Monitoring radiation background in the near-surface atmosphere and gamma rays, geoacoustic emission, and temperature in a borehole at 40 m depth, as well as Doppler sounding on a low-inclined radio pass, proceeded at the Tien Shan mountain station (3340 m a.s.l.) in northern Tien Shan with the common goal of searching for seismogenic effects preceding earthquakes. The flux of gamma rays in the borehole varied negligibly between the days, and it was not influenced by precipitation. Characteristic bay-like drops of the gamma ray flux were found (2–8) days before the M5.0–M6.2 earthquakes. In an M4.2 earthquake event with a 5.3 km epicenter distance, anomalies were detected (7–10) days before the earthquake in variation of the gamma ray flux, geoacoustic emission, and temperature. Simultaneously with gamma rays, a disturbance was detected in the Doppler shift of the ionospheric signal. Similarly, ionosphere disturbances triggered by the growth of radioactivity in the near-surface atmosphere were found in a retrospective analysis of the Doppler shift data acquired after underground nuclear explosions at the Semipalatinsk testing site. This effect is considered from the viewpoint of the lithosphere-atmosphere-ionosphere coupling concept.

During the catastrophic M7.8 earthquake in Turkey on 6 February 2023, anomalous effects were revealed in the ionosphere associated with various propagation mechanisms of seismogenic disturbance from the lithosphere up to the height of the ionosphere. Seventeen minutes after the main shock, a co-seismic disturbance was detected by a Doppler ionosonde on an inclined, 3010 km long, two-hop radio path “Kuwait—Institute of Ionosphere (Almaty)”. An appearance of acoustic waves at the height of 232 km in the ionosphere was fixed 568 s after arrival of the surface Rayleigh wave to the sub-ionospheric point, and such a delay agrees with the calculated propagation time of a vertically moving acoustic wave. The disturbance lasted 160 s, and its double amplitude was above 2 Hz, which noticeably exceeds the background fluctuation of Doppler frequency. The best coincidence between the waveforms of the Doppler signal and of the surface seismic wave was observed over the duration of the two leading periods, with correlation coefficients of 0.86 and 0.79, correspondingly. Pre-seismic effects in the ionosphere were revealed 8 days before the main shock both in the variations of the Doppler frequency and of the critical frequency $f0F2$. The probable origination mechanism of the pre-seismic ionospheric disturbances above the region of the earthquake preparation determined by the Dobrovolsky radius may be considered in accordance with the concept of lithospheric–atmospheric–ionospheric coupling.

After the explosive eruption of the Hunga Tonga volcano on 15 January 2022, disturbances were observed at a distance of about 12,000 km in Northern Tien Shan and regarded variations in the atmospheric pressure, in telluric current, and in the Doppler frequency shift of ionospheric signal. At 16:00:55 UTC, a pulse of atmospheric pressure was detected there, with peak amplitude of 1.3 hPa and propagation speed of 0.3056 km/s, equal to the velocity of Lamb waves. In the variations in the Doppler frequency shift, disturbances of two types were registered on the 3212 km and 2969 km long inclined radio paths, one of which arose as a response to the passage of a Lamb wave (0.3059 km/s) through the reflection point of the radio wave and another as reaction to an acoustic-gravity wave (0.2602 km/s). Two successive perturbations were also detected in the records of telluric current at the arrival times of the Lamb and acoustic-gravity waves at the registration point. According to the parameters of the Lamb wave, the energy transfer into the atmosphere upon the explosion of the Hunga Tonga volcano was roughly estimated to be 2000 Mt of TNT equivalent.

The article describes in detail the equipment and method for measuring the Doppler frequency shift (DFS) on an inclined radio path, based on the principle of the phase-locked loop using an SDR receiver for the investigation of seismogenic and man-made disturbances in the ionosphere. During the two M7.8 earthquakes in Nepal (25 April 2015) and Turkey (6 February 2023), a Doppler ionosonde detected co-seismic and pre-seismic effects in the ionosphere, the appearances of which are connected with the various propagation mechanisms of seismogenic disturbance from the lithosphere up to the ionosphere. One day before the earthquake in Nepal and 90 min prior to the main shock, an increase in the intensity of Doppler bursts was detected, which reflected the disturbance of the ionosphere. A channel of geophysical interaction in the system of lithosphere–atmosphere–ionosphere coupling was traced based on the comprehensive monitoring of the DFS of the ionospheric signal, as well as of the flux of gamma rays in subsoil layers of rocks and in the ground-level atmosphere. The concept of lithosphere–atmosphere–ionosphere coupling, where the key role is assigned to ionization of the atmospheric boundary layer, was confirmed by a retrospective analysis of the DFS records of an ionospheric signal made during underground nuclear explosions at the Semipalatinsk test site. A simple formula for reconstructing the velocity profile of the acoustic pulse from a Dopplerogram was obtained, which depends on only two parameters, one of which is the dimension of length and the other the dimension of time. The reconstructed profiles of the acoustic pulses from the two underground nuclear explosions, which reached the height of the reflection point of the sounding radio wave, are presented.

A complex study was performed of the disturbances in geophysics parameters that were observed during a short-term period of earthquake preparation. On 4 March 2024, an $M6.1$ earthquake (N 42.93, E 76.966) occurred with the epicenter 12.2 km apart from the complex of geophysical monitoring. Preparation of the earthquake we detected in real time, 8 days prior to the main shock, when a characteristic cove-like decrease appeared in the gamma-ray flux measured 100 m below the surface of the ground, which observation indicated an approaching earthquake with high probability. Besides the gamma-ray flux, anomalies connected with the earthquake preparation were studied in the variation of the Earth’s natural pulsed electromagnetic field (ENPEMF) at very low frequencies (VLF) $f=7.5$ kHz and $f=10.0$ kHz and at ultra-low frequency (ULF) in the range of 0.001–20 Hz, as well as in the shift of Doppler frequency (DFS) of the ionospheric signal. A drop detected in DFS agrees well with the decrease in gamma radiation background. A sequence of disturbance appearance was revealed, first in the variations of ENPEMF in the VLF band and of the subsurface gamma-ray flux, both of which reflect the activation dynamic of tectonic processes in the lithosphere, and next in the variation of DFS. Two types of earthquake-connected effects may be responsible for the transmission of the perturbation from the lithosphere into the ionosphere: the ionizing gamma-ray flux and the ULF/VLF emission, as direct radiation from the nearby earthquake source. In the article, we emphasize the role of medium ionization in the propagation of seismogenic effects as a channel for realizing the lithosphere–ionosphere coupling.