A Potential Mechanism of the Satellite Thermal Infrared Seismic Anomaly Based on Change in Temperature Caused by Stress Variation: Theoretical, Experimental and Field Investigations

Peixun Liu; Shunyun Chen; Qiongying Liu; Yanshuang Guo; Yaqiong Ren; Yanqun Zhuo; Jiahui Feng

doi:10.3390/rs14225697

Remote Sensing (Nov 2022)

A Potential Mechanism of the Satellite Thermal Infrared Seismic Anomaly Based on Change in Temperature Caused by Stress Variation: Theoretical, Experimental and Field Investigations

Peixun Liu,
Shunyun Chen,
Qiongying Liu,
Yanshuang Guo,
Yaqiong Ren,
Yanqun Zhuo,
Jiahui Feng

Affiliations

Peixun Liu: State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China
Shunyun Chen: State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China
Qiongying Liu: State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China
Yanshuang Guo: State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China
Yaqiong Ren: State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China
Yanqun Zhuo: State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China
Jiahui Feng: State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14225697
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 14, no. 22
p. 5697

Abstract

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Satellite thermal infrared remote sensing has received worldwide attention in earthquake-precursors exploration. Meanwhile, it has also encountered great controversy due to the lack of quantitative interpretation of the observations, despite the existing qualitative physical mechanisms being able to greatly help us understand thermal infrared anomalies. Here, we report a potential mechanism to quantitatively analyze co-seismic thermal infrared anomalies based on temperature change caused by stress variation through theoretical, experimental, and field investigations. This paper firstly deduces theoretically the temperature variation during elastic deformation of rock on the basis of the thermodynamic theory. Secondly, three laboratory experiments on rock samples are conducted to verify the theoretical estimates of the temperature changes caused by stress variations using an infrared camera with the spectral range of 8~12 μm. Thirdly, a mechanical model on thrust faults is built to evaluate the co-seismic temperature drop as a result of thrust faulting. The model shows that the co-seismic temperature drop in rocks should be in the order of 0.18 K. This variation in rock temperature may cause a change in heat equivalent to changes in shallow atmospheric temperatures of 3.0–6.0 K, which is in accordance with the temperature anomalies observed by satellite thermal infrared remote sensing. In addition, the temperature change caused by crustal stress variation may involve a large spatial scale, covering the whole focal area, which has characteristics of regional distribution and is conducive to satellite observation. Therefore, a quantitative explanation of the satellite thermal infrared seismic anomaly mechanism can be given via the temperature change caused by crustal stress variation.

Published in Remote Sensing

ISSN: 2072-4292 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Science
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing/

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