Groundwater monitoring for earthquake prediction by an amateur network in Japan

Since 1976 groundwater-levels and the temperature of thermal water have been monitored in 100 wells distributed mostly in the southern Kanto and Tokai districts of Japan in order to predict earthquakes. Good examples of groundwater precursors were recognized prior to the following destructive earthquakes: the 1978 West Off Izu-Oshima Earthquake (M 7.0), the 1978 Off Miyagi Earthquakes (M 7.4), and the 1980 East Off Izu Peninsula Earthquake (M 6.7). In the 1978 West Off Izu-Oshima Earthquake, groundwater levels and the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) volume strainmeters, installed in the Izu peninsula, showed precursory changes at about the same time. In the other cases, however, precursory behavior was observed only in water level and temperature monitoring. Empirical relations are given between earthquake magnitude and the epicentral distance of the farthest groundwater anomaly, and between earthquake magnitude and the precursor time of groundwater.