Local Anomalies of the Load-Unload Response of the Geomagnetic Field to Solar Wind and Earthquakes in Southwest China

Many earthquakes occurred during the period 1994 -1996 in Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces, Southwest China. Taking the process of the initial main phase recovery phase of the magnetic storm as the process of load-unload response of the geomagnetic field to the solar wind, we have estimated and analyzed the distribution in time and space of the load-unload response ratio P(z) of the storm time disturbance daily variation of the vertical component Z of the geomagnetic field at ten stations in Southwest China. We found that the area with high ratio P(z) was just the area where moderately strong earthquakes would occur from 44 days to 15 months later. The relationship between the high ratio P(z) and weather disasters in both seismic and non-seismic areas is discussed briefly.