Intermittent criticality revealed in ULF magnetic fields prior to the 11 March 2011 Tohoku earthquake (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si21.gif" display="inline" overflow="scroll"><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>M</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi>W</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>9</mml:mn></mml:math>)

The ultra-low-frequency (ULF) magnetic variations recorded prior to the 11 March 2011 Tohoku earthquake (EQ) are analyzed using the method of critical fluctuations (MCF). The first application of this specific method to ULF magnetic variations is performed on the unprocessed H- (horizontal) and Z- (vertical) components, as well as on the unprocessed total intensity, F, of the recorded magnetic field. The motivation for the present study was...