Abstract
Multiple parameters (brightness temperature, soil moisture, surface latent heat flux, surface air temperature and carbon monoxide) before and after the 2015 Nepal M7.8 Gorkha main earthquake and M7.3 Dolakha aftershock were analysed using satellite observation data. The thermal anomalies from optical and microwave data appear about two months prior to the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. Some of the parameters show anomalous changes at different altitudes about 20 days prior to the main earthquake event and 10 days prior to the strong aftershock. Our results show that pre-earthquake anomalous signals propagate from the in situ to the top of atmosphere, and the anomalies in the atmosphere often observed prior to an impending earthquake. The changes on the land surface and corresponding changes in meteorological and atmospheric parameters show existence of strong coupling during the seismogenic period, although the transfer mechanism of seismic/electromagnetic is still has to be investigated and understood.
Highlights
IntroductionAccording to USGS, the main earthquake occurred as a result of thrust faulting on or near the main thrust environment between the subducting India plate and the overriding Eurasia plate in the north (Hayes et al, 2017)
Anomalous carbon monoxide (CO) prior to earthquakes have been observed (Singh et al, 2010a; Cui et al, 2017; Jing et al, 2018).We have used CO data retrieveed from the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument onboard the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra satellite platform to study emissions of CO from the active fault zones associated with earthquake activities
It should be noted that the minimum value of surface air temperature was observed one day after the main earthquake event (M = 7.8) and the day of the strong aftershock event, which is found to be consistent with the ground observations over 100 years ago (Milne, 1886), this could be associated with the sudden release of stress after the earthquakes in the region
Summary
According to USGS, the main earthquake occurred as a result of thrust faulting on or near the main thrust environment between the subducting India plate and the overriding Eurasia plate in the north (Hayes et al, 2017). This earthquake was one of the worst natural disasters in Nepal since the 1934 Nepal Bihar earthquake (Hayes and Briggs, 2017) that destroyed thousands of buildings and over 8000 fatalities (Ahmad and Singh, 2016). The results show existence of strong coupling between the land and atmospheric parameters about two weeks prior to the main earthquake event and 10 days before the strong aftershock
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