A study on the Abruzzo 6 April 2009 earthquake by applying the RST approach to 15 years of AVHRR TIR observations

Abstract. A self adaptive approach (RST, Robust Satellite Technique) has been proposed as a suitable tool for satellite TIR surveys in seismically active regions devoted to detect and monitor thermal anomalies possibly related to earthquake occurrence. In this work, RST approach has been applied to 15 years of AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) thermal infrared observations in order to study the 6 April 2009 Abruzzo earthquake. Preliminary results show clear differences in TIR anomalies occurrence during the periods used for validation (15 March–15 April 2009) and the one (15 March–15 April 2008) without earthquakes with M_L≥4.5, used for confutation purposes. Quite clear TIR anomalies appears also to mark main tectonic lineaments during the preparatory phases of others, low magnitude(3.9<M_L<4.6) earthquakes, occurred in the area in the same period.