Coseismic Gravity Changes Research Articles

Coseismic Gravity Changes and Crustal Deformation Induced by the 2018 Fiji Deep-Focus Earthquake Observed by GRACE and GRACE-FO Satellites

Earthquakes at depths of ≥300 km are generally called deep-focus earthquakes. Only two deep-focus earthquakes with Mw 8.0 or more have occurred in this century—the 2013 Okhotsk earthquake (Mw 8.3) and the 2018 Fiji earthquake (Mw 8.2) on 19 August 2018. However, the 2018 Fiji earthquake was only reported on seismographs, and the related crustal deformations were not observed by the Global Navigation Satellite System because the observation network did not exist around the epicenter. This study analyzed the time series of gravity data observed by the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) and its successor, GRACE Follow-On, and detected the spatial distribution of coseismic gravity changes mainly due to crustal deformation by the 2018 Fiji earthquake. The results in this study were not consistent with the numerical calculation of gravity changes when using the fault parameters estimated by the data of seismic waves. Thus, numerical calculations were used to construct a uniform slip rectangle fault model to explain coseismic gravity changes and provide a spatial distribution map of crustal deformation. However, this fault model is only based on gravity changes; thus, new research combining satellite gravimetry and seismic wave data will be necessary in the future.

Pre-seismic anomalies and co-seismic gravity changes of 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake (Mw 9.0) detected by superconducting gravity data

Pre-seismic anomalies and co-seismic gravity changes of 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake (Mw 9.0) detected by superconducting gravity data

Far-field coseismic gravity changes related to the 2015 <i>M</i><sub>W</sub>7.8 Nepal (Gorkha) earthquake observed by superconducting gravimeters in mainland China

Using data from five SGs at four stations in Chinese mainland, obvious permanent gravity changes caused by the 2015 <em>M</em>_W7.8 Nepal (Gorkha) earthquake were detected. We analyzed the gravity effects from ground vertical deformation (VD) using co-site continuous GPS (cGPS) data collocated at the Lijiang and the Wuhan station, and hydrological effects using GLDAS models and groundwater level records. After removing these effects, SG observations before and after the earthquake revealed obvious permanent gravity changes: −3.0 μGal, 7.3 μGal and 8.0 μGal at Lhasa, Lijiang and Wuhan station, respectively. We found that the gravity changes cannot be explained by the results of dislocation theory.

Focal mechanism of the great 2004 Sumatra earthquake by joint inversion of GPS deformation field and GRACE gravity change

In this study, the gravity changes observed by GRACE satellites along with the deformation field determined from GPS velocity vectors are used to estimate the fault parameters of 2004 Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake (SAE) by the inversion of PSGRN/PSCMP dislocation model. To do so, the co-seismic gravity changes are determined by fitting a time-series function to the GRACE monthly gravity fields and the effects of hydrology are suppressed with the aid of Global Land Data Assimilation (GLDAS) model. To increase the accuracy of inversion process, the GPS observed co-seismic and post-seismic displacements from 90 stations scattered across the deformed area are also used to constrain the inversion algorithm.The inversion is performed via the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) method that minimizes the error between the model-predicted and observed deformation and gravity changes. To this end, the PSGRN/PSMCP dislocation model predicts the deformation and gravity changes for each candidate fault in the PSO iterative process. It is shown that the joint use of the GPS and GRACE data in determination of focal mechanism, results in a fault model that is better consistent with the geometry of the existing subduction zone compared to the inverted fault using only GPS or GRACE data. Due to the complex geometry of the Sunda Trench, a discretized rectangular fault system is considered that allows the depth, slip, strike angle and dip angle vary between the sub-faults. In fact, the estimated fault model consists of 100 sub-faults with a total moment magnitude of Mw = 9.23 that matches the curved geometry of the Sunda Trench. The fault model reveals that the slip has a greater magnitude in segments near the northern Sumatra and Nicobar islands while for the segments of the fault, near the Andaman Islands, the slip is relatively smaller and has its greater magnitudes at depth. The depths and dip angles of the estimated fault model are compared to the SLAB2 3D geometry provided for the Sumatra and Java subduction zones and through this comparison, the RMSEs of 6.0 km for the depth and 3.1 ° for the dip angle are obtained.

Performance of GRACE Mascon Solutions in Studying Seismic Deformations

AbstractGRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) mascon (mass concentration) solutions are widely used in cryosphere science and hydrology research. Mascon solutions have been demonstrated to perform analogous to or better than spherical harmonic (SH) solutions at the basin scale. Although the mascon solutions are expected to facilitate an improved local recovery of seismic gravity signals of large earthquakes, the application of mascon solutions to earthquake analysis remains to be investigated. In this study, we examine the performance of the mascon solutions for seismic gravity signals induced by three M9 class (2011 Tohoku‐Oki, 2004 Sumatra, and 2010 Chile) and three smaller earthquakes and compare them with SH solutions and theoretical gravity changes modeled according to the dislocation theory. We analyze the coseismic and postseismic gravity changes and conclude that the mascon solutions contain information almost identical to the SH solutions and retrieve coseismic gravity change signals with resolutions equivalent to Gaussian filter radii of 210–270 km. The mascon solutions have strengthened gravity change signals of approximately twice the strength of the SH solutions. However, mascon solution cannot fully recover the complete seismic deformation since it is still a spatially “band‐limited” data set that uses the spatial smoothing in the aggressive regularization. We found that the mascon solutions contain “seismic‐like” gravity change signals several months before the Tohoku‐Oki and Chile earthquakes occurred.

Advances in gravity analyses for studying volcanoes and earthquakes

This report highlights the usefulness and applicability of various gravimetric methods for studying earthquakes and volcanic activities. A high-resolution gravity anomaly map of Japan reveals areas with very steep horizontal gradients, where potential seismic faults are likely to be buried. Such traditional geoprospecting is coupled with novel cosmic-ray radiography to produce a fine-resolution (<100 m) three-dimensional density structure of a volcano. On the other hand, temporal gravity changes provide invaluable information about the process of earthquake faulting, volcanic eruptions, caldera formation, etc. Specifically, in this report we present our previous work on gravity research for solid earth science: (1) the first detection of coseismic gravity changes, (2) the virtual visualization of the rising and falling of magma in a conduit of Asama volcano, and (3) the large-scale lateral movement of magma during the Miyake-jima eruption in 2000.

GOCE-Derived Coseismic Gravity Gradient Changes Caused by the 2011 Tohoku-Oki Earthquake

In contrast to most of the coseismic gravity change studies, which are generally based on data from the Gravity field Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission, we use observations from the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) Satellite Gravity Gradient (SGG) mission to estimate the coseismic gravity and gravity gradient changes caused by the 2011 Tohoku-Oki Mw 9.0 earthquake. We first construct two global gravity field models up to degree and order 220, before and after the earthquake, based on the least-squares method, with a bandpass Auto Regression Moving Average (ARMA) filter applied to the SGG data along the orbit. In addition, to reduce the influences of colored noise in the SGG data and the polar gap problem on the recovered model, we propose a tailored spherical harmonic (TSH) approach, which only uses the spherical harmonic (SH) coefficients with the degree range 30–95 to compute the coseismic gravity changes in the spatial domain. Then, both the results from the GOCE observations and the GRACE temporal gravity field models (with the same TSH degrees and orders) are simultaneously compared with the forward-modeled signals that are estimated based on the fault slip model of the earthquake event. Although there are considerable misfits between GOCE-derived and modeled gravity gradient changes (ΔVxx, ΔVyy, ΔVzz, and ΔVxz), we find analogous spatial patterns and a significant change (greater than 3σ) in gravity gradients before and after the earthquake. Moreover, we estimate the radial gravity gradient changes from the GOCE-derived monthly time-variable gravity field models before and after the earthquake, whose amplitudes are at a level over three times that of their corresponding uncertainties, and are thus significant. Additionally, the results show that the recovered coseismic gravity signals in the west-to-east direction from GOCE are closer to the modeled signals than those from GRACE in the TSH degree range 30–95. This indicates that the GOCE-derived gravity models might be used as additional observations to infer/explain some time-variable geophysical signals of interest.

Co-seismic deformation following the 2007 Bengkulu earthquake constrained by GRACE and GPS observations

Gravity changes caused by giant earthquakes can be detected by Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), which provide new constraints on earthquake ruptures. However, detailed rupture, seismic moment and density/displacement-induced gravity changes are not clear for less than Mw = 8.5 earthquakes. In this paper, the fault parameters of the 2007 Mw = 8.4 Bengkulu earthquake are retrieved from GRACE and GPS data, and the fault slip distribution is inverted using GPS data. Furthermore, the theoretical coseismic displacements and coseismic gravity changes from different slip models are compared with GPS and GRACE data. The results show that the significant positive and negative gravity anomalies with a peak magnitude of −2.0 to 1.3 μgal are extracted from GRACE data. The GRACE-inverted and joint-inverted seismic moment of the Bengkulu earthquake are 3.27×1021 Nm and 3.30×1021 Nm with the rake angle of 108° and 114°, respectively. The GPS-inverted Mw = 8.4 earthquake is mainly dominated by the thrusting with slight right-lateral strike-slip, which is consistent with the focal mechanism. GRACE-observed coseismic gravity changes agree well with the results from the fault models based on the spherically dislocation theories in spatial pattern, but are larger than model-estimated results in magnitude. The coseismic gravity changes caused by the density change are basically same as those caused by the vertical displacement in the magnitude of order, which are −0.8 to 0.2 μgal and −0.2 to 1.4 μgal for the Caltech model, −0.9 to 0.2 μgal and −0.5 to 1.3 μgal for the USGS model, and −0.9 to 0.2 μgal and −0.3 to 1.3 μgal for the GPS-inverted layered model. In addition, both the near-field and the far-field displacements calculated from the Caltech model and GPS-inverted layered model are in good agreement with the GPS observations, whereas the USGS model has good agreement in the far-field and poor agreement in the near-field with the GPS observations, especially in the Pagai Selatan area.

Co-seismic slip distribution of the 2011 Tohoku (&lt;i&gt;M&lt;/i&gt;&lt;sub&gt;W&lt;/sub&gt; 9.0) earthquake inverted from GPS and space-borne gravimetric data

Data obtained by GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) have been used to invert for the seismic source parameters of megathrust earthquakes under the assumption of either uniform slip over an entire fault or a point-like seismic source. Herein, we further extend the inversion of GRACE long-wavelength gravity changes to heterogeneous slip distributions during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake using three fault models: (I) a constant-strike and constant-dip fault, (II) a variable dip fault, and (III) a realistically varying strike fault. By removing the post-seismic signal from the time series, and taking the effect of ocean water redistribution into account, we invert for slip models I, II, and III using co-seismic gravity changes measured by GRACE, de-striped by DDK3 decorrelation filter. The total seismic moments of our slip models, with respective values of 4.9×1022 Nm, 5.1×1022 Nm, and 5.0×1022 Nm, are smaller than those obtained by other studies relying on GRACE data. The resulting centroids are also located at greater depths (20 km, 19.8 km, and 17.4 km, respectively). By combining onshore GPS, GPS-Acoustic, and GRACE data, we obtain a jointly inverted slip model with a seismic moment of 4.8×1022 Nm, which is larger than the seismic moment obtained using only the GPS displacements. We show that the slip inverted from low degree space-borne gravimetric data, which contains information at the ocean region, is affected by the strike of the arcuate trench. The space-borne gravimetric data help us constrain the source parameters of a megathrust earthquake within the frame of heterogeneous slip models.

Co-seismic Gravity Changes in the Koyna-Warna Region: Implications of Mass Redistribution

ABSTRACT Koyna-Warna Region (KWR) is one of the known sites for reservoir triggered seismicity. The continued triggered seismicity over the five decades is restricted to a region of about 600-700 sq. km, which provides a unique opportunity to monitor geophysical anomalies likely to be associated with seismicity of the region. Present study confers temporal gravity changes recorded by gPhone and GRACE satellite and interprets observed changes in conjunction with seismological, geodetic (cGPS) observations and groundwater level measurements. GRACE data suggest that seasonal vertical deformation due to hydrological loading is ∼ 2 cm, which corroborates with continuous GPS observations. Seasonal hydrological loading of the region, which is in a phase of reservoir loading, might be influencing the critically stressed KWR leading to the seasonal seismicity of the region. The gPhone gravity data distinctly show co-seismic gravity signals for eight earthquakes of Mw &amp;gt; 2 and gravity anomalies show positive correlation on a logarithmic scale with earthquake released energy. To investigate the cause of gravity changes, an estimate is made for 14th April 2012 earthquake for Mw 4.8 using fault dislocation model. The recorded gravity changes of 189 μGal by gPhone located at a distance of 28 km from the hypocentre is much more than the estimate of ∼0.1 μGal calculated for Mw 4.8 Koyna earthquake. Therefore, it is inferred that co-seismic gravity signals for eight earthquakes are primarily caused due to redistribution of mass at shallow depth.

Source Parameter Estimation of Indian Ocean Earthquake from observation of GRACE Gravity Gradient Tensor

In this study, the focal mechanism of Indian Ocean earthquake is determined by combination of GRACE gravity gradient change and analytical model of Okubo (1992). To do so, the co-seismic gravity gradient change resulting from Indian ocean earthquake is derived using monthly solution of GRACE level 02 data after removing the contaminations from hydrological effects and post-seismic creep. Since, De-striping methods lead to reduction and distortion of a co-seismic gravity change signal, it is suggested to compute a set of gravity gradient tensor components e.g. ΔVxx and ΔVxz, because they are more sensitive to small-scale signals and they reduce the striping errors without need to any de-striping filtering. Then the computed gravity gradient components are compared with the gravity gradient components from Okubo model (1992), which accounts the focal mechanism of the earthquake. By the way, the nonlinear inversion algorithm is constructed and solved by Genetic algorithm to find the best value of fault parameters for Indian Ocean earthquake. For better constraining the fault parameters in the inversion process, a sensitivity analysis is also conducted which reveals that the selected model is highly sensitive to a strike angle, dip angle, length, width and average slip, although it is less sensitive to a depth of a fault. The ultimate optimal estimate of the fault parameters shows a good correspondence compared with some existing slip models obtained by various constraints or via inversion of seismic observations.

Methods for removal of unwanted signals from gravity time-series: Comparison using linear techniques complemented with analysis of system dynamics

The presence of undesirable dominating signals in geophysical experimental data is a challenge in many subfields. One remarkable example is surface gravimetry, where frequencies from Earth tides correspond to time-series fluctuations up to a thousand times larger than the phenomena of major interest, such as hydrological gravity effects or co-seismic gravity changes. This work discusses general methods for the removal of unwanted dominating signals by applying them to 8 long-period gravity time-series of the International Geodynamics and Earth Tides Service, equivalent to the acquisition from 8 instruments in 5 locations representative of the network. We compare three different conceptual approaches for tide removal: frequency filtering, physical modelling, and data-based modelling. Each approach reveals a different limitation to be considered depending on the intended application. Vestiges of tides remain in the residues for the modelling procedures, whereas the signal was distorted in different ways by the filtering and data-based procedures. The linear techniques employed were power spectral density, spectrogram, cross-correlation, and classical harmonics decomposition, while the system dynamics was analysed by state-space reconstruction and estimation of the largest Lyapunov exponent. Although the tides could not be completely eliminated, they were sufficiently reduced to allow observation of geophysical events of interest above the 10 nm s-2 level, exemplified by a hydrology-related event of 60 nm s-2. The implementations adopted for each conceptual approach are general, so that their principles could be applied to other kinds of data affected by undesired signals composed mainly by periodic or quasi-periodic components.

Comparisons of Co-Seismic Gravity Changes between GRACE Observations and the Predictions from the Finite-Fault Models for the 2012 Mw = 8.6 Indian Ocean Earthquake Off-Sumatra

Comparisons of Co-Seismic Gravity Changes between GRACE Observations and the Predictions from the Finite-Fault Models for the 2012 Mw = 8.6 Indian Ocean Earthquake Off-Sumatra

Linking Oceanic Tsunamis and Geodetic Gravity Changes of Large Earthquakes

Large earthquakes at subduction zones usually generate tsunamis and coseismic gravity changes. These two independent oceanic and geodetic signatures of earthquakes can be observed individually by modern geophysical observational networks. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment twin satellites can detect gravity changes induced by large earthquakes, while altimetry satellites and Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis buoys can observe resultant tsunamis. In this study, we introduce a method to connect the oceanic tsunami measurements with the geodetic gravity observations, and apply it to the 2004 Sumatra Mw 9.2 earthquake, the 2010 Maule Mw 8.8 earthquake and the 2011 Tohoku Mw 9.0 earthquake. Our results indicate consistent agreement between these two independent measurements. Since seafloor displacement is still the largest puzzle in assessing tsunami hazards and its formation mechanism, our study demonstrates a new approach to utilizing these two kinds of measurements for better understanding of large earthquakes and tsunamis.

Coseismic Gravity and Displacement Signatures Induced by the 2013 Okhotsk Mw8.3 Earthquake.

In this study, Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) RL05 data from January 2003 to October 2014 were used to extract the coseismic gravity changes induced by the 24 May 2013 Okhotsk Mw8.3 deep-focus earthquake using the difference and least square fitting methods. The gravity changes obtained from GRACE data agreed well with those from dislocation theory in both magnitude and spatial pattern. Positive and negative gravity changes appeared on both sides of the epicenter. The positive signature appeared on the western side, and the peak value was approximately 0.4 microgal (1 microgal = 10−8 m/s2), whereas on the eastern side, the gravity signature was negative, and the peak value was approximately −1.1 microgal. It demonstrates that deep-focus earthquakes Mw ≤ 8.5 are detectable by GRACE observations. Moreover, the coseismic displacements of 20 Global Positioning System (GPS) stations on the Earth’s surface were simulated using an elastic dislocation theory in a spherical earth model, and the results are consistent with the GPS results, especially the near-field results. We also estimated the gravity contributions from the coseismic vertical displacements and density changes, analyzed the proportion of these two gravity change factors (based on an elastic dislocation theory in a spherical earth model) in this deep-focus earthquake. The gravity effect from vertical displacement is four times larger than that caused by density redistribution.

Topographic effects on coseismic gravity change for the 2011 Tohoku‐Oki earthquake and comparison with GRACE

AbstractWe estimate gravity changes due to coseismic horizontal deformation and inclined bathymetry (referred to as topographic effects in this study) associated with the 2011 Tohoku‐Oki earthquake, using a layered half‐space dislocation model. As an approximation, we represent inclined topography with ramp‐body models in the near field of the earthquake and calculate topographic effects from both an inclined seafloor and Moho. The Moho effect partly compensates that from the seafloor. An additional contribution comes from seawater column variations as the sloped seafloor moves trenchward. Topographic effects are first‐order contributions to coseismic gravity changes for the 2011 Tohoku‐Oki earthquake. After 300 km Gaussian smoothing, comparable to the spatial resolution of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), topographic effects create a dominantly negative gravity pattern with amplitudes up to 1.1 μGal for oceanic areas surrounding the epicenter. There are discrepancies between model predictions (−10.4 to +6.9 μGal) and GRACE observations (10.1 to +1.7 μGal). Errors in the adopted fault slip model and difficulties in separating coseismic and postseismic deformation may contribute to these, but topographic effects, currently neglected in dislocation models, are also responsible. Topographic effects ought to be included in coseismic fault slip and related gravity modeling for the 2011 Tohoku‐Oki earthquake and similar events in regions of steep topography.

Postseismic gravity change after the 2006-2007 great earthquake doublet and constraints on the asthenosphere structure in the central Kuril Islands.

Large earthquakes often trigger viscoelastic adjustment for years to decades depending on the rheological properties and the nature and spatial extent of coseismic stress. The 2006 Mw8.3 thrust and 2007 Mw8.1 normal fault earthquakes of the central Kuril Islands resulted in significant postseismic gravity change in GRACE but without a discernible coseismic gravity change. The gravity increase of ~4 µGal, observed consistently from various GRACE solutions around the epicentral area during 2007-2015, is interpreted as resulting from gradual seafloor uplift by ~6 cm produced by postseismic relaxation. The GRACE data are best fit with a model of 25-35 km for the elastic thickness and ~1018 Pa s for the Maxwell viscosity of the asthenosphere. The large measurable postseismic gravity change (greater than coseismic change) emphasizes the importance of viscoelastic relaxation in understanding tectonic deformation and fault-locking scenarios in the Kuril subduction zone.

Coseismic gravity and displacement changes of Japan Tohoku earthquake (Mw 9.0)

The greatest earthquake in the modern history of Japan and probably the fourth greatest in the last 100 years in the world occurred on March 11, 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku. Large tsunami and ground motions caused severe damage in wide areas, particularly many towns along the Pacific coast. So far, gravity change caused by such a great earthquake has been reported for the 1964 Alaska and the 2010 Maule events. However, the spatial-temporal resolution of the gravity data for these cases is insufficient to depict a co-seismic gravity field variation in a spatial scale of a plate subduction zone. Here, we report an unequivocal co-seismic gravity change over the Japanese Island, obtained from a hybrid gravity observation (combined absolute and relative gravity measurements). The time interval of the observation before and after the earthquake is within 1 year at almost all the observed sites, including 13 absolute and 16 relative measurement sites, which deduced tectonic and environmental contributions to the gravity change. The observed gravity agrees well with the result calculated by a dislocation theory based on a self-gravitating and layered spherical earth model. In this computation, a co-seismic slip distribution is determined by an inversion of Global Positioning System (GPS) data. Of particular interest is that the observed gravity change in some area is negative where a remarkable subsidence is observed by GPS, which can not be explained by simple vertical movement of the crust. This indicated that the mass redistribution in the underground affects the gravity change. This result supports the result that Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites detected a crustal dilatation due to the 2004 Sumatra earthquake by the terrestrial observation with a higher spatial and temporal resolution.

Crustal subsidence observed by GRACE after the 2013 Okhotsk deep‐focus earthquake

AbstractCoseismic gravity changes stem from (1) vertical deformation of layer boundaries with density contrast (i.e., surface and Moho) and (2) density changes of rocks at depth. They have been observed in earthquakes with Mw exceeding ~8.5 by Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites, but those of M8 class earthquakes have never been detected clearly. Here we report coseismic gravity change of the 24 May 2013 Okhotsk deep earthquake (Mw8.3), smaller than the detection threshold. In shallow thrust faulting, factor (2) is dominant, while factor (1) remains secondary due to poor spatial resolution of GRACE. In the 2013 Okhotsk earthquake, however, factor (2) is insignificant because they occur at depth exceeding 600 km. On the other hand, factor (1) becomes dominant because the centers of uplift and subsidence are well separated and GRACE can resolve them. This enables GRACE to map vertical ground movements of deep earthquakes over both land and ocean.

Monthly GRACE detection of coseismic gravity change associated with 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake using northern gradient approach

We demonstrate that the coseismic gravitational changes due to the 2011 M w = 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake are detectable by GRACE with only 1-month data after the earthquake, which is also supported by a simulation test using the seismic-signal-contained observations synthesized with the signals of a dislocation model prediction. The commonly used destriping to filter correlated errors in GRACE coefficients tends to distort the true coseismic signals in both amplitude and spatial pattern. In order to better retrieve coseismic gravitational signals, we apply a northern gravity gradient approach with the filter of spatial averaging and without destriping. The coseismic northern gravity gradient changes of Tohoku-Oki earthquake are extracted from the monthly data of April 2011, which reveal a positive-negative-positive spatial pattern and agree with the model prediction. The northern gradient approach provides an efficient means to detect coseismic signals and potentially constrain fault slip models with large-scale gravitational changes using limited time span of monthly GRACE solutions.