Detection Algorithm of Earthquake-Related Rock Failures From Satellite-Borne Microwave Radiometer Data

Abstract

It was experimentally confirmed that microwave energy is emitted during the compression of rocks. Land-surface deformations are likely to be accompanied by rock failures. From the experimental results, we could conclude that the microwave signals generated by rock failures near the land surface are detectable by a satellite-borne radiometer. Therefore, we developed an algorithm to evaluate the microwave energy generated by rock failures on the land surface and applied the algorithm to the data of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System for the earthquake that struck Al Hoceima, Morocco, on February 24, 2004. As a result, we detected definitive microwave signals around the epicenter two days before the earthquake only in the entire observation period of six years. This paper presents the details of the algorithm and the analysis results.