Investigation of Seismo-thermal Precursor of Goharan Earthquake (2013) by Thermal Data of MODIS Sensor in TERRA Satellite

Abstract

The main objective of this research is to study the seismo-thermal earthquake precursor of the Goharan earthquake (2013) using TERRA satellite imaging and MODIS (Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) sensor. In order to reach this goal, Land Surface Temperature (LST) data for seismo-thermal precursor was considered through colorization and time series analysis using wavelet transform. In addition, air effects the reduction in air temperature time series of the closest station subtracted from LST time series. Results of colorization revealed that the region with higher temperature can be used for recognition of the fault plane and the auxiliary plane. Subsequently, after plotting earthquake aftershocks, it is possible to estimate the location of the strike of the earthquake fault and the found strike location is in agreement with the higher temperature line. Also, the analysis of the time series and application of wavelet transform analysis shows that before an earthquake occurs, the soil temperature reaches the highest temperature four days prior to the event. A day before the earthquake occurs; the soil’s temperature subsides to the minimum.