SSM/I Applications in Studies of Thermal Anomalies Associated with Earthquakes

要旨

Space-borne scanners, which can sense the thermal emission of the earth, have paved the way for satellite study of the thermal scenario of the land surface. In any tectonically active region induced pressure may lead to an increase in temperature. This coupled by generation of heat due to electric potentials induced by Positive Hole Pairs (PHP) can be an important pre-cursor to an earthquake. The passive microwave radiometer, Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) has an all weather advantage to sense the thermal emission of the earth's surface. Weekly thermal SSM/I anomaly maps over a base period of 14 years (1988-2002) were used to study the thermal scenario before seven major earthquakes around the world. All these earthquakes reveal an increase in land surface temperature before the earthquakes. In most cases the anomaly appeared around a week prior to the earthquakes (only weekly average data were available). The locations of the epicenters of the earthquakes studied correspond to plate margins or active thrusts/faults in tectonically active regions.