Astronomic background of global huge earthquakes at beginning of 21st century

Since the beginning of the 21st century,major earthquakes have frequently occurred worldwide.To explore the impact of astronomical factors on earthquakes,in this study,the statistical analysis method of correlation is used to systematically analyze the effects of astronomical factors,such as solar activity,Earth’s rotation,lunar declination angle,celestial tidal force,and other phenomena on M≥8 global earthquakes at the beginning of the 21st century.With regard to solar activity,this study focuses on the analysis of the 11-year and century cycles of solar activity.The causal relationship of the Earth’s rotation is not obvious in this work and previous works;in contrast,the valley period of the solar activity century cycle may be an important astronomical factor leading to the frequent occurrence of global earthquakes at the beginning of the 21st century.This topic warrants further study.

Earth: Review Article

Every year on 22 April, we have celebrated Earth Day and the beautiful planet we call home. Earth Day, established in 1970, has been used to highlight our planet’s environmental challenges and raise awareness of the importance of protecting our world for future generations [1]. To provide the protection of our planet, we should explain Earth’s environmental challenges to the best of our knowledge in frames of contemporary Geophysics. This paper gives a short overview of the developed Hypersphere World-Universe Model (WUM) and pay particular attention to the principal role of Dark Matter (DM) in the Earth’s life. In this manuscript, we discuss different aspects of the Earth: a condition of Young Earth before the Beginning of life on It;Internal Structure;“The 660-km Boundary” that we named Geomagma;Random Variations of Earth’s Rotational Speed on a daily basis;Origin of Moon;Expanding Earth;Internal Heating;Faint Young Sun paradox;Geocorona and Planetary Coronas;High-Energy Atmospheric Physics. WUM proposed principally different ways to solve the problems of Internal Heating, Origin of the Moon, and Faint Young Sun paradox based on DM core of the Earth. The Model revealed the fact that the Sun Activity causes the Geomagma Activity and, as a consequence, Random Variations of Earth’s Rotational Speed by the varying Sun’s magnetic field.

Earth Rotation Parameter Estimation by GPS Observations

The methods of Earth rotation parameter (ERP) estimation based on IGS SINEX file of GPS solution are discussed in detail. There are two different ways to estimate ERP: one is the parameter transformation method, and the other is direct adjustment method with restrictive conditions. By comparing the estimated results with independent copyright program to IERS results, the residual systemic error can be found in estimated ERP with GPS observations.

Prediction of earth rotation parameters based on improved weighted least squares and autoregressive model

In this paper, an improved weighted least squares （WLS）, together with autoregressive （AR） model, is proposed to improve prediction accuracy of earth rotation parameters（ERP）. Four weighting schemes are developed and the optimal power e for determination of the weight elements is studied. The results show that the improved WLS-AR model can improve the ERP prediction accuracy effectively, and for different prediction intervals of ERP, different weight scheme should be chosen.

Earth＇s Temporal Principal Moments of Inertia and Variable Rotation

Based on the gravity field models EGM96 and EIGEN-GL04C, the Earth＇s time-dependent principal moments of inertia A, B, C are obtained, and the variable rotation of the Earth is determined. Numerical results show that A, B, and C have increasing tendencies; the tilt of the rotation axis increases 2.1×10^ 8 mas/yr; the third component of the rotational angular velocity, ω3 , has a decrease of 1.0×10^ 22 rad/s^2, which is around 23% of the present observed value. Studies show in detail that both 0 and ω3 experience complex fluctuations at various time scales due to the variations of A, B and C.

Rotation of the Earth as a Triaxial Rigid Body

The Earth is taken as a triaxial rigid body, which rotates freely in the Euclidian space. The starting equations are the Euler dynamic equations, with A smaller than B and B smaller than C. The Euler equations are solved, and the numerical results are provided. In the calculations, the following parameters are used: (C-B)/A=0.003 273 53; (B-A)/C=0.000 021 96; (C-A)/B=0.003 295 49, and the mean angular velocity of the Earth's rotation, ω =0.000 072 921 15 rad/s. Calculations show that, besides the self-rotation of the Earth and the free Euler procession of its rotation, there exists the free nutation: the nutation angle, or the angle between the Earth's momentary rotation axis and the mean axis that periodically change with time. The free nutation is investigated.

The deforming and rotating Earth——A review of the 18th International Symposium on Geodynamics and Earth Tide,Trieste 2016

The 18th International Symposium on Geodynamics and Earth Tides 2016 covered phenomena that generate temporal variations in geodetic and geophysical observations. In calculating the stress field for Earth tides, the observed geodetic response is used for defining the Earth＇s theology, the Earth internal structure, ＇Earth rotation parameters, and the functioning of the sophisticated instrumentation mounted on Earth and satellites. The instrumentation capable of observing Earth tides, measures changes generated by lithospheric plate movements, as the earthquake cycle and volcanism. Hydrology, tem- perature, and pressure, either of natural or anthropogenic origin, affect the high precision observations, and therefore must be included in this study-realm.

A possible interrelation between Earth rotation and climatic variability at decadal time-scale

Using multichannel singular spectrum analysis （MSSA） we decomposed climatic time se- ries into principal components, and compared them with Earth rotation parameters. The global warming trends were initially subtracted. Similar quasi 60 and 20 year periodic os- cillations have been found in the global mean Earth temperature anomaly （HadCRUT4） and global mean sea level （GMSL）. Similar cycles were also found in Earth rotation variation. Over the last 160 years multi-decadal change of Earth＇s rotation velocity is correlated with the 60-year temperature anomaly, and Chandler wobble envelope reproduces the form of the 60-year oscillation noticed in GMSL. The quasi 20-year oscillation observed in GMSL is correlated with the Chandler wobble excitation. So, we assume that Earth＇s rotation and climate indexes are connected. Despite of all the clues hinting this connection, no sound conclusion can be done as far as ocean circulation modelling is not able to correctly catch angular momentum of the oscillatory modes.

Relationship among subtropical anticyclone,drought and earth rotation

The deep reason of severe disaster weather with the relationship among the earth nutation,rotation and atmospheric change is explored based on the effective results about the disaster weather prediction of the long term made by the variation of the earth rotation in near 10 years. It is discussed the relationship between the subtropical anticyclone and subtropical easterlies to aim at the problem of high temperature and drought in the globe,further more,the comparison analysis has been made to the earth nutation and the variation of rotation. The research results show that the reasons of severe disaster weather not only are due to atmosphere itself,but have some variation information of earth movement which could be used for the weather forecast.

Research on the relationship between Earth＇s variable rotation and global seismic activity

Based on the time series of observational variations of the length of day (LOD) and seismic data in the world,the relations of the decadal fluctuation and seasonal variation in the Earth's rotation with global seismic activityare studied in this paper. The results suggest that there are overall correlations on temporal scale and regionaldiscrepancy on spatial scale between global seismic activity and the Earth's variable rotation, especially the seismic activity in the Eurasian seismic zone (not including southeast Asia) and the Lower California-Eastern Alaskaseismic zone correlating well with the Earth's variable rotation. According to the relations mentioned above, theobservational data of the Earth'S rotation might provide a referential basis for monitoring global seismic activity.

Investigation on variations of apparent stress in the region in and around the rupture volume preceding the occurrence of the 2021 Alaska MW8.2 earthquake

On July 29, 2021, a large earthquake of MW8.2 occurred south of the Alaska Peninsula. To investigate the spatial-temporal changes of crustal stress in the earthquake-stricken area before this event, we selected 159 earthquakes of 4.7 ≤ MW ≤ 6.9 that occurred in the epicentral region and its surroundings between January 1980 and June 2021 to study the temporal variation and spatial distribution of their apparent stress. In addition, we analyzed the correlation between seismic activities and Earth’s rotation and explored the seismogenic process of this earthquake. The crustal stress rose from January 2008 to December 2016. This period was followed by a sub-instability stage from January 2017 until the occurrence of the MW8.2 earthquake. The average rate of apparent stress change in the first five years of the stress increase period was roughly 2.3 times that in the last four years. The lateral distribution of the apparent stress shows that the areas with apparent stress greater than 1.0 MPa exhibited an expanding trend during the seismogenic process. The maximum apparent stress was located at the earthquake epicenter during the last four years. The distribution of the apparent stress in the E-W vertical cross section revealed that an apparent stress gap formed around the hypocenter during the first five years of the stress increase period, surrounded by areas of relatively high apparent stress. After the Alaska earthquake, most parts of this gap were filled in by aftershocks. The seismic activities during the sub-instability stage exhibited a significant correlation with Earth’s rotation.

Co-seismic Earth's rotation caused by the 2012 Sumatra earthquake

Earthquakes heavily deform the crust in the vicinity of the fault, which leads to mass redistribution in the earth interior. Then it will produce the change of the Earth＇s rotation （ polar motion and length of day） due to the change of Earth inertial moment. This paper adopts the elastic dislocation to compute the co-seismic polar motion and variation in length of day （LOD） caused by the 2011 Sumatra earthquake. The Earth＇s rota- tional axis shifted about 1 mas and this earthquake decreased the length of day of 1 p,s, indicating the tendency of earthquakes make the Earth rounder and to pull the mass toward the centre of the Earth. The result of varia- tion in length of day is one order of magnitude smaller than the observed results that are available. We also compared the results of three fault models and find the co-seismic change is depended on the fault model.

Influence of the earth rotation on the interfacial wave solutions and wave-induced tangential stress in a two-layer fluid system

Interfacial waves and wave-induced tangential stress are studied for geostrophic small amplitude waves of two-layer fluid with a top free surface and a fiat bottom. The solutions were deduced from the general form of linear fluid dynamic equations of two-layer fluid under the f-plane approximation, and wave-induced tangential stress were estimated based on the solutions obtained. As expected, the solutions derived from the present work include as special cases those obtained by Sun et al. （2004. Science in China, Ser. D, 47（12）： 1147-1154） for geostrophic small amplitude surface wave solutions and wave-induced tangential stress if the density of the upper layer is much smaller than that of the lower layer. The results show that the interface and the surface will oscillate synchronously, and the influence of the earth＇s rotation both on the surface wave solutions and the interfacial wave solutions should be considered.

A Check on the Variations of Earth's Rotation with an Ancient Solar Eclipse

We address the relation between an ancient total eclipse, which occurred on A.D.1542 August 11 and the variation of Earth's rotation. The total eclipse was recorded in some ancient Chinese books, especially in local chronicles. Some of the documents include useful information for determining the location of the totality zone. The parameters of the eclipse are calculated by using the DE406 Ephemeris. A high-precision value of ΔT which expresses the variation of the Earth's rotation, of about 300 ~ 380 s, is obtained.

Atmospheric acceleration and Earth-expansion deceleration of the Earth rotation

Previous studies suggest that tidal friction gives rise to the secular deceleration of the Earth rotation by a quantity of about 2.25 ms/cy. Here we just consider additional contributions to the secular Earth rotation deceleration. Atmospheric solar semi-diurnal tide has a small amplitude and certain amount of phase lead. This periodic global air-mass excess distribution exerts a quasi-constant torque to accelerate the Earth＇s spin rotation. Using an updated atmospheric tide model, we re-estimate the amounts of this atmospheric acceleration torque and corresponding energy input, of which the associated change rate in LOD（length of day） is-0.1 ms/cy. In another aspect, evidences from space-geodesy and sea level rise observations suggest that Earth expands at a rate of 0.35 mm/yr in recent decades, which gives rise to the increase of LOD at rate of 1.0 ms/cy. Hence, if the previous estimate due to the tidal friction is correct, the secular Earth rotation deceleration due to tidal friction and Earth expansion should be 3.15 ms/cy.

Earth orientation parameters from VLBI determined with a Kalman filter

This paper introduces the reader to our Kalman filter developed for geodetic VLBI（very long baseline interferometry） data analysis. The focus lies on the EOP（Earth Orientation Parameter） determination based on the Continuous VLBI Campaign 2014（CONT14） data, but also earlier CONT campaigns are analyzed. For validation and comparison purposes we use EOP determined with the classical LSM（least squares method） estimated from the same VLBI data set as the Kalman solution with a daily resolution. To gain higher resolved EOP from LSM we run solutions which yield hourly estimates for polar motion and dUTl = Universal Time（UT1）-Coordinated Universal Time（UTC）. As an external validation data set we use a GPS（Global Positioning System） solution providing hourly polar motion results.Further, we describe our approach for determining the noise driving the Kalman filter. It has to be chosen carefully, since it can lead to a significant degradation of the results. We illustrate this issue in context with the de-correlation of polar motion and nutation.Finally, we find that the agreement with respect to GPS can be improved by up to 50% using our filter compared to the LSM approach, reaching a similar precision than the GPS solution. Especially the power of erroneous high-frequency signals can be reduced dramatically, opening up new possibilities for highfrequency EOP studies and investigations of the models involved in VLBI data analysis.We prove that the Kalman filter is more than on par with the classical least squares method and that it is a valuable alternative, especially on the advent of the VLBI2010 Global Observing System and within the GGOS frame work.

Earth rotation parameter and variation during 2005—2010 solved with LAGEOS SLR data

Time series of Earth rotation parameters were estimated from range data measured by the satellite laser ranging technique to the Laser Geodynamics Satellites（LAGEOS）-1/2 through 2005 to 2010 using the dynamic method. Compared with Earth orientation parameter（EOP）C04, released by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, the root mean square errors for the measured X and Y of polar motion（PM） and length of day（LOD）were 0.24 and 0.25 milliarcseconds（mas）, and 0.068 milliseconds（ms）, respectively.Compared with ILRSA EOP, the X and Y of PM and LOD were 0.27 and 0.30 mas, and 0.054 ms, respectively. The time series were analyzed using the wavelet transformation and least squares methods. Wavelet analysis showed obvious seasonal and interannual variations of LOD, and both annual and Chandler variations of PM; however, the annual variation could not be distinguished from the Chandler variation because the two frequencies were very close. The trends and periodic variations of LOD and PM were obtained in the least squares sense, and PM showed semi-annual, annual, and Chandler periods.Semi-annual, annual, and quasi-biennial cycles for LOD were also detected. The trend rates of PM in the X and Y directions were 3.17 and 1.60 mas per year, respectively, and the North Pole moved to 26.8E relative to the crust during 2005—2010. The trend rate of the LOD change was 0.028 ms per year.

Study of Triggering Action Between the Mani (M_S7.9) and the West Kunlun Mountains Pass (M_S8.1) Great Earthquakes and Their Dynamic Background

Based on Coulomb static stress variation, the stress trigging action of the Mani ( M S 7 9, Nov. 1997) earthquake on the West Kunlun Mountains Pass ( M S 8 1, Nov. 2001) earthquake is researched. Results of different source mechanism resolutions show that a 10 -3 MPa Coulomb stress due to the Mani earthquake was added to the fracture fault of the Kunlun earthquake, and this may shift the broken date to about 10 years earlier, and infer that the stress level in the crust is not low. Comparing the relationship between strong earthquake strength and frequency and earth rotation change, it is shown that the strength’s decrease and the variation period’s shortening of earth rotation are important controlling factors on strong earthquake activity. This great event with M S =8 1 took place probably due to a gradual strengthening background of regional stress field within the Qinghai_Xizang block in the period of acceleration of change of day’s length and stress triggering from the Mani earthquake.

Relationship between Earth’s Rotation and Several Strong Earthquakes and Moderate-small Earthquakes Occurring around the Epicenter Regions Prior to Strong Earthquakes

The relationships between Earth＇s rotation and the 1975 Haicheng, Liaoning Ms7.3 earthquake, 2008 Wenchuan, Sichuan Ms8.0 earthquake and the 2004 Sumatra Msg. 0 earthquake, as well as moderate-small earthquakes occurring around the epicenter regions prior to them are investigated in this study. The obtained results could benefit the further understanding of the relationship between the Earth＇s rotation and earthquakes.

Variations of the Earth＇s rotation rate and cyclic processes in geodynamics

The authors analyzed the relationship between variations of the Earth＇s rotation rate and the geodynamic processes within the Earth＇s body, including seismic activity, The rotation rate of a planet determines its uniaxial compression along the axis of rotation and the areas of various surface elements of the body. The Earth＇s ellipticity variations, caused naturally by the rotation rate variations, are manifested in vertical components of precise GPS measurements. Comparative analysis of these variations is considered in view of modern theoretical ideas concerning the Earth＇s figure. The results justify further research that is of interest for improvement of space svstems and technologiesi.