Seasonal modulation of crustal seismicity in northeastern Japan driven
by snow load
Abstract
Numerous studies have reported that surface hydrological loading can
seasonally modulate seismicity rates at crustal depths. For example,
substantial winter snow accumulation occurs across the Japanese Islands,
and these snowy regions appear to have seasonally modulated the
occurrence of previous large inland earthquakes. Therefore, it is
important to investigate the impact of seasonal stress changes on
crustal seismicity to deepen our understanding of earthquake generation.
Here we constrain seasonal changes in the surface load across
northeastern Japan using Global Navigation Satellite System surface
displacements and evaluate the potential relationship between temporal
trends in inland seismicity and estimated seasonal stress changes. The
spatial distribution of the seasonal surface load is consistent with
snow depth along the Sea of Japan. The inland seismicity beneath
northeastern Japan is modestly modulated by the seasonal stress changes
that are induced by the annual snow load. However, this seasonal
response is weaker than that in other regions. This weak modulation may
be due to the small surface-load-induced stress perturbation relative to
the long-term-averaged stressing rate and/or the limited presence of
crustal fluids to trigger seismicity in Japan.