Rapid Source Determination of the 2021 Mw 7.4 Maduo Earthquake by a Dense High-Rate GNSS Network in the Tibetan Plateau

Abstract High-rate Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) observations from an integrated network in the Tibetan plateau were used for rapid source determination of the 2021 Mw 7.4 Maduo earthquake. Constrained by high-rate displacements from nine stations near the source, the magnitude was essentially determined as early as 20 s after the origin time (OT), whereas the 39-s-long rupture propagated only approximately halfway, and together with the epicenter location and rupture length, they were completely determined 29 s after the OT or 10 s before the rupture completion. In addition, to test the capability and feasibility of current GNSS networks for rapid source determination in the Tibetan plateau, two experiments were further implemented to invert source parameters by real observations at farther sites and synthetic observations induced by an Mw 7.0 modeled earthquake. The results demonstrate that current GNSS networks are capable and feasible to provide rapid source determination and earthquake early warning in approximately 30 s after the OT for large earthquakes (Mw 7.0+) based on current station density, spatial coverage and communication conditions in the Tibetan plateau.