Abstract
We focus on the possible thermal channel of the well-known Lithosphere–Atmosphere–Ionosphere Coupling (LAIC) mechanism to identify the behavior of thermal anomalies during and prior to strong seismic events. For this, we investigate the variation of Surface Latent Heat Flux (SLHF) as resulting from satellite observables. We demonstrate a spatio-temporal variation in the SLHF before and after a set of strong seismic events occurred in Kathmandu, Nepal, and Kumamoto, Japan, having magnitudes of 7.8, 7.3, and 7.0, respectively. Before the studied earthquake cases, significant enhancements in the SLHF were identified near the epicenters. Additionally, in order to check whether critical dynamics, as the signature of a complex phenomenon such as earthquake preparation, are reflected in the SLHF data, we performed a criticality analysis using the natural time analysis method. The approach to criticality was detected within one week before each mainshock.
Highlights
Earthquake prediction is one of the most challenging targets for scientists for more than a decade [1]
The representation of the variation in the Surface Latent Heat Flux (SLHF) has been performed in two ways
For the Nepal earthquakes, we present the surface latent heat anomaly variation for the months of April and May 2015 from longitudinal and latitudinal spans from 80◦ E to 92◦
Summary
Earthquake prediction is one of the most challenging targets for scientists for more than a decade [1]. Several scientists have studied various cases of thermal anomalies from satellite data and have found a similar type of results in active seismic areas before earthquakes with moderate or strong magnitude. To contemplate the thermal anomaly before and at the hour of large earthquakes, we choose the meteorological parameter, Surface Latent Heat Flux (SLHF). Jing et al [34] reported convincing evidence of the coupling between the land, atmosphere, and meteorological parameters associated with the 2015 Nepal earthquake In that paper, they simultaneously used the microwave brightness temperature, the surface air temperature, the soil moisture, the surface latent heat, andthe carbon monoxide profile as a multi-parametric examination of the precursory mechanism associated with Nepal earthquakes. The obtained results are discussed within the frame of LAIC
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