Infrasound From Large Earthquakes Recorded on a Network of Balloons in the Stratosphere.

The ground movements induced by seismic waves create acoustic waves propagating upward in the atmosphere, thus providing a practical solution to perform remote sensing of planetary interiors. However, a terrestrial demonstration of a seismic network based on balloon‐carried pressure sensors has not been provided. Here we present the first detection of seismic infrasound from a large magnitude quake on a balloon network. We demonstrate that quake's properties and planet's internal structure can be probed from balloon‐borne pressure records alone because these are generated by the ground movements at the planet surface below the balloon. Various seismic waves are identified, thus allowing us to infer the quake magnitude and location, as well as planetary internal structure. The mechanical resonances of balloon system are also observed. This study demonstrates the interest of planetary geophysical mission concepts based on seismic remote sensing with balloon platforms, and their interest to complement terrestrial seismic networks. Plain Language Summary: After a quake, the surface of our planet vibrates like the surface of a drum. These vibrations generate sound waves at low frequencies that propagate upward in the atmosphere. These signals from two earthquakes have been recorded by barometers on board a network of long duration high altitude balloons deployed by the Strateole‐2 experiment. The analysis of these records demonstrates that the amplitude and arrival time of the vibrations are properly predicted by our modeling tools. The oscillations of the balloon/gondola system forced by the acoustic waves are also observed, but the quake distance and magnitude can be estimated only from the data recorded on board the balloon gondolas. Moreover, the shape of the pressure perturbations recorded by the balloons contains the seismic surface waves that are sounding the first hundred kilometers of the Earth's internal structure. These observations clearly demonstrate the interest of a similar experiment in the atmosphere of Venus to sound its poorly known internal structure. Key Points: An earthquake is detected by a network of barometers on board balloons in the stratosphere for the first timeQuake magnitude and distance are estimated from the infrasound created by seismic body waves and surface wavesBalloons can act as mobile seismometer network in the atmosphere of Earth and Venus [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]