Abstract
Abstract. Anomalies of multi-parameters (outgoing longwave radiation, surface latent heat flux, air temperature, relative humidity, and air pressure) before the 12 May 2008 Wenchuan Ms =8.0 earthquake were discussed in order to obtain the seismic precursors. Multi-parameter data were computed based on multi-year background data. The results indicated that these parameters had significant variations prior to this event. The anomaly of outgoing longwave radiation was observed firstly, which gives an early warning. Next were air temperature, relative humidity, and air pressure, which had quasi-simultaneous variations in the basin and the mountain region close to the epicenter. The last was surface latent heat flux, which happened the day before this event. The characteristics of the parameter variations for this event are similar to other earthquakes, which is demonstrated in some other publications. The variations can be attributed to solid earth degassing and chemical reactions in the atmosphere. Additionally, the emission of gases from solid earth into the atmosphere could be ascribed to the tectonic stress of the Wenchuan earthquake.
Highlights
The earthquake precursors at different heights over the seismogenic region and prior to the seismic events have been observed by satellite remote sensing techniques
In this paper we analyzed the changes in the multiple parameters of the atmosphere, including outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), surface latent heat flux (SLHF), air temperature (AT), air relative humidity (ARH), and air pressure (AP)
This paper focused on the changes in the multiple parameters (OLR, SLHF, AT, AP, and ARH) and showed the behavior of multi-parameters prior to the Wenchuan earthquake
Summary
The earthquake precursors at different heights over the seismogenic region and prior to the seismic events have been observed by satellite remote sensing techniques. It is worth mentioning that OLR variation has been investigated in detail because it can reflect the energy variation in the earth-atmosphere system and records the earthquake thermal anomalies in different time scales over the seismic monitoring field (Liu et al, 2000, 2003; Ouzounov et al, 2007; Kang et al, 2008; Jing et al, 2009; Xiong et al, 2010). It became one of the multiple ways to carry out earthquake prediction in China’s earthquake prediction department. The variations in atmospheric parameters related to this earthquake were discussed preliminarily
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