Statistical analysis of microwave radiation anomaly before earthquake: A case study of Kamchatka Peninsula

It was confirmed that microwave energy is emitted during the compression of rock and the energy can be detected by some special frequency bands. The analysis of satellite remote sensing data found that there may be abnormal microwave radiation before several earthquakes. This important discovery is in urgent need of universal inspection and statistical analysis.In this study, the data of Aqua AMSR-E microwave radiation brightness temperature of nine years (2003−2011) in Kamchatka Peninsula were collected, and the information of earthquake and volcanic activity in this period was counted. The time and location information of microwave radiation anomalies before all the strong earthquakes over the past nine years were studied by using the improved method of anomaly identification and the construction of the background field. The results show that: ① The average brightness temperature change of Kamchatka Peninsula has obvious seasonal characteristics, which can be divided into two periods, from January to April and from November to December are stationary periods and from May to October is fluctuation period. The brightness temperature curves of the stationary periods are basically steady and that of the fluctuation period is parabolic, for it shows continual warming from April to July and then continual cooling until November. ② Due to the effect of topography, the brightness temperature is higher in the southern and southeastern peninsula, while that of the central and western part is low. ③ The brightness temperature of volcanoes is less than that of the seismic and non-seismic points, which indicates that the volcanic activity has a limited influence on the brightness temperature. ④ Using the four percentile method to determine the radiation anomaly detection index, it was found that there are 13 times of 17 earthquakes can be identified anomalies before earthquakes, and allM_S≥6.0 earthquakes can be detected anomalies, which occurred in one month before the earthquake.