elec- tric fields is further developed, improving the description of the force balance on the aerosols in the atmosphere. A re- cently proposed laboratory experiment is briefly discussed, which is carried out to prove the theoretically predicted in- tensification of infrared emissions some hours-days before earthquakes. Besides the experiment described, it will be op- erated on Kamchatka in the near future to scan mosaic-likely distributed regions of electric fields in the atmosphere during earthquake preparation times.