Robust satellite techniques (RST) for the thermal monitoring of earthquake prone areas: the case of Umbria-Marche October, 1997 seismic events

Several authors claim a space-time correlation between increases in Earth’s emitted Thermal Infra-Red (TIR) radiation
and earthquake occurrence. The main problems of such studies regard data analysis and interpretation,
which are often done without a validation/confutation control. In this context, a robust data analysis technique
(RST, i.e. Robust Satellite Techniques) is proposed which permits a statistically based definition of TIR «anomaly
» and uses a validation/confutation approach. This technique was already applied to satellite TIR surveys in
seismic regions for about twenty earthquakes that occurred in the world. In this work RST is applied for the first
time to a time sequence of seismic events. Nine years of Meteosat TIR observations have been analyzed to characterize
the unperturbed TIR signal behaviour at specific observation times and locations. The main seismic
events of the October 1997 Umbria-Marche sequence have been considered for validation, and relatively unperturbed
periods (no earthquakes with Mb ≥ 4) were taken for confutation purposes. Positive time-space persistent
TIR anomalies were observed during seismic periods, generally overlapping the principal tectonic lineaments
of the region and sometimes focusing on the vicinity of the epicentre. No similar (in terms of relative intensity
and space-time persistence) TIR anomalies were detected during seismically unperturbed periods.

ALIANO, C., R. CORRADO, C. FILIZZOLA, N. PERGOLA and V.
TRAMUTOLI (2007): Robust satellite techniques (RST)
for seismically active areas monitoring: the case of 21st
May, 2003 Boumerdes/Thenia (Algeria) earthquake,
Multitemp 2007, 18th – 20th July 2007, Louven, Belgium,
doi 10.1109/MULTITEMP.2007. 4293042.
ALIANO, C., R. CORRADO, C. FILIZZOLA, N. PERGOLA and V.
TRAMUTOLI (2008a): Robust TIR Satellite Techniques
for monitoring earthquake active regions: limits, main
achievements and perspectives, Annals of Geophysics,
51 (1), 303.
ALIANO, C., R. CORRADO, C. FILIZZOLA, N. PERGOLA and V.
TRAMUTOLI (2008b): Robust Satellite Techniques for
monitoring TIR anomalies in earthquake prone areas in
Proceedings of the 2008 IEEE GOLD Remote Sensing
Conference, Frascati, Italy, 22-23 May 2008 (in press).
CORRADO, R., R. CAPUTO, C. FILIZZOLA, N. PERGOLA and C.
PIETRAPERTOSA, V. TRAMUTOLI (2005): Seismically active
areas monitoring by robust TIR satellite techniques:
a sensitivity analysis on low magnitude earthquakes
occurred in Greece and Turkey since 1995, Natural
Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 5, 101-108.
CUOMO, V., C. FILIZZOLA, N. PERGOLA, C. PIETRAPERTOSA
and V. TRAMUTOLI (2004): A self-sufficient approach
for GERB cloudy radiance detection, Atmospheric Research,
72, (1-4), 39-56.
DI BELLO, G., C. FILIZZOLA, T. LACAVA, F. MARCHESE, N.
PERGOLA, C. PIETRAPERTOSA, S. PISCITELLI, I. SCAFFIDI
and V. TRAMUTOLI (2004): Robust Satellite Techniques
for Volcanic and Seismic Hazards Monitoring, Annals
of Geophysics, 47 (1), 49-64.
FILIZZOLA, C., N. PERGOLA, C. PIETRAPERTOSA and V. TRAMUTOLI
(2004): Robust satellite techniques for seismically
active areas monitoring: a sensitivity analysis on
September 7th 1999 Athens’s earthquake, Physics and
Chemistry of the Earth, 29, 517-527.
FREUND, F. (2002): Charge generation and propagation in
rocks, J. Geodynamics, 33, 545-572.
GELLER R.J. (1997): Earthquake prediction: a critical review,
Geophys. J. Int., 131, 425-450.
GENZANO, N., C. ALIANO, C. FILIZZOLA, N. PERGOLA and V.
TRAMUTOLI (2007): A robust satellite technique for
monitoring seismically active areas: the case of
Bhuj–Gujarat earthquake, Tectonophysics, 431, 197-
210.
GORNY, V.I., A.G. SALMAN, A.A. TRONIN et al. (1988): The
Earth’s outgoing IR radiation as an indicator of seismic
activity, Proc. Acad.Sci. USSR, 301, 67- 69.
IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology),
link to http://www.iris.washimgton.edu NEIC (National
Earthquake Information Centre, link to: http://neic.usgs.
gov/neis/epic/epic_global.html]
OUZOUNOV, D., N. BRYANT, T. LOGAN, S. PULINETS and P.
TAYLOR (2006): Satellite thermal IR phenomena associated
with some of the major earthquakes, 1999-2003
Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 31 (4-9), 154-163.
OUZOUNOV, D., D. LIU, K. CHUNLI, G. CERVONE, M.
KAFATOS and P. TAYLOR (2007): Outgoing long wave
radiation variability from IR satellite data prior to major
earthquakes, Tectonophysics, 431 (1-4), 211-220.
PIETRAPERTOSA, C., N. PERGOLA, V. LANORTE and V. TRAMUTOLI
(2001): Self Adaptive Algorithms for Change
Detection: OCA (the One-channel Cloud-detection
Approach) an adjustable method for cloudy and clear
radiances detection, in Technical Proceedings of the
Eleventh International (A)TOVS Study Conference
(ITSC-XI), Budapest, 20-26 September 2000, edited by
J.F. Le MARSHALL and J.D.JASPER, (Bureau of Meteorology
Research Centre), Melbourne, 281-291.
PULINETS S., OUZOUNOV, D., CIRAOLO et al. (2006a): Thermal,
atmospheric and ionospheric anomalies around
the time of the Colima M7.8 earthquake of 21 January
2003, Annals of Geophysic, 24, 835-849.
PULINETS, S.A., D. OUZOUNOV, A.V. KARELIN, K.A. BOYARCHUK
and L.A. POKHMELNYKH (2006b): The physical
nature of thermal anomalies observed before strong
earthquakes, Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 31
(4-9), 143-153.
QIANG, Z.-J., X.-D. XU and C.-G. DIAN (1991): Thermal infrared
anomaly precursor of impending earthquakes,
Chinese Science Bulletin, 36 (4), 319-323.
QIANG, Z.-J. and C.-G. DIAN (1992): Satellite thermal infrared
impending temperature increase precursor of
Gonghe earthquake of magnitude 7.0, Qinghai
Province, Geoscience, 6 (3), 297-300.
QIANG, Z.-J., X.-D. XU and C.-G. DIAN (1997): Thermal infrared
anomaly precursor of impending earthquakes,
Pure and Applied Geophysics, 149, 159-171.
SARAF, A.K. and S. CHOUDHURY (2005a): Satellite detects
surface thermal anomalies associated with the Algerian
earthquakes of May 2003, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 26 (13), 2705-2713.
SARAF, A.K. and S. CHOUDHURY (2005b): NOAA-AVHRR
detects thermal anomaly associated with the 26 January
2001 Bhuj earthquake, Gujarat, India, International
Journal of Remote Sensing, 26 (6), 1065-1073.
SALMAN, A., W.G. EGAN and A.A. TRONIN (1992): Infrared
remote sensing of seismic disturbances, in Polarization
and Remote Sensing, (SPIE, San Diego, CA), 208-218.
TRAMUTOLI, V. (1998): Robust AVHRR Techniques (RAT)
for Environmental Monitoring: theory and applications,
in Earth Surface Remote Sensing II, edited by G.
CECCHI and E. ZILIOLI, (SPIE 3496), 101-113.
TRAMUTOLI, V, G. DI BELLO, N. PERGOLA and S. PISCITELLI
(2001): Robust Satellite Techniques for Remote Sensing
of Seismically Active Areas, Annali di Geofisica,
44 (2), 295-312.
TRAMUTOLI, V. (2005): Robust Satellite Techniques (RST)
for natural and environmental hazards monitoring and
mitigation: ten years of successful applications, in ISP
MSRS 2005 Conference Proceedings, (Beijing, China).
TRAMUTOLI, V., V. CUOMO, C. FILIZZOLA, N. PERGOLA and
C. PIETRAPERTOSA (2005): Assessing the potential of
thermal infrared satellite surveys for monitoring seismically
active areas: the case of Kocaeli (Izmit) earthquake,
August 17, 1999, Remote Sensing of Environment,
96, 409-426.
TRAMUTOLI, V. (2007): Robust Satellite Techniques (RST) for
Natural and Environmental Hazards Monitoring and Mitigation:
Theory and Applications, Proceedings of Multitemp
2007, doi: 10.1109/MULTITEMP.2007.4293057.
TRONIN, A.A. (1996): Satellite thermal survey—a new tool
for the study of seismoactive regions, in International
Journal of Remote Sensing, 41 (8), 1439-1455.
TRONIN, A.A. (2000): Thermal IR satellite sensor data application
for earthquake research in China, International
Journal of Remote Sensing, 16, 3169-3177.
TRONIN, A.A., M. HAYAKAWA and O.A. MOLCHANOV
(2002): Thermal IR satellite data application for earthquake
research in Japan and China, Journal of Geodynamics,
33 (4-5), 519-534.