DO WE NEED TO INVESTIGATE ANOTHER LARGE EARTHQUAKE? THE CASE STUDY OF MW = 7.2 14 AUGUST 2021 HAITI EARTHQUAKE
Abstract
In recent years, a lot of papers have been made investigating single case studies of Lithosphere-Atmosphere-Ionosphere-Coupling before earthquake occurrence by multiparametric researchers. So, a question naturally arises: Do we need to investigate another large earthquake?
The answer is not trivial. Statistical studies are necessary and fundamental to support this research, as the occurrence of anomalies before an earthquake doesn’t prove that the anomalies are induced by the preparation of the earthquake. Contrariwise, by investigating statistically the time before the earthquake, it’s possible to compare if the rate of occurrence of specific anomalies is larger than the same rate in a non-seismic period, assessing the statistical significance of the pre-earthquake phenomenon. Anyway, when a lot of earthquakes are investigated at the same time, the details of the patterns of anomalies in the geo-layers are lost. For such a reason, the investigation of single case studies is precious if conducted in parallel with statistical investigations.
In this framework, here, the investigation of a new earthquake is proposed: Mw = 7.2 14 August 2021 Haiti earthquake. The six months that preceded the Haiti earthquake are explored using data from the lithosphere, atmosphere, and ionosphere (among them with China's seismo-electromagnetic satellite and swarm satellites). Several anomalies have been depicted by different techniques. In particular, it’s very interesting to underline that all the geo-layers showed anomalies about two months before the seismic event: seismic accumulation of stress increased its slope, several atmospheric quantities underlined abnormal atmospheric conditions, and CSES-01 Ne depicted two consecutive days of ionospheric electron density in the six months preceding the earthquake. A final comparison with previously investigated earthquakes is provided trying to discuss the analogies and differences in the various events. In particular, the comparison with Mw = 7.7 Jamaica earthquake is crucial for the same availability of dataset, close location, and similar tectonic settings. The comparison could start to depict some reasons for the different patterns as the land or sea location of the epicenter.