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Low frequency seismic noise before a magnitude 9.0 Tohoku earthquake on March 11, 2011

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Abstract

The dynamics of seismic noise before the catastrophic earthquake of March 11, 2011 in Japan is studied in a minute period range using the records of broadband IRIS stations. It is found that the dispersion of the noise and the number of asymmetric pulses recorded within 500 km from the epicenter of the earthquake have drastically increased 1.5 months before the event. This is the highest enhancement ever recorded by these stations during the same interval of the year for the past 15 years since the IRIS network started stably operating. No increase is revealed in the noise recorded beyond 1200 km from the epicenter. The pattern of decay in amplitudes of the anomalous noise with increasing distance from the epicenter to the corresponding stations likely indicates that the sources of the noise were located close to the source of the earthquake. The noise contains both regular and chaotic components.

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Original Russian Text © G.A. Sobolev, 2011, published in Fizika Zemli, 2011, No. 12, pp. 11–22.

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Sobolev, G.A. Low frequency seismic noise before a magnitude 9.0 Tohoku earthquake on March 11, 2011. Izv., Phys. Solid Earth 47, 1034–1044 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1069351311120093

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1069351311120093

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