Formation cause of thermal infrared high temperature belt along Honghe fault and its relation to earthquakes

Abstract

Aiming at two Dayao earthquakes with magnitude more than 6 occurred in 2003 in Yunnan Province, we analyzed and interpreted the NOAA satellite thermal infrared images of 1999, 2003 and 2004 in Chuandian region, and also calculated the annual variation of brightness temperature of the hot belt along Honghe fault to explore the formation cause of the high temperature belt and its relation to the earthquakes. The results show that the high temperature belt along Honghe fault is caused by geographic environment factors, such as water system and terrain. But the annual average brightness temperature of the belt in earthquake year of 2003 is clearly higher than that in no earthquake years of 1999 and 2004, this maybe indicates that the thermal activities of Honghe fault increase in earthquake years, and can cause the annual variation anomaly of brightness temperature. We can detect and monitor this thermal activities of Honghe fault before earthquake by analyzing and comparing the relative changes of thermal infrared brightness temperature of the hot belt in different years