Long term (1975-2016) anomaly of surface latent heat flux (SLHF) over Indian subcontinent: Signatures of early warning of earthquake disasters

Abstract

A long term study of the anomaly of 42 years (1975-2016) of surface latent heat flux (SLHF) from the epicenters of earthquakes over Indian subcontinent has been carried out in the present paper and was found to show anomalous behavior. On an average, the maximum increase of SLHF was found to be 10-15 days prior to the main earthquake event which was likely due to ocean-atmosphere interaction. Thisenhancement of SLHF prior to the main earthquake event was significantly attributed to the increase in infrared thermal (IR) temperature in the epicentral and surrounding nearby areas. The anomalous increase in SLHF indicates about early warning of a disastrous earthquake in a region provided that there is a better understanding of the background noise dueto the zonal tides and regional monsoon in surface latent heat flux. Efforts were also made in the present study to understand the level of background noise in the epicentral regions of the ten earthquakes over the Indian subcontinent during last 42years. Latitudinal and longitudinal effects of SLHF anomaly for the ten earthquakes over Indian subcontinent was also made and it was found that the anomalous behavior of SLHF prior to the main earthquake event is somewhat only associated with the coastal earthquakes activities.