Co-seismic characterization analysis in PWV and land-atmospheric observations associated with Luding Ms 6.8 earthquake occurrence in China on September 5, 2022

Abstract

The Sichuan Luding earthquake that struck on September 5, 2022 is one of the strongest earthquakes in China in recent years. The analysis of precipitable water vapor (PWV) retrieved from the ground-based global navigation satellite system (GNSS), surface pressure (SP), surface latent heat flux (SLHF), and land surface temperature (LST) from the reanalysis dataset was carried out in the epicenter and the nearby areas. The results show that PWV decreases distinctly and reaches the trough at the outburst with significant minimums of 43.21 mm and 37.84 mm over the nearest SCSM and SCTQ station from the epicenter. SLHF also has the same trend, and SP increased. Additionally, the LST analysis from two-temporal series was conducted to reveal that the Luding event accompanies by a low-temperature anomaly. Based on the background field established from the same period of the last ten years, LST at the epicenter on the day of occurrence was 5.68 °C lower than in previous years. Furthermore, the strongest low-temperature anomalies were observed from September 4 to 6, with the anomaly index of −1.95, −1.71, and −1.60, respectively. It is plain that the parameters from the land and atmosphere perform the anomalies at the minimum during the Luding earthquake.

Keywords:

• Luding earthquake
• precipitable water vapor
• land surface temperature
• GNSS retrieval
• reanalysis

Acknowledgments

The authors thank for the data support from China Earthquake Networks Center, National Earthquake Data Center (http://data.earthquake.cn).

Author contributions

A.G. and Y.X. proposed the idea, designed computer programs, and wrote the initial draft. A.G., N.J., Y.W., and Z.G. performed the PWV results retrieved from GNSS and reanalysis data. A.G. and S.L. performed the temperature anomaly data presentation and had a further analysis on other parameters. Y.X., N.J., and T.X. revised the manuscript and acquired financial support for this publication. Y.X. revised the equations and format of the manuscript, specifically critical review, and revision.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This study is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 42204042]; the National Key Research & Development Program of China [grant number 2020YFB0505800]; the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China [grant numbers ZR2020MD045 and ZR2020QD046]; the Open Fund of the Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Exploration Technology and Application, Ministry of Natural Resources, China [grant number MESTA-2020-B013]; and the Young Scholars Program of Shandong University, Weihai [grant number 20820211007].