Using the kind permission given to me by my co-author, this short preface will be written in my name. I want to devote this book to San Juan city in Argentina. It is not only due to the fact that the city was twice completely destroyed after the devastating ear- quakes in 1941 and 1977, but also because my stay there completely changed my life. Changes included changing my career from the field of space plasma physics to Earth sciences and geophysics, and changes in my personal life giving me h- piness and compliance in my present family. Going back to the subject of the book, it should be noted that the history of the question asked by the book is very complicated and intricate. Starting in the 1930s from the observation of seismogenic electric fields, the area of seismo-ionospheric coupling became an area of fighting and conflicts, hopes and frustrations. Spe- lation and misunderstanding on the interdisciplinary borders made this field for many years (even up to now) taboo for so-called "serious scientists". But due to the courageous efforts of several groups in Russia and the former USSR states such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Japan, later France and Taiwan, Greece and Italy the situation started to improve.
The book aims to explain the variations of near-Earth plasma observed over seismically active areas several days/hours before strong seismic shocks. It demonstrates how seismo-ionospheric coupling is part of the global electric circuit and shows that the anomalous electric field appearing in active seismic areas is the main carrier of information from the earth into the ionosphere. The discussion of physical mechanisms is based on experimental data. The results can be regarded as the basis for future applications such as short-term earthquake prediction. It proceeds to describe existing complex systems of space-born and ground-based monitoring for electromagnetic and ionospheric precursors of earthquakes, as well as those still under construction. It is an excellent text for courses and contains a wealth of information for those scientists working in the field of natural disaster reduction. TOC:Seismology and Tectonics Background; Tectonic Plates and Faults; Main Techniques of Seismic Monitoring.- Background of Atmospheric Electricity; Thunderstorms; Red Sprites; over Volcanoes and Earthquakes.- Background of the Ionosphere; Solar-Terrestrial Relation and Formation; Variability and its Sources; Electric Fields.- Formation of anomalous Electric Field in Seismically Active Areas.- Penetration of quasistationary Electric Field into the Ionosphere and its Effects within the Ionosphere.- Main Phenomenological Features of the Ionospheric Precursors of Earthquakes.- Techniques of Pattern Recognition and Automatic Separation of the Ionospheric Precursors.
