Insights into the long-to-intermediate-term pre-shock accelerating moment release (AMR) from the March 11, 2011, off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, Japan, M 9 earthquake

Great earthquakes with extending rupture areas, such as the March 11, 2011, off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, Japan, M 9 earthquake, provide opportunities to inspect some details of the pre-shock moment release with the reference of the earthquake preparation and rupture processes. To this end, we investigated the cumulative seismic moment tensor for different segments of the earthquake fault. For the 3 decades time scale, pre-shock accelerating moment release (AMR) can be observed, with potential correlation with the segmentation of earthquake fault.