A multi-sensors analysis of RST-based thermal anomalies in the case of the Abruzzo earthquake

Abstract

Space-time anomalies in Thermal InfraRed (TIR) satellite imagery, from weeks to days, before severe earthquakes are reported in several studies. Among the various genetic models, the increase of green-house gas (such as CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> , CH <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">4</sub> , etc.) emission rates, have been suggested to explain the appearance of anomalous TIR signal transients in some relation with the place and time of earthquake occurrence. Among the others, a Robust Satellite data analysis Technique (RST) was proposed to investigate possible relations between earthquake occurrence and space-time fluctuations of Earth's emitted TIR radiation observed from satellite. In this paper, independent RST analysis performed over the Italian peninsula at the time of the Abruzzo earthquake (April 6, 2009; M <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">L</sub> ~5.8) using different satellite system (MSG/SEVIRI, NOAA/AVHRR and EOS/MODIS) are presented and compared.