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Title: Regional Body-Wave Corrections and Surface-Wave Tomography Models to Improve Discrimination

Abstract

Our identification research for the past several years has focused on the problem of correctly discriminating small-magnitude explosions from a background of earthquakes, mining tremors, and other events. Small magnitudes lead to an emphasis on regional waveforms. The goal is to reduce the variance within the population of each type of event, while increasing the separation between the explosions and the other event types. We address this problem for both broad categories of seismic waves, body waves, and surface waves. First, we map out the effects of propagation and source size in advance so that they can be accounted for and removed from observed events. This can dramatically reduce the population variance. Second, we try to optimize the measurement process to improve the separation between population types. For body waves we focus on the identification power of the short-period regional phases Pn, Pg, Sn and Lg, and coda that can often be detected down to very small magnitudes. It is now well established that particular ratios of these phases, such as 6- to 8-Hz Pn/Lg, can effectively discriminate between closely located explosions and earthquakes. To extend this discrimination power over broad areas, we developed a revised Magnitude and Distance Amplitudemore » Correction (MDAC2) procedure (Walter and Taylor, 2002). This joint source and path model fits the observed spectra and removes magnitude and distance trends from the data. It allows for the possibility of variable apparent stress scaling in earthquakes, an unresolved issue that is the subject of investigation under separate funding. The MDACZ procedure makes use of the extremely stable coda estimates of Mw for source magnitude and can also use independent Q tomography to help reduce trade-offs in fitting spectra. We can then apply the kriging operation to the MDAC2 residuals to provide full 2-D path corrections by phase and frequency band. These corrections allow the exploration of all possible ratios and multivariate combinations of ratios for their discrimination power. We also make use of the MDAC2 spectra and the noise spectra to determine the expected signal-to-noise value of each phase and use that to optimize the multivariate discriminants as a function of location. We quantify the discrimination power using the misidentified event trade-off curves and an equi-probable measure. In addition to the traditional phases, we are also exploring the application of coda amplitudes in discrimination. Coda-derived spectra can be peaked due to Rg-to-coda scattering, which can indicate an unusually shallow source. For surface waves we have a new high-resolution regional Rayleigh-Wave tomography for the Yellow Sea and Korean Peninsula Region, based on measuring thousands of seismograms. We also continue to make new measurements for our regional Rayleigh and Love wave group velocity tomography models of Western Eurasia and North Africa. These tomography models provide high-resolution maps of group velocity from 10- to 100-s period. The maps also provide estimates of the expected phase spectra of new events that can be used in phase-match filters to compress the expected signals and improve the signal-to-noise ratio on surface wave magnitude (Ms) estimates. Phase match filters in combination with regional Ms formulas can significantly lower the threshold at which Ms can be measured, extending the Ms-mb discriminant. We have measured Ms in western Eurasia for thousands of events at tens of stations, with and without phase match filtering, and found a marked improvement in discrimination. Here we start to quantify the improvement to both discrimination performance and the Ms threshold reduction. The group velocity models also provide constraints on velocity structure, particularly in low seismicity regions. For example we are working with Dr. Bob Henmann and Dr. Charles Ammon to combine tomography derived group velocity curves with station based receiver functions in joint inversions to estimate structure.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
US Department of Energy (US)
OSTI Identifier:
15004851
Report Number(s):
UCRL-JC-153437-REV-1
TRN: US200321%%358
DOE Contract Number:  
W-7405-ENG-48
Resource Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: Seismic Research Review, Tucson, AZ (US), 09/23/2003--09/25/2003; Other Information: PBD: 18 Jul 2003
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
58 GEOSCIENCES; AMPLITUDES; EARTHQUAKES; EXPLOSIONS; KRIGING; MINING; SCATTERING; SEISMIC SURFACE WAVES; SEISMIC WAVES; SEISMICITY; SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO; SPECTRA; TOMOGRAPHY; VELOCITY; WAVE FORMS

Citation Formats

Walter, W R, Pasyanos, M E, Rodgers, A J, Meyeda, K M, and Sicherman, A. Regional Body-Wave Corrections and Surface-Wave Tomography Models to Improve Discrimination. United States: N. p., 2003. Web.
Walter, W R, Pasyanos, M E, Rodgers, A J, Meyeda, K M, & Sicherman, A. Regional Body-Wave Corrections and Surface-Wave Tomography Models to Improve Discrimination. United States.
Walter, W R, Pasyanos, M E, Rodgers, A J, Meyeda, K M, and Sicherman, A. 2003. "Regional Body-Wave Corrections and Surface-Wave Tomography Models to Improve Discrimination". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/15004851.
@article{osti_15004851,
title = {Regional Body-Wave Corrections and Surface-Wave Tomography Models to Improve Discrimination},
author = {Walter, W R and Pasyanos, M E and Rodgers, A J and Meyeda, K M and Sicherman, A},
abstractNote = {Our identification research for the past several years has focused on the problem of correctly discriminating small-magnitude explosions from a background of earthquakes, mining tremors, and other events. Small magnitudes lead to an emphasis on regional waveforms. The goal is to reduce the variance within the population of each type of event, while increasing the separation between the explosions and the other event types. We address this problem for both broad categories of seismic waves, body waves, and surface waves. First, we map out the effects of propagation and source size in advance so that they can be accounted for and removed from observed events. This can dramatically reduce the population variance. Second, we try to optimize the measurement process to improve the separation between population types. For body waves we focus on the identification power of the short-period regional phases Pn, Pg, Sn and Lg, and coda that can often be detected down to very small magnitudes. It is now well established that particular ratios of these phases, such as 6- to 8-Hz Pn/Lg, can effectively discriminate between closely located explosions and earthquakes. To extend this discrimination power over broad areas, we developed a revised Magnitude and Distance Amplitude Correction (MDAC2) procedure (Walter and Taylor, 2002). This joint source and path model fits the observed spectra and removes magnitude and distance trends from the data. It allows for the possibility of variable apparent stress scaling in earthquakes, an unresolved issue that is the subject of investigation under separate funding. The MDACZ procedure makes use of the extremely stable coda estimates of Mw for source magnitude and can also use independent Q tomography to help reduce trade-offs in fitting spectra. We can then apply the kriging operation to the MDAC2 residuals to provide full 2-D path corrections by phase and frequency band. These corrections allow the exploration of all possible ratios and multivariate combinations of ratios for their discrimination power. We also make use of the MDAC2 spectra and the noise spectra to determine the expected signal-to-noise value of each phase and use that to optimize the multivariate discriminants as a function of location. We quantify the discrimination power using the misidentified event trade-off curves and an equi-probable measure. In addition to the traditional phases, we are also exploring the application of coda amplitudes in discrimination. Coda-derived spectra can be peaked due to Rg-to-coda scattering, which can indicate an unusually shallow source. For surface waves we have a new high-resolution regional Rayleigh-Wave tomography for the Yellow Sea and Korean Peninsula Region, based on measuring thousands of seismograms. We also continue to make new measurements for our regional Rayleigh and Love wave group velocity tomography models of Western Eurasia and North Africa. These tomography models provide high-resolution maps of group velocity from 10- to 100-s period. The maps also provide estimates of the expected phase spectra of new events that can be used in phase-match filters to compress the expected signals and improve the signal-to-noise ratio on surface wave magnitude (Ms) estimates. Phase match filters in combination with regional Ms formulas can significantly lower the threshold at which Ms can be measured, extending the Ms-mb discriminant. We have measured Ms in western Eurasia for thousands of events at tens of stations, with and without phase match filtering, and found a marked improvement in discrimination. Here we start to quantify the improvement to both discrimination performance and the Ms threshold reduction. The group velocity models also provide constraints on velocity structure, particularly in low seismicity regions. For example we are working with Dr. Bob Henmann and Dr. Charles Ammon to combine tomography derived group velocity curves with station based receiver functions in joint inversions to estimate structure.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/15004851}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jul 18 00:00:00 EDT 2003},
month = {Fri Jul 18 00:00:00 EDT 2003}
}

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