Wenchuan earthquake: Brightness temperature changes from satellite infrared information

By using an alternative processing method for satellite infrared remote sensing data and adopting the China Geostationary Mete-orological Satellite (FY-2C) infrared remote sensing brightness temperature data, we studied the great 2008 Wenchuan Ms8.0 earthquake. Results indicate the obvious characteristic period and amplitude, and distribution of thermal infrared anomalies before the Wenchuan earthquake. And we discussed the mechanism of the observed pre-earthquake thermal anomalies. The characteristics of observed thermal infrared anomalies are easy to be recognized and applied, and could provide a criterion for thermal anomalies of earthquakes.