Advantages of GNSS in Monitoring Crustal Deformation for Detection of Precursors to Strong Earthquakes

Guohua Gu, Wuxing Wang

Institute of Earthquake Science, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, China.

DOI: 10.4236/pos.2013.41003                

Abstract

Earthquake predictions inChinahave had rare successes but suffered more tragic setbacks since the Xintai earthquake in 1966. They have developed with twists and turns under the influence of the viewpoint that earthquakes are unpredictable etc. Though the Wenchuan earthquake of M8.0 in2008 inChina and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake of M9.0 inJapan were failed to predict, the GPS observations before and after these 2 events have shown that there were precursors to these events and large earthquakes are predictable. Features of different observation techniques, data processing methods are compared and some recent studies on precursory crustal deformations are summarized, so various advantages of GPS technique in monitoring crustal deformation are emphasized. The facts show that anomalies or precursors detected from GPS observations before the great Wenchuan earthquake have been the most remarkable results of explorations on crustal movements and earthquake precursors in China. GPS is in deed an excellent observation technique for earthquake prediction.

Keywords

Crustal Deformation; Earthquake Prediction; Precursor to Earthquake; Wenchuan Earthquake; Tohoku Earthquake in Japan; GPS; GNSS

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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