Connection between Variations of the Probability Distribution of the Recurrence Time and Phases of the Seismic Activity

The probability distribution of the interevent time between two successive earthquakes has been the subject of numerous studies for its key role in seismic hazard assessment. In recent decades, many distributions have been considered, and there has been a long debate about the possible universality...

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Main Authors: Elisa Varini, Renata Rotondi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-10-01
Series:Entropy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/25/10/1441
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author Elisa Varini
Renata Rotondi
author_facet Elisa Varini
Renata Rotondi
author_sort Elisa Varini
collection DOAJ
description The probability distribution of the interevent time between two successive earthquakes has been the subject of numerous studies for its key role in seismic hazard assessment. In recent decades, many distributions have been considered, and there has been a long debate about the possible universality of the shape of this distribution when the interevent times are properly rescaled. In this work, we aim to discover if there is a link between the different phases of a seismic cycle and the variations in the distribution that best fits the interevent times. To do this, we consider the seismic activity related to the <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mi>M</mi><mi>w</mi></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> 6.1 L’Aquila earthquake that occurred on 6 April 2009 in central Italy by analyzing the sequence of events recorded from April 2005 to July 2009, and then the seismic activity linked to the sequence of the Amatrice-Norcia earthquakes of <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mi>M</mi><mi>w</mi></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> 6 and 6.5, respectively, and recorded in the period from January 2009 to June 2018. We take into account some of the most studied distributions in the literature: <i>q</i>-exponential, <i>q</i>-generalized gamma, gamma and exponential distributions and, according to the Bayesian paradigm, we compare the value of their posterior marginal likelihood in shifting time windows with a fixed number of data. The results suggest that the distribution providing the best performance changes over time and its variations may be associated with different phases of the seismic crisis.
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spelling doaj.art-691f79c2ca314ed4a073bf530d23c2312023-11-19T16:24:57ZengMDPI AGEntropy1099-43002023-10-012510144110.3390/e25101441Connection between Variations of the Probability Distribution of the Recurrence Time and Phases of the Seismic ActivityElisa Varini0Renata Rotondi1National Research Council of Italy, Institute for Applied Mathematics and Information Technologies, Via Corti 12, 20133 Milan, ItalyNational Research Council of Italy, Institute for Applied Mathematics and Information Technologies, Via Corti 12, 20133 Milan, ItalyThe probability distribution of the interevent time between two successive earthquakes has been the subject of numerous studies for its key role in seismic hazard assessment. In recent decades, many distributions have been considered, and there has been a long debate about the possible universality of the shape of this distribution when the interevent times are properly rescaled. In this work, we aim to discover if there is a link between the different phases of a seismic cycle and the variations in the distribution that best fits the interevent times. To do this, we consider the seismic activity related to the <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mi>M</mi><mi>w</mi></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> 6.1 L’Aquila earthquake that occurred on 6 April 2009 in central Italy by analyzing the sequence of events recorded from April 2005 to July 2009, and then the seismic activity linked to the sequence of the Amatrice-Norcia earthquakes of <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mi>M</mi><mi>w</mi></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> 6 and 6.5, respectively, and recorded in the period from January 2009 to June 2018. We take into account some of the most studied distributions in the literature: <i>q</i>-exponential, <i>q</i>-generalized gamma, gamma and exponential distributions and, according to the Bayesian paradigm, we compare the value of their posterior marginal likelihood in shifting time windows with a fixed number of data. The results suggest that the distribution providing the best performance changes over time and its variations may be associated with different phases of the seismic crisis.https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/25/10/1441interevent timeprobability distributionsprobabilistic forecastingseismic cyclestatistical seismologystatistical methods
spellingShingle Elisa Varini
Renata Rotondi
Connection between Variations of the Probability Distribution of the Recurrence Time and Phases of the Seismic Activity
Entropy
interevent time
probability distributions
probabilistic forecasting
seismic cycle
statistical seismology
statistical methods
title Connection between Variations of the Probability Distribution of the Recurrence Time and Phases of the Seismic Activity
title_full Connection between Variations of the Probability Distribution of the Recurrence Time and Phases of the Seismic Activity
title_fullStr Connection between Variations of the Probability Distribution of the Recurrence Time and Phases of the Seismic Activity
title_full_unstemmed Connection between Variations of the Probability Distribution of the Recurrence Time and Phases of the Seismic Activity
title_short Connection between Variations of the Probability Distribution of the Recurrence Time and Phases of the Seismic Activity
title_sort connection between variations of the probability distribution of the recurrence time and phases of the seismic activity
topic interevent time
probability distributions
probabilistic forecasting
seismic cycle
statistical seismology
statistical methods
url https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/25/10/1441
work_keys_str_mv AT elisavarini connectionbetweenvariationsoftheprobabilitydistributionoftherecurrencetimeandphasesoftheseismicactivity
AT renatarotondi connectionbetweenvariationsoftheprobabilitydistributionoftherecurrencetimeandphasesoftheseismicactivity