MECHANISMS AND RELATIONSHIP TO SOIL MOISTURE OF SURFACE LATENT HEAT FLUX ANOMALY BEFORE INLAND EARTHQUAKES

Abstract

The anomaly of SLHF, which is a key component of the Earth's energy balance and represents the heat flux from the Earth's surface to the atmosphere associated with evaporation or transpiration of water on the surface and subsequent condensation of water vapor in the troposphere, has been widely reported as a possible earthquake precursor. The causes are generally attributed to the increase in infrared thermal (IR) temperature and the air ionization produced by increased emanation of radon from the Earth's crust. In this paper, the theoretical analysis and case study show that there is close relationship between soil moisture and SLHF anomalies. For inland earthquakes, the increase of soil moisture due to the rising of groundwater level will bring with higher potential evaporation, leading to the increase of latent heat flux. Further study with more accurate soil moisture product after the new satellite mission will help us to better understand the influence of soil moisture on SLHF variation and their relations with seismogenic process.