Three attempts of earthquake prediction with satellite cloud images

A section of the Nojima Fault, responsible for the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake, preserved at Nojima Fault Preservation Museum. Picture taken at Nojima Fault Preservation Museum, Awaji Island, Japan. (c) Sakurai Midori

On Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences G. Guangmeng and Y. Jie have been published a study where they attempt earthquake prediction by observing clouds from satellite images. Here below the abstract of the article.

Thermal anomalies detected from satellite data are widely reported. Nearly all the anomalies are reported after the quake. Here we report three earthquake predictions in Italy and Iran according to satellite cloud anomalies. These cloud anomalies usually show a linear pattern, stay there for hours and do not move with winds. According to these anomalies, we can give a rough estimation about impending earthquake activities. All the estimated dates and magnitudes are in good agreement with the earthquake facts, and the only unsatisfactory point is that the distance error is 100–300 km. Because the cloud anomaly is long, we can not reduce the distance error further. A possible way is to combine geophysical data and satellite data together to estimate the epicenter and this will increase the prediction accuracy.

This is an open article. Follow this link: Natural Hazards Earth System Sciences, 13, 91-95

Authors and affiliations:

Remote Sensing Center, Nanyang Normal University, China

G. Guangmeng and Y. Jie