Satellite Thermal Infrared Earthquake Precursor to the Wenchuan Ms 8.0 Earthquake in Sichuan,China, and its Analysis on Geo‐dynamics

Based on an interpretation and study of the satellite remote‐sensing images of FY‐2C thermal infrared 1st wave band (10.3–11.3 μm) designed in China, the authors found that there existed obvious and isolated satellite thermal infrared anomalies before the 5.12 Wenchuan M_s8.0 Earthquake. These anomalies had the following characteristics: (1) The precursor appeared rather early: on March 18, 2008, i.e., 55 days before the earthquake, thermal infrared anomalies began to occur; (2) The anomalies experienced quite many and complex evolutionary stages: the satellite thermal infrared anomalies might be divided into five stages, whose manifestations were somewhat different from each other. The existence of so many anomaly stages was probably observed for the first time in numerous cases of satellite thermal infrared research on earthquakes; (3) Each stage lasted quite a long time, with the longest one spanning 13 days; (4) An evident geothermal anomaly gradient was distributed along the Longmen seismic fracture zone, and such a phenomenon might also be discovered for the first time in satellite thermal infrared earthquake research. This discovery is therefore of great guiding and instructive significance in the study of the earthquake occurrence itself and the trend of the post‐earthquake phenomena.