Characterization of thermal infrared medium- and short-term anomaly information from block to fault in mainland China

The relationship between satellite thermal infrared anomalies and earthquakes or fault activity has been studied for more than 30 years. In this study, five strong (the M S 6.1 earthquake in Biru, Tibet; the 7.4 Madoi, Qinghai; 6.0 Delingha, Lushan, Sichuan; 6.8 Luding, Sichuan) that occurred on western mainland of China over past 2 years were studied. Based monthly MODIS land surface temperature (LST) data daily NOAA longwave radiation data, departure algorithm Robust Satellite Techniques (RST) used to extract analyze characteristics anomaly information blocks faults around from different temporal spatial scales. results showed following: 1) medium-term scale study based near epicenters increase 1–6 months before earthquakes; areas clearly controlled by distribution blocks, mostly within with frequent anomalies. 2) short-term, feature tracking meant obvious also found. seismic events all appeared a period 3 earthquake, there multiple consecutive days significant increases generally month was form strips, which is basically consistent trend zone. use remote sensing summarize dynamic evolution can provide basis long-term monitoring technology.