GPS OBSERVATIONS OF TROPOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES FOLLOWING THE 2010 MW=8.8 CHILE EARTHQUAKE

The Mw=8.8 Maule earthquake occurred on 27 February 2010 near the coast of central Chile, which caused large economic and lives losses. Meanwhile, the earthquake triggered a tsunami with devastating several coastal towns in south-central Chile and damaging the port at Talcahuano. Several geodetic observations data and methods were used to investigate seismic ionospheric disturbances and coseismic crustal deformations on this earthquake, such as InSAR and GPS measurements. However, the precursor and detailed rupture properties of this earthquake are still not clear. In this study, tropospheric anomalies following the Mw=8.8 Maule earthquake are investigated using zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD) computed from Global Positioning System (GPS) observations. Results show zenith tropospheric delay anomalies are found during and after the main shock at CONZ that is the closest GPS station to the epicenter and VALP station that is close to the fault rupture. The possible mechanism of seismic-tropospheric disturbances is discussed, which will be further studied in near future with more data