Changes in Animal Activity Prior to a Major (M=7) Earthquake in the Peruvian Andes — ScienceDirect

24th August 2011.

A solar wind stream hit Earth’s magnetic field during the early hours of August 24th, sparking geomagnetic activity around the Arctic Circle. “Bright, fast-moving auroras lit up the sky just after midnight,”[…]

Hours after impact, the solar wind is still blowing at high speed (500+ km/s) but the density of the wind is declining rapidly. 

http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=24&month=08&year=2011

A growing coronal hole in the northern solar hemisphere was in an earth facing position as shown above. Sunspot number was relative low at 81, radio flux 104. The magnetic ‘jolt’ from a dense plasma stream was enough to allow a weakening fault to release. At 17:46:10 UTC an
M7.0 earthquake occured in Contamana, Northeast Peru. Animals appear far more aware than concensus scientists [my emphasis]

Highlights•

Distinct pre-earthquake changes in the behaviour of wild animals in National Park.
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Starting 20-23 days before M=7 earthquake, most pronounced during last 7-8 days.
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Documented by motion-triggered camera records, 30 days, 24 hrs/day, 9-camera cluster.
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Ionospheric perturbation over earthquake preparation zone 7-8 days before event.
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Positive airborne ion injection at ground-to-air interface being most likely cause.

Abstract

During earthquake preparation geophysical processes occur over varying temporal and spatial scales, some leaving their mark on the surface environment, on various biota, and even affecting the ionosphere. Reports on pre-seismic changes in animal behaviour have been greeted with scepticism by the scientific community due to the necessarily anecdotal nature of much of the evidence and a lack of consensus over possible causal mechanisms. Here we present records of changes in the abundance of mammals and birds obtained over a 30 day period by motion-triggered cameras at the Yanachaga National Park, Peru, prior to the 2011 magnitude 7.0 Contamana earthquake. In addition we report on ionospheric perturbations derived from night-time very low frequency (VLF) phase data along a propagation paths passing over the epicentral region. Animal activity declined significantly over a 3-week period prior to the earthquake compared to periods of low seismic activity. Night-time ionospheric phase perturbations of the VLF signals above the epicentral area, fluctuating over the course of a few minutes, were observed, starting 2 weeks before the earthquake. The concurrent observation of two widely different and seemingly unconnected precursory phenomena is of interest because recently, it has been proposed that the multitude of reported pre-earthquake phenomena may arise from a single underlying physical process: the stress-activation of highly mobile electronic charge carriers in the Earth’s crust and their flow to the Earth’s surface. The flow of charge carriers through the rock column constitutes and electric current, which is expected to fluctuate and thereby emit electromagnetic radiation in the ultralow frequency (ULF) regime. The arrival of the charge carriers can lead to air ionization at the ground-to-air interface and the injection of massive amounts of positive airborne ions, known to be aversive to animals.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1474706515000236