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.

This book discusses how the increased emanation of radon and other gases from the Earth's crust in the vicinity of active tectonic faults triggers a chain of physical processes and chemical reactions in the atmospheric boundary layer and the Earth's ionosphere over an earthquake area several days/hours before strong seismic shocks occur. It presents the two main concepts involved in this mechanism: atmosphere ionization and the global electric circuit. The Lithosphere-Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling (LAIC) concept is strongly supported by experimental data showing the atmospheric and ionospheric precursors for major recent earthquakes including 2004 Sumatra; 2008 Sichuan, China; 2011 Tohoku, Japan; and 2015 Nepal. The book not only addresses the theoretical considerations but also includes information on experimental techniques used for precursor observations based on the space-borne systems. Providing practical methods of precursor identification and interpretation, it is an excellent textbook for graduate courses in geophysics, earthquake science, atmospheric physics and remote sensing. Moreover, it offers a wealth of information for scientists and experts from governmental and international agencies working in the fields of natural-disaster mitigation, response and recovery.