Quasi-coseismic variations and geosphere coupling associated with the strong 2023 Turkey earthquakes

Feng Jing; Lu Zhang; Ramesh P Singh; Akshansha Chauhan; Meng Jiang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167963

Quasi-coseismic variations and geosphere coupling associated with the strong 2023 Turkey earthquakes

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Jan 10:907:167963. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167963. Epub 2023 Oct 20.

Authors

Feng Jing¹, Lu Zhang², Ramesh P Singh³, Akshansha Chauhan⁴, Meng Jiang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Earthquake Forecasting, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100036, China; Key Laboratory of Earthquake Prediction, Institute of Earthquake Forecasting, CEA, Beijing 100036, China. Electronic address: jingfeng@cea-ies.ac.cn.
² Beijing Earthquake Agency, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100080, China.
³ School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA.
⁴ AIRMO GmbH, Claude-Dornier-Strasse, Weßling, Germany.
⁵ Institute of Earthquake Forecasting, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100036, China.

PMID: 37866609
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167963

Abstract

On 6 February 2023, two massive shallow earthquakes of Mw 7.8 and Mw 7.5 occurred successively in Turkey. Unlike earlier studies on pre-seismic anomalous signals, here we focus on the co-seismic changes in ocean, land, and atmospheric parameters associated with these two earthquakes. The quasi-coseismic variations have been clearly observed in ocean, atmosphere, and snow parameters from satellite and reanalysis datasets. Our results show a decline in the seawater temperature and salinity, and enhancement in the chlorophyll-a concentration in the eastern Mediterranean Sea associated with the earthquakes. Over the epicentral region, the total ozone column and snowfall have been observed to increase with the occurrence of earthquakes. After a detailed analysis of the hourly parameters (atmospheric pressure, air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed), we found the atmospheric pressure variation caused by the ground motion of seismic waves is the possible reason for the co-seismic changes. Based on the results discussed in this paper, a model of multi-geosphere co-seismic response associated with the 2023 Turkey events is proposed. Additionally, our results show that the crustal motion in the high mountain region within the earthquake preparation zone could be more sensitive prior to the earthquake due to the enhancement of electric field as suggested by the theory of positive holes.

Keywords: Co-seismic variation; Ocean; Ozone; Snowfall; Turkey earthquake.