简介：SeismicityoftheEarth(MC4.5)wascompiledfromNEIC,IRISandISCcataloguesandusedtocomputeb-valuebasedonvarioustimewindows.Itisfoundthatcontinuouscyclicb-variationsoccuronbothlongandshorttimescales,thelatterbeingofmuchhighervalueandsometimesinexcessof0.7oftheabsoluteb-value.Thesevariationsoccurnotonlyyearlyormonthly,butalsodaily.Beforetheoccurrenceoflargeearthquakes,b-valuesstartincreasingwithvariablegradientsthatareaffectedbyforeshocks.Insomecases,thegradientisreducedtozeroortoanegativevalueafewdaysbeforetheearthquakeoccurrence.Ingeneral,calculatedb-valuesattainmaxima1daybeforelargeearthquakesandminimasoonaftertheiroccurrence.Bothlinearregressionandmaximumlikelihoodmethodsgivecorrelatable,butvariableresults.Itisfoundthatanexpandingtimewindowtechniquefromafixedstartingpointismoreeffectiveinthestudyofb-variations.Thecalculatedb-variationsforthewholeEarth,itshemispheres,quadrantsandtheepicentralregionsofsomelargeearthquakesareofbothlocalandregionalcharacter,whichmayindicatethatinsuchcases,thegeodynamicprocessesactingwithinacertainregionhaveamuchregionaleffectwithintheEarth.Theb-variationshavelongbeenknowntovarywithanumberoflocalandregionalfactorsincludingtectonicstresses.Theresultsreportedhereindicatethatgeotectonicstressremainsthemostsignificantfactorthatcontrolsb-variations.ItisfoundthatforearthquakeswithMwC7,anincreaseofabout0.20intheb-valueimpliesastressincreasethatwillresultinanearthquakewithamagnitudeoneunithigher.