Advances Of Satellite Remote Sensing Technology In Earthquake Prediction

Earthquakes are one of the most serious types of natural disaster in the world. Intensive research and operative efforts have been focused on earthquake prediction, but the accuracy of early warning systems is limited. Scientific research indicates that there are a series of observable earthquake-related anomalies prior to seismic activities. In earthquake prediction, remote sensing technologies have been applied widely to monitor crustal deformation and surface temperature rise, as well as hydrologic, electromagnetic, and gravitational fields prior to earthquake occurrence. This paper reviewed the current literature of earthquake prediction studies all over the world. Characteristics of various earthquake precursors were analyzed, the satellite-assisted monitoring mechanisms were studied, and the research advances in remote sensing in earthquake prediction were reviewed. The current bottleneck problems in earthquake prediction were discussed from the aspects of the complexity and the unobservability of the hypocenter, the diversity of earthquake precursor signals, and the uncertainty of existing remote sensing monitoring data. Finally, potential solutions to address these bottleneck problems were proposed, including establishing a unified framework, building scientific prediction models, simulation with virtual technology, and systematically integrating multisource data. These approaches need to be further studied and will be significant for more-accurate earthquake prediction.