Structure of Suasselkä Postglacial Fault in northern Finland obtained by analysis of ambient seismic noise

Science.gov (United States)

Afonin, Nikita; Kozlovskaya, Elena

2016-04-01

Understanding inner structure of seismogenic faults and their ability to reactivate is particularly important in investigating the continental intraplate seismicity regime. In our study we address this problem using analysis of ambient seismic noise recorded by the temporary DAFNE array in northern Fennoscandian Shield. The main purpose of the DAFNE/FINLAND passive seismic array experiment was to characterize the present-day seismicity of the Suasselkä post-glacial fault (SPGF) that was proposed as one potential target for the DAFNE (Drilling Active Faults in Northern Europe) project. The DAFNE/FINLAND array comprised the area of about 20 to 100 km and consisted of 8 short-period and 4 broad-band 3-component autonomous seismic stations installed in the close vicinity of the fault area. The array recorded continuous seismic data during September, 2011-May, 2013. Recordings of the array have being analyzed in order to identify and locate natural earthquakes from the fault area and to discriminate them from the blasts in the Kittilä Gold Mine. As a result, we found several dozens of natural seismic events originating from the fault area, which proves that the fault is still seismically active. In order to study the inner structure of the SPGF we use cross-correlation of ambient seismic noise recorded by the array. Analysis of azimuthal distribution of noise sources demonstrated that that during the time interval under consideration the distribution of noise sources is close to the uniform one. The continuous data were processed in several steps including single station data analysis, instrument response removal and time-domain stacking. The data were used to estimate empirical Green's functions between pairs of stations in the frequency band of 0.1-1 Hz and to calculate correspondent surface wave dispersion curves. After that S-wave velocity models were obtained as a result of dispersion curves inversion using Geopsy software. The results suggest that the area of

Impact of wind on ambient noise recorded by the "13 BB star" seismic array in northern Poland

Science.gov (United States)

Lepore, Simone; Markowicz, Krzysztof; Grad, Marek

2016-04-01

Seismic interferometry and beam forming techniques were applied to ambient noise recorded during January 2014 at the "13 BB star" array, composed of thirteen seismic stations located in northern Poland, with the aim of evaluating the azimuth of noise sources and the velocities of surface waves. After normalizing the raw recordings in time and frequency domain, the spectral characteristics of the ambient noise were studied to choose a frequency band suitable for the waves' retrieval. To get the velocity of surface waves by seismic interferometry, the crosscorrelation between all station pairs was analysed for the vertical and horizontal components in the 0.05-0.1 Hz, 0.1-1 Hz and 1 10 Hz frequency bands. For each pair, the crosscorrelation was applied to one hour recordings extracted from the ambient noise. The obtained traces were calculated for a complete day, and then summed together: the daily results were stacked for the whole January 2014. In the lowest frequency range, most of the energy is located around the 3.0 km/s line, meaning that the surface waves coming from the uppermost mantle will be retrieved. The intermediate frequency range shows most of the energy between the 2.0 km/s and 1.5 km/s lines: consequently, surface waves originating from the crust will be retrieved. In the highest frequency range, the surface waves are barely visible on the crosscorrelation traces, implying that the associated energy is strongly attenuated. The azimuth variation associated to the noise field was evaluated by means of the beam forming method, using the data from the whole array for all the three components. To that, the beam power was estimated in a small range of frequencies every day for the whole month. For each day, one hour long results of beam forming applications were stacked together. To avoid aliasing and near field effects, the minimum frequency was set at 0.05 Hz and the maximum to 0.1 Hz. In this frequency band, the amplitude maximum was sought

Determination of Rayleigh wave ellipticity using single-station and array-based processing of ambient seismic noise

Science.gov (United States)

Workman, Eli Joseph

We present a single-station method for the determination of Rayleigh wave ellipticity, or Rayleigh wave horizontal to vertical amplitude ratio (H/V) using Frequency Dependent Polarization Analysis (FDPA). This procedure uses singular value decomposition of 3-by-3 spectral covariance matrices over 1-hr time windows to determine properties of the ambient seismic noise field such as particle motion and dominant wave-type. In FPDA, if the noise is mostly dominated by a primary singular value and the phase difference is roughly 90° between the major horizontal axis and the vertical axis of the corresponding singular vector, we infer that Rayleigh waves are dominant and measure an H/V ratio for that hour and frequency bin. We perform this analysis for all available data from the Earthscope Transportable Array between 2004 and 2014. We compare the observed Rayleigh wave H/V ratios with those previously measured by multicomponent, multistation noise cross-correlation (NCC), as well as classical noise spectrum H/V ratio analysis (NSHV). At 8 sec the results from all three methods agree, suggesting that the ambient seismic noise field is Rayleigh wave dominated. Between 10 and 30 sec, while the general pattern agrees well, the results from FDPA and NSHV are persistently slightly higher ( 2%) and significantly higher (>20%), respectively, than results from the array-based NCC. This is likely caused by contamination from other wave types (i.e., Love waves, body waves, and tilt noise) in the single station methods, but it could also reflect a small, persistent error in NCC. Additionally, we find that the single station method has difficulty retrieving robust Rayleigh wave H/V ratios within major sedimentary basins, such as the Williston Basin and Mississippi Embayment, where the noise field is likely dominated by reverberating Love waves.

Ambient noise tomography across Mount St. Helens using a dense seismic array

KAUST Repository

Wang, Yadong

2017-05-08

We investigated upper crustal structure with data from a dense seismic array deployed around Mount St. Helens for 2 weeks in the summer of 2014. Interstation cross correlations of ambient seismic noise data from the array were obtained, and clear fundamental mode Rayleigh waves were observed between 2.5 and 5 s periods. In addition, higher-mode signals were observed around 2 s period. Frequency-time analysis was applied to measure fundamental mode Rayleigh wave phase velocities, which were used to invert for 2-D phase velocity maps. An azimuth-dependent traveltime correction was implemented to mitigate potential biases introduced due to an inhomogeneous noise source distribution. Reliable phase velocity maps were only obtained between 3 and 4 s periods due to limitations imposed by the array aperture and higher-mode contamination. The phase velocity tomography results, which are sensitive to structure shallower than 6 km depth, reveal an ~10–15% low-velocity anomaly centered beneath the volcanic edifice and peripheral high-velocity anomalies that likely correspond to cooled igneous intrusions. We suggest that the low-velocity anomaly reflects the high-porosity mixture of lava and ash deposits near the surface of the edifice, a highly fractured magmatic conduit and hydrothermal system beneath the volcano, and possibly a small contribution from silicate melt.

Seasonal variation of seismic ambient noise level at King Sejong Station, Antarctica

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, W.; Sheen, D.; Seo, K.; Yun, S.

2009-12-01

The generation of the secondary- or double-frequency (DF) microseisms with dominant frequencies between 0.1 and 0.5 Hz has been explained by nonlinear second-order pressure perturbations on the ocean bottom due to the interference of two ocean waves of equal wavelengths traveling in opposite directions. Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) has been operating a broadband seismic station (KSJ1) at King George Island (KGI), Antarctica, since 2001. Examining the ambient seismic noise level for the period from 2006 to 2008 at KSJ1, we found a significant seasonal variation in the frequency range 0.1-0.5 Hz. Correlation of the DF peaks with significant ocean wave height and peak wave period models indicates that the oceanic infragravity waves in the Drake Passage is a possible source to excite the DF microseisms at KGI. Location of King Sejong Station, Antarctica Seasonal variations of DF peak, significant wave height, and peak wave period

Structure of the Suasselkä postglacial fault in northern Finland obtained by analysis of local events and ambient seismic noise

Science.gov (United States)

Afonin, Nikita; Kozlovskaya, Elena; Kukkonen, Ilmo; Dafne/Finland Working Group

2017-04-01

Understanding the inner structure of seismogenic faults and their ability to reactivate is particularly important in investigating the continental intraplate seismicity regime. In our study we address this problem using analysis of local seismic events and ambient seismic noise recorded by the temporary DAFNE array in the northern Fennoscandian Shield. The main purpose of the DAFNE/FINLAND passive seismic array experiment was to characterize the present-day seismicity of the Suasselkä postglacial fault (SPGF), which was proposed as one potential target for the DAFNE (Drilling Active Faults in Northern Europe) project. The DAFNE/FINLAND array comprised an area of about 20 to 100 km and consisted of eight short-period and four broadband three-component autonomous seismic stations installed in the close vicinity of the fault area. The array recorded continuous seismic data during September 2011-May 2013. Recordings of the array have being analysed in order to identify and locate natural earthquakes from the fault area and to discriminate them from the blasts in the Kittilä gold mine. As a result, we found a number of natural seismic events originating from the fault area, which proves that the fault is still seismically active. In order to study the inner structure of the SPGF we use cross-correlation of ambient seismic noise recorded by the array. Analysis of azimuthal distribution of noise sources demonstrated that during the time interval under consideration the distribution of noise sources is close to the uniform one. The continuous data were processed in several steps including single-station data analysis, instrument response removal and time-domain stacking. The data were used to estimate empirical Green's functions between pairs of stations in the frequency band of 0.1-1 Hz and to calculate corresponding surface wave dispersion curves. The S-wave velocity models were obtained as a result of dispersion curve inversion. The results suggest that the area of

Refinements to the method of epicentral location based on surface waves from ambient seismic noise: introducing Love waves

Science.gov (United States)

Levshin, Anatoli L.; Barmin, Mikhail P.; Moschetti, Morgan P.; Mendoza, Carlos; Ritzwoller, Michael H.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study is to develop and test a modification to a previous method of regional seismic event location based on Empirical Green’s Functions (EGFs) produced from ambient seismic noise. Elastic EGFs between pairs of seismic stations are determined by cross-correlating long ambient noise time-series recorded at the two stations. The EGFs principally contain Rayleigh- and Love-wave energy on the vertical and transverse components, respectively, and we utilize these signals between about 5 and 12 s period. The previous method, based exclusively on Rayleigh waves, may yield biased epicentral locations for certain event types with hypocentral depths between 2 and 5 km. Here we present theoretical arguments that show how Love waves can be introduced to reduce or potentially eliminate the bias. We also present applications of Rayleigh- and Love-wave EGFs to locate 10 reference events in the western United States. The separate Rayleigh and Love epicentral locations and the joint locations using a combination of the two waves agree to within 1 km distance, on average, but confidence ellipses are smallest when both types of waves are used.

Rayleigh wave tomography of the British Isles from ambient seismic noise

Science.gov (United States)

Nicolson, Heather; Curtis, Andrew; Baptie, Brian

2014-08-01

We present the first Rayleigh wave group speed maps of the British Isles constructed from ambient seismic noise. The maps also constitute the first surface wave tomography study of the crust under the British Isles at a relatively high resolution. We computed interferometric, interstation Rayleigh waves from vertical component records of ambient seismic noise recorded on 63 broad-band and short-period stations across the UK and Ireland. Group velocity measurements were made from the resulting surface wave dispersion curves between 5 and 25 s using a multiple phase-matched filter method. Uncertainties in the group velocities were computed by calculating the standard deviation of four dispersion curves constructed by stacking a random selection of daily cross-correlations. Where an uncertainty could not be obtained for a ray path using this method, we estimated it as a function of the interreceiver distance. Group velocity maps were computed for 5-25-s period using the Fast Marching forward solution of the eikonal equation and iterative, linearized inversion. At short and intermediate periods, the maps show remarkable agreement with the major geological features of the British Isles including: terrane boundaries in Scotland; regions of late Palaeozoic basement uplift; areas of exposed late Proterozoic/early Palaeozoic rocks in southwest Scotland, northern England and northwest Wales and, sedimentary basins formed during the Mesozoic such as the Irish Sea Basin, the Chester Basin, the Worcester Graben and the Wessex Basin. The maps also show a consistent low-velocity anomaly in the region of the Midlands Platform, a Proterozoic crustal block in the English Midlands. At longer periods, which are sensitive velocities in the lower crustal/upper mantle, the maps suggest that the depth of Moho beneath the British Isles decreases towards the north and west. Areas of fast velocity in the lower crust also coincide with areas thought to be associated with underplating of the

Amplification and Attenuation across USArray using Ambient Noise Wavefront Tracking

KAUST Repository

Bowden, Daniel C.; Tsai, Victor C.; Lin, Fan-Chi

2017-01-01

As seismic travel-time tomography continues to be refined using data from the vast USArray dataset, it is advantageous to also exploit the amplitude information carried by seismic waves. We use ambient noise cross correlation to make observations

The Global Detection Capability of the IMS Seismic Network in 2013 Inferred from Ambient Seismic Noise Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Gaebler, P. J.; Ceranna, L.

2016-12-01

All nuclear explosions - on the Earth's surface, underground, underwater or in the atmosphere - are banned by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). As part of this treaty, a verification regime was put into place to detect, locate and characterize nuclear explosion testings at any time, by anyone and everywhere on the Earth. The International Monitoring System (IMS) plays a key role in the verification regime of the CTBT. Out of the different monitoring techniques used in the IMS, the seismic waveform approach is the most effective technology for monitoring nuclear underground testing and to identify and characterize potential nuclear events. This study introduces a method of seismic threshold monitoring to assess an upper magnitude limit of a potential seismic event in a certain given geographical region. The method is based on ambient seismic background noise measurements at the individual IMS seismic stations as well as on global distance correction terms for body wave magnitudes, which are calculated using the seismic reflectivity method. From our investigations we conclude that a global detection threshold of around mb 4.0 can be achieved using only stations from the primary seismic network, a clear latitudinal dependence for the detection thresholdcan be observed between northern and southern hemisphere. Including the seismic stations being part of the auxiliary seismic IMS network results in a slight improvement of global detection capability. However, including wave arrivals from distances greater than 120 degrees, mainly PKP-wave arrivals, leads to a significant improvement in average global detection capability. In special this leads to an improvement of the detection threshold on the southern hemisphere. We further investigate the dependence of the detection capability on spatial (latitude and longitude) and temporal (time) parameters, as well as on parameters such as source type and percentage of operational IMS stations.

Retrieval of reflections from ambient noise using illumination diagnosis

Science.gov (United States)

Vidal, C. Almagro; Draganov, D.; van der Neut, J.; Drijkoningen, G.; Wapenaar, K.

2014-09-01

Seismic interferometry (SI) enables the retrieval of virtual sources at the location of receivers. In the case of passive SI, no active sources are used for the retrieval of the reflection response of the subsurface, but ambient-noise recordings only. The resulting retrieved response is determined by the illumination characteristics of the recorded ambient noise. Characteristics like geometrical distribution and signature of the noise sources, together with the complexity of the medium and the length of the noise records, determine the quality of the retrieved virtual-shot events. To retrieve body wave reflections, one needs to correlate body-wave noise. A source of such noise might be regional seismicity. In regions with notable human presence, the dominant noise sources are generally located at or close to the surface. In the latter case, the noise will be dominated by surface waves and consequently also the retrieved virtual common-source panels will contain dominant retrieved surface waves, drowning out possible retrieved reflections. In order to retrieve reflection events, suppression of the surface waves becomes the most important pre-processing goal. Because of the reasons mentioned above, we propose a fast method to evaluate the illumination characteristics of ambient noise using the correlation results from ambient-noise records. The method is based on the analysis of the so-called source function of the retrieved virtual-shot panel, and evaluates the apparent slowness of arrivals in the correlation results that pass through the position of the virtual source and at zero time. The results of the diagnosis are used to suppress the retrieval of surface waves and therefore to improve the quality of the retrieved reflection response. We explain the approach using modelled data from transient and continuous noise sources and an example from a passive field data set recorded at Annerveen, Northern Netherlands.

Assimilation of ambient seismic noise in hydrological models allows estimation of hydraulic conductivity in unsaturated media

Science.gov (United States)

Fores, B.; Champollion, C.; Mainsant, G.; Fort, A.; Albaric, J.

2016-12-01

Karstic hydrosystems represent one of the main water resources in the Mediterranean area but are challenging for geophysical methods. The GEK (Geodesy in Karstic Environment) observatory has been setup in 2011 to study the unsaturated zone of a karstic system in the south of France. The unsaturated zone (the epikarst) is thick and up to 100m on the site. Since 2011, gravity, rainfall and evapotranspiration are monitored. Together, they allow precise estimation of the global water storage changes but lack depth resolution. Surface waves velocity variations, obtained from ambient seismic noise monitoring are used here to overcome this lack. Indeed, velocities depend on saturation and the depths where changes occur can be defined as surface waves are dispersive. From October 2014 to November 2015, two seismometers have been recording noise. Velocity changes at a narrow frequency band (6-8 Hz) have shown a clear annual cycle. Minimum velocity is several months late on precipitations, which is coherent with a slow infiltration and a maximum sensitivity at -40m for these frequencies and this site. Models have been made with the Hydrus-1D software which allows modeling 1D-flow in variably saturated media. With a stochastic sampling, we have researched the underground parameters that reproduce the most the different observations (gravity, evapotranspiration and rainfall, and velocity changes). We show that velocity changes clearly constrain the hydraulic conductivity of the medium. Ambient seismic noise is therefore a promising method to study unsaturated zone which are too deep or too heterogeneous for classic methods.

Ambient seismic noise tomography for exploration seismology at Valhall

Science.gov (United States)

de Ridder, S. A.

2011-12-01

Permanent ocean-bottom cables installed at the Valhall field can repeatedly record high quality active seismic surveys. But in the absence of active seismic shooting, passive data can be recorded and streamed to the platform in real time. Here I studied 29 hours of data using seismic interferometry. I generate omni-directional Scholte-wave virtual-sources at frequencies considered very-low in the exploration seismology community (0.4-1.75 Hz). Scholte-wave group arrival times are inverted using both eikonal tomography and straight-ray tomography. The top 100 m near-surface at Valhall contains buried channels about 100 m wide that have been imaged with active seismic. Images obtained by ASNT using eikonal tomography or straight-ray tomography both contain anomalies that match these channels. When continuous recordings are made in real-time, tomography images of the shallow subsurface can be formed or updated on a daily basis, forming a very low cost near-surface monitoring system using seismic noise.

Evidence of Non-extensivity in Earth's Ambient Noise

Science.gov (United States)

Koutalonis, Ioannis; Vallianatos, Filippos

2017-12-01

The study of ambient seismic noise is one of the important scientific and practical research challenges, due to its use in a number of geophysical applications. In this work, we describe Earth's ambient noise fluctuations in terms of non-extensive statistical physics. We found that Earth's ambient noise increments follow the q-Gaussian distribution. This indicates that Earth's ambient noise's fluctuations are not random and present long-term memory effects that could be described in terms of Tsallis entropy. Our results suggest that q values depend on the time length used and that the non-extensive parameter, q, converges to value q → 1 for short-time windows and a saturation value of q ≈ 1.33 for longer ones. The results are discussed from the point of view of superstatistics introduced by Beck [Contin Mech Thermodyn 16(3):293-304, 2004] and connects the q values with the system's degrees of freedom. Our work indicates that the converged (maximum) value is q = 1.33 and is related to 5 degrees of freedom.

Shear-wave velocities beneath the Harrat Rahat volcanic field, Saudi Arabia, using ambient seismic noise analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Civilini, F.; Mooney, W.; Savage, M. K.; Townend, J.; Zahran, H. M.

2017-12-01

We present seismic shear-velocities for Harrat Rahat, a Cenozoic bimodal alkaline volcanic field in west-central Saudi Arabia, using seismic tomography from natural ambient noise. This project is part of an overall effort by the Saudi Geological Survey and the United States Geological Survey to describe the subsurface structure and assess hazards within the Saudi Arabian shield. Volcanism at Harrat Rahat began approximately 10 Ma, with at least three pulses around 10, 5, and 2 Ma, and at least several pulses in the Quaternary from 1.9 Ma to the present. This area is instrumented by 14 broadband Nanometrics Trillium T120 instruments across an array aperture of approximately 130 kilometers. We used a year of recorded natural ambient noise to determine group and phase velocity surface wave dispersion maps with a 0.1 decimal degree resolution for radial-radial, transverse-transverse, and vertical-vertical components of the empirical Green's function. A grid-search method was used to carry out 1D shear-velocity inversions at each latitude-longitude point and the results were interpolated to produce pseudo-3D shear velocity models. The dispersion maps resolved a zone of slow surface wave velocity south-east of the city of Medina spatially correlated with the 1256 CE eruption. A crustal layer interface at approximately 20 km depth was determined by the inversions for all components, matching the results of prior seismic-refraction studies. Cross-sections of the 3D shear velocity models were compared to gravity measurements obtained in the south-east edge of the field. We found that measurements of low gravity qualitatively correlate with low values of shear-velocity below 20 km along the cross-section profile. We apply these methods to obtain preliminary tomography results on the entire Arabian Shield.

Anatomy of the high-frequency ambient seismic wave field at the TCDP borehole.

OpenAIRE

Hillers , Gregor; Campillo , Michel; Lin , Y.-Y.; Ma , K.F.; Roux , Philippe

2012-01-01

International audience; The Taiwan Chelungpu-fault Drilling Project (TCDP) installed a vertical seismic array between 950 and 1270 m depth in an active thrust fault environment. In this paper we analyze continuous noise records of the TCDP array between 1 and 16 Hz. We apply multiple array processing and noise correlation techniques to study the noise source process, properties of the propagation medium, and the ambient seismic wave field. Diurnal amplitude and slowness patterns suggest that ...

On the attenuation of the ambient seismic field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weemstra, C.

2013-01-01

Although myriad applications exploiting the ambient seismic field have been reported to date, comparatively little attention has been paid to its potential to resolve subsurface attenuation. The ambient seismic field, however, may ultimately prove itself an invaluable asset in constraining subsurface attenuation structure. Especially areas with dense seismometer coverage hold great potential. Moreover, since this coverage continues to grow, significant developments may await in the future. Subsurface structure in terms of attenuation is of great importance for many reasons. For example, knowledge of the attenuation structure may aid in predicting ground motions caused by future large earthquakes. From a scientific perspective, a great deal of new information may be extracted, potentially fostering research in related fields (e.g., geodynamics, hydrology). Both from an environmental and economic point of view, inversion of the ambient seismic wavefield for attenuation structure may in the future provide a means to image hydrocarbon reservoirs. In sufficiently diffuse wavefields, simple cross-correlation of long noise time series recorded by two receivers results in the response at one of the receivers as if there was a source at the position of the other. I present a case study that shows that thus retrieved surface waves can be used to recover attenuation beneath an array of ocean-bottom seismometers. Given the small aperture of the seismic survey, this is unprecedented. Unambiguous interpretation of recovered attenuation values is of major importance. Lack of understanding of the effect that preprocessing has on the amplitude of the noise cross-correlation prevents such unambiguous interpretation. I carefully examine the effect spectral whitening has on the noise cross-correlation. Emphasis is given to the dependence of the amplitudes on the length of the time windows employed in the cross-correlation procedure. Short time-window lengths may require an additional

Time-lapse imaging of fault properties at seismogenic depth using repeating earthquakes, active sources and seismic ambient noise

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Xin

2009-12-01

The time-varying stress field of fault systems at seismogenic depths plays the mort important role in controlling the sequencing and nucleation of seismic events. Using seismic observations from repeating earthquakes, controlled active sources and seismic ambient noise, five studies at four different fault systems across North America, Central Japan, North and mid-West China are presented to describe our efforts to measure such time dependent structural properties. Repeating and similar earthquakes are hunted and analyzed to study the post-seismic fault relaxation at the aftershock zone of the 1984 M 6.8 western Nagano and the 1976 M 7.8 Tangshan earthquakes. The lack of observed repeating earthquakes at western Nagano is attributed to the absence of a well developed weak fault zone, suggesting that the fault damage zone has been almost completely healed. In contrast, the high percentage of similar and repeating events found at Tangshan suggest the existence of mature fault zones characterized by stable creep under steady tectonic loading. At the Parkfield region of the San Andreas Fault, repeating earthquake clusters and chemical explosions are used to construct a scatterer migration image based on the observation of systematic temporal variations in the seismic waveforms across the occurrence time of the 2004 M 6 Parkfield earthquake. Coseismic fluid charge or discharge in fractures caused by the Parkfield earthquake is used to explain the observed seismic scattering properties change at depth. In the same region, a controlled source cross-well experiment conducted at SAFOD pilot and main holes documents two large excursions in the travel time required for a shear wave to travel through the rock along a fixed pathway shortly before two rupture events, suggesting that they may be related to pre-rupture stress induced changes in crack properties. At central China, a tomographic inversion based on the theory of seismic ambient noise and coda wave interferometry

Ambient seismic noise interferometry in Hawai'i reveals long-range observability of volcanic tremor

Science.gov (United States)

Ballmer, Silke; Wolfe, Cecily; Okubo, Paul G.; Haney, Matt; Thurber, Clifford H.

2013-01-01

The use of seismic noise interferometry to retrieve Green's functions and the analysis of volcanic tremor are both useful in studying volcano dynamics. Whereas seismic noise interferometry allows long-range extraction of interpretable signals from a relatively weak noise wavefield, the characterization of volcanic tremor often requires a dense seismic array close to the source. We here show that standard processing of seismic noise interferometry yields volcanic tremor signals observable over large distances exceeding 50 km. Our study comprises 2.5 yr of data from the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory short period seismic network. Examining more than 700 station pairs, we find anomalous and temporally coherent signals that obscure the Green's functions. The time windows and frequency bands of these anomalous signals correspond well with the characteristics of previously studied volcanic tremor sources at Pu'u 'Ō'ō and Halema'uma'u craters. We use the derived noise cross-correlation functions to perform a grid-search for source location, confirming that these signals are surface waves originating from the known tremor sources. A grid-search with only distant stations verifies that useful tremor signals can indeed be recovered far from the source. Our results suggest that the specific data processing in seismic noise interferometry—typically used for Green's function retrieval—can aid in the study of both the wavefield and source location of volcanic tremor over large distances. In view of using the derived Green's functions to image heterogeneity and study temporal velocity changes at volcanic regions, however, our results illustrate how care should be taken when contamination by tremor may be present.

Improving ambient noise cross-correlations in the noisy ocean bottom environment of the Juan de Fuca plate

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Ye; Ritzwoller, Michael H.

2017-09-01

Ambient noise tomography exploits seismic ground motions that propagate coherently over long interstation distances. Such ground motions provide information about the medium of propagation that is recoverable from interstation cross-correlations. Local noise sources, which are particularly strong in ocean bottom environments, corrupt ambient noise cross-correlations and compromise the effectiveness of ambient noise tomography. Based on 62 ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs) located on Juan de Fuca (JdF) plate from the Cascadia Initiative experiment and 40 continental stations near the coast of the western United States obtained in 2011 and 2012, we attempt to reduce the effects of local noise on vertical component seismic records across the plate and onto US continent. The goal is to provide better interstation cross-correlations for use in ambient noise tomography and the study of ambient noise directionality. As shown in previous studies, tilt and compliance noise are major sources of noise that contaminate the vertical channels of the OBSs and such noise can be greatly reduced by exploiting information on the horizontal components and the differential pressure gauge records, respectively. We find that ambient noise cross-correlations involving OBSs are of significantly higher signal-to-noise ratio at periods greater than 10 s after reducing these types of noise, particularly in shallow water environments where tilt and compliance noise are especially strong. The reduction of tilt and compliance noise promises to improve the accuracy and spatial extent of ambient noise tomography, allowing measurements based on coherently propagating ambient noise to be made at stations in the shallower parts of the JdF plate and at longer periods than in previous studies. In addition such local noise reduction produces better estimates of the azimuthal content of ambient noise.

Amplification and Attenuation across USArray using Ambient Noise Wavefront Tracking

KAUST Repository

Bowden, Daniel C.

2017-11-15

As seismic travel-time tomography continues to be refined using data from the vast USArray dataset, it is advantageous to also exploit the amplitude information carried by seismic waves. We use ambient noise cross correlation to make observations of surface-wave amplification and attenuation at shorter periods (8 – 32 seconds) than can be observed with only traditional teleseismic earthquake sources. We show that the wavefront tracking approach of [Lin et al., 2012a] can be successfully applied to ambient noise correlations, yielding results quite similar to those from earthquake observations at periods of overlap. This consistency indicates that the wavefront tracking approach is viable for use with ambient noise correlations, despite concerns of the inhomogeneous and unknown distribution of noise sources. The resulting amplification and attenuation maps correlate well with known tectonic and crustal structure; at the shortest periods, our amplification and attenuation maps correlate well with surface geology and known sedimentary basins, while our longest period amplitudes are controlled by crustal thickness and begin to probe upper mantle materials. These amplification and attenuation observations are sensitive to crustal materials in different ways than travel-time observations and may be used to better constrain temperature or density variations. We also value them as an independent means of describing the lateral variability of observed Rayleigh-wave amplitudes without the need for 3D tomographic inversions.

Integration of ambient seismic noise monitoring, displacement and meteorological measurements to infer the temperature-controlled long-term evolution of a complex prone-to-fall cliff

Science.gov (United States)

Colombero, C.; Baillet, L.; Comina, C.; Jongmans, D.; Larose, E.; Valentin, J.; Vinciguerra, S.

2018-06-01

Monitoring the temporal evolution of resonance frequencies and velocity changes detected from ambient seismic noise recordings can help in recognizing reversible and irreversible modifications within unstable rock volumes. With this aim, the long-term ambient seismic noise data set acquired at the potentially unstable cliff of Madonna delSasso (NW Italian Alps) was analysed in this study, using both spectral analysis and cross-correlation techniques. Noise results were integrated and compared with direct displacement measurements and meteorological data, to understand the long-term evolution of the cliff. No irreversible modifications in the stability of the site were detected over the monitored period. Conversely, daily and seasonal air temperature fluctuations were found to control resonance frequency values, amplitudes and directivities and to induce reversible velocity changes within the fractured rock mass. The immediate modification in the noise parameters due to temperature fluctuations was interpreted as the result of rock mass thermal expansion and contraction, inducing variations in the contact stiffness along the fractures isolating two unstable compartments. Differences with previous case studies were highlighted in the long-term evolution of noise spectral amplitudes and directivities, due to the complex 3-D fracture setting of the site and to the combined effects of the two unstable compartments.

Crustal structure of Australia from ambient seismic noise tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Saygin, Erdinc; Kennett, B. L. N.

2012-01-01

Surface wave tomography for Australian crustal structure has been carried out using group velocity measurements in the period range 1-32 s extracted from stacked correlations of ambient noise between station pairs. Both Rayleigh wave and Love wave group velocity maps are constructed for each period using the vertical and transverse component of the Green's function estimates from the ambient noise. The full suite of portable broadband deployments and permanent stations on the continent have been used with over 250 stations in all and up to 7500 paths. The permanent stations provide a useful link between the various shorter-term portable deployments. At each period the group velocity maps are constructed with a fully nonlinear tomographic inversion exploiting a subspace technique and the Fast Marching Method for wavefront tracking. For Rayleigh waves the continental coverage is good enough to allow the construction of a 3D shear wavespeed model in a two stage approach. Local group dispersion information is collated for a distribution of points across the continent and inverted for a 1D SV wavespeed profile using a Neighbourhood Algorithm method. The resulting set of 1D models are then interpolated to produce the final 3D wavespeed model. The group velocity maps show the strong influence of thick sediments at shorter periods, and distinct fast zones associated with cratonic regions. Below the sediments the 3D shear wavespeed model displays significant heterogeneity with only moderate correlation with surface tectonic features. For example, there is no evident expression of the Tasman Line marking the eastern edge of Precambrian outcrop. The large number of available inter-station paths extracted from the ambient noise analysis provide detailed shear wavespeed information for crustal structure across the Australian continent for the first time, including regions where there was no prior sampling because of difficult logistics.

Ambient Noise Tomography and Microseism Directionalities across the Juan de Fuca Plate

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Ye

Ambient noise tomography has been well developed over the past decade and proven to be effective in studying the crust and upper mantle structure beneath the Earth’s continents. With new seismic array deployments beginning in the oceans, the application of the tomographic methods based on ambient noise observed at ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs) has become an important topic for research. In this thesis, I investigate the application of ambient noise tomography to oceanic bottom seismic data recorded by the Cascadia Initiative experiment across the Juan de Fuca plate. With higher local noise levels recorded by OBSs, I find that traditional data processing procedures used in ambient noise tomography produce measurable Rayleigh wave Green’s functions between deep ocean stations, whereas the shallow water stations are severely contaminated by both tilt noise and compliance noise and require new methods of processing. Because the local noise level varies across the study region, four semi-independent studies are conducted to both utilize the quieter deep-water stations and to address the problem posed by noisy shallow water stations. First, I construct an age-dependent shear wave speed model of the crust and uppermost mantle with 18 deep-water stations near the Juan de Fuca Ridge. The model possess a shallow low shear velocity zone near the ridge and has its sedimentary thickness, lithospheric thickness, and mantle shear wave speeds increase systematically with age Second, I investigate the locations and mechanisms of microseism generation using ambient noise cross-correlations constructed between 61 OBSs and 42 continental stations near the western US coast and find that the primary and secondary microseisms are generated at different locations and possibly have different physical mechanisms. Third, I show that tilt and compliance noise on the vertical components of the OBSs can be reduced substantially using the horizontal components and the differential

Antarctic ice sheet thickness estimation using the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio method with single-station seismic ambient noise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Yan

2018-03-01

Full Text Available We report on a successful application of the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (H / V method, generally used to investigate the subsurface velocity structures of the shallow crust, to estimate the Antarctic ice sheet thickness for the first time. Using three-component, five-day long, seismic ambient noise records gathered from more than 60 temporary seismic stations located on the Antarctic ice sheet, the ice thickness measured at each station has comparable accuracy to the Bedmap2 database. Preliminary analysis revealed that 60 out of 65 seismic stations on the ice sheet obtained clear peak frequencies (f0 related to the ice sheet thickness in the H / V spectrum. Thus, assuming that the isotropic ice layer lies atop a high velocity half-space bedrock, the ice sheet thickness can be calculated by a simple approximation formula. About half of the calculated ice sheet thicknesses were consistent with the Bedmap2 ice thickness values. To further improve the reliability of ice thickness measurements, two-type models were built to fit the observed H / V spectrum through non-linear inversion. The two-type models represent the isotropic structures of single- and two-layer ice sheets, and the latter depicts the non-uniform, layered characteristics of the ice sheet widely distributed in Antarctica. The inversion results suggest that the ice thicknesses derived from the two-layer ice models were in good concurrence with the Bedmap2 ice thickness database, and that ice thickness differences between the two were within 300 m at almost all stations. Our results support previous finding that the Antarctic ice sheet is stratified. Extensive data processing indicates that the time length of seismic ambient noise records can be shortened to two hours for reliable ice sheet thickness estimation using the H / V method. This study extends the application fields of the H / V method and provides an effective and independent way to measure

Ambient noise levels in the Taiwan region

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, W.; Liu, C.; Chen, R.; Huang, B.; Wu, F. T.; Wang, C.

2008-12-01

To characterize the island-wide background seismic noise in Taiwan, we estimate the power spectral density (PSD) at broadband stations of both the BATS (Broadband Array in Taiwan for Seismology) and the TAIGER experiment (Apr. 2006~Apr. 2008) for periods ranging from ~0.2 to 100 seconds. A new approach to calculate the probability density functions of noise power (PDFs, MaNamara and Buland, 2004) is used in this study. The results indicate that the cultural noise at higher frequencies is significant at populated area, which shows diurnal and weekly variation as what we expected. The noise power for microseisms centered at a period of ~5 seconds around the western costal plain show ~20dB higher than what observed at eastern Taiwan. This observation supports the inference that the coastal regions having narrow shelf with irregular coastlines are know to be especially efficient at radiating the predominat microseisms. Results from the linear array across central Taiwan demonstrate that the average noise power is quietest at the eastern Central Range. We have mapped the PDF mode for stations at various periods to see the spatial distribution of ambient noise levels, which could be used as the basic information for future station siting. Temporal variation of noise PSD is also present to provide a quantitative description of the seismic data quality collected by both BATS and TAIGER experiment. Some operational problems like base tilt, sensitivity change can be identified easily as well.

Bedload transport from spectral analysis of seismic noise near rivers

Science.gov (United States)

Hsu, L.; Finnegan, N. J.; Brodsky, E. E.

2010-12-01

Channel change in rivers is driven by bedload sediment transport. However, the nonlinear nature of sediment transport combined with the difficulty of making direct observations in rivers at flood hinder prediction of the timing and magnitude of bedload movement. Recent studies have shown that spectral analysis of seismic noise from seismometers near rivers illustrate a correlation between the relative amplitude of high frequency (>1 Hz) seismic noise and conditions for bedload transport, presumably from the energy transferred from clast collisions with the channel. However, a previous study in the Himalayas did not contain extensive bedload transport or discharge measurements, and the correspondence of seismic noise with proxy variables such as regional hydrologic and meteorologic data was not exact. A more complete understanding of the relationship between bedload transport and seismic noise would be valuable for extending the spatial and temporal extent of bedload data. To explore the direct relationship between bedload transport and seismic noise, we examine data from several seismic stations near the Trinity River in California, where the fluvial morphodynamics and bedload rating curves have been studied extensively. We compare the relative amplitude of the ambient seismic noise with records of water discharge and sediment transport. We also examine the noise at hourly, daily, and seasonal timescales to determine other possible sources of noise. We report the influence of variables such as local river slope, adjacent geology, anthropogenic noise, and distance from the river. The results illustrate the feasibility of using existing seismic arrays to sense radiated energy from processes of bedload transport. In addition, the results can be used to design future seismic array campaigns to optimize information about bedload transport. This technique provides great spatial and temporal coverage, and can be performed where direct bedload measurements are difficult or

Monitoring Unstable Glaciers with Seismic Noise Interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Preiswerk, L. E.; Walter, F.

2016-12-01

Gravity-driven glacier instabilities are a threat to human infrastructure in alpine terrain, and this hazard is likely to increase with future changes in climate. Seismometers have been used previously on hazardous glaciers to monitor the natural englacial seismicity. In some situations, an increase in "icequake" activity may indicate fracture growth and thus an imminent major break-off. However, without independent constraints on unstable volumes, such mere event counting is of little use. A promising new approach to monitor unstable masses in Alpine terrain is coda wave interferometry of ambient noise. While already established in the solid earth, application to glaciers is not straightforward, because the lack of inhomogeneities typically suppresses seismic coda waves in glacier ice. Only glaciers with pervasive crevasses provide enough scattering to generate long codas. This is requirement is likely met for highly dynamic unstable glaciers. Here, we report preliminary results from a temporary 5-station on-ice array of seismometers (corner frequencies: 1 Hz, array aperture: 500m) on Bisgletscher (Switzerland). The seismometers were deployed in shallow boreholes, directly above the unstable tongue of the glacier. In the frequency band 4-12 Hz, we find stable noise cross-correlations, which in principle allows monitoring on a subdaily scale. The origin and the source processes of the ambient noise in these frequencies are however uncertain. As a first step, we evaluate the stability of the sources in order to separate effects of changing source parameters from changes of englacial properties. Since icequakes occurring every few seconds may dominate the noise field, we compare their temporal and spatial occurrences with the cross-correlation functions (stability over time, the asymmetry between causal and acausal parts of the cross-correlation functions) as well as with results from beamforming to assess the influence of these transient events on the noise field.

High-resolution 3-D S-wave Tomography of upper crust structures in Yilan Plain from Ambient Seismic Noise

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Kai-Xun; Chen, Po-Fei; Liang, Wen-Tzong; Chen, Li-Wei; Gung, YuanCheng

2015-04-01

The Yilan Plain (YP) in NE Taiwan locates on the western YP of the Okinawa Trough and displays high geothermal gradients with abundant hot springs, likely resulting from magmatism associated with the back-arc spreading as attested by the offshore volcanic island (Kueishantao). YP features NS distinctive characteristics that the South YP exhibits thin top sedimentary layer, high on-land seismicity and significant SE movements, relative those of the northern counterpart. A dense network (~2.5 km station interval) of 89 Texan instruments was deployed in Aug. 2014, covering most of the YP and its vicinity. The ray path coverage density of each 0.015 degree cells are greater than 150 km that could provide the robustness assessment of tomographic results. We analyze ambient noise signals to invert a high-resolution 3D S-wave model for shallow velocity structures in and around YP. The aim is to investigate the velocity anomalies corresponding to geothermal resources and the NS geological distinctions aforementioned. We apply the Welch's method to generate empirical Rayleigh wave Green's functions between two stations records of continuous vertical components. The group velocities of thus derived functions are then obtained by the multiple-filter analysis technique measured at the frequency range between 0.25 and 1 Hz. Finally, we implement a wavelet-based multi-scale parameterization technique to construct 3D model of S-wave velocity. Our first month results exhibit low velocity in the plain, corresponding existing sediments, those of whole YP show low velocity offshore YP and those of high-resolution south YP reveal stark velocity contrast across the Sanshin fault. Key words: ambient seismic noises, Welch's method, S-wave, Yilan Plain

Seismic structure of the upper crust in the Albertine Rift from travel-time and ambient-noise tomography - a comparison

Science.gov (United States)

Jakovlev, Andrey; Kaviani, Ayoub; Ruempker, Georg

2017-04-01

Here we present results of the investigation of the upper crust in the Albertine rift around the Rwenzori Mountains. We use a data set collected from a temporary network of 33 broadband stations operated by the RiftLink research group between September 2009 and August 2011. During this period, 82639 P-wave and 73408 S-wave travel times from 12419 local and regional earthquakes were registered. This presents a very rare opportunity to apply both local travel-time and ambient-noise tomography to analyze data from the same network. For the local travel-time tomographic inversion the LOTOS algorithm (Koulakov, 2009) was used. The algorithm performs iterative simultaneous inversions for 3D models of P- and S-velocity anomalies in combination with earthquake locations and origin times. 28955 P- and S-wave picks from 2769 local earthquakes were used. To estimate the resolution and stability of the results a number of the synthetic and real data tests were performed. To perform the ambient noise tomography we use the following procedure. First, we follow the standard procedure described by Bensen et al. (2007) as modified by Boué et al. (2014) to compute the vertical component cross-correlation functions between all pairs of stations. We also adapted the algorithm introduced by Boué et al. (2014) and use the WHISPER software package (Briand et al., 2013) to preprocess individual daily vertical-component waveforms. On the next step, for each period, we use the method of Barmin et al. (2001) to invert the dispersion measurements along each path for group velocity tomographic maps. Finally, we adapt a modified version of the algorithm suggested by Macquet et al. (2014) to invert the group velocity maps for shear velocity structure. We apply several tests, which show that the best resolution is obtained at a period of 8 seconds, which correspond to a depth of approximately 6 km. Models of the seismic structure obtained by the two methods agree well at shallow depth of about

A generalized formulation for noise-based seismic velocity change measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Gómez-García, C.; Brenguier, F.; Boué, P.; Shapiro, N.; Droznin, D.; Droznina, S.; Senyukov, S.; Gordeev, E.

2017-12-01

The observation of continuous seismic velocity changes is a powerful tool for detecting seasonal variations in crustal structure, volcanic unrest, co- and post-seismic evolution of stress in fault areas or the effects of fluid injection. The standard approach for measuring such velocity changes relies on comparison of travel times in the coda of a set of seismic signals, usually noise-based cross-correlations retrieved at different dates, and a reference trace, usually a averaged function over dates. A good stability in both space and time of the noise sources is then the main assumption for reliable measurements. Unfortunately, these conditions are often not fulfilled, as it happens when ambient-noise sources are non-stationary, such as the emissions of low-frequency volcanic tremors.We propose a generalized formulation for retrieving continuous time series of noise-based seismic velocity changes without any arbitrary reference cross-correlation function. We set up a general framework for future applications of this technique performing synthetic tests. In particular, we study the reliability of the retrieved velocity changes in case of seasonal-type trends, transient effects (similar to those produced as a result of an earthquake or a volcanic eruption) and sudden velocity drops and recoveries as the effects of transient local source emissions. Finally, we apply this approach to a real dataset of noise cross-correlations. We choose the Klyuchevskoy volcanic group (Kamchatka) as a case study where the recorded wavefield is hampered by loss of data and dominated by strongly localized volcanic tremor sources. Despite the mentioned wavefield contaminations, we retrieve clear seismic velocity drops associated with the eruptions of the Klyuchevskoy an the Tolbachik volcanoes in 2010 and 2012, respectively.

The crustal structure beneath The Netherlands derived from ambient seismic noise

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Yudistira, Tedi; Paulssen, Hanneke; Trampert, Jeannot

2017-01-01

This work presents the first comprehensive 3-D model of the crust beneath The Netherlands. To obtain this model, we designed the NARS-Netherlands project, a dense deployment of broadband stations in the area. Rayleigh and Love wave group velocity dispersion was measured from ambient noise

High resolution Rayleigh wave group velocity tomography in North-China from ambient seismic noise

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fang Lihua; Wu Jianping; Ding Zhifeng; Panza, G.F.

2009-03-01

This study presents the results of the Rayleigh wave group velocity tomography in North-China performed using ambient seismic noise observed at 190 broadband and 10 very broadband stations of the North-China Seismic Array. All available vertical component time-series for the 14 months span between January, 2007 and February, 2008 are cross-correlated to obtain empirical Rayleigh wave Green functions that are subsequently processed, with the multiple filter method, to isolate the group velocity dispersion curves of the fundamental mode of Rayleigh wave. Tomographic maps, with a grid spacing of 0.25 deg. x 0.25 deg., are computed at the periods of 4.5s, 12s, 20s, 28s. The maps at short periods reveal an evident lateral heterogeneity in the crust of North-China, quite well in agreement with known geological and tectonic features. The North China Basin is imaged as a broad low velocity area, while the Taihangshan and Yanshan uplifts and Ordos block are imaged as high velocity zones, and the Quaternary intermountain basins show up as small low-velocity anomalies. The group velocity contours at 4.5s, 12s and 20s are consistent with the Bouguer gravity anomalies measured in the area of the Taihangshan fault, that cuts through the lower crust at least. Most of the historical strong earthquakes (M≥6.0) are located where the tomographic maps show zones with moderate velocity gradient. (author)

Seismic constraints on magma evolution beneath Mount Baekdu (Changbai) volcano from transdimensional Bayesian inversion of ambient noise data

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Seongryong; Tkalčić, Hrvoje; Rhie, Junkee

2017-07-01

The magmatic process of continental intraplate volcanism (CIV) is difficult to understand due to heterogeneous interactions with the crust and the lithospheric upper mantle. Mount Baekdu (Changbai) volcano (MBV) is one of the prominent CIVs in northeast Asia that has shown a complex history of eruptions and associated magmatic structures. In addition, the relationship between the crustal magmatic structures and upper mantle phenomena are enigmatic due to the lack of consistent seismic constraints for the lithospheric structure. To enhance comprehensive understanding of the MBV magma evolution, we image the lithospheric structure beneath the MBV and surrounding regions using ambient noise data and the following two approaches: (1) multiple measures of ambient noise dispersion are acquired through different methods and (2) a transdimensional Bayesian inversion method is utilized to obtain unbiased results in joint analysis of the multiple data sets. The estimated Earth structure shows a thick crust ( 40 km) and a crustal anomaly with relatively high S wave velocity in the depth range 20-40 km. This type of structure extends to 100 km north from the MBV and is accompanied by the shallow and rapid S wave velocity decrease beneath the mantle lid ( 80 km). Through a comparison with previous P wave models, we interpret this structure as a consequence of compositional partitioning by mafic underplating and overlying cooled felsic layers as a result of fractional crystalization.

Rayleigh waves from correlation of seismic noise in Great Island of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina: Constraints on upper crustal structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carolina Buffoni

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In this study, the ambient seismic noise cross-correlation technique is applied to estimate the upper structure of the crust beneath Great Island of Tierra del Fuego (TdF, Argentina, by the analysis of short-period Rayleigh wave group velocities. The island, situated in the southernmost South America, is a key area of investigation among the interaction between the South American and Scotia plates and is considered as a very seismically active one. Through cross-correlating the vertical components of ambient seismic noise registered at four broadband stations in TdF, we were able to extract Rayleigh waves which were used to estimate group velocities in the period band of 2.5–16 s using a time-frequency analysis. Although ambient noise sources are distributed inhomogeneously, robust empirical Green's functions could be recovered from the cross-correlation of 12 months of ambient noise. The observed group velocities were inverted considering a non-linear iterative damped least-squares inversion procedure and several 1-D shear wave velocity models of the upper crust were obtained. According to the inversion results, the S-wave velocity ranges between 1.75 and 3.7 km/s in the first 10 km of crust, depending on the pair of stations considered. These results are in agreement to the major known surface and sub-surface geological and tectonic features known in the area. This study represents the first ambient seismic noise analysis in TdF in order to constraint the upper crust beneath this region. It can also be considered as a successful feasibility study for future analyses with a denser station deployment for a more detailed imaging of structure.

Crustal structure and Seismic Hazard studies in Nigeria from ambient noise and earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Kadiri, U. A.

2016-12-01

The crust, upper Mantle and seismic hazard studies have been carried out in Nigeria using noise and earthquake data. The data were acquired from stations in Nigeria and international Agencies. Firstly, known depths of sediments in the Lower Benue Trough (LBT) were collected from wells; Resonance frequency (Fo) and average shear-wave velocities (Vs) were then computed using Matlab. Secondly, average velocities were estimated from noise cross-correlation along seismic stations. Thirdly, the moho depths beneath Ife, Kaduna and Nsukka stations were estimated, as well as Vp/Vs ratio using 2009 earthquake with epicenter in Nigeria. Finally, Statistical and Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment (PSHA) were used to compute seismic hazard parameters in Nigeria and its surroundings. The results showed that, soils on the LBT with average shear wave velocity of about 5684m/s would experience more amplification in case of an earthquake, compared to the basement complex in Nigeria. The Vs beneath the seismic stations in Nigeria were also estimated as 288m/s, 1019m/s, 940.6m/s and 255.02m/s in Ife, Nsukka, Awka, and Abakaliki respectively. The average velocity along the station paths was 4.5km/secs, and the Vp, Vs for depths 100-500km profile in parts of South West Nigeria increased from about 5.83-6.42Km/sec and 3.48-6.31km/s respectively with Vp/Vs ratio decreasing from 1.68 to 1.02. Statistical analysis revealed a trend of increasing earthquake occurrence along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and tending to West African region. The analysis of PSHA shows the likelihood of earthquakes with different magnitudes occurring in Nigeria and other parts West Africa in future. This work is aimed at addressing critical issues regarding sites effect characterization, improved earthquake location and robust seismic hazards assessment for planning in the choice of sites for critical facilities in Nigeria. Keywords: Sediment thickness, Resonance Frequency, Average Velocity, Seismic Hazard, Nigeria

Body Wave and Ambient Noise Tomography of Makushin Volcano, Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

Lanza, F.; Thurber, C. H.; Syracuse, E. M.; Ghosh, A.; LI, B.; Power, J. A.

2017-12-01

Located in the eastern portion of the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone, Makushin Volcano is among the most active volcanoes in the United States and has been classified as high threat based on eruptive history and proximity to the City of Unalaska and international air routes. In 2015, five individual seismic stations and three mini seismic arrays of 15 stations each were deployed on Unalaska island to supplement the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) permanent seismic network. This temporary array was operational for one year. Taking advantage of the increased azimuthal coverage and the array's increased earthquake detection capability, we developed body-wave Vp and Vp/Vs seismic images of the velocity structure beneath the volcano. Body-wave tomography results show a complex structure with the upper 5 km of the crust dominated by both positive and negative Vp anomalies. The shallow high-Vp features possibly delineate remnant magma pathways or conduits. Low-Vp regions are found east of the caldera at approximately 6-9 km depth. This is in agreement with previous tomographic work and geodetic models, obtained using InSAR data, which had identified this region as a possible long-term source of magma. We also observe a high Vp/Vs feature extending between 7 and 12 km depth below the caldera, possibly indicating partial melting, although the resolution is diminished at these depths. The distributed stations allow us to further complement body-wave tomography with ambient noise imaging and to obtain higher quality of Vs images. Our data processing includes single station data preparation and station-pair cross-correlation steps (Bensen et al., 2007), and the use of the phase weighted stacking method (Schimmel and Gallart, 2007) to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the cross-correlations. We will show surface-wave dispersion curves, group velocity maps, and ultimately a 3D Vs image. By performing both body wave and ambient noise tomography, we provide a high

Ambient seismic noise as an interesting indirect cue for the Cerithidea decollata migrations

Science.gov (United States)

Pazzi, Veronica; Lotti, Alessia

2017-04-01

Presence or absence of water, food availability, capability of avoiding predation, and body temperature are constantly changing according to the tidal excursion. In fact, more than the diurnal light-dark variation, tide is shaping the whole intertidal animal life. Therefore, physiological and behavioural systems exist to reduce the stress that the intertidal fauna may face during the unsuitable tidal phase. Cerithidea decollata is a common western Indian Ocean mangrove gastropod. It feeds on the ground at low tide, and climbs the trees two/three hours before the water arrival to avoid submersion. In spite of the irregular East African tidal pattern, it also regularly settles on trunks roughly 40 cm above the maximum level of the incoming tide. Migrations usually take place about twice a day unless at Neap Tide, when snails may remain on the dry ground. Past experiments showed that a biological clock cannot account for water level foreseeing, nor direct visual cues or chemical information from the water itself or from previous migrations have been detected. On the other hand, tidal gravity variations can be felt by the snails. Moreover, other indirect cues could be hypothesize related to a) the oceanic waves reaching the coast and the barrier reef (seismic noise), or b) the changes in ground resistivity (self potential) caused by the sea water moving close. To verify these hypotheses, an integrated geophysical survey (single-station seismic noise and self potential survey) was carried out at Mida Creek (Kenya) to characterize the local seismic wavefield in terms of its amplitude and to measure the temporal variations of the electric potential field. Final goal was to verify whether a correlation exists between the time evolution of these phenomena and the snail movements. Here we present the first results of the seismic noise measurements. Data were acquired by means of a single station all-in-one 3-directional 24-bit digital tromometer equipped with 4.5 Hz

Ambient Noise Green's Function Simulation of Long-Period Ground Motions for Reverse Faulting

Science.gov (United States)

Miyake, H.; Beroza, G. C.

2009-12-01

Long-time correlation of ambient seismic noise has been demonstrated as a useful tool for strong ground motion prediction [Prieto and Beroza, 2008]. An important advantage of ambient noise Green's functions is that they can be used for ground motion simulation without resorting to either complex 3-D velocity structure to develop theoretical Green’s functions, or aftershock records for empirical Green’s function analysis. The station-to-station approach inherent to ambient noise Green’s functions imposes some limits to its application, since they are band-limited, applied at the surface, and for a single force. We explore the applicability of this method to strong motion prediction using the 2007 Chuetsu-oki, Japan, earthquake (Mw 6.6, depth = 9 km), which excited long-period ground motions in and around the Kanto basin almost 200 km from the epicenter. We test the performance of ambient noise Green's function for long-period ground motion simulation. We use three components of F-net broadband data at KZK station, which is located near the source region, as a virtual source, and three components of six F-net stations in and around the Kanto basin to calculate the response. An advantage to applying this approach in Japan is that ambient-noise sources are active in diverse directions. The dominant period of the ambient noise for the F-net datasets is mostly 7 s over the year, and amplitudes are largest in winter. This period matches the dominant periods of the Kanto and Niigata basins. For the 9 components of the ambient noise Green’s functions, we have confirmed long-period components corresponding to Love wave and Rayleigh waves that can be used for simulation of the 2007 Chuetsu-oki earthquake. The relative amplitudes, phases, and durations of the ambient noise Green’s functions at the F-net stations in and around the Kanto basin respect to F-net KZK station are fairly well matched with those of the observed ground motions for the 2007 Chuetsu

Ambient Noise Tomography in Koyna-Warna region.

Science.gov (United States)

Rohilla, S.; Rao, N. P.; Gerstoft, P.; Yao, H.; Fang, H.; Davulluri, S.

2017-12-01

In the present study Ambient Noise tomography has been done in the Koyna-Warna region of western India to decipher the complex structural setting and its linkage to the seismogenesis in this unique Reservoir Triggered Seismicity zone. The 3-D velocity model obtained from the study clearly brings out the lateral and vertical variations of shear velocity in the region down to a depth of about 10 km. In the Koyna region, seismicity distribution along the NNE-SSW trending Donachiwada fault zone is seen coinciding with a low velocity zone between two competent zones with a very high velocity > 4.0 km/s. The seismicity between the Koyna and Warna regions roughly trending NW-SE can be clearly seen in the NE-SW depth sections coinciding with a low velocity zone interspersed between two high velocity zones. The most active seismicity cluster south of the Warna Lake correlates with a near-vertical velocity discontinuity with a contrast of about 0.5 km/s is seen in an EW depth section. The study has helped in delineating the major fault zones of the Koyna-Warna region and enabled understanding the seismogenesis with respect to the structural controls in a RTS enviroment.

An Application of Reassigned Time-Frequency Representations for Seismic Noise/Signal Decomposition

Science.gov (United States)

Mousavi, S. M.; Langston, C. A.

2016-12-01

Seismic data recorded by surface arrays are often strongly contaminated by unwanted noise. This background noise makes the detection of small magnitude events difficult. An automatic method for seismic noise/signal decomposition is presented based upon an enhanced time-frequency representation. Synchrosqueezing is a time-frequency reassignment method aimed at sharpening a time-frequency picture. Noise can be distinguished from the signal and suppressed more easily in this reassigned domain. The threshold level is estimated using a general cross validation approach that does not rely on any prior knowledge about the noise level. Efficiency of thresholding has been improved by adding a pre-processing step based on higher order statistics and a post-processing step based on adaptive hard-thresholding. In doing so, both accuracy and speed of the denoising have been improved compared to our previous algorithms (Mousavi and Langston, 2016a, 2016b; Mousavi et al., 2016). The proposed algorithm can either kill the noise (either white or colored) and keep the signal or kill the signal and keep the noise. Hence, It can be used in either normal denoising applications or in ambient noise studies. Application of the proposed method on synthetic and real seismic data shows the effectiveness of the method for denoising/designaling of local microseismic, and ocean bottom seismic data. References: Mousavi, S.M., C. A. Langston., and S. P. Horton (2016), Automatic Microseismic Denoising and Onset Detection Using the Synchrosqueezed-Continuous Wavelet Transform. Geophysics. 81, V341-V355, doi: 10.1190/GEO2015-0598.1. Mousavi, S.M., and C. A. Langston (2016a), Hybrid Seismic Denoising Using Higher-Order Statistics and Improved Wavelet Block Thresholding. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 106, doi: 10.1785/0120150345. Mousavi, S.M., and C.A. Langston (2016b), Adaptive noise estimation and suppression for improving microseismic event detection, Journal of Applied Geophysics., doi: http

Upper crustal structure of Madeira Island revealed from ambient noise tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Matos, Catarina; Silveira, Graça; Matias, Luís; Caldeira, Rita; Ribeiro, M. Luísa; Dias, Nuno A.; Krüger, Frank; Bento dos Santos, Telmo

2015-06-01

We present the first image of the Madeira upper crustal structure, using ambient seismic noise tomography. 16 months of ambient noise, recorded in a dense network of 26 seismometers deployed across Madeira, allowed reconstructing Rayleigh wave Green's functions between receivers. Dispersion analysis was performed in the short period band from 1.0 to 4.0 s. Group velocity measurements were regionalized to obtain 2D tomographic images, with a lateral resolution of 2.0 km in central Madeira. Afterwards, the dispersion curves, extracted from each cell of the 2D group velocity maps, were inverted as a function of depth to obtain a 3D shear wave velocity model of the upper crust, from the surface to a depth of 2.0 km. The obtained 3D velocity model reveals features throughout the island that correlates well with surface geology and island evolution.

Locating scatterers while drilling using seismic noise due to tunnel boring machine

Science.gov (United States)

Harmankaya, U.; Kaslilar, A.; Wapenaar, K.; Draganov, D.

2018-05-01

Unexpected geological structures can cause safety and economic risks during underground excavation. Therefore, predicting possible geological threats while drilling a tunnel is important for operational safety and for preventing expensive standstills. Subsurface information for tunneling is provided by exploratory wells and by surface geological and geophysical investigations, which are limited by location and resolution, respectively. For detailed information about the structures ahead of the tunnel face, geophysical methods are applied during the tunnel-drilling activity. We present a method inspired by seismic interferometry and ambient-noise correlation that can be used for detecting scatterers, such as boulders and cavities, ahead of a tunnel while drilling. A similar method has been proposed for active-source seismic data and validated using laboratory and field data. Here, we propose to utilize the seismic noise generated by a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), and recorded at the surface. We explain our method at the hand of data from finite-difference modelling of noise-source wave propagation in a medium where scatterers are present. Using the modelled noise records, we apply cross-correlation to obtain correlation gathers. After isolating the scattered arrivals in these gathers, we cross-correlate again and invert for the correlated traveltime to locate scatterers. We show the potential of the method for locating the scatterers while drilling using noise records due to TBM.

Studies of ambient noise in shallow water environments off Mexico and Alaska: characteristics, metrics and time-synchronization applications

Science.gov (United States)

Guerra, Melania

Sound in the ocean originates from multiple mechanisms, both natural and anthropogenic. Collectively, underwater ambient noise accumulates valuable information about both its sources and the oceanic environment that propagates this noise. Characterizing the features of ambient noise source mechanisms is challenging, but essential, for properly describing an acoustic environment. Disturbances to a local acoustic environment may affect many aquatic species that have adapted to be heavily dependent on this particular sense for survival functions. In the case of marine mammals, which are federally protected, demand exists for understanding such potential impacts, which drives important scientific efforts that utilize passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) tools to inform regulatory decisions. This dissertation presents two independent studies that use PAM data to investigate the characteristics of source mechanisms that dominate ambient noise in two diverse shallow water environments. The study in Chapter 2 directly addresses the concern of how anthropogenic activities can degrade the effectiveness of PAM. In the Alaskan Beaufort Sea, an environment where ambient noise is normally dominated by natural causes, seismic surveys create impulsive sounds to map the composition of the bottom. By inspecting single-sensor PAM data, the spectral characteristics of seismic survey airgun reverberation are measured, and their contribution to the overall ambient noise is quantified. This work is relevant to multiple ongoing mitigation protocols that rely on PAM to acoustically detect marine mammal presence during industrial operations. Meanwhile, Chapter 3 demonstrates that by analyzing data from multiple PAM sensors, features embedded in both directional and omnidirectional ambient noise can be used to develop new time-synchronization processing techniques for aligning autonomous elements of an acoustic array, a tool commonly used in PAM for detecting and tracking marine mammals. Using

Retrieval of reflections from seismic background?noise measurements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Draganov, D.S.; Wapenaar, K.; Mulder, W.; Singer, J.; Verdel, A.

2007-01-01

The retrieval of the earth's reflection response from cross?correlations of seismic noise recordings can provide valuable information, which may otherwise not be available due to limited spatial distribution of seismic sources. We cross?correlated ten hours of seismic background?noise data acquired

Shallow crustal radial anisotropy beneath the Tehran basin of Iran from seismic ambient noise tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Shirzad, Taghi; Shomali, Z. Hossein

2014-06-01

We studied the shear wave velocity structure and radial anisotropy beneath the Tehran basin by analyzing the Rayleigh wave and Love wave empirical Green's functions obtained from cross-correlation of seismic ambient noise. Approximately 199 inter-station Rayleigh and Love wave empirical Green's functions with sufficient signal-to-noise ratios extracted from 30 stations with various sensor types were used for phase velocity dispersion analysis of periods ranging from 1 to 7 s using an image transformation analysis technique. Dispersion curves extracted from the phase velocity maps were inverted based on non-linear damped least squares inversion method to obtain a quasi-3D model of crustal shear wave velocities. The data used in this study provide an unprecedented opportunity to resolve the spatial distribution of radial anisotropy within the uppermost crust beneath the Tehran basin. The quasi-3D shear wave velocity model obtained in this analysis delineates several distinct low- and high-velocity zones that are generally separated by geological boundaries. High-shear-velocity zones are located primarily around the mountain ranges and extend to depths of 2.0 km, while the low-shear-velocity zone is located near regions with sedimentary layers. In the shallow subsurface, our results indicate strong radial anisotropy with negative magnitude (VSV > VSH) primarily associated with thick sedimentary deposits, reflecting vertical alignment of cracks. With increasing depth, the magnitude of the radial anisotropy shifts from predominantly negative (less than -10%) to predominantly positive (greater than 5%). Our results show a distinct change in radial anisotropy between the uppermost sedimentary layer and the bedrock.

Three-component ambient noise beamforming in the Parkfield area

Science.gov (United States)

Löer, Katrin; Riahi, Nima; Saenger, Erik H.

2018-06-01

We apply a three-component beamforming algorithm to an ambient noise data set recorded at a seismic array to extract information about both isotropic and anisotropic surface wave velocities. In particular, we test the sensitivity of the method with respect to the array geometry as well as to seasonal variations in the distribution of noise sources. In the earth's crust, anisotropy is typically caused by oriented faults or fractures and can be altered when earthquakes or human activities cause these structures to change. Monitoring anisotropy changes thus provides time-dependent information on subsurface processes, provided they can be distinguished from other effects. We analyse ambient noise data at frequencies between 0.08 and 0.52 Hz recorded at a three-component array in the Parkfield area, California (US), between 2001 November and 2002 April. During this time, no major earthquakes were identified in the area and structural changes are thus not expected. We compute dispersion curves of Love and Rayleigh waves and estimate anisotropy parameters for Love waves. For Rayleigh waves, the azimuthal source coverage is too limited to perform anisotropy analysis. For Love waves, ambient noise sources are more widely distributed and we observe significant and stable surface wave anisotropy for frequencies between 0.2 and 0.4 Hz. Synthetic data experiments indicate that the array geometry introduces apparent anisotropy, especially when waves from multiple sources arrive simultaneously at the array. Both the magnitude and the pattern of apparent anisotropy, however, differ significantly from the anisotropy observed in Love wave data. Temporal variations of anisotropy parameters observed at frequencies below 0.2 Hz and above 0.4 Hz correlate with changes in the source distribution. Frequencies between 0.2 and 0.4 Hz, however, are less affected by these variations and provide relatively stable results over the period of study.

Ocean Ambient Noise Measurement and Theory

CERN Document Server

Carey, William M

2011-01-01

This book develops the theory of ocean ambient noise mechanisms and measurements, and also describes general noise characteristics and computational methods.  It concisely summarizes the vast ambient noise literature using theory combined with key representative results.  The air-sea boundary interaction zone is described in terms of non-dimensional variables requisite for future experiments.  Noise field coherency, rare directional measurements, and unique basin scale computations and methods are presented.  The use of satellite measurements in these basin scale models is demonstrated.  Finally, this book provides a series of appendices giving in-depth mathematical treatments.  With its complete and careful discussions of both theory and experimental results, this book will be of the greatest interest to graduate students and active researchers working in fields related to ambient noise in the ocean.

Background noise model development for seismic stations of KMA

Science.gov (United States)

Jeon, Youngsoo

2010-05-01

The background noise recorded at seismometer is exist at any seismic signal due to the natural phenomena of the medium which the signal passed through. Reducing the seismic noise is very important to improve the data quality in seismic studies. But, the most important aspect of reducing seismic noise is to find the appropriate place before installing the seismometer. For this reason, NIMR(National Institution of Meteorological Researches) starts to develop a model of standard background noise for the broadband seismic stations of the KMA(Korea Meteorological Administration) using a continuous data set obtained from 13 broadband stations during the period of 2007 and 2008. We also developed the model using short period seismic data from 10 stations at the year of 2009. The method of Mcmara and Buland(2004) is applied to analyse background noise of Korean Peninsula. The fact that borehole seismometer records show low noise level at frequency range greater than 1 Hz compared with that of records at the surface indicate that the cultural noise of inland Korean Peninsula should be considered to process the seismic data set. Reducing Double Frequency peak also should be regarded because the Korean Peninsula surrounded by the seas from eastern, western and southern part. The development of KMA background model shows that the Peterson model(1993) is not applicable to fit the background noise signal generated from Korean Peninsula.

Seismic signal and noise on Europa

Science.gov (United States)

Panning, Mark; Stähler, Simon; Bills, Bruce; Castillo Castellanos, Jorge; Huang, Hsin-Hua; Husker, Allen; Kedar, Sharon; Lorenz, Ralph; Pike, William T.; Schmerr, Nicholas; Tsai, Victor; Vance, Steven

2017-10-01

Seismology is one of our best tools for detailing interior structure of planetary bodies, and a seismometer is included in the baseline and threshold mission design for the upcoming Europa Lander mission. Guiding mission design and planning for adequate science return, though, requires modeling of both the anticipated signal and noise. Assuming ice seismicity on Europa behaves according to statistical properties observed in Earth catalogs and scaling cumulative seismic moment release to the moon, we can simulate long seismic records and estimate background noise and peak signal amplitudes (Panning et al., 2017). This suggests a sensitive instrument comparable to many broadband terrestrial instruments or the SP instrument from the InSight mission to Mars will be able to record signals, while high frequency geophones are likely inadequate. We extend this analysis to also begin incorporation of spatial and temporal variation due to the tidal cycle, which can help inform landing site selection. We also begin exploration of how chaotic terrane at the bottom of the ice shell and inter-ice heterogeneities (i.e. internal melt structures) may affect anticipated seismic observations using 2D numerical seismic simulations.M. P. Panning, S. C. Stähler, H.-H. Huang, S. D. Vance, S. Kedar, V. C. Tsai, W. T. Pike, R. D. Lorenz, “Expected seismicity and the seismic noise environment of Europa,” J. Geophys. Res., in revision, 2017.

Imaging Subsurface Structure of Central Zagros Zone/Iran Using Ambient Noise Tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Vahidravesh, Shaghayegh; Pakzad, Mehrdad, ,, Dr.; Hatami, Mohammad Reza, ,, Dr.

2017-04-01

The Central Zagros zone, of west Iran & east Iraq, is surrounded by many active faults (including Main Zagros Reversed Fault, Main Recent Fault, High Zagros Fault, Zagros Fold, & Thrust Belt). Recent studies show that cross-correlation of a long-term ambient seismic noise data recorded in station-pair, includes important information regarding empirical Green's functions (EGFs) between stations. Hence, ambient seismic noise carries valuable information of the wave propagation path (which can be extracted). The 2D model of surface waves (Rayleigh & Love) velocities for the studied area is obtained by seismic ambient noise tomography (ANT) method. Throughout this research, we use continuous records of all three vertical, radial, and tangential components (obtained by rotation) recorded by IRSC (Iranian Seismological Center) and IIEES (International Institute of Earthquake Engineering) networks for this area of interest. The IRSC & IIEES networks are equipped by SS-1 kinematics and Guralp CMG-3T sensors respectively. Data of 20 stations were used for 12 months from 2014/Nov. to 2015/Nov. The performed data processing is similar to the one, put into words in detail by Bensen et al. (2007) including the processed daily base data. Mean, trend, and instrument response were removed and the data were decimated to 5 sps (sample per second) to reduce the amount of storage space and computational time required. We then applied merge to handle data gaps. One-bit time-domain normalization was also applied to suppress the influence of instrument irregularities and earthquake signals followed by spectral (frequency-domain) normalization between 0.05-0.2 Hz (period 5-20 sec). After cross-correlation (processing step), we perform rms stacking (new approach of stacking) to stack many cross-correlation functions based on the highest energy in a time interval which we accordingly anticipate to receive Rayleigh & Love waves fundamental modes. To evaluate quality of the stacking process

Rayleigh wave group-velocity across the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico from ambient noise tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Quiros, D.; Pulliam, J.; Polanco Rivera, E.; Huerfano Moreno, V. A.

2017-12-01

The eastern North America-Caribbean (NA-CAR) plate boundary near the islands of Hispaniola (which is comprised of the Dominican Republic and Haiti) and Puerto Rico is a complex transition zone in which strain is accommodated by two transform fault systems and oblique subduction. In 2013, scientists from Baylor University, the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, and the Puerto Rico Seismic Network deployed 16 broadband stations on the Dominican Republic to expand the local permanent network. The goal of the Greater Antilles Seismic Program (GrASP) is to combine its data with that from permanent networks in Puerto Rico, Haiti, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Jamaica to develop a better understanding of the crust and upper mantle structure in the Northeastern Caribbean (Greater Antilles). One important goal of GrASP is to develop robust velocity models that can be used to improve earthquake location and seismic hazard efforts. In this study, we focus on obtaining Rayleigh wave group velocity maps from ambient noise tomography. By cross-correlating ambient seismic noise recorded at 53 stations between 2010 to present, we obtain Green's functions between 1165 pairs of stations. From these, we obtain dispersion curves by the application of FTAN methods with phase-matched filtering. Selection criteria depend on the signal-to-noise ratio and seasonal variability, with further filtering done by rejecting velocities incompatible with maps produced from overdamped tomographic inversions. Preliminary dispersion maps show strong correlations with large-scale geological and tectonic features for periods between 5 - 20 s, such as the Cordillera Central in both the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, the Mona Passage, and the NA-CAR subduction zone. Ongoing efforts focus on including shorter periods in Puerto Rico as its denser station distribution could allow us to retrieve higher resolution group velocity maps.

Ambient Seismic Source Inversion in a Heterogeneous Earth: Theory and Application to the Earth's Hum

Science.gov (United States)

Ermert, Laura; Sager, Korbinian; Afanasiev, Michael; Boehm, Christian; Fichtner, Andreas

2017-11-01

The sources of ambient seismic noise are extensively studied both to better understand their influence on ambient noise tomography and related techniques, and to infer constraints on their excitation mechanisms. Here we develop a gradient-based inversion method to infer the space-dependent and time-varying source power spectral density of the Earth's hum from cross correlations of continuous seismic data. The precomputation of wavefields using spectral elements allows us to account for both finite-frequency sensitivity and for three-dimensional Earth structure. Although similar methods have been proposed previously, they have not yet been applied to data to the best of our knowledge. We apply this method to image the seasonally varying sources of Earth's hum during North and South Hemisphere winter. The resulting models suggest that hum sources are localized, persistent features that occur at Pacific coasts or shelves and in the North Atlantic during North Hemisphere winter, as well as South Pacific coasts and several distinct locations in the Southern Ocean in South Hemisphere winter. The contribution of pelagic sources from the central North Pacific cannot be constrained. Besides improving the accuracy of noise source locations through the incorporation of finite-frequency effects and 3-D Earth structure, this method may be used in future cross-correlation waveform inversion studies to provide initial source models and source model updates.

Anatomy of the high-frequency ambient seismic wave field at the TCDP borehole

Science.gov (United States)

Hillers, G.; Campillo, M.; Lin, Y.-Y.; Ma, K.-F.; Roux, P.

2012-06-01

The Taiwan Chelungpu-fault Drilling Project (TCDP) installed a vertical seismic array between 950 and 1270 m depth in an active thrust fault environment. In this paper we analyze continuous noise records of the TCDP array between 1 and 16 Hz. We apply multiple array processing and noise correlation techniques to study the noise source process, properties of the propagation medium, and the ambient seismic wave field. Diurnal amplitude and slowness patterns suggest that noise is generated by cultural activity. The vicinity of the recording site to the excitation region, indicated by a narrow azimuthal distribution of propagation directions, leads to a predominant ballistic propagation regime. This is evident from the compatibility of the data with an incident plane wave model, polarized direct arrivals of noise correlation functions, and the asymmetric arrival shape. Evidence for contributions from scattering comes from equilibrated earthquake coda energy ratios, the frequency dependent randomization of propagation directions, and the existence of correlation coda waves. We conclude that the ballistic and scattered propagation regime coexist, where the first regime dominates the records, but the second is weaker yet not negligible. Consequently, the wave field is not equipartitioned. Correlation signal-to-noise ratios indicate a frequency dependent noise intensity. Iterations of the correlation procedure enhance the signature of the scattered regime. Discrepancies between phase velocities estimated from correlation functions and in-situ measurements are associated with the array geometry and its relative orientation to the predominant energy flux. The stability of correlation functions suggests their applicability in future monitoring efforts.

The preliminary results: Seismic ambient noise Rayleigh wave tomography around Merapi volcano, central Java, Indonesia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trichandi, Rahmantara; Yudistira, Tedi; Nugraha, Andri Dian; Zulhan, Zulfakriza; Saygin, Erdinc

2015-01-01

Ambient noise tomography is relatively a new method for imaging the shallow structure of the Earth subsurface. We presents the application of this method to produce a Rayleigh wave group velocity maps around the Merapi Volcano, Central Java. Rayleigh waves group velocity maps were reconstructed from the cross-correlation of ambient noise recorded by the DOMERAPI array which consists 43 broadband seismometers. In the processing stage, we first filtered the observation data to separatethe noise from the signal that dominated by the strong volcanic activities. Next, we cross-correlate the filtered data and stack to obtain the Green’s function for all possible station pairs. Then we carefully picked the peak of each Green’s function to estimate the dispersion trend and appliedMultiple Filter Technique to obtain the dispersion curve. Inter-station group velocity curvesare inverted to produceRayleigh wave group velocity maps for periods 1 to 10 s. The resulted Rayleigh group velocity maps show the interesting features around the Merapi Volcano which generally agree with the previous studies. Merapi-Lawu Anomaly (MLA) is emerged as a relatively low anomaly in our group velocity maps

The preliminary results: Seismic ambient noise Rayleigh wave tomography around Merapi volcano, central Java, Indonesia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Trichandi, Rahmantara, E-mail: rachmantara.tri@gmail.com [Geophysical Engineering, Faculty of Mining and Petroleum Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung, 40132, Bandung (Indonesia); Yudistira, Tedi; Nugraha, Andri Dian [Global Geophysics Research Group, Faculty of Mining and Petroleum Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, 40132 (Indonesia); Zulhan, Zulfakriza [Earth Science Graduate Program, Faculty of Earth Science and Technology, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, 40132 (Indonesia); Saygin, Erdinc [Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200 (Australia)

2015-04-24

Ambient noise tomography is relatively a new method for imaging the shallow structure of the Earth subsurface. We presents the application of this method to produce a Rayleigh wave group velocity maps around the Merapi Volcano, Central Java. Rayleigh waves group velocity maps were reconstructed from the cross-correlation of ambient noise recorded by the DOMERAPI array which consists 43 broadband seismometers. In the processing stage, we first filtered the observation data to separatethe noise from the signal that dominated by the strong volcanic activities. Next, we cross-correlate the filtered data and stack to obtain the Green’s function for all possible station pairs. Then we carefully picked the peak of each Green’s function to estimate the dispersion trend and appliedMultiple Filter Technique to obtain the dispersion curve. Inter-station group velocity curvesare inverted to produceRayleigh wave group velocity maps for periods 1 to 10 s. The resulted Rayleigh group velocity maps show the interesting features around the Merapi Volcano which generally agree with the previous studies. Merapi-Lawu Anomaly (MLA) is emerged as a relatively low anomaly in our group velocity maps.

Passive monitoring of a sea dike during a tidal cycle using sea waves as a seismic noise source

Science.gov (United States)

Joubert, Anaëlle; Feuvre, Mathieu Le; Cote, Philippe

2018-05-01

Over the past decade, ambient seismic noise has been used successfully to monitor various geological objects with high accuracy. Recently, it has been shown that surface seismic waves propagating within a sea dike body can be retrieved from the cross-correlation of ambient seismic noise generated by sea waves. We use sea wave impacts to monitor the response of a sea dike during a tidal cycle using empirical Green's functions. These are obtained either by cross-correlation or deconvolution, from signals recorded by sensors installed linearly on the crest of a dike. Our analysis is based on delay and spectral amplitude measurements performed on reconstructed surface waves propagating along the array. We show that localized variations of velocity and attenuation are correlated with changes in water level as a probable consequence of water infiltration inside the structure. Sea dike monitoring is of critical importance for safety and economic reasons, as internal erosion is generally only detected at late stages by visual observations. The method proposed here may provide a solution for detecting structural weaknesses, monitoring progressive internal erosion, and delineating areas of interest for further geotechnical studies, in view to understanding the erosion mechanisms involved.

Seismic Noise Analysis and Reduction through Utilization of Collocated Seismic and Atmospheric Sensors at the GRO Chile Seismic Network

Science.gov (United States)

Farrell, M. E.; Russo, R. M.

2013-12-01

The installation of Earthscope Transportable Array-style geophysical observatories in Chile expands open data seismic recording capabilities in the southern hemisphere by nearly 30%, and has nearly tripled the number of seismic stations providing freely-available data in southern South America. Through the use of collocated seismic and atmospheric sensors at these stations we are able to analyze how local atmospheric conditions generate seismic noise, which can degrade data in seismic frequency bands at stations in the ';roaring forties' (S latitudes). Seismic vaults that are climate-controlled and insulated from the local environment are now employed throughout the world in an attempt to isolate seismometers from as many noise sources as possible. However, this is an expensive solution that is neither practical nor possible for all seismic deployments; and also, the increasing number and scope of temporary seismic deployments has resulted in the collection and archiving of terabytes of seismic data that is affected to some degree by natural seismic noise sources such as wind and atmospheric pressure changes. Changing air pressure can result in a depression and subsequent rebound of Earth's surface - which generates low frequency noise in seismic frequency bands - and even moderate winds can apply enough force to ground-coupled structures or to the surface above the seismometers themselves, resulting in significant noise. The 10 stations of the permanent Geophysical Reporting Observatories (GRO Chile), jointly installed during 2011-12 by IRIS and the Chilean Servicio Sismológico, include instrumentation in addition to the standard three seismic components. These stations, spaced approximately 300 km apart along the length of the country, continuously record a variety of atmospheric data including infrasound, air pressure, wind speed, and wind direction. The collocated seismic and atmospheric sensors at each station allow us to analyze both datasets together, to

Dynamic characteristics of background seismic noise according to records of nuclear monitoring seismic stations in Kazakstan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Belyashova, N.N.; Sinyova, Z.I.; Komarov, I.I.; Mikhailova, N.N.

1998-01-01

The seismic stations of Kazakstan, included into nuclear monitoring network (see fig.1) are equipped with broad hand seismometers; seismic data are recorded in digital format. All this allows to investigate spectral and time characteristics of seismic background noise in very large frequency diapason (more than 3-5 orders), for all three components of oscillation vector. The spectral density of background seismic noise for vertical and both horizontal components (fig.2) was calculated for all of the observation points. The regular features of structure of noise spectra, inherent for all of the studied observation points, as well as some features, specific for studied places were found. The curves of spectral noise density were compared with global noise model, determined by the data of Global Seismological Network (GSN)

The Utility of the Extended Images in Ambient Seismic Wavefield Migration

Science.gov (United States)

Girard, A. J.; Shragge, J. C.

2015-12-01

Active-source 3D seismic migration and migration velocity analysis (MVA) are robust and highly used methods for imaging Earth structure. One class of migration methods uses extended images constructed by incorporating spatial and/or temporal wavefield correlation lags to the imaging conditions. These extended images allow users to directly assess whether images focus better with different parameters, which leads to MVA techniques that are based on the tenets of adjoint-state theory. Under certain conditions (e.g., geographical, cultural or financial), however, active-source methods can prove impractical. Utilizing ambient seismic energy that naturally propagates through the Earth is an alternate method currently used in the scientific community. Thus, an open question is whether extended images are similarly useful for ambient seismic migration processing and verifying subsurface velocity models, and whether one can similarly apply adjoint-state methods to perform ambient migration velocity analysis (AMVA). Herein, we conduct a number of numerical experiments that construct extended images from ambient seismic recordings. We demonstrate that, similar to active-source methods, there is a sensitivity to velocity in ambient seismic recordings in the migrated extended image domain. In synthetic ambient imaging tests with varying degrees of error introduced to the velocity model, the extended images are sensitive to velocity model errors. To determine the extent of this sensitivity, we utilize acoustic wave-equation propagation and cross-correlation-based migration methods to image weak body-wave signals present in the recordings. Importantly, we have also observed scenarios where non-zero correlation lags show signal while zero-lags show none. This may be a valuable missing piece for ambient migration techniques that have yielded largely inconclusive results, and might be an important piece of information for performing AMVA from ambient seismic recordings.

Full-Wave Ambient Noise Tomography of the Long Valley Volcanic Region (California)

Science.gov (United States)

Flinders, A. F.; Shelly, D. R.; Dawson, P. B.; Hill, D. P.; Shen, Y.

2017-12-01

In the late 1970s, and throughout the 1990s, Long Valley Caldera (California) experienced intense periods of unrest characterized by uplift of the resurgent dome, earthquake swarms, and CO2 emissions around Mammoth Mountain. While modeling of the uplift and gravity changes support the possibility of new magmatic intrusions beneath the caldera, geologic interpretations conclude that the magmatic system underlying the caldera is moribund. Geophysical studies yield diverse versions of a sizable but poorly resolved low-velocity zone at depth (> 6km), yet whether this zone is indicative of a significant volume of crystal mush, smaller isolated pockets of partial melt, or magmatic fluids, is inconclusive. The nature of this low-velocity zone, and the state of volcano's magmatic system, carry important implications for the significance of resurgent-dome inflation and the nature of associated hazards. To better characterize this low-velocity zone we present preliminary results from a 3D full-waveform ambient-noise seismic tomography model derived from the past 25 years of vertical component broadband and short-period seismic data. This new study uses fully numerical solutions of the wave equation to account for the complex wave propagation in a heterogeneous, 3D earth model, including wave interaction with topography. The method ensures that wave propagation is modeled accurately in 3D, enabling the full use of seismic records. By using empirical Green's functions, derived from ambient noise and modeled as Rayleigh surface waves, we are able to extend model resolution to depths beyond the limits of previous local earthquake studies. The model encompasses not only the Long Valley Caldera, but the entire Long Valley Volcanic Region, including Mammoth Mountain and the Mono Crater/Inyo Domes volcanic chain.

Seismic Structure of Perth Basin (Australia) and surroundings from Passive Seismic Deployments

Science.gov (United States)

Issa, N.; Saygin, E.; Lumley, D. E.; Hoskin, T. E.

2016-12-01

We image the subsurface structure of Perth Basin, Western Australia and surroundings by using ambient seismic noise data from 14 seismic stations recently deployed by University of Western Australia (UWA) and other available permanent stations from Geoscience Australia seismic network and the Australian Seismometers in Schools program. Each of these 14 UWA seismic stations comprises a broadband sensor and a high fidelity 3-component 10 Hz geophone, recording in tandem at 250 Hz and 1000 Hz. The other stations used in this study are equipped with short period and broadband sensors. In addition, one shallow borehole station is operated with eight 3 component geophones at depths of between 2 and 44 m. The network is deployed to characterize natural seismicity in the basin and to try and identify any microseismic activity across Darling Fault Zone (DFZ), bounding the basin to the east. The DFZ stretches to approximately 1000 km north-south in Western Australia, and is one of the longest fault zones on the earth with a limited number of detected earthquakes. We use seismic noise cross- and auto-correlation methods to map seismic velocity perturbations across the basin and the transition from DFZ to the basin. Retrieved Green's functions are stable and show clear dispersed waveforms. Travel times of the surface wave Green's functions from noise cross-correlations are inverted with a two-step probabilistic framework to map the absolute shear wave velocities as a function of depth. The single station auto-correlations from the seismic noise yields P wave reflectivity under each station, marking the major discontinuities. Resulting images show the shear velocity perturbations across the region. We also quantify the variation of ambient seismic noise at different depths in the near surface using the geophones in the shallow borehole array.

High-resolution surface wave tomography of the European crust and uppermost mantle from ambient seismic noise

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Yang; Stehly, Laurent; Paul, Anne; AlpArray Working Group

2018-05-01

Taking advantage of the large number of seismic stations installed in Europe, in particular in the greater Alpine region with the AlpArray experiment, we derive a new high-resolution 3-D shear-wave velocity model of the European crust and uppermost mantle from ambient noise tomography. The correlation of up to four years of continuous vertical-component seismic recordings from 1293 broadband stations (10° W-35° E, 30° N-75° N) provides Rayleigh wave group velocity dispersion data in the period band 5-150 s at more than 0.8 million virtual source-receiver pairs. Two-dimensional Rayleigh wave group velocity maps are estimated using adaptive parameterization to accommodate the strong heterogeneity of path coverage. A probabilistic 3-D shear-wave velocity model, including probability densities for the depth of layer boundaries and S-wave velocity values, is obtained by non-linear Bayesian inversion. A weighted average of the probabilistic model is then used as starting model for the linear inversion step, providing the final Vs model. The resulting S-wave velocity model and Moho depth are validated by comparison with previous geophysical studies. Although surface-wave tomography is weakly sensitive to layer boundaries, vertical cross-sections through our Vs model and the associated probability of presence of interfaces display striking similarities with reference controlled-source (CSS) and receiver-function sections across the Alpine belt. Our model even provides new structural information such as a ˜8 km Moho jump along the CSS ECORS-CROP profile that was not imaged by reflection data due to poor penetration across a heterogeneous upper crust. Our probabilistic and final shear wave velocity models have the potential to become new reference models of the European crust, both for crustal structure probing and geophysical studies including waveform modeling or full waveform inversion.

3D Crust and Uppermost Mantle Structure beneath Tian Shan Region from ambient noise and earthquake surface waves

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, X.; Wen, L.

2017-12-01

As a typical active intracontinental mountain range in Central Asia, Tian Shan Mt serves as the prototype in studying geodynamic processes and mechanism of intracontinental mountain building. We study 3D crust and the uppermost mantle structure beneath Tian Shan region using ambient noise and earthquake surface waves. Our dataset includes vertical component records of 62 permanent broadband seismic stations operated by the Earthquake Administration of China. Firstly, we calculate two-year stacked Cross-Correlation Functions (CCFs) of ambient noise records between the stations. The CCFs are treated as the Empirical Green's Functions (EGFs) of each station pair, from which we measured phase velocities of fundamental-mode Rayleigh wave in the period of 3-40 s using a frequency-time analysis method. Secondly, we collect surface wave data from tele-seismic events with Mw > 5.5 and depth shallower than 200 km and measure phase velocities of the fundamental-mode of Rayleigh wave in the period of 30-150 s using a two-station method. Finally, we combine the phase velocity measurements from ambient noise and earthquake surface waves, obtain lateral isotropic phase velocity maps at different periods based on tomography and invert a 3D Vsv model of crust and uppermost mantle down to about 150 km using a Monte Carlo Inversion method. We will discuss our inversion results in detail, as well as their implications to the tectonics in the region.

Seismic noise level variation in South Korea

Science.gov (United States)

Sheen, D.; Shin, J.

2008-12-01

The variations of seismic background noise in South Korea have been investigated by means of power spectral analysis. The Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) and the Korea Meteorological Administation (KMA) have national wide seismic networks in South Korea, and, in the end of 2007, there are 30 broadband stations which have been operating for more than a year. In this study, we have estimated the power spectral density of seismic noise for 30 broadband stations from 2005 to 2007. Since we estimate PSDs from a large dataset of continuous waveform in this study, a robust PSD estimate of McNamara and Buland (2004) is used. In the frequency range 1-5 Hz, the diurnal variations of noise are observed at most of stations, which are especially larger at coastal stations and at insular than at inland. Some stations shows daily difference of diurnal variations, which represents that cultural activities contribute to the noise level of a station. The variation of number of triggered stations, however, shows that cultural noise has little influence on the detection capability of seismic network in South Korea. Seasonal variations are observed well in the range 0.1-0.5 Hz, while much less found in the frequency range 1-5 Hz. We observed that strong peaks in the range 0.1-0.5 Hz occur at the summer when Pacific typhoons are close to the Korean Peninsula.

Towards full waveform ambient noise inversion

Science.gov (United States)

Sager, Korbinian; Ermert, Laura; Boehm, Christian; Fichtner, Andreas

2018-01-01

In this work we investigate fundamentals of a method—referred to as full waveform ambient noise inversion—that improves the resolution of tomographic images by extracting waveform information from interstation correlation functions that cannot be used without knowing the distribution of noise sources. The fundamental idea is to drop the principle of Green function retrieval and to establish correlation functions as self-consistent observables in seismology. This involves the following steps: (1) We introduce an operator-based formulation of the forward problem of computing correlation functions. It is valid for arbitrary distributions of noise sources in both space and frequency, and for any type of medium, including 3-D elastic, heterogeneous and attenuating media. In addition, the formulation allows us to keep the derivations independent of time and frequency domain and it facilitates the application of adjoint techniques, which we use to derive efficient expressions to compute first and also second derivatives. The latter are essential for a resolution analysis that accounts for intra- and interparameter trade-offs. (2) In a forward modelling study we investigate the effect of noise sources and structure on different observables. Traveltimes are hardly affected by heterogeneous noise source distributions. On the other hand, the amplitude asymmetry of correlations is at least to first order insensitive to unmodelled Earth structure. Energy and waveform differences are sensitive to both structure and the distribution of noise sources. (3) We design and implement an appropriate inversion scheme, where the extraction of waveform information is successively increased. We demonstrate that full waveform ambient noise inversion has the potential to go beyond ambient noise tomography based on Green function retrieval and to refine noise source location, which is essential for a better understanding of noise generation. Inherent trade-offs between source and structure

Acoustic ambient noise recorder

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Saran, A.K.; Navelkar, G.S.; Almeida, A.M.; More, S.R.; Chodankar, P.V.; Murty, C.S.

with a robust outfit that can withstand high pressures and chemically corrosion resistant materials. Keeping these considerations in view, a CMOS micro-controller-based marine acoustic ambient noise recorder has been developed with a real time clock...

Observations and modeling of seismic background noise

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Jon R.

1993-01-01

The preparation of this report had two purposes. One was to present a catalog of seismic background noise spectra obtained from a worldwide network of seismograph stations. The other purpose was to refine and document models of seismic background noise that have been in use for several years. The second objective was, in fact, the principal reason that this study was initiated and influenced the procedures used in collecting and processing the data.With a single exception, all of the data used in this study were extracted from the digital data archive at the U.S. Geological Survey's Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory (ASL). This archive dates from 1972 when ASL first began deploying digital seismograph systems and collecting and distributing digital data under the sponsorship of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). There have been many changes and additions to the global seismograph networks during the past twenty years, but perhaps none as significant as the current deployment of very broadband seismographs by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the University of California San Diego (UCSD) under the scientific direction of the IRIS consortium. The new data acquisition systems have extended the bandwidth and resolution of seismic recording, and they utilize high-density recording media that permit the continuous recording of broadband data. The data improvements and continuous recording greatly benefit and simplify surveys of seismic background noise.Although there are many other sources of digital data, the ASL archive data were used almost exclusively because of accessibility and because the data systems and their calibration are well documented for the most part. Fortunately, the ASL archive contains high-quality data from other stations in addition to those deployed by the USGS. Included are data from UCSD IRIS/IDA stations, the Regional Seismic Test Network (RSTN) deployed by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and the TERRAscope network

Ambient noise levels and characterization in Aegean region, Turkey

Science.gov (United States)

Sevim, Fatih; Zor, Ekrem; Açıkgöz, Cem; Tarancıoğlu, Adil

2018-03-01

We assessed the ambient noise level in the Aegean region and analyzed its diurnal variation and its relation to the earthquake detection capability of the Aegean Region Seismic Network (ARSN). We prepared probability density functions (PDFs) for 19 broadband stations in the Aegean region operated by the Earth and Marine Sciences Institute (EMSI) of the Marmara Research Center (MRC) of the Turkish Scientific Research Council (TÜBİTAK). The power spectral densities (PSDs) used to construct PDFs for each station were computed for the periods between 0.02 and 180 s. In addition, we generated noise map of the Aegean region for different periods using the PDFs to assess the origin of the noise. We analyzed earthquake activity in the region and found that there are more local events recorded at night than during the day for each station. This difference is strongly related to diurnal variation of background noise level for the period range mostly covering the frequency range for the local events. We observed daytime noise level 15 to 20 dB higher than that at the nighttime in high frequencies for almost all stations caused by its proximity to settled areas and roads. Additionally, we observed a splitting peak within the Double Frequency (DF) microseism band; it showed a clear noise increase around the short period DF band at all the stations, decreasing inland. This peak may be related to sea waves locally generated in the Aegean Sea. We also identified a prominent increase related to marble saw companies in some stations' noise PDFs.

Spots of Seismic Danger Extracted by Properties of Low-Frequency Seismic Noise

Science.gov (United States)

Lyubushin, Alexey

2013-04-01

A new method of seismic danger estimate is presented which is based on using properties of low-frequency seismic noise from broadband networks. Two statistics of noise waveforms are considered: multi-fractal singularity spectrum support width D and minimum normalized entropy En of squared orthogonal wavelet coefficients. The maps of D and En are plotted in the moving time window. Let us call the regions extracted by low values of D and high values of En as "spots of seismic danger" - SSD. Mean values of D and En are strongly anti-correlated - that is why statistics D and En extract the same SSD. Nevertheless their mutual considering is expedient because these parameters are based on different approaches. The physical mechanism which underlies the method is consolidation of small blocks of the Earth's crust into the large one before the strong earthquake. This effect has a consequence that seismic noise does not include spikes which are connected with mutual movements of small blocks. The absence of irregular spikes in the noise follows the decreasing of D and increasing of entropy En. The stability in space and size of the SSD provides estimates of the place and energy of the probable future earthquake. The increasing or decreasing of SSD size and minimum or maximum values of D and En within SSD allows estimate the trend of seismic danger. The method is illustrating by the analysis of seismic noise from broadband seismic network F-net in Japan [1-5]. Statistically significant decreasing of D allowed a hypothesis about approaching Japan to a future seismic catastrophe to be formulated at the middle of 2008. The peculiarities of correlation coefficient estimate within 1 year time window between median values of D and generalized Hurst exponent allowed to make a decision that starting from July of 2010 Japan come to the state of waiting strong earthquake [3]. The method extracted a huge SSD near Japan which includes the region of future Tohoku mega-earthquake and the

Ambient Noise in an Urbanized Tidal Channel

Science.gov (United States)

Bassett, Christopher

In coastal environments, when topographic and bathymetric constrictions are combined with large tidal amplitudes, strong currents (> 2 m/s) can occur. Because such environments are relatively rare and difficult to study, until recently, they have received little attention from the scientific community. However, in recent years, interest in developing tidal hydrokinetic power projects in these environments has motivated studies to improve this understanding. In order to support an analysis of the acoustic effects of tidal power generation, a multi-year study was conducted at a proposed project site in Puget Sound (WA) are analyzed at a site where peak currents exceeded 3.5 m/s. From these analyses, three noise sources are shown to dominate the observed variability in ambient noise between 0.02-30 kHz: anthropogenic noise from vessel traffic, sediment-generated noise during periods of strong currents, and flow-noise resulting from turbulence advected over the hydrophones. To assess the contribution of vessel traffic noise, one calendar year of Automatic Identification System (AIS) ship-traffic data was paired with hydrophone recordings. The study region included inland waters of the Salish Sea within a 20 km radius of the hydrophone deployment site in northern Admiralty Inlet. The variability in spectra and hourly, daily, and monthly ambient noise statistics for unweighted broadband and M-weighted sound pressure levels is driven largely by vessel traffic. Within the one-year study period, at least one AIS transmitting vessel is present in the study area 90% of the time and over 1,363 unique vessels are recorded. A noise budget for vessels equipped with AIS transponders identifies cargo ships, tugs, and passenger vessels as the largest contributors to noise levels. A simple model to predict received levels at the site based on an incoherent summation of noise from different vessel types yields a cumulative probability density function of broadband sound pressure

Spectral characteristics of seismic noise using data of Kazakhstan monitoring stations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mikhajlova, N.N.; Komarov, I.I.

2006-01-01

Spectral specifications of seismic noise research for PS23-Makanchi, Karatau, Akbulak, AS057-Borovoye and new three-component station AS059-Aktyubinsk was done. Spectral noise density models were obtained for day and night time and spectral density values variation. Noise close to low-level universal noise model is peculiar for all stations, which provides their high efficiency while seismic monitoring. Noise parameters dependence on seismic receivers installation conditions was investigated separately. Based on three stations (Makanchi, Borovoye, and Aktyubinsk), spectral density change features are shown after borehole equipment installation. (author)

Background noise spectra of global seismic stations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wada, M.M.; Claassen, J.P.

1996-08-01

Over an extended period of time station noise spectra were collected from various sources for use in estimating the detection and location performance of global networks of seismic stations. As the database of noise spectra enlarged and duplicate entries became available, an effort was mounted to more carefully select station noise spectra while discarding others. This report discusses the methodology and criteria by which the noise spectra were selected. It also identifies and illustrates the station noise spectra which survived the selection process and which currently contribute to the modeling efforts. The resulting catalog of noise statistics not only benefits those who model network performance but also those who wish to select stations on the basis of their noise level as may occur in designing networks or in selecting seismological data for analysis on the basis of station noise level. In view of the various ways by which station noise were estimated by the different contributors, it is advisable that future efforts which predict network performance have available station noise data and spectral estimation methods which are compatible with the statistics underlying seismic noise. This appropriately requires (1) averaging noise over seasonal and/or diurnal cycles, (2) averaging noise over time intervals comparable to those employed by actual detectors, and (3) using logarithmic measures of the noise.

Retrieving robust noise-based seismic velocity changes from sparse data sets: synthetic tests and application to Klyuchevskoy volcanic group (Kamchatka)

Science.gov (United States)

Gómez-García, C.; Brenguier, F.; Boué, P.; Shapiro, N. M.; Droznin, D. V.; Droznina, S. Ya; Senyukov, S. L.; Gordeev, E. I.

2018-05-01

Continuous noise-based monitoring of seismic velocity changes provides insights into volcanic unrest, earthquake mechanisms and fluid injection in the sub-surface. The standard monitoring approach relies on measuring travel time changes of late coda arrivals between daily and reference noise cross-correlations, usually chosen as stacks of daily cross-correlations. The main assumption of this method is that the shape of the noise correlations does not change over time or, in other terms, that the ambient-noise sources are stationary through time. These conditions are not fulfilled when a strong episodic source of noise, such as a volcanic tremor for example, perturbs the reconstructed Green's function. In this paper we propose a general formulation for retrieving continuous time series of noise-based seismic velocity changes without the requirement of any arbitrary reference cross-correlation function. Instead, we measure the changes between all possible pairs of daily cross-correlations and invert them using different smoothing parameters to obtain the final velocity change curve. We perform synthetic tests in order to establish a general framework for future applications of this technique. In particular, we study the reliability of velocity change measurements versus the stability of noise cross-correlation functions. We apply this approach to a complex dataset of noise cross-correlations at Klyuchevskoy volcanic group (Kamchatka), hampered by loss of data and the presence of highly non-stationary seismic tremors.

Fast principal component analysis for stacking seismic data

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Juan; Bai, Min

2018-04-01

Stacking seismic data plays an indispensable role in many steps of the seismic data processing and imaging workflow. Optimal stacking of seismic data can help mitigate seismic noise and enhance the principal components to a great extent. Traditional average-based seismic stacking methods cannot obtain optimal performance when the ambient noise is extremely strong. We propose a principal component analysis (PCA) algorithm for stacking seismic data without being sensitive to noise level. Considering the computational bottleneck of the classic PCA algorithm in processing massive seismic data, we propose an efficient PCA algorithm to make the proposed method readily applicable for industrial applications. Two numerically designed examples and one real seismic data are used to demonstrate the performance of the presented method.

Seismic Linear Noise Attenuation with Use of Radial Transform

Science.gov (United States)

Szymańska-Małysa, Żaneta

2018-03-01

One of the goals of seismic data processing is to attenuate the recorded noise in order to enable correct interpretation of the image. Radial transform has been used as a very effective tool in the attenuation of various types of linear noise, both numerical and real (such as ground roll, direct waves, head waves, guided waves etc). The result of transformation from offset - time (X - T) domain into apparent velocity - time (R - T) domain is frequency separation between reflections and linear events. In this article synthetic and real seismic shot gathers were examined. One example was targeted at far offset area of dataset where reflections and noise had similar apparent velocities and frequency bands. Another example was a result of elastic modelling where linear artefacts were produced. Bandpass filtering and scaling operation executed in radial domain attenuated all discussed types of linear noise very effectively. After noise reduction all further processing steps reveal better results, especially velocity analysis, migration and stacking. In all presented cases signal-to-noise ratio was significantly increased and reflections covered previously by noise were revealed. Power spectra of filtered seismic records preserved real dynamics of reflections.

Thirty years of progress in applications and modeling of ocean ambient noise

Science.gov (United States)

Siderius, Martin; Buckingham, Michael J.

2012-11-01

Ambient noise in the ocean is a stochastic process, which traditionally was considered to be a nuisance, since it reduced the detectability of sonar signals of interest. However, over the last thirty years, it has come to be recognized that the ambient noise itself contains useful information about the ocean and ocean processes. To extract the information, various inversion procedures have been developed, based upon which a number of practical applications of the ambient noise have evolved. Since naturally generated ambient noise is always present in the ocean, it has the advantage of being non-invasive and non-damaging to marine life, including marine mammals. In this article, a summary of the commonly encountered ambient noise models is offered, along with the associated inversion procedures, and some of the more recent applications of the ambient noise are highlighted.

High temporal resolution mapping of seismic noise sources using heterogeneous supercomputers

Science.gov (United States)

Gokhberg, Alexey; Ermert, Laura; Paitz, Patrick; Fichtner, Andreas

2017-04-01

Time- and space-dependent distribution of seismic noise sources is becoming a key ingredient of modern real-time monitoring of various geo-systems. Significant interest in seismic noise source maps with high temporal resolution (days) is expected to come from a number of domains, including natural resources exploration, analysis of active earthquake fault zones and volcanoes, as well as geothermal and hydrocarbon reservoir monitoring. Currently, knowledge of noise sources is insufficient for high-resolution subsurface monitoring applications. Near-real-time seismic data, as well as advanced imaging methods to constrain seismic noise sources have recently become available. These methods are based on the massive cross-correlation of seismic noise records from all available seismic stations in the region of interest and are therefore very computationally intensive. Heterogeneous massively parallel supercomputing systems introduced in the recent years combine conventional multi-core CPU with GPU accelerators and provide an opportunity for manifold increase and computing performance. Therefore, these systems represent an efficient platform for implementation of a noise source mapping solution. We present the first results of an ongoing research project conducted in collaboration with the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS). The project aims at building a service that provides seismic noise source maps for Central Europe with high temporal resolution (days to few weeks depending on frequency and data availability). The service is hosted on the CSCS computing infrastructure; all computationally intensive processing is performed on the massively parallel heterogeneous supercomputer "Piz Daint". The solution architecture is based on the Application-as-a-Service concept in order to provide the interested external researchers the regular access to the noise source maps. The solution architecture includes the following sub-systems: (1) data acquisition responsible for

Surface-wave tomography of Ireland and surroundings using ambient noise and teleseismic data

Science.gov (United States)

Bonadio, Raffaele; Arroucau, Pierre; Lebedev, Sergei; Meier, Thomas; Schaeffer, Andrew; Licciardi, Andrea; Piana Agostinetti, Nicola

2016-04-01

Ireland's geology is dominated by northeast-southwest structural trends and suture zones, mostly inferred from geological mapping and a few active source seismic experiments. However, their geometry and extent at depth and their continuity across the Irish Sea are still poorly known. Important questions also remain unanswered regarding the thickness and bulk properties of the sedimentary cover at the regional scale, the deformation and flow of the deep crust during the formation of Ireland, the thickness of Ireland's lithosphere today, and the thermal structure and dynamics of the asthenosphere beneath Ireland. In this work, we take advantage of abundant, newly available broadband data from temporary array deployments and permanent seismic networks in Ireland and Great Britain to produce high-resolution models of seismic velocity structure and anisotropy of the lithosphere. We combine Rayleigh and Love phase velocity measurements from waveform cross-correlation using both ambient noise and teleseismic data in order to produce high-quality dispersion curves for periods ranging from 1 to 300 s. The phase velocity measurement procedures are adapted from Meier et al.[2], Lebedev et al.[1] and Soomro et al.[3] and are automated in order to deal with the large amount of data and ensure consistency and reproducibility. For the nearly 200 stations used in this study, we obtain a very large number of dispersion curves from both ambient noise and teleseimic data. Dispersion measurements are then inverted in a tomographic procedure for surface-wave phase velocity maps in a very broad period range. The maps constrain the 3D seismic-velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle underlying Ireland and the Irish Sea. {9} Lebedev, S., T. Meier, R. D. van der Hilst. Asthenospheric flow and origin of volcanism in the Baikal Rift area, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 249, 415-424, 2006. Meier, T., K. Dietrich, B. Stockhert, H.P. Harjes, One-dimensional models of shear wave velocity for

Imaging of upper crustal structure beneath East Java-Bali, Indonesia with ambient noise tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Martha, Agustya Adi; Cummins, Phil; Saygin, Erdinc; Sri Widiyantoro; Masturyono

2017-12-01

The complex geological structures in East Java and Bali provide important opportunities for natural resource exploitation, but also harbor perils associated with natural disasters. Such a condition makes the East Java region an important area for exploration of the subsurface seismic wave velocity structure, especially in its upper crust. We employed the ambient noise tomography method to image the upper crustal structure under this study area. We used seismic data recorded at 24 seismographs of BMKG spread over East Java and Bali. In addition, we installed 28 portable seismographs in East Java from April 2013 to January 2014 for 2-8 weeks, and we installed an additional 28 seismographs simultaneously throughout East Java from August 2015 to April 2016. We constructed inter-station Rayleigh wave Green's functions through cross-correlations of the vertical component of seismic noise recordings at 1500 pairs of stations. We used the Neighborhood Algorithm to construct depth profiles of shear wave velocity (Vs). The main result obtained from this study is the thickness of sediment cover. East Java's southern mountain zone is dominated by higher Vs, the Kendeng basin in the center is dominated by very low Vs, and the Rembang zone (to the North of Kendeng zone) is associated with medium Vs. The existence of structures with oil and gas potential in the Kendeng and Rembang zones can be identified by low Vs.

High Temporal Resolution Mapping of Seismic Noise Sources Using Heterogeneous Supercomputers

Science.gov (United States)

Paitz, P.; Gokhberg, A.; Ermert, L. A.; Fichtner, A.

2017-12-01

The time- and space-dependent distribution of seismic noise sources is becoming a key ingredient of modern real-time monitoring of various geo-systems like earthquake fault zones, volcanoes, geothermal and hydrocarbon reservoirs. We present results of an ongoing research project conducted in collaboration with the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS). The project aims at building a service providing seismic noise source maps for Central Europe with high temporal resolution. We use source imaging methods based on the cross-correlation of seismic noise records from all seismic stations available in the region of interest. The service is hosted on the CSCS computing infrastructure; all computationally intensive processing is performed on the massively parallel heterogeneous supercomputer "Piz Daint". The solution architecture is based on the Application-as-a-Service concept to provide the interested researchers worldwide with regular access to the noise source maps. The solution architecture includes the following sub-systems: (1) data acquisition responsible for collecting, on a periodic basis, raw seismic records from the European seismic networks, (2) high-performance noise source mapping application responsible for the generation of source maps using cross-correlation of seismic records, (3) back-end infrastructure for the coordination of various tasks and computations, (4) front-end Web interface providing the service to the end-users and (5) data repository. The noise source mapping itself rests on the measurement of logarithmic amplitude ratios in suitably pre-processed noise correlations, and the use of simplified sensitivity kernels. During the implementation we addressed various challenges, in particular, selection of data sources and transfer protocols, automation and monitoring of daily data downloads, ensuring the required data processing performance, design of a general service-oriented architecture for coordination of various sub-systems, and

Circadian Rhythm of Ambient Noise Off the Southeast Coast of India

Science.gov (United States)

Kannan, R.; Latha, G.; Prashanthi Devi, M.

An ambient noise system consisting of a vertical linear hydrophone array was deployed in the shallow waters off Chennai, southeast coast of India from 1 August to 16 September 2013 to record ambient ocean noise of frequencies up to 10kHz. Biological sounds, which are broadband, short duration signals resulting from Terapon theraps, a native species, are a prominent feature of the ocean soundscape. Terapon activity peaks at 8pm and 11pm, and its presence is not observed after 12 midnight in both the months. In the other period, the ambient noise fluctuation is due to wind and vessel traffic. Hence, the present study focuses on the description of the ambient noise fluctuation over two 12h periods, i.e., 12 midnight-12 noon considered as period I, and 12 noon-12 midnight as period II in order to show the circadian rhythm of ambient noise. In this study area, Terapon vocalization reached 25dB above the ambient noise level and it dominates the short-term spectra records in the 0.4-4kHz range. All Terapon signals had daily patterns of sound production with highest levels of activity after dusk during the study period. The result shows that the circadian rhythm of ambient noise is mainly of biological sound generated by Terapon and it is reported first time in the shallow waters off the southeast coast of India.

3-D Upper-Mantle Shear Velocity Model Beneath the Contiguous United States Based on Broadband Surface Wave from Ambient Seismic Noise

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Jun; Chu, Risheng; Yang, Yingjie

2018-05-01

Ambient noise seismic tomography has been widely used to study crustal and upper-mantle shear velocity structures. Most studies, however, concentrate on short period (structure on a continental scale. We use broadband Rayleigh wave phase velocities to obtain a 3-D V S structures beneath the contiguous United States at period band of 10-150 s. During the inversion, 1-D shear wave velocity profile is parameterized using B-spline at each grid point and is inverted with nonlinear Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. Then, a 3-D shear velocity model is constructed by assembling all the 1-D shear velocity profiles. Our model is overall consistent with existing models which are based on multiple datasets or data from earthquakes. Our model along with the other post-USArray models reveal lithosphere structures in the upper mantle, which are consistent with the geological tectonic background (e.g., the craton root and regional upwelling provinces). The model has comparable resolution on lithosphere structures compared with many published results and can be used for future detailed regional or continental studies and analysis.

Stationary-phase integrals in the cross correlation of ambient noise

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boschi, L.; Weemstra, C.

2015-01-01

The cross correlation of ambient signal allows seismologists to collect data even in the absence of seismic events. “Seismic interferometry” shows that the cross correlation of simultaneous recordings of a random wavefield made at two locations is formally related to the impulse response between

Statistical Properties of Seismic Noise Measured in Underground Spaces During Seismic Swarm

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Lyubushin, A. A.; Kaláb, Zdeněk; Lednická, Markéta

2014-01-01

Roč. 49, č. 2 (2014), s. 209-224 ISSN 2213-5812 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA105/09/0089; GA MŠk LM2010008 Institutional support: RVO:68145535 Keywords : seismic noise * multifractals * wavelets * kurtosis * West Bohemia seismic swarm Subject RIV: DC - Siesmology, Volcanology, Earth Structure Impact factor: 0.543, year: 2014 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40328-014-0051-y

Characteristics of Love and Rayleigh waves in ambient noise: wavetype ratio, source location and seasonal behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Juretzek, C.; Perleth, M.; Hadziioannou, C.

2015-12-01

Ambient seismic noise has become an important source of signal for tomography and monitoring purposes. Better understanding of the noise field characteristics is crucial to further improve noise applications. Our knowledge about the common and different origins of Love and Rayleigh waves in the microseism bands is still limited. This applies in particular to constraints on source locations and source mechanisms of Love waves. Here, 3-component beamforming is used to distinguish between the differently polarized wave types present in the noise field recorded at several arrays across Europe. The focus lies on frequencies around the primary and secondary microseismic bands. We compare characteristics of Love and Rayleigh wave noise, such as source directions and frequency content. Further, Love to Rayleigh wave ratios are measured at each array, and a dependence on direction is observed. We constrain the corresponding source regions of both wave types by backprojection. By using a full year of data in 2013, we are able to track the seasonal changes in our observations of Love-to-Rayleigh ratio and source locations.

Search for Long Period Solar Normal Modes in Ambient Seismic Noise

Science.gov (United States)

Caton, R.; Pavlis, G. L.

2016-12-01

We search for evidence of solar free oscillations (normal modes) in long period seismic data through multitaper spectral analysis of array stacks. This analysis is similar to that of Thomson & Vernon (2015), who used data from the most quiet single stations of the global seismic network. Our approach is to use stacks of large arrays of noisier stations to reduce noise. Arrays have the added advantage of permitting the use of nonparametic statistics (jackknife errors) to provide objective error estimates. We used data from the Transportable Array, the broadband borehole array at Pinyon Flat, and the 3D broadband array in Homestake Mine in Lead, SD. The Homestake Mine array has 15 STS-2 sensors deployed in the mine that are extremely quiet at long periods due to stable temperatures and stable piers anchored to hard rock. The length of time series used ranged from 50 days to 85 days. We processed the data by low-pass filtering with a corner frequency of 10 mHz, followed by an autoregressive prewhitening filter and median stack. We elected to use the median instead of the mean in order to get a more robust stack. We then used G. Prieto's mtspec library to compute multitaper spectrum estimates on the data. We produce delete-one jackknife error estimates of the uncertainty at each frequency by computing median stacks of all data with one station removed. The results from the TA data show tentative evidence for several lines between 290 μHz and 400 μHz, including a recurring line near 379 μHz. This 379 μHz line is near the Earth mode 0T2 and the solar mode 5g5, suggesting that 5g5 could be coupling into the Earth mode. Current results suggest more statistically significant lines may be present in Pinyon Flat data, but additional processing of the data is underway to confirm this observation.

Seismic noise attenuation using an online subspace tracking algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Yatong; Li, Shuhua; Zhang, Dong; Chen, Yangkang

2018-02-01

We propose a new low-rank based noise attenuation method using an efficient algorithm for tracking subspaces from highly corrupted seismic observations. The subspace tracking algorithm requires only basic linear algebraic manipulations. The algorithm is derived by analysing incremental gradient descent on the Grassmannian manifold of subspaces. When the multidimensional seismic data are mapped to a low-rank space, the subspace tracking algorithm can be directly applied to the input low-rank matrix to estimate the useful signals. Since the subspace tracking algorithm is an online algorithm, it is more robust to random noise than traditional truncated singular value decomposition (TSVD) based subspace tracking algorithm. Compared with the state-of-the-art algorithms, the proposed denoising method can obtain better performance. More specifically, the proposed method outperforms the TSVD-based singular spectrum analysis method in causing less residual noise and also in saving half of the computational cost. Several synthetic and field data examples with different levels of complexities demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the presented algorithm in rejecting different types of noise including random noise, spiky noise, blending noise, and coherent noise.

Newtonian-noise cancellation in large-scale interferometric GW detectors using seismic tiltmeters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harms, Jan; Venkateswara, Krishna

2016-01-01

The mitigation of terrestrial gravity noise, also known as Newtonian noise (NN), is one of the foremost challenges to improve low-frequency sensitivity of ground-based gravitational-wave detectors. At frequencies above 1 Hz, it is predicted that gravity noise from seismic surface Rayleigh waves is the dominant contribution to NN in surface detectors, and may still contribute significantly in future underground detectors. Noise cancellation based on a coherent estimate of NN using data from a seismometer array was proposed in the past. In this article, we propose an alternative scheme to cancel NN using a seismic tiltmeter. It is shown that even under pessimistic assumptions concerning the complexity of the seismic field, a single tiltmeter under each test mass of the detector is sufficient to achieve substantial noise cancellation. A technical tiltmeter design is presented to achieve the required sensitivity in the Newtonian-noise frequency band. (paper)

Using Seismic Interferometry to Investigate Seismic Swarms

Science.gov (United States)

Matzel, E.; Morency, C.; Templeton, D. C.

2017-12-01

Seismicity provides a direct means of measuring the physical characteristics of active tectonic features such as fault zones. Hundreds of small earthquakes often occur along a fault during a seismic swarm. This seismicity helps define the tectonically active region. When processed using novel geophysical techniques, we can isolate the energy sensitive to the fault, itself. Here we focus on two methods of seismic interferometry, ambient noise correlation (ANC) and the virtual seismometer method (VSM). ANC is based on the observation that the Earth's background noise includes coherent energy, which can be recovered by observing over long time periods and allowing the incoherent energy to cancel out. The cross correlation of ambient noise between a pair of stations results in a waveform that is identical to the seismogram that would result if an impulsive source located at one of the stations was recorded at the other, the Green function (GF). The calculation of the GF is often stable after a few weeks of continuous data correlation, any perturbations to the GF after that point are directly related to changes in the subsurface and can be used for 4D monitoring.VSM is a style of seismic interferometry that provides fast, precise, high frequency estimates of the Green's function (GF) between earthquakes. VSM illuminates the subsurface precisely where the pressures are changing and has the potential to image the evolution of seismicity over time, including changes in the style of faulting. With hundreds of earthquakes, we can calculate thousands of waveforms. At the same time, VSM collapses the computational domain, often by 2-3 orders of magnitude. This allows us to do high frequency 3D modeling in the fault region. Using data from a swarm of earthquakes near the Salton Sea, we demonstrate the power of these techniques, illustrating our ability to scale from the far field, where sources are well separated, to the near field where their locations fall within each other

Ambient noise adjoint tomography for a linear array in North China

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, C.; Yao, H.; Liu, Q.; Yuan, Y. O.; Zhang, P.; Feng, J.; Fang, L.

2017-12-01

Ambient noise tomography based on dispersion data and ray theory has been widely utilized for imaging crustal structures. In order to improve the inversion accuracy, ambient noise tomography based on the 3D adjoint approach or full waveform inversion has been developed recently, however, the computational cost is tremendous. In this study we present 2D ambient noise adjoint tomography for a linear array in north China with significant computational efficiency compared to 3D ambient noise adjoint tomography. During the preprocessing, we first convert the observed data in 3D media, i.e., surface-wave empirical Green's functions (EGFs) from ambient noise cross-correlation, to the reconstructed EGFs in 2D media using a 3D/2D transformation scheme. Different from the conventional steps of measuring phase dispersion, the 2D adjoint tomography refines 2D shear wave speeds along the profile directly from the reconstructed Rayleigh wave EGFs in the period band 6-35s. With the 2D initial model extracted from the 3D model from traditional ambient noise tomography, adjoint tomography updates the model by minimizing the frequency-dependent Rayleigh wave traveltime misfits between the reconstructed EGFs and synthetic Green function (SGFs) in 2D media generated by the spectral-element method (SEM), with a preconditioned conjugate gradient method. The multitaper traveltime difference measurement is applied in four period bands during the inversion: 20-35s, 15-30s, 10-20s and 6-15s. The recovered model shows more detailed crustal structures with pronounced low velocity anomaly in the mid-lower crust beneath the junction of Taihang Mountains and Yin-Yan Mountains compared with the initial model. This low velocity structure may imply the possible intense crust-mantle interactions, probably associated with the magmatic underplating during the Mesozoic to Cenozoic evolution of the region. To our knowledge, it's first time that ambient noise adjoint tomography is implemented in 2D media

Mobile Communication Devices, Ambient Noise, and Acoustic Voice Measures.

Science.gov (United States)

Maryn, Youri; Ysenbaert, Femke; Zarowski, Andrzej; Vanspauwen, Robby

2017-03-01

The ability to move with mobile communication devices (MCDs; ie, smartphones and tablet computers) may induce differences in microphone-to-mouth positioning and use in noise-packed environments, and thus influence reliability of acoustic voice measurements. This study investigated differences in various acoustic voice measures between six recording equipments in backgrounds with low and increasing noise levels. One chain of continuous speech and sustained vowel from 50 subjects with voice disorders (all separated by silence intervals) was radiated and re-recorded in an anechoic chamber with five MCDs and one high-quality recording system. These recordings were acquired in one condition without ambient noise and in four conditions with increased ambient noise. A total of 10 acoustic voice markers were obtained in the program Praat. Differences between MCDs and noise condition were assessed with Friedman repeated-measures test and posthoc Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, both for related samples, after Bonferroni correction. (1) Except median fundamental frequency and seven nonsignificant differences, MCD samples have significantly higher acoustic markers than clinical reference samples in minimal environmental noise. (2) Except median fundamental frequency, jitter local, and jitter rap, all acoustic measures on samples recorded with the reference system experienced significant influence from room noise levels. Fundamental frequency is resistant to recording system, environmental noise, and their combination. All other measures, however, were impacted by both recording system and noise condition, and especially by their combination, often already in the reference/baseline condition without added ambient noise. Caution is therefore warranted regarding implementation of MCDs as clinical recording tools, particularly when applied for treatment outcomes assessments. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Source localization analysis using seismic noise data acquired in exploration geophysics

Science.gov (United States)

Roux, P.; Corciulo, M.; Campillo, M.; Dubuq, D.

2011-12-01

Passive monitoring using seismic noise data shows a growing interest at exploration scale. Recent studies demonstrated source localization capability using seismic noise cross-correlation at observation scales ranging from hundreds of kilometers to meters. In the context of exploration geophysics, classical localization methods using travel-time picking fail when no evident first arrivals can be detected. Likewise, methods based on the intensity decrease as a function of distance to the source also fail when the noise intensity decay gets more complicated than the power-law expected from geometrical spreading. We propose here an automatic procedure developed in ocean acoustics that permits to iteratively locate the dominant and secondary noise sources. The Matched-Field Processing (MFP) technique is based on the spatial coherence of raw noise signals acquired on a dense array of receivers in order to produce high-resolution source localizations. Standard MFP algorithms permits to locate the dominant noise source by matching the seismic noise Cross-Spectral Density Matrix (CSDM) with the equivalent CSDM calculated from a model and a surrogate source position that scans each position of a 3D grid below the array of seismic sensors. However, at exploration scale, the background noise is mostly dominated by surface noise sources related to human activities (roads, industrial platforms,..), which localization is of no interest for the monitoring of the hydrocarbon reservoir. In other words, the dominant noise sources mask lower-amplitude noise sources associated to the extraction process (in the volume). Their location is therefore difficult through standard MFP technique. The Multi-Rate Adaptative Beamforming (MRABF) is a further improvement of the MFP technique that permits to locate low-amplitude secondary noise sources using a projector matrix calculated from the eigen-value decomposition of the CSDM matrix. The MRABF approach aims at cancelling the contributions of

On inferring the noise in probabilistic seismic AVO inversion using hierarchical Bayes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Rasmus Bødker; Zunino, Andrea; Hansen, Thomas Mejer

2017-01-01

A realistic noise model is essential for trustworthy inversion of geophysical data. Sometimes, as in case of seismic data, quan- tification of the noise model is non-trivial. To remedy this, a hierarchical Bayes approach can be adopted in which proper- ties of the noise model, such as the amplitude...... of an assumed uncorrelated Gaussian noise model, can be inferred as part of the inversion. Here we demonstrate how such an approach can lead to substantial overfitting of noise when inverting a 1D re- flection seismic NMO data set. We then argue that usually the noise model is correlated, and suggest to infer...

Signal-to-noise ratio application to seismic marker analysis and fracture detection

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Hui-Qun; Gui, Zhi-Xian

2014-03-01

Seismic data with high signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) are useful in reservoir exploration. To obtain high SNR seismic data, significant effort is required to achieve noise attenuation in seismic data processing, which is costly in materials, and human and financial resources. We introduce a method for improving the SNR of seismic data. The SNR is calculated by using the frequency domain method. Furthermore, we optimize and discuss the critical parameters and calculation procedure. We applied the proposed method on real data and found that the SNR is high in the seismic marker and low in the fracture zone. Consequently, this can be used to extract detailed information about fracture zones that are inferred by structural analysis but not observed in conventional seismic data.

Variations of local seismic response in Benevento (Southern Italy) using earthquakes and ambient noise recordings

Science.gov (United States)

Improta, Luigi; di Giulio, Giuseppe; Rovelli, Antonio

The city of Benevento (Southern Italy) has been repeatedly struck by large historical earthquakes. A heterogeneous geologic structure and widespread soft soil conditions make the estimation of site effects crucial for the seismic hazard assessment of the city. From 2000 until 2004, we installed seismic stations to collect earthquake data over zones with different geological conditions. Despite the high level of urban noise, we recorded more than 150 earthquakes at twelve sites. This data set yields the first, well documented experimental evidence for weak to moderate local amplifications. We investigated site effects primarily by the classical spectral ratio technique (CSR) using a rock station placed on the Benevento hill as reference. All sites in the Calore river valley and in the eastern part of the Benevento hill show a moderate high-frequency (f > 4 Hz) amplification peak. Conversely, sites in the Sabato river valley share weak-to-moderate amplification in a wide frequency band (from 1-2 to 7-10 Hz), without evident frequency peaks. Application of no-reference-site techniques to earthquake and noise data confirms the results of the CSRs in the sites of the Calore river valley and of the eastern part of the Benevento hill, but fails in providing indications for site effects in the Sabato river valley, being the H/V ratios nearly flat. One-dimensional modeling indicates that the ground motion amplification can be essentially explained in terms of a vertically varying geologic structure. High-frequency narrow peaks are caused by the strong impedance contrast existing between near-surface soft deposits and stiff cemented conglomerates. Conversely, broad-band amplifications in the Sabato river valley are likely due to a more complex layering with weak impedance contrasts both in the shallow and deep structure of the valley.

A semi-supervised method to detect seismic random noise with fuzzy GK clustering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hashemi, Hosein; Javaherian, Abdolrahim; Babuska, Robert

2008-01-01

We present a new method to detect random noise in seismic data using fuzzy Gustafson–Kessel (GK) clustering. First, using an adaptive distance norm, a matrix is constructed from the observed seismic amplitudes. The next step is to find centres of ellipsoidal clusters and construct a partition matrix which determines the soft decision boundaries between seismic events and random noise. The GK algorithm updates the cluster centres in order to iteratively minimize the cluster variance. Multiplication of the fuzzy membership function with values of each sample yields new sections; we name them 'clustered sections'. The seismic amplitude values of the clustered sections are given in a way to decrease the level of noise in the original noisy seismic input. In pre-stack data, it is essential to study the clustered sections in a f–k domain; finding the quantitative index for weighting the post-stack data needs a similar approach. Using the knowledge of a human specialist together with the fuzzy unsupervised clustering, the method is a semi-supervised random noise detection. The efficiency of this method is investigated on synthetic and real seismic data for both pre- and post-stack data. The results show a significant improvement of the input noisy sections without harming the important amplitude and phase information of the original data. The procedure for finding the final weights of each clustered section should be carefully done in order to keep almost all the evident seismic amplitudes in the output section. The method interactively uses the knowledge of the seismic specialist in detecting the noise

Seismic noise study for a new seismic station at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia

Science.gov (United States)

Kaka, S. I.

2012-04-01

We have carried out a seismic noise study in order to understand the noise level at three selected locations at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The main purpose is to select a suitable site with low seismic noise and good signal-to-noise ratio for our new broadband seismic station. There are several factors involved in the selection of a site location for a new station. Most importantly, we need to strike a balance between a logistically convenient site versus a technically suitable site. As a starting point, we selected six potential sites due to accessibility and proximity to the seismic processing center laboratory in the Department of Earth Sciences (ESD) at KFUPM. We then eliminated two sites that are relatively close to possible low-frequency noise sources. We have considered many possible noise sources which include: vehicle traffic / heavy machinery, the direct path of air flowing from air conditioning vent, tall trees / power poles and metal doorways. One more site was eliminated because the site was located in the open where it experiences maximum wind speed which is considered a major source of noise. All three potential sites are situated within the Dammam Dome where both lower middle and upper Rus Formations are exposed. The upper Rus is mainly made up of fine grained chalky limestone and the lower Rus is made up of alternation of marls and thin dolomitic limestone. The area is not known for any major faults and considered very low seismicity and hence the identification of seismoteconic features is not required. Before conducting the noise study, we calibrated and tested the seismic recording system, which was recently acquired by the ESD at KFUPM. The system includes a seismic recorder and a sensor with a GPS device. We deployed the system in order to measure the low-frequency background noise. Knowing the low frequency noise will help in predicting the high-frequency noise. The recording systems were

Upper crustal structure beneath East Java from ambient noise tomography: A preliminary result

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martha, Agustya Adi; Widiyantoro, Sri; Cummins, Phil; Saygin, Erdinc; Masturyono

2015-01-01

East Java has a fairly complex geological structure. Physiographically East Java can be divided into three zones, i.e. the Southern Mountains zone in the southern part, the Kendeng zone in the middle part, and the Rembang zone in the northern part. Most of the seismic hazards in this region are due to processes in the upper crust. In this study, the Ambient Noise Tomography (ANT) method is used to image the upper crustal structure beneath East Java. We have used seismic waveform data recorded by 8Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) stationary seismographic stations and 16 portable seismographs installed for 2 to 8 weeks. The data were processed to obtain waveforms fromnoise cross-correlation between pairs of seismographic stations. Our preliminary results indicate that the Kendeng zone, an area of low gravity anomaly, is associated with a low velocity zone. On the other hand, the southern mountain range, which has a high gravity anomaly, is related to a high velocity anomaly as shown by our tomographic images

Upper crustal structure beneath East Java from ambient noise tomography: A preliminary result

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martha, Agustya Adi [Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency, Jakarta (Indonesia); Graduate Research on Earthquakes and Active Tectonics, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung (Indonesia); Widiyantoro, Sri [Global Geophysics Group, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung (Indonesia); Center for Disaster Mitigation, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung (Indonesia); Cummins, Phil; Saygin, Erdinc [Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra (Australia); Masturyono [Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency, Jakarta (Indonesia)

2015-04-24

East Java has a fairly complex geological structure. Physiographically East Java can be divided into three zones, i.e. the Southern Mountains zone in the southern part, the Kendeng zone in the middle part, and the Rembang zone in the northern part. Most of the seismic hazards in this region are due to processes in the upper crust. In this study, the Ambient Noise Tomography (ANT) method is used to image the upper crustal structure beneath East Java. We have used seismic waveform data recorded by 8Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) stationary seismographic stations and 16 portable seismographs installed for 2 to 8 weeks. The data were processed to obtain waveforms fromnoise cross-correlation between pairs of seismographic stations. Our preliminary results indicate that the Kendeng zone, an area of low gravity anomaly, is associated with a low velocity zone. On the other hand, the southern mountain range, which has a high gravity anomaly, is related to a high velocity anomaly as shown by our tomographic images.

Joint inversion of teleseismic P waveforms and surface-wave group velocities from ambient seismic noise in the Bohemian Massif

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Růžek, Bohuslav; Plomerová, Jaroslava; Babuška, Vladislav

2012-01-01

Roč. 56, č. 1 (2012), s. 107-140 ISSN 0039-3169 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/07/1088; GA AV ČR IAA300120709; GA MŠk LM2010008 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z30120515 Keywords : receiver function * seismic noise * joint inversion * Bohemian Massif * velocity structure Subject RIV: DC - Siesmology, Volcanology, Earth Structure Impact factor: 0.975, year: 2012

The Effects of Ambient Conditions on Helicopter Harmonic Noise Radiation: Theory and Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Greenwood, Eric; Sim, Ben W.; Boyd, D. Douglas, Jr.

2016-01-01

The effects of ambient atmospheric conditions, air temperature and density, on rotor harmonic noise radiation are characterized using theoretical models and experimental measurements of helicopter noise collected at three different test sites at elevations ranging from sea level to 7000 ft above sea level. Significant changes in the thickness, loading, and blade-vortex interaction noise levels and radiation directions are observed across the different test sites for an AS350 helicopter flying at the same indicated airspeed and gross weight. However, the radiated noise is shown to scale with ambient pressure when the flight condition of the helicopter is defined in nondimensional terms. Although the effective tip Mach number is identified as the primary governing parameter for thickness noise, the nondimensional weight coefficient also impacts lower harmonic loading noise levels, which contribute strongly to low frequency harmonic noise radiation both in and out of the plane of the horizon. Strategies for maintaining the same nondimensional rotor operating condition under different ambient conditions are developed using an analytical model of single main rotor helicopter trim and confirmed using a CAMRAD II model of the AS350 helicopter. The ability of the Fundamental Rotorcraft Acoustics Modeling from Experiments (FRAME) technique to generalize noise measurements made under one set of ambient conditions to make accurate noise predictions under other ambient conditions is also validated.

Permafrost Active Layer Seismic Interferometry Experiment (PALSIE).

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abbott, Robert [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Knox, Hunter Anne [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); James, Stephanie [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Lee, Rebekah [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Cole, Chris [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2016-01-01

We present findings from a novel field experiment conducted at Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, Alaska that was designed to monitor changes in active layer thickness in real time. Results are derived primarily from seismic data streaming from seven Nanometric Trillium Posthole seismometers directly buried in the upper section of the permafrost. The data were evaluated using two analysis methods: Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR) and ambient noise seismic interferometry. Results from the HVSR conclusively illustrated the method's effectiveness at determining the active layer's thickness with a single station. Investigations with the multi-station method (ambient noise seismic interferometry) are continuing at the University of Florida and have not yet conclusively determined active layer thickness changes. Further work continues with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to determine if the ground based measurements can constrain satellite imagery, which provide measurements on a much larger spatial scale.

Seismic random noise attenuation using shearlet and total generalized variation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kong, Dehui; Peng, Zhenming

2015-01-01

Seismic denoising from a corrupted observation is an important part of seismic data processing which improves the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and resolution. In this paper, we present an effective denoising method to attenuate seismic random noise. The method takes advantage of shearlet and total generalized variation (TGV) regularization. Different regularity levels of TGV improve the quality of the final result by suppressing Gibbs artifacts caused by the shearlet. The problem is formulated as mixed constraints in a convex optimization. A Bregman algorithm is proposed to solve the proposed model. Extensive experiments based on one synthetic datum and two post-stack field data are done to compare performance. The results demonstrate that the proposed method provides superior effectiveness and preserve the structure better. (paper)

Seismic random noise attenuation using shearlet and total generalized variation

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Dehui; Peng, Zhenming

2015-12-01

Seismic denoising from a corrupted observation is an important part of seismic data processing which improves the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and resolution. In this paper, we present an effective denoising method to attenuate seismic random noise. The method takes advantage of shearlet and total generalized variation (TGV) regularization. Different regularity levels of TGV improve the quality of the final result by suppressing Gibbs artifacts caused by the shearlet. The problem is formulated as mixed constraints in a convex optimization. A Bregman algorithm is proposed to solve the proposed model. Extensive experiments based on one synthetic datum and two post-stack field data are done to compare performance. The results demonstrate that the proposed method provides superior effectiveness and preserve the structure better.

Ambient and at-the-ear occupational noise exposure and serum lipid levels

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Arlien-Søborg, Mai C; Schmedes, Astrid S; Stokholm, Z A

2016-01-01

-the-ear occupational noise exposure and serum levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, and triglycerides when accounting for well-established predictors of lipid levels. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 424 industrial workers and 84 financial......OBJECTIVES: Occupational and residential noise exposure has been related to increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Alteration of serum lipid levels has been proposed as a possible causal pathway. The objective of this study was to investigate the relation between ambient and at...... workers to obtain contrast in noise exposure levels. They provided a serum sample and wore portable dosimeters that every 5-s recorded ambient noise exposure levels during a 24-h period. We extracted measurements obtained during work and calculated the full-shift mean ambient noise level. For 331 workers...

Shear wave velocity versus quality factor: results from seismic noise recordings

Science.gov (United States)

Boxberger, Tobias; Pilz, Marco; Parolai, Stefano

2017-08-01

The assessment of the shear wave velocity (vs) and shear wave quality factor (Qs) for the shallow structure below a site is necessary to characterize its site response. In the past, methods based on the analysis of seismic noise have been shown to be very efficient for providing a sufficiently accurate estimation of the vs versus depth at reasonable costs for engineering seismology purposes. In addition, a slight modification of the same method has proved to be able to provide realistic Qs versus depth estimates. In this study, data sets of seismic noise recorded by microarrays of seismic stations in different geological environments of Europe and Central Asia are used to calculate both vs and Qs versus depth profiles. Analogous to the generally adopted approach in seismic hazard assessment for mapping the average shear wave velocity in the uppermost 30 m (vs30) as a proxy of the site response, this approach was also applied to the quality factor within the uppermost 30 m (Qs30). A slightly inverse correlation between both parameters is found based on a methodological consistent determination for different sites. Consequently, a combined assessment of vs and Qs by seismic noise analysis has the potential to provide a more comprehensive description of the geological structure below a site.

Landslide maps and seismic noise: Rockmass weakening caused by shallow earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Uchida, Tara; Marc, Odin; Sens-Schönfelder, Christoph; Sawazaki, Kaoru; Hobiger, Manuel; Hovius, Niels

2015-04-01

Some studies have suggested that the shaking and deformation associated with earthquake would result in a temporary increased hillslope erodibility. However very few data have been able to clarify such effect. We present integrated geomorphic data constraining an elevated landslide rate following 4 continental shallow earthquakes, the Mw 6.9 Finisterre (1993), the Mw 7.6 ChiChi (1999), the Mw 6.6 Niigata (2004) and the Mw 6.8 Iwate-Miyagi (2008) earthquakes. We constrained the magnitude, the recovery time and somewhat the mechanism at the source of this higher landslide risk. We provide some evidences excluding aftershocks or rain forcing intensity as possible mechanism and leaving subsurface weakening as the most likely. The landslide data suggest that this ground strength weakening is not limited to the soil cover but also affect the shallow bedrock. Additionally, we used ambient noise autocorrelation techniques to monitor shallow subsurface seismic velocity within the epicentral area of three of those earthquakes. For most stations we observe a velocity drop followed by a recovery processes of several years in fair agreement with the recovery time estimated based on landslide observation. Thus a common processes could alter the strength of the first 10m of soil/rock and simultaneously drive the landslide rate increase and the seismic velocity drop. The ability to firmly demonstrate this link require additional constraints on the seismic signal interpretation but would provide a very useful tool for post-earthquake risk managment.

Seismic and Biological Sources of Ambient Ocean Sound

Science.gov (United States)

Freeman, Simon Eric

Sound is the most efficient radiation in the ocean. Sounds of seismic and biological origin contain information regarding the underlying processes that created them. A single hydrophone records summary time-frequency information from the volume within acoustic range. Beamforming using a hydrophone array additionally produces azimuthal estimates of sound sources. A two-dimensional array and acoustic focusing produce an unambiguous two-dimensional `image' of sources. This dissertation describes the application of these techniques in three cases. The first utilizes hydrophone arrays to investigate T-phases (water-borne seismic waves) in the Philippine Sea. Ninety T-phases were recorded over a 12-day period, implying a greater number of seismic events occur than are detected by terrestrial seismic monitoring in the region. Observation of an azimuthally migrating T-phase suggests that reverberation of such sounds from bathymetric features can occur over megameter scales. In the second case, single hydrophone recordings from coral reefs in the Line Islands archipelago reveal that local ambient reef sound is spectrally similar to sounds produced by small, hard-shelled benthic invertebrates in captivity. Time-lapse photography of the reef reveals an increase in benthic invertebrate activity at sundown, consistent with an increase in sound level. The dominant acoustic phenomenon on these reefs may thus originate from the interaction between a large number of small invertebrates and the substrate. Such sounds could be used to take census of hard-shelled benthic invertebrates that are otherwise extremely difficult to survey. A two-dimensional `map' of sound production over a coral reef in the Hawaiian Islands was obtained using two-dimensional hydrophone array in the third case. Heterogeneously distributed bio-acoustic sources were generally co-located with rocky reef areas. Acoustically dominant snapping shrimp were largely restricted to one location within the area surveyed

Seismic signal and noise on Europa and how to use it

Science.gov (United States)

Panning, M. P.; Stähler, S. C.; Bills, B. G.; Castillo, J.; Huang, H. H.; Husker, A. L.; Kedar, S.; Lorenz, R. D.; Pike, W. T.; Schmerr, N. C.; Tsai, V. C.; Vance, S.

2017-12-01

Seismology is one of our best tools for detailing interior structure of planetary bodies, and a seismometer is included in the baseline and threshold mission design for a potential Europa lander mission. Guiding mission design and planning for adequate science return, though, requires modeling of both the anticipated signal and noise. Assuming ice seismicity on Europa behaves according to statistical properties observed in Earth catalogs and scaling cumulative seismic moment release to the moon, we simulate long seismic records and estimate background noise and peak signal amplitudes (Panning et al., 2017). This suggests a sensitive instrument comparable to many broadband terrestrial instruments or the SP instrument from the InSight mission to Mars will be able to record signals, while high frequency geophones are likely inadequate. We extend this analysis to also begin incorporation of spatial and temporal variation due to the tidal cycle, which can help inform landing site selection. We also begin exploration of how chaotic terrane at the bottom of the ice shell and inter-ice heterogeneities (i.e. internal melt structures) may affect predicted seismic observations using 2D numerical seismic simulations. We also show some of the key seismic observations to determine interior properties of Europa (Stähler et al., 2017). M. P. Panning, S. C. Stähler, H.-H. Huang, S. D. Vance, S. Kedar, V. C. Tsai, W. T. Pike, R. D. Lorenz, "Expected seismicity and the seismic noise environment of Europa," J. Geophys. Res., in revision, 2017. S. C. Stähler, M. P. Panning, S. D. Vance, R. D. Lorenz, M. van Driel, T. Nissen-Meyer, S. Kedar, "Seismic wave propagation in icy ocean worlds," J. Geophys. Res., in revision, 2017.

Ambient Noise Levels in Acute Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Referral Hospital

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sonia R. B D'Souza

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Background: Advances in neonatal care have resulted in improved survival of neonates admitted to the intensive care of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU. However, the NCU may be an inappropriate milieu, with presence of overwhelming stimuli, most potent being the continuous presence of noise in the ambience of the NICU. Aim and Objectives: To determine and describe the ambient noise levels in the acute NICU of a tertiary referral hospital. Material and Methods: The ambient noise, in this study was the background sound existing in the environment of the acute NICU of a tertiary referral hospital in South India. The ambient noise levels were analyzed by an audiologist and acoustical engineer using a standardized and calibrated Sound Level Meter (SLM i.e., the Hand Held Analyzer type 2250, Brüel and Kjær, Denmark on a weighted frequency A and reported as dB (A. Results: The ambient noise levels were timed measurements yielded by the SLM in terms of L eq, L as well as L exceeded the standard A 10 Aeqmax levels (Leq< 45 dB, L ≤ 50 dB, and Lmax ≤ 65 10 dB.The L eq ranged from 59.4 to 62.12 dB A. A Ventilators with alarms caused the maximum amount of ambient noise yielding a L Sound Pressure Level AF (SPL of 82.14 dB A. Conclusion: The study has found high levels of ambient noise in the acute NICU. Though there are several measures to reduce the ambient noise levels in the NICU, it is essential to raise awareness among health care personnel regarding the observed ambient noise levels and its effects on neonates admitted to the NICU.

Imaging San Jacinto Fault damage zone structure using dense linear arrays: application of ambient noise tomography, Rayleigh wave ellipticity, and site amplification

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Y.; Lin, F. C.; Allam, A. A.; Ben-Zion, Y.

2017-12-01

The San Jacinto fault is presently the most seismically active component of the San Andreas Transform system in Southern California. To study the damage zone structure, two dense linear geophone arrays (BS and RR) were deployed across the Clark segment of the San Jacinto Fault between Anza and Hemet during winter 2015 and Fall 2016, respectively. Both arrays were 2 km long with 20 m station spacing. Month-long three-component ambient seismic noise data were recorded and used to calculate multi-channel cross-correlation functions. All three-component noise records of each array were normalized simultaneously to retain relative amplitude information between different stations and different components. We observed clear Rayleigh waves and Love waves on the cross-correlations of both arrays at 0.3 - 1 s period. The phase travel times of the Rayleigh waves on both arrays were measured by frequency-time analysis (FTAN), and inverted for Rayleigh wave phase velocity profiles of the upper 500 m depth. For both arrays, we observe prominent asymmetric low velocity zones which narrow with depth. At the BS array near the Hemet Stepover, an approximately 250m wide slow zone is observed to be offset by 75m to the northeast of the surface fault trace. At the RR array near the Anza segment of the fault, a similar low velocity zone width and offset are observed, along with a 10% across-fault velocity contrast. Analyses of Rayleigh wave ellipticity (H/V ratio), Love wave phase travel times, and site amplification are in progress. By using multiple measurements from ambient noise cross-correlations, we can obtain strong constraints on the local damage zone structure of the San Jacinto Fault. The results contribute to improved understanding of rupture directivity, maximum earthquake magnitude and more generally seismic hazard associated with the San Jacinto fault zone.

Random noise suppression of seismic data using non-local Bayes algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, De-Kuan; Yang, Wu-Yang; Wang, Yi-Hui; Yang, Qing; Wei, Xin-Jian; Feng, Xiao-Ying

2018-02-01

For random noise suppression of seismic data, we present a non-local Bayes (NL-Bayes) filtering algorithm. The NL-Bayes algorithm uses the Gaussian model instead of the weighted average of all similar patches in the NL-means algorithm to reduce the fuzzy of structural details, thereby improving the denoising performance. In the denoising process of seismic data, the size and the number of patches in the Gaussian model are adaptively calculated according to the standard deviation of noise. The NL-Bayes algorithm requires two iterations to complete seismic data denoising, but the second iteration makes use of denoised seismic data from the first iteration to calculate the better mean and covariance of the patch Gaussian model for improving the similarity of patches and achieving the purpose of denoising. Tests with synthetic and real data sets demonstrate that the NL-Bayes algorithm can effectively improve the SNR and preserve the fidelity of seismic data.

A Near Real-Time Seismic Exploration and Monitoring (i.e., Ambient Seismic Noise Interferometry) Solution Based Upon a Novel "At the Edge" Approach that Leverages Commercially Available Digitizers, Embedded Systems, and an Open-Source Big Data Architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Sepulveda, F.; Thangraj, J. S.; Quiros, D.; Pulliam, J.; Queen, J. H.; Queen, M.; Iovenitti, J. L.

2017-12-01

Seismic interferometry that makes use of ambient noise requires that cross-correlations of data recorded at two or more stations be stacked over a "long enough" time interval that off-axis sources cancel and the estimated inter-station Green's function converges to the actual function. However, the optimal length of the recording period depends on the characteristics of ambient noise at the site, which vary over time and are therefore not known before data acquisition. Data acquisition parameters cannot be planned in ways that will ensure success while minimizing cost and effort. Experiment durations are typically either too long or too short. Automated, in-field processing can provide inter-station Green's functions in near-real-time, allowing for the immediate evaluation of results and enabling operators to alter data acquisition parameters before demobilizing. We report on the design, system integration, and testing of a strategy for the automation of data acquisition, distribution, and processing of ambient noise using industry-standard, widely-available instrumentation (Reftek 130-01 digitizers and 4.5 Hz geophones). Our solution utilizes an inexpensive embedded system (Raspberry Pi 3), which is configured to acquire data from the Reftek and insert it into a big data store called Apache Cassandra. Cassandra distributes and maintains up-to-date copies of the data, through a WiFi network, as defined by tunable consistency levels and replication factors thus allowing for efficient multi-station computations. At regular intervals, data is extracted from Cassandra and is used to compute Green's functions for all receiver pairs. Results are reviewed and progress toward convergence can be assessed. We successfully tested a 20-node prototype of what we call the "Raspberry Pi-Enhanced Reftek" (RaPiER) array at the Soda Lake Geothermal Field in Nevada in June 2017. While intermittent problems with the WiFi network interfered with the real-time data delivery from some

Characterization of site-effects in the urban area of Canakkale, Turkey, using ambient noise measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Demirci, Alper; Bekler, Tolga; Karagöz, Özlem

2010-05-01

The local site conditions can cause variations in the ground motion during the earthquake events. These local effects can be estimated by Nakamura method (1989) which is based on the analysis and treatment of earth vibration records by calculating the ratio of horizontal spectrum to vertical spectrum (H/V). This approach uses ambient noises and aids to estimate the dynamic soil conditions like fundamental vibration period and soil amplification of the surface layers, to characterize the seismic hazard during earthquakes and to provide detailed information for seismic microzonation in small scale urban areas. Due to these advantages, the method has been frequently used by a great number of seismologists and engineers. In this study, we aimed at explaining the soil conditions in Çanakkale and Kepez basins by using H/V technique. Çanakkale and Kepez (NW, Turkey) have fairly complex tectonic structure and have been exposed to serious earthquake damages in historical and instrumental period. Active faults, which have influence on the Çanakkale and Kepez settlements, are the Yenice-Gönen fault, Saroz-Gaziköy fault and Etili fault. It is well known that, these faults have produced high magnitude earthquakes such as 7.2 in 1912 and 7.3 in 1953. The surface geology of the surveyed area is covered by quaternary aged sediments. Sarıçay river, which originates from the eastern hilly area, accumulates sediment deposits and forms this alluvial basin. Considering the geological conditions, ambient noises were recorded at 88 measurement points which were selected to provide good coverage of the study area. All records were acquired during the midnight (between 1:00 am and 6:00 am) to reduce the artificial effects in the urban area. Taking into account the effects of undesirable traffic and industrial noises in the vicinity of measurements stations, record lengths were chosen in the range of 25-75 minutes with the sampling rate of 100 Hz. Once the required signal processes

Noise suppression in surface microseismic data by τ-p transform

Science.gov (United States)

Forghani-Arani, Farnoush; Batzle, Mike; Behura, Jyoti; Willis, Mark; Haines, Seth; Davidson, Michael

2013-01-01

Surface passive seismic methods are receiving increased attention for monitoring changes in reservoirs during the production of unconventional oil and gas. However, in passive seismic data the strong cultural and ambient noise (mainly surface-waves) decreases the effectiveness of these techniques. Hence, suppression of surface-waves is a critical step in surface microseismic monitoring. We apply a noise suppression technique, based on the τ — p transform, to a surface passive seismic dataset recorded over a Barnett Shale reservoir undergoing a hydraulic fracturing process. This technique not only improves the signal-to-noise ratios of added synthetic microseismic events, but it also preserves the event waveforms.

Tracking changes in volcanic systems with seismic Interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Haney, Matt; Alicia J. Hotovec-Ellis,; Bennington, Ninfa L.; Silvio De Angelis,; Clifford Thurber,

2014-01-01

The detection and evaluation of time-dependent changes at volcanoes form the foundation upon which successful volcano monitoring is built. Temporal changes at volcanoes occur over all time scales and may be obvious (e.g., earthquake swarms) or subtle (e.g., a slow, steady increase in the level of tremor). Some of the most challenging types of time-dependent change to detect are subtle variations in material properties beneath active volcanoes. Although difficult to measure, such changes carry important information about stresses and fluids present within hydrothermal and magmatic systems. These changes are imprinted on seismic waves that propagate through volcanoes. In recent years, there has been a quantum leap in the ability to detect subtle structural changes systematically at volcanoes with seismic waves. The new methodology is based on the idea that useful seismic signals can be generated “at will” from seismic noise. This means signals can be measured any time, in contrast to the often irregular and unpredictable times of earthquakes. With seismic noise in the frequency band 0.1–1 Hz arising from the interaction of the ocean with the solid Earth known as microseisms, researchers have demonstrated that cross-correlations of passive seismic recordings between pairs of seismometers yield coherent signals (Campillo and Paul 2003; Shapiro and Campillo 2004). Based on this principle, coherent signals have been reconstructed from noise recordings in such diverse fields as helioseismology (Rickett and Claerbout 2000), ultrasound (Weaver and Lobkis 2001), ocean acoustic waves (Roux and Kuperman 2004), regional (Shapiro et al. 2005; Sabra et al. 2005; Bensen et al. 2007) and exploration (Draganov et al. 2007) seismology, atmospheric infrasound (Haney 2009), and studies of the cryosphere (Marsan et al. 2012). Initial applications of ambient seismic noise were to regional surface wave tomography (Shapiro et al. 2005). Brenguier et al. (2007) were the first to

Wind seismic noise introduced by external infrastructure: field data and transfer mechanism

Science.gov (United States)

Martysevich, Pavel; Starovoyt, Yuri

2017-04-01

Background seismic noise generated by wind was analyzed at six co-located seismic and infrasound arrays with the use of the wind speed data. The main factors affecting the noise level were identified as (a) external structures as antenna towers for intrasite communication, vegetation and heavy solar panels fixtures, (b) borehole casing and (c) local lithology. The wind-induced seismic noise peaks in the spectra can be predicted by combination of inverted pendulum model for antenna towers and structures used to support solar panels, free- or clamped-tube resonance of the borehole casing and is dependent on the type of sedimentary upper layer. Observed resonance frequencies are in agreement with calculated clamped / free tube modes for towers and borehole casings. Improvement of the seismic data quality can be achieved by minimizing the impact of surrounding structures close to seismic boreholes. The need and the advantage of the borehole installation may vanish and appear to be even not necessary at locations with non-consolidated sediments because the impact of surrounding structures on seismic background may significantly deteriorate the installation quality and therefore the detection capability of the array. Several IMS arrays where the radio telemetry antennas are used for data delivery to the central site may benefit from the redesign of the intrasite communication system by its substitute with the fiber-optic net as less harmful engineering solution.

3D seismic data de-noising and reconstruction using Multichannel Time Slice Singular Spectrum Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Rekapalli, Rajesh; Tiwari, R. K.; Sen, Mrinal K.; Vedanti, Nimisha

2017-05-01

Noises and data gaps complicate the seismic data processing and subsequently cause difficulties in the geological interpretation. We discuss a recent development and application of the Multi-channel Time Slice Singular Spectrum Analysis (MTSSSA) for 3D seismic data de-noising in time domain. In addition, L1 norm based simultaneous data gap filling of 3D seismic data using MTSSSA also discussed. We discriminated the noises from single individual time slices of 3D volumes by analyzing Eigen triplets of the trajectory matrix. We first tested the efficacy of the method on 3D synthetic seismic data contaminated with noise and then applied to the post stack seismic reflection data acquired from the Sleipner CO2 storage site (pre and post CO2 injection) from Norway. Our analysis suggests that the MTSSSA algorithm is efficient to enhance the S/N for better identification of amplitude anomalies along with simultaneous data gap filling. The bright spots identified in the de-noised data indicate upward migration of CO2 towards the top of the Utsira formation. The reflections identified applying MTSSSA to pre and post injection data correlate well with the geology of the Southern Viking Graben (SVG).

Variations of Background Seismic Noise Before Strong Earthquakes, Kamchatka.

Science.gov (United States)

Kasimova, V.; Kopylova, G.; Lyubushin, A.

2017-12-01

The network of broadband seismic stations of Geophysical Service (Russian Academy of Science) works on the territory of Kamchatka peninsula in the Far East of Russia. We used continuous records on Z-channels at 21 stations for creation of background seismic noise time series in 2011-2017. Average daily parameters of multi-fractal spectra of singularity have been calculated at each station using 1-minute records. Maps and graphs of their spatial distribution and temporal changes were constructed at time scales from days to several years. The analysis of the coherent behavior of the time series of the statistics was considered. The technique included the splitting of seismic network into groups of stations, taking into account the coastal effect, the network configuration and the main tectonic elements of Kamchatka. Then the time series of median values of noise parameters from each group of stations were made and the frequency-time diagrams of the evolution of the spectral measure of the coherent behavior of four time series were analyzed. The time intervals and frequency bands of the maximum values showing the increase of coherence in the changes of all statistics were evaluated. The strong earthquakes with magnitudes M=6.9-8.3 occurred near the Kamchatka peninsula during the observations. The synchronous variations of the background noise parameters and increase in the coherent behavior of the median values of statistical parameters was shown before two earthquakes 2013 (February 28, Mw=6.9; May 24, Mw=8.3) within 3-9 months and before earthquake of January 30, 2016, Mw=7.2 within 3-6 months. The maximum effect of increased coherence in the range of periods 4-5.5 days corresponds to the time of preparation of two strong earthquakes in 2013 and their aftershock processes. Peculiarities in changes of statistical parameters at stages of preparation of strong earthquakes indicate the attenuation in high-amplitude outliers and the loss of multi-fractal properties in

Seismic exploration?scale velocities and structure from ambient seismic noise (>1?Hz)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Draganov, D.S.; Campman, X.; Thorbecke, J.W.; Verdel, A.; Wapenaar, C.P.A.

2013-01-01

The successful surface waves retrieval in solid?Earth seismology using long?time correlations and subsequent tomographic images of the crust have sparked interest in extraction of subsurface information from noise in the exploration seismology. Subsurface information in exploration seismology is

Seismic exploration-scale velocities and structure from ambient seismic noise (>1 Hz)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Draganov, D.; Campman, X.; Thorbecke, J.; Verdel, A.; Wapenaar, K.

2013-01-01

The successful surface waves retrieval in solid-Earth seismology using long-time correlations and subsequent tomographic images of the crust have sparked interest in extraction of subsurface information from noise in the exploration seismology. Subsurface information in exploration seismology is

Spatial Correlation in the Ambient Core Noise Field of a Turbofan Engine

Science.gov (United States)

Miles, Jeffrey Hilton

2012-01-01

An acoustic transfer function relating combustion noise and turbine exit noise in the presence of enclosed ambient core noise is investigated using a dynamic system model and an acoustic system model for the particular turbofan engine studied and for a range of operating conditions. Measurements of cross-spectra magnitude and phase between the combustor and turbine exit and auto-spectra at the turbine exit and combustor are used to show the presence of indirect and direct combustion noise over the frequency range of 0 400 Hz. The procedure used evaluates the ratio of direct to indirect combustion noise. The procedure used also evaluates the post-combustion residence time in the combustor which is a factor in the formation of thermal NOx and soot in this region. These measurements are masked by the ambient core noise sound field in this frequency range which is observable since the transducers are situated within an acoustic wavelength of one another. An ambient core noise field model based on one and two dimensional spatial correlation functions is used to replicate the spatially correlated response of the pair of transducers. The spatial correlation function increases measured attenuation due to destructive interference and masks the true attenuation of the turbine.

A Comparison of seismic instrument noise coherence analysis techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Ringler, A.T.; Hutt, C.R.; Evans, J.R.; Sandoval, L.D.

2011-01-01

The self-noise of a seismic instrument is a fundamental characteristic used to evaluate the quality of the instrument. It is important to be able to measure this self-noise robustly, to understand how differences among test configurations affect the tests, and to understand how different processing techniques and isolation methods (from nonseismic sources) can contribute to differences in results. We compare two popular coherence methods used for calculating incoherent noise, which is widely used as an estimate of instrument self-noise (incoherent noise and self-noise are not strictly identical but in observatory practice are approximately equivalent; Holcomb, 1989; Sleeman et al., 2006). Beyond directly comparing these two coherence methods on similar models of seismometers, we compare how small changes in test conditions can contribute to incoherent-noise estimates. These conditions include timing errors, signal-to-noise ratio changes (ratios between background noise and instrument incoherent noise), relative sensor locations, misalignment errors, processing techniques, and different configurations of sensor types.

Separating underwater ambient noise from flow noise recorded on stereo acoustic tags attached to marine mammals

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Benda-Beckmann, A.M. von; Wensveen, P.J.; Samarra, F.I.P.; Beerens, S.P.; Miller, P.J.O.

2016-01-01

Sound-recording acoustic tags attached to marine animals are commonly used in behavioural studies. Measuring ambient noise is of interest to efforts to understand responses of marine mammals to anthropogenic underwater sound, or to assess their communication space. Noise of water flowing around the

Constraining the dynamics of 2014-15 Bardarbunga-Holuhraun intrusion and eruption using seismic noise

Science.gov (United States)

Caudron, Corentin; Donaldson, Clare; White, Robert

2016-04-01

The 2010 Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruption explosively emitted a large quantity of ash in the atmosphere and paralysed the European airspace for weeks. Several seismic scientific studies already contributed to the understanding of this complex eruption (e.g., Tarasewicz et al., 2012). Although an excellent network of seismometers recorded this eruption, some volcanological and seismological aspects are still poorly understood. In order to gain further constraints on the dynamics of this ground-breaking eruptions, we mine the seismic dataset using the seismic ambient noise technique between pairs of stations and the Seismic Amplitude Ratio Analysis (SARA). Our preliminary results reveal a strong contamination of the Cross Correlation Functions (CCF) by the volcanic tremor, particularly above 0.5 Hz even for station pairs located >50 km from the volcano. Although this volcanic tremor precludes the monitoring of the seismic velocities, it literally illuminated the medium. The two phases of the eruptions (i.e., effusive and explosive) are clearly distinguished in these functions due to their different locations. During the explosive phase, an intriguing shift of the main peaks of the cross correlation functions is evidenced (early May 2010). It is remarkably consistent with the downward migration proposed by Tarasewicz et al. (2012) and is interpreted as a migration of the volcanic tremor. SARA methodology, which is continuously imaging and tracking any significant seismicity at a 10-min time scale (Taisne et al., 2010), is applied in the 5-15 Hz frequency band in order to image to continuously migrating microseismicity. The analysis displays several shallow migrations (above 5 km of depth, in March 2010) preceding the effusive phase of the eruption. Interestingly, the results also evidence a fast and deep migration (> 5 km) starting a few hours before the beginning of the explosive phase (13 April 2010). These preliminary results may shed light on the triggering of

The Lusi seismic experiment: An initial study to understand the effect of seismic activity to Lusi

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karyono, E-mail: karyonosu@gmail.com [Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG), Jakarta (Indonesia); OSLO University (Norway); Padjadjaran University (UNPAD), Bandung (Indonesia); Mazzini, Adriano; Sugiharto, Anton [OSLO University (Norway); Lupi, Matteo [ETH Zurich (Switzerland); Syafri, Ildrem [Padjadjaran University (UNPAD), Bandung (Indonesia); Masturyono,; Rudiyanto, Ariska; Pranata, Bayu; Muzli,; Widodo, Handi Sulistyo; Sudrajat, Ajat [Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG), Jakarta (Indonesia)

2015-04-24

The spectacular Lumpur Sidoarjo (Lusi) eruption started in northeast Java on the 29 of May 2006 following a M6.3 earthquake striking the island [1,2]. Initially, several gas and mud eruption sites appeared along the reactivated strike-slip Watukosek fault system [3] and within weeks several villages were submerged by boiling mud. The most prominent eruption site was named Lusi. The Lusi seismic experiment is a project aims to begin a detailed study of seismicity around the Lusi area. In this initial phase we deploy 30 seismometers strategically distributed in the area around Lusi and along the Watukosek fault zone that stretches between Lusi and the Arjuno Welirang (AW) complex. The purpose of the initial monitoring is to conduct a preliminary seismic campaign aiming to identify the occurrence and the location of local seismic events in east Java particularly beneath Lusi.This network will locate small event that may not be captured by the existing BMKG network. It will be crucial to design the second phase of the seismic experiment that will consist of a local earthquake tomography of the Lusi-AW region and spatial and temporal variations of vp/vs ratios. The goal of this study is to understand how the seismicity occurring along the Sunda subduction zone affects to the behavior of the Lusi eruption. Our study will also provide a large dataset for a qualitative analysis of earthquake triggering studies, earthquake-volcano and earthquake-earthquake interactions. In this study, we will extract Green’s functions from ambient seismic noise data in order to image the shallow subsurface structure beneath LUSI area. The waveform cross-correlation technique will be apply to all of recordings of ambient seismic noise at 30 seismographic stations around the LUSI area. We use the dispersive behaviour of the retrieved Rayleigh waves to infer velocity structures in the shallow subsurface.

Radial anisotropy of Northeast Asia inferred from Bayesian inversions of ambient noise data

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, S. J.; Kim, S.; Rhie, J.

2017-12-01

The eastern margin of the Eurasia plate exhibits complex tectonic settings due to interactions with the subducting Pacific and Philippine Sea plates and the colliding India plate. Distributed extensional basins and intraplate volcanoes, and their heterogeneous features in the region are not easily explained with a simple mechanism. Observations of radial anisotropy in the entire lithosphere and the part of the asthenosphere provide the most effective evidence for the deformation of the lithosphere and the associated variation of the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB). To infer anisotropic structures of crustal and upper-mantle in this region, radial anisotropy is measured using ambient noise data. In a continuation of previous Rayleigh wave tomography study in Northeast Asia, we conduct Love wave tomography to determine radial anisotropy using the Bayesian inversion techniques. Continuous seismic noise recordings of 237 broad-band seismic stations are used and more than 55,000 group and phase velocities of fundamental mode are measured for periods of 5-60 s. Total 8 different types of dispersion maps of Love wave from this study (period 10-60 s), Rayleigh wave from previous tomographic study (Kim et al., 2016; period 8-70 s) and longer period data (period 70-200 s) from a global model (Ekstrom, 2011) are jointly inverted using a hierarchical and transdimensional Bayesian technique. For each grid-node, boundary depths, velocities and anisotropy parameters of layers are sampled simultaneously on the assumption of the layered half-space model. The constructed 3-D radial anisotropy model provides much more details about the crust and upper mantle anisotropic structures, and about the complex undulation of the LAB.

Seismic noise attenuation using an online subspace tracking algorithm

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zhou, Yatong; Li, Shuhua; Zhang, D.; Chen, Yangkang

2018-01-01

We propose a new low-rank based noise attenuation method using an efficient algorithm for tracking subspaces from highly corrupted seismic observations. The subspace tracking algorithm requires only basic linear algebraic manipulations. The algorithm is derived by analysing incremental gradient

Velocity variations associated with the large 2010 eruption of Merapi volcano, Java, retrieved from seismic multiplets and ambient noise cross-correlation

Science.gov (United States)

Budi-Santoso, Agus; Lesage, Philippe

2016-07-01

We present a study of the seismic velocity variations that occurred in the structure before the large 2010 eruption of Merapi volcano. For the first time to our knowledge, the technique of coda wave interferometry is applied to both families of similar events (multiplets) and to correlation functions of seismic noise. About half of the seismic events recorded at the summit stations belong to one of the ten multiplets identified, including 120 similar events that occurred in the last 20 hr preceding the eruption onset. Daily noise cross-correlation functions (NCF) were calculated for the six pairs of short-period stations available. Using the stretching method, we estimate time-series of apparent velocity variation (AVV) for each multiplet and each pair of stations. No significant velocity change is detected until September 2010. From 10 October to the beginning of the eruption on 26 October, a complex pattern of AVV is observed with amplitude of up to ±1.5 per cent. Velocity decrease is first observed from families of deep events and then from shallow earthquakes. In the same period, AVV with different signs and chronologies are estimated from NCF calculated for various station pairs. The location in the horizontal plane of the velocity perturbations related with the AVV obtained from NCF is estimated by using an approach based on the radiative transfer approximation. Although their spatial resolution is limited, the resulting maps display velocity decrease in the upper part of the edifice in the period 12-25 October. After the eruption onset, the pattern of velocity perturbations is significantly modified with respect to the previous one. We interpret these velocity variations in the framework of a scenario of magmatic intrusion that integrates most observations. The perturbation of the stress field associated with the magma migration can induce both decrease and increase of the seismic velocity of rocks. Thus the detected AVVs can be considered as precursors of

Sources of high frequency seismic noise: insights from a dense network of ~250 stations in northern Alsace (France)

Science.gov (United States)

Vergne, Jerome; Blachet, Antoine; Lehujeur, Maximilien

2015-04-01

Monitoring local or regional seismic activity requires stations having a low level of background seismic noise at frequencies higher than few tenths of Hertz. Network operators are well aware that the seismic quality of a site depends on several aspects, among them its geological setting and the proximity of roads, railways, industries or trees. Often, the impact of each noise source is only qualitatively known which precludes estimating the quality of potential future sites before they are tested or installed. Here, we want to take advantage of a very dense temporary network deployed in Northern Alsace (France) to assess the effect of various kinds of potential sources on the level of seismic noise observed in the frequency range 0.2-50 Hz. In September 2014, more than 250 seismic stations (FairfieldNodal@ Zland nodes with 10Hz vertical geophone) have been installed every 1.5 km over a ~25km diameter disc centred on the deep geothermal sites of Soultz-sous-Forêts and Rittershoffen. This region exhibits variable degrees of human imprints from quite remote areas to sectors with high traffic roads and big villages. It also encompasses both the deep sedimentary basin of the Rhine graben and the piedmont of the Vosges massif with exposed bedrock. For each site we processed the continuous data to estimate probability density functions of the power spectral densities. At frequencies higher than 1 Hz most sites show a clear temporal modulation of seismic noise related to human activity with the well-known variations between day and night and between weekdays and weekends. Moreover we observe a clear evolution of the spatial distribution of seismic noise levels with frequency. Basically, between 0.5 and 4 Hz the geological setting modulates the level of seismic noise. At higher frequencies, the amplitude of seismic noise appears mostly related to the distance to nearby roads. Based on road maps and traffic estimation, a forward approach is performed to model the induced

Detection of very long period solar free oscillations in ambient seismic array noise

Science.gov (United States)

Caton, R.; Pavlis, G. L.; Thomson, D. J.; Vernon, F.

2017-12-01

For nearly two decades long-period seismologists have been aware that the Earth's free oscillations are in a constant state of excitement, even in the absence of large earthquakes. This phenomenon is now called the "Earth's hum," and much research has been done to determine what generates this hum. Here we examine a hypothesis first put forward by Thomson et al. in 2007 that a portion of the hum's energy comes from the sun. They hypothesized that solar free oscillations couple into the solid Earth, likely through electromagnetic processes, and produce signals that are observable in the frequency domain. If this is true, then at least some measurement of helioseismic oscillations may be possible using relatively cheap, ground-based instruments rather than spacecraft. In this project we attempt to improve upon previous studies by producing spectra from seismic arrays, rather than a single station. We use data from two arrays: The Homestake Mine 3D array in Lead, SD, and the Pinyon Flats array, which has seismometers in boreholes drilled into bedrock. Both have exceptionally low noise levels at ultra long periods and show easily visible earth tides on horizontal component data filtered to below the microseism band. In the Homestake data, below 500 μHz we have found evidence of what we suggest may be closely spaced solar g-mode lines. Such modes are produced by a density inversion at the top of the solar core. There is no sign of these modes in the Pinyon Flats data, but we find this is likely due to the signal-to-noise ratio of those data, which is significantly lower than Homestake. Significance tests of bands below 500 μHz indicate with probability levels as high as 40σ that these lines are not the result of random processes. Critical examination of our processing steps for sources of bias indicate that the observed line structure is not a processing artifact.

Ambient Seismic Imaging of Hydraulically Active Fractures at km Depths

Science.gov (United States)

Malin, P. E.; Sicking, C.

2017-12-01

Streaming Depth Images of ambient seismic signals using numerous, densely-distributed, receivers have revealed their connection to hydraulically active fractures at 0.5 to 5 km depths. Key for this type of imaging is very high-fold stacking over both multiple receives and periods of a few hours. Also important is suppression of waveforms from fixed, repeating sources such as pumps, generators, and traffic. A typical surface-based ambient SDI survey would use a 3D seismic receiver grid. It would have 1,000 to 4,000 uniformly distributed receivers at a density of 50/km2over the target. If acquired by borehole receivers buried 100 m deep, the density can be dropped by an order of magnitude. We show examples of the acquisition and signal processing scenarios used to produce the ambient images. (Sicking et al., SEG Interpretation, Nov 2017.) While the fracture-fluid source connection of SDI has been verified by drilling and various types of hydraulic tests, the precise nature of the signal's origin is not clear. At the current level of observation, the signals do not have identifiable phases, but can be focused using P wave velocities. Suggested sources are resonances of pressures fluctuations in the fractures, or small, continuous, slips on fractures surfaces. In either case, it appears that the driving mechanism is tectonic strain in an inherently unstable crust. Solid earth tides may enhance these strains. We illustrate the value of the ambient SDI method in its industrial application by showing case histories from energy industry and carbon-capture-sequestration projects. These include ambient images taken before, during, and after hydraulic treatments in un-conventional reservoirs. The results show not only locations of active fractures, but also their time responses to stimulation and production. Time-lapse ambient imaging can forecast and track events such as well interferences and production changes that can result from nearby treatments.

Shallow velocity structure above the Socorro Magma Body from ambient noise tomography using the large-N Sevilleta array, central Rio Grande Rift, New Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Worthington, L. L.; Ranasinghe, N. R.; Schmandt, B.; Jiang, C.; Finlay, T. S.; Bilek, S. L.; Aster, R. C.

2017-12-01

The Socorro Magma Body (SMB) is one of the largest recognized active mid-crustal magma intrusions globally. Inflation of the SMB drives sporadically seismogenic uplift at rates of up to of few millimeters per year. We examine the upper crustal structure of the northern section of the SMB region using ambient noise seismic data collected from the Sevilleta Array and New Mexico Tech (NMT) seismic network to constrain basin structure and identify possible upper crustal heterogeneities caused by heat flow and/or fluid or magma migration to shallower depths. The Sevilleta Array comprised 801 vertical-component Nodal seismic stations with 10-Hz seismometers deployed within the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in the central Rio Grande rift north of Socorro, New Mexico, for a period of 12 days during February 2015. Five short period seismic stations from the NMT network located south of the Sevilleta array are also used to improve the raypath coverage outside the Sevilleta array. Inter-station ambient noise cross-correlations were computed from all available 20-minute time windows and stacked to obtain estimates of the vertical component Green's function. Clear fundamental mode Rayleigh wave energy is observed from 3 to 6 s period. Beamforming indicates prominent noise sources from the southwest, near Baja California, and the southeast, in the Gulf of Mexico. The frequency-time analysis method was implemented to measure fundamental mode Rayleigh wave phase velocities and the resulting inter-station travel times were inverted to obtain 2-D phase velocity maps. One-dimensional sensitivity kernels indicate that the Rayleigh wave phase velocity maps are sensitive to a depth interval of 1 to 8 km, depending on wave period. The maps show (up to 40%) variations in phase velocity within the Sevilleta Array, with the largest variations found for periods of 5-6 seconds. Holocene to upper Pleistocene, alluvial sediments found in the Socorro Basin consistently show lower phase

Broadband seismic noise attenuation versus depth at the Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

Hutt, Charles R.; Ringler, Adam; Gee, Lind

2017-01-01

Seismic noise induced by atmospheric processes such as wind and pressure changes can be a major contributor to the background noise observed in many seismograph stations, especially those installed at or near the surface. Cultural noise such as vehicle traffic or nearby buildings with air handling equipment also contributes to seismic background noise. Such noise sources fundamentally limit our ability to resolve earthquake‐generated signals. Many previous seismic noise versus depth studies focused separately on either high‐frequency (>1  Hz">>1  Hz) or low‐frequency (shallow surface vaults) up to 100 m or more (boreholes) in the permanent observatories of the Global Seismographic Network (GSN). It is important for managers and planners of these and similar arrays and networks of seismograph stations to understand the attenuation of surface‐generated noise versus depth so that they can achieve desired performance goals within their budgets as well as their frequency band of focus. The results of this study will assist in decisions regarding BB and VBB seismometer installation depths. In general, we find that greater installation depths are better and seismometer emplacement in hard rock is better than in soil. Attenuation for any given depth varies with frequency. More specifically, we find that the dependence of depth will be application dependent based on the frequency band and sensitive axes of interest. For quick deployments (like aftershock studies), 1 m may be deep enough to produce good data, especially when the focus is on vertical data where temperature stability fundamentally limits the low‐frequency noise levels and little low‐frequency data will be used. For temporary (medium‐term) deployments (e.g., TA) where low cost can be very important, 2–3 m should be sufficient, but such shallow installations will limit the ability to resolve low‐frequency signals, especially on horizontal components. Of course, one should try for

On inferring the noise in probabilistic seismic AVO inversion using hierarchical Bayes

OpenAIRE

Madsen, Rasmus Bødker; Zunino, Andrea; Hansen, Thomas Mejer

2017-01-01

A realistic noise model is essential for trustworthy inversion of geophysical data. Sometimes, as in case of seismic data, quan- tification of the noise model is non-trivial. To remedy this, a hierarchical Bayes approach can be adopted in which proper- ties of the noise model, such as the amplitude of an assumed uncorrelated Gaussian noise model, can be inferred as part of the inversion. Here we demonstrate how such an approach can lead to substantial overfitting of noise when inverting a 1D ...

Integral Analysis of Seismic Refraction and Ambient Vibration Survey for Subsurface Profile Evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Hazreek, Z. A. M.; Kamarudin, A. F.; Rosli, S.; Fauziah, A.; Akmal, M. A. K.; Aziman, M.; Azhar, A. T. S.; Ashraf, M. I. M.; Shaylinda, M. Z. N.; Rais, Y.; Ishak, M. F.; Alel, M. N. A.

2018-04-01

Geotechnical site investigation as known as subsurface profile evaluation is the process of subsurface layer characteristics determination which finally used for design and construction phase. Traditionally, site investigation was performed using drilling technique thus suffers from several limitation due to cost, time, data coverage and sustainability. In order to overcome those problems, this study adopted surface techniques using seismic refraction and ambient vibration method for subsurface profile depth evaluation. Seismic refraction data acquisition and processing was performed using ABEM Terraloc and OPTIM software respectively. Meanwhile ambient vibration data acquisition and processing was performed using CityShark II, Lennartz and GEOPSY software respectively. It was found that studied area consist of two layers representing overburden and bedrock geomaterials based on p-wave velocity value (vp = 300 – 2500 m/s and vp > 2500 m/s) and natural frequency value (Fo = 3.37 – 3.90 Hz) analyzed. Further analysis found that both methods show some good similarity in term of depth and thickness with percentage accuracy at 60 – 97%. Consequently, this study has demonstrated that the application of seismic refractin and ambient vibration method was applicable in subsurface profile depth and thickness estimation. Moreover, surface technique which consider as non-destructive method adopted in this study was able to compliment conventional drilling method in term of cost, time, data coverage and environmental sustainaibility.

Results from an acoustic modelling study of seismic airgun survey noise in Queen Charlotte Basin

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

MacGillivray, A.O.; Chapman, N.R. [Victoria Univ., BC (Canada). School of Earth and Ocean Sciences

2005-12-07

An acoustic modelling study was conducted to examine seismic survey noise propagation in the Queen Charlotte Basin (QCB) and better understand the physical aspects of sound transmission. The study results are intended to help determine the potential physiological and behavioural effects of airgun noise on marine mammals and fish. The scope of the study included a numerical simulation of underwater sound transmission in QCB in areas where oil and gas exploration activities may be conducted; a forecast of received noise levels by combining acoustic transmission loss computations with acoustic source levels representative of seismic exploration activity and, the use of received forecasts to estimate zones of impact for marine mammals. The critical environmental parameters in the QCB are the bathymetry of the ocean, the sound speed profile in the water and the geoacoustic profile of the seabed. The RAM acoustic propagation model developed by the United States Naval Research Laboratory was used to compute acoustic transmission loss in the QCB. The source level and directionality of the seismic array was determined by a full-waveform array source signature model. This modelling study of noise propagation from seismic surveys revealed several key findings. Among them, it showed that received noise levels in the water are affected by the source location, array orientation and the shape of the sound speed profile with respect to water depth. It also showed that noise levels are lowest in shallow bathymetry. 30 refs., 5 tabs., 13 figs.

Composition and variation of noise recorded at the Yellowknife Seismic Array, 1991-2007

Science.gov (United States)

Koper, K.D.; De Foy, B.; Benz, H.

2009-01-01

We analyze seismic noise recorded on the 18 short-period, vertical component seismometers of the Yellowknife Seismic Array (YKA). YKA has an aperture of 23 km and is sited on cratonic lithosphere in an area with low cultural noise. These properties make it ideal for studying natural seismic noise at periods of 1-3 s. We calculated frequency-wave number spectra in this band for over 6,000 time windows that were extracted once per day for 17 years (1991-2007). Slowness analysis reveals a rich variety of seismic phases originating from distinct source regions: Rg waves from the Great Slave Lake; Lg waves from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans; and teleseismic P waves from the north Pacific and equatorial mid-Atlantic regions. The surface wave energy is generated along coastlines, while the body wave energy is generated at least in part in deep-water, pelagic regions. Surface waves tend to dominate at the longer periods and, just as in earthquake seismograms, Lg is the most prominent arrival. Although the periods we study are slightly shorter than the classic double-frequency microseismic band of 4-10 s, the noise at YKA has clear seasonal behavior that is consistent with the ocean wave climate in the Northern Hemisphere. The temporal variation of most of the noise sources can be well fit using just two Fourier components: yearly and biyearly terms that combine to give a fast rise in microseismic power from mid-June through mid-October, followed by a gradual decline. The exception is the Rg energy from the Great Slave Lake, which shows a sharp drop in noise power over a 2-week period in November as the lake freezes. The L g noise from the east has a small but statistically significant positive slope, perhaps implying increased ocean wave activity in the North Atlantic over the last 17 years. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.

An analysis of seismic background noise variation and evaluation of detection capability of Keskin Array (BRTR PS-43) in Turkey

Science.gov (United States)

Bakir, M. E.; Ozel, N. M.; Semin, K. U.

2011-12-01

Bogazici University, Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute (KOERI) is currently operating the Keskin seismic array (BRTR-PS 43) located in town Keskin, providing real-time data to IDC. The instrumentaion of seismic array includes six short period borehole seismometers and one broadband borehole seismometer. The seismic background noise variation of Keskin array are studied in order to estimate the local and regional event detection capability in the frequency range from 1 Hz to 10 Hz. The Power density spectrum and also probability density function of Keskin array data were computed for seasonal and diurnal noise variations between 2008 and 2010. The computation will be extended to cover the period between 2005 and 2008. We attempt to determine the precise frequency characteristics of the background noise, which will help us to assess the station sensitivity. Minimum detectable magnitude versus distance for Keskin seismic array will be analyzed based on the seismic noise analysis. Detailed analysis results of seismic background noise and detection capability will be presented by this research.

Seismic Background Noise Analysis of BRTR (PS-43) Array

Science.gov (United States)

Ezgi Bakir, Mahmure; Meral Ozel, Nurcan; Umut Semin, Korhan

2015-04-01

The seismic background noise variation of BRTR array, composed of two sub arrays located in Ankara and in Ankara-Keskin, has been investigated by calculating Power Spectral Density and Probability Density Functions for seasonal and diurnal noise variations between 2005 and 2011. PSDs were computed within the frequency range of 100 s - 10 Hz. The results show us a little change in noise conditions in terms of time and location. Especially, noise level changes were observed at 3-5 Hz in diurnal variations at Keskin array and there is a 5-7 dB difference in day and night time in cultural noise band (1-10 Hz). On the other hand, noise levels of medium period array is high in 1-2 Hz frequency rather than short period array. High noise levels were observed in daily working times when we compare it to night-time in cultural noise band. The seasonal background noise variation at both sites also shows very similar properties to each other. Since these stations are borehole instruments and away from the coasts, we saw a small change in noise levels caused by microseism. Comparison between Keskin short period array and Ankara medium period array show us Keskin array is quiter than Ankara array.

REVIEW ARTICLE: A comparison of site response techniques using earthquake data and ambient seismic noise analysis in the large urban areas of Santiago de Chile

Science.gov (United States)

Pilz, Marco; Parolai, Stefano; Leyton, Felipe; Campos, Jaime; Zschau, Jochen

2009-08-01

Situated in an active tectonic region, Santiago de Chile, the country's capital with more than six million inhabitants, faces tremendous earthquake risk. Macroseismic data for the 1985 Valparaiso event show large variations in the distribution of damage to buildings within short distances, indicating strong effects of local sediments on ground motion. Therefore, a temporary seismic network was installed in the urban area for recording earthquake activity and a study was carried out aiming to estimate site amplification derived from horizontal-to-vertical (H/V) spectral ratios from earthquake data (EHV) and ambient noise (NHV), as well as using the standard spectral ratio (SSR) technique with a nearby reference station located on igneous rock. The results lead to the following conclusions: (1) The analysis of earthquake data shows significant dependence on the local geological structure with respect to amplitude and duration. (2) An amplification of ground motion at frequencies higher than the fundamental one can be found. This amplification would not be found when looking at NHV ratios alone. (3) The analysis of NHV spectral ratios shows that they can only provide a lower bound in amplitude for site amplification. (4) P-wave site responses always show lower amplitudes than those derived by S waves, and sometimes even fail to provide some frequencies of amplification. (5) No variability in terms of time and amplitude is observed in the analysis of the H/V ratio of noise. (6) Due to the geological conditions in some parts of the investigated area, the fundamental resonance frequency of a site is difficult to estimate following standard criteria proposed by the SESAME consortium, suggesting that these are too restrictive under certain circumstances.

Study on the application of ambient vibration tests to evaluate the effectiveness of seismic retrofitting

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Li; Takaaki, Ohkubo; Guang-hui, Li

2018-03-01

In recent years, earthquakes have occurred frequently, and the seismic performance of existing school buildings has become particularly important. The main method for improving the seismic resistance of existing buildings is reinforcement. However, there are few effective methods to evaluate the effect of reinforcement. Ambient vibration measurement experiments were conducted before and after seismic retrofitting using wireless measurement system and the changes of vibration characteristics were compared. The changes of acceleration response spectrum, natural periods and vibration modes indicate that the wireless vibration measurement system can be effectively applied to evaluate the effect of seismic retrofitting. The method can evaluate the effect of seismic retrofitting qualitatively, it is difficult to evaluate the effect of seismic retrofitting quantitatively at this stage.

Seismic Tomography and the Development of a State Velocity Profile

Science.gov (United States)

Marsh, S. J.; Nakata, N.

2017-12-01

Earthquakes have been a growing concern in the State of Oklahoma in the last few years and as a result, accurate earthquake location is of utmost importance. This means using a high resolution velocity model with both lateral and vertical variations. Velocity data is determined using ambient noise seismic interferometry and tomography. Passive seismic data was acquired from multiple IRIS networks over the span of eight years (2009-2016) and filtered for earthquake removal to obtain the background ambient noise profile for the state. Seismic Interferometry is applied to simulate ray paths between stations, this is done with each possible station pair for highest resolution. Finally the method of seismic tomography is used to extract the velocity data and develop the state velocity map. The final velocity profile will be a compilation of different network analyses due to changing station availability from year to year. North-Central Oklahoma has a dense seismic network and has been operating for the past few years. The seismic stations are located here because this is the most seismically active region. Other parts of the state have not had consistent coverage from year to year, and as such a reliable and high resolution velocity profile cannot be determined from this network. However, the Transportable Array (TA) passed through Oklahoma in 2014 and provided a much wider and evenly spaced coverage. The goal of this study is to ultimately combine these two arrays over time, and provide a high quality velocity profile for the State of Oklahoma.

Combined GPS and seismic monitoring of a 12-story structure in a region of induced seismicity in Oklahoma

Science.gov (United States)

Haase, J. S.; Soliman, M.; Kim, H.; Jaiswal, P.; Saunders, J. K.; Vernon, F.; Zhang, W.

2017-12-01

This work focuses on quantifying ground motions and their effects in Oklahoma near the location of the 2016 Mw 5.8 Pawnee earthquake, where seismicity has been increasing due to wastewater injection related to oil and natural gas production. Much of the building inventory in Oklahoma was constructed before the increase in seismicity and before the implementation of earthquake design and detailing provisions for reinforced concrete (RC) structures. We will use combined GPS/seismic monitoring techniques to measure ground motion in the field and the response of structures to this ground motion. Several Oklahoma State University buildings experienced damage due to the Pawnee earthquake. The USGS Shake Map product estimated peak ground acceleration (PGA) ranging from 0.12g to 0.15g at campus locations. We are deploying a high-rate GPS sensor and accelerometer on the roof and another accelerometer at ground level of a 12-story RC structure and at selected field sites in order to collect ambient noise data and nearby seismicity. The longer period recording characteristics of the GPS/seismic system are particularly well adapted to monitoring these large structures in the event of a significant earthquake. Gross characteristics of the structural system are described, which consists of RC columns and RC slabs in all stories. We conducted a preliminary structural analysis including modal analysis and response spectrum analysis based on a finite element (FE) simulation, which indicated that the period associated with the first X-axis bending, first torsional, and first Y-axis bending modes are 2.2 s, 2.1 s, and 1.8 s, respectively. Next, a preliminary analysis was conducted to estimate the range of expected deformation at the roof level for various earthquake excitations. The earthquake analysis shows a maximum roof displacement of 5 and 7 cm in the horizontal directions resulting from earthquake loads with PGA of 0.2g, well above the noise level of the combined GPS/seismic

Application of the Spatial Auto-Correlation Method for Shear-Wave Velocity Studies Using Ambient Noise

Science.gov (United States)

Asten, M. W.; Hayashi, K.

2018-05-01

Ambient seismic noise or microtremor observations used in spatial auto-correlation (SPAC) array methods consist of a wide frequency range of surface waves from the frequency of about 0.1 Hz to several tens of Hz. The wavelengths (and hence depth sensitivity of such surface waves) allow determination of the site S-wave velocity model from a depth of 1 or 2 m down to a maximum of several kilometres; it is a passive seismic method using only ambient noise as the energy source. Application usually uses a 2D seismic array with a small number of seismometers (generally between 2 and 15) to estimate the phase velocity dispersion curve and hence the S-wave velocity depth profile for the site. A large number of methods have been proposed and used to estimate the dispersion curve; SPAC is the one of the oldest and the most commonly used methods due to its versatility and minimal instrumentation requirements. We show that direct fitting of observed and model SPAC spectra generally gives a superior bandwidth of useable data than does the more common approach of inversion after the intermediate step of constructing an observed dispersion curve. Current case histories demonstrate the method with a range of array types including two-station arrays, L-shaped multi-station arrays, triangular and circular arrays. Array sizes from a few metres to several-km in diameter have been successfully deployed in sites ranging from downtown urban settings to rural and remote desert sites. A fundamental requirement of the method is the ability to average wave propagation over a range of azimuths; this can be achieved with either or both of the wave sources being widely distributed in azimuth, and the use of a 2D array sampling the wave field over a range of azimuths. Several variants of the method extend its applicability to under-sampled data from sparse arrays, the complexity of multiple-mode propagation of energy, and the problem of precise estimation where array geometry departs from an

Passive seismic investigation of Harrat Rahat

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mellors, Robert J. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2016-04-07

Ambient noise correlation was applied to 18 months of continuous seismic data from 14 stations. The procedure of Bensen et al [2007] was followed with some changes to optimize signal-to-noise of the results. The 18 months of correlations (representing about 1 week of CPU time on a 12 core machine) were stacked and manually inspected to yield about 40 cross-correlations. These cross-correlations represent the Green’s function between the station pairs and will be analyzed in part two of this project to yield velocity structure.

Adaptive Sensor Tuning for Seismic Event Detection in Environment with Electromagnetic Noise

Science.gov (United States)

Ziegler, Abra E.

The goal of this research is to detect possible microseismic events at a carbon sequestration site. Data recorded on a continuous downhole microseismic array in the Farnsworth Field, an oil field in Northern Texas that hosts an ongoing carbon capture, utilization, and storage project, were evaluated using machine learning and reinforcement learning techniques to determine their effectiveness at seismic event detection on a dataset with electromagnetic noise. The data were recorded from a passive vertical monitoring array consisting of 16 levels of 3-component 15 Hz geophones installed in the field and continuously recording since January 2014. Electromagnetic and other noise recorded on the array has significantly impacted the utility of the data and it was necessary to characterize and filter the noise in order to attempt event detection. Traditional detection methods using short-term average/long-term average (STA/LTA) algorithms were evaluated and determined to be ineffective because of changing noise levels. To improve the performance of event detection and automatically and dynamically detect seismic events using effective data processing parameters, an adaptive sensor tuning (AST) algorithm developed by Sandia National Laboratories was utilized. AST exploits neuro-dynamic programming (reinforcement learning) trained with historic event data to automatically self-tune and determine optimal detection parameter settings. The key metric that guides the AST algorithm is consistency of each sensor with its nearest neighbors: parameters are automatically adjusted on a per station basis to be more or less sensitive to produce consistent agreement of detections in its neighborhood. The effects that changes in neighborhood configuration have on signal detection were explored, as it was determined that neighborhood-based detections significantly reduce the number of both missed and false detections in ground-truthed data. The performance of the AST algorithm was

Assessment of ambient noise levels in the urban residential streets of Eastern Alexandria, Egypt.

Science.gov (United States)

Zaki, Gehan R

2012-12-01

Street of Alexandria have numerous unplanned, mixed, and noisy activities that may interfere with public health and comfort. The aim of this study was to assess A-weighted ambient noise levels in urban residential streets of Eastern Alexandria, Egypt, from September 2010 to January 2011, with the objective of recommending corrective actions to minimize high noise levels. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out, in which A-weighted ambient noise levels were measured on the basis of 24-h periods, using Ono sokki la-5120--precision integrating sound level meter, from September 2010 to January 2011. The measurements were taken on three streets, which were selected using stratified random sampling. Seven measurement sites, along the three streets under study, were selected by site visits according to predetermined criteria. A-weighted ambient noise levels (LAeq) were the highest [70.7 (24.2) dB] on high-traffic-density and high-human-activity streets followed by streets with moderate and low traffic density and human activity [67.5 (31.3) and 62.8 (38.2) dB], respectively. It varied significantly depending on means of transportation (road traffic, train, and/or tram) and human activities (parking lots, shops, and/or street merchants). The A-weighted ambient noise levels on urban residential streets of Eastern Alexandria, Egypt, exceeded the Egyptian National Standards during the three periods of the day (daytime, evening, and night), except in some relatively quiet locations during the night. Consequently, remedial actions to reduce noise levels were recommended.

Optimized suppression of coherent noise from seismic data using the Karhunen-Loeve transform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Montagne, Raul; Vasconcelos, Giovani L.

2006-01-01

Signals obtained in land seismic surveys are usually contaminated with coherent noise, among which the ground roll (Rayleigh surface waves) is of major concern for it can severely degrade the quality of the information obtained from the seismic record. This paper presents an optimized filter based on the Karhunen-Loeve transform for processing seismic images contaminated with ground roll. In this method, the contaminated region of the seismic record, to be processed by the filter, is selected in such way as to correspond to the maximum of a properly defined coherence index. The main advantages of the method are that the ground roll is suppressed with negligible distortion of the remnant reflection signals and that the filtering procedure can be automated. The image processing technique described in this study should also be relevant for other applications where coherent structures embedded in a complex spatiotemporal pattern need to be identified in a more refined way. In particular, it is argued that the method is appropriate for processing optical coherence tomography images whose quality is often degraded by coherent noise (speckle)

Correction of clock errors in seismic data using noise cross-correlations

Science.gov (United States)

Hable, Sarah; Sigloch, Karin; Barruol, Guilhem; Hadziioannou, Céline

2017-04-01

Correct and verifiable timing of seismic records is crucial for most seismological applications. For seismic land stations, frequent synchronization of the internal station clock with a GPS signal should ensure accurate timing, but loss of GPS synchronization is a common occurrence, especially for remote, temporary stations. In such cases, retrieval of clock timing has been a long-standing problem. The same timing problem applies to Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBS), where no GPS signal can be received during deployment and only two GPS synchronizations can be attempted upon deployment and recovery. If successful, a skew correction is usually applied, where the final timing deviation is interpolated linearly across the entire operation period. If GPS synchronization upon recovery fails, then even this simple and unverified, first-order correction is not possible. In recent years, the usage of cross-correlation functions (CCFs) of ambient seismic noise has been demonstrated as a clock-correction method for certain network geometries. We demonstrate the great potential of this technique for island stations and OBS that were installed in the course of the Réunion Hotspot and Upper Mantle - Réunions Unterer Mantel (RHUM-RUM) project in the western Indian Ocean. Four stations on the island La Réunion were affected by clock errors of up to several minutes due to a missing GPS signal. CCFs are calculated for each day and compared with a reference cross-correlation function (RCF), which is usually the average of all CCFs. The clock error of each day is then determined from the measured shift between the daily CCFs and the RCF. To improve the accuracy of the method, CCFs are computed for several land stations and all three seismic components. Averaging over these station pairs and their 9 component pairs reduces the standard deviation of the clock errors by a factor of 4 (from 80 ms to 20 ms). This procedure permits a continuous monitoring of clock errors where small clock

Obtaining and Estimating Low Noise Floors in Vibration Sensors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brincker, Rune; Larsen, Jesper Abildgaard

2007-01-01

For some applications like seismic applications and measuring ambient vibrations in structures, it is essential that the noise floors of the sensors and other system components are low and known to the user. Some of the most important noise sources are reviewed and it is discussed how the sensor...... can be designed in order to obtain a low noise floor. Techniques to estimate the noise floors for sensors are reviewed and are demonstrated on a commercial commonly used sensor for vibration testing. It is illustrated how the noise floor can be calculated using the coherence between simultaneous...

Ambient noise forecasting with a large acoustic array in a complex shallow water environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Rogers, Jeffrey S; Wales, Stephen C; Means, Steven L

2017-11-01

Forecasting ambient noise levels in the ocean can be a useful way of characterizing the detection performance of sonar systems and projecting bounds on performance into the near future. The assertion is that noise forecasting can be improved with a priori knowledge of source positions coupled with the ability to resolve closely separated sources in bearing. One example of such a system is the large aperture research array located at the South Florida Test Facility. Given radar and Automatic Identification System defined source positions and environmental information, transmission loss (TL) is computed from known source positions to the array. Source levels (SLs) of individual ships are then estimated from computed TL and the pre-determined beam response of the array using a non-negative least squares algorithm. Ambient noise forecasts are formed by projecting the estimated SLs along known ship tracks. Ambient noise forecast estimates are compared to measured beam level data and mean-squared error is computed. A mean squared error as low as 3.5 dB is demonstrated in 30 min forecast estimates when compared to ground truth.

Upper and Middle Crustal Velocity Structure of the Colombian Andes From Ambient Noise Tomography: Investigating Subduction-Related Magmatism in the Overriding Plate

Science.gov (United States)

Poveda, Esteban; Julià, Jordi; Schimmel, Martin; Perez-Garcia, Nelson

2018-02-01

New maps of S velocity variation for the upper and middle crust making up the northwestern most corner of South America have been developed from cross correlation of ambient seismic noise at 52 broadband stations in the region. Over 1,300 empirical Green's functions, reconstructing the Rayleigh wave portion of the seismic wavefield, were obtained after time and frequency-domain normalization of the ambient noise recordings and stacking of 48 months of normalized data. Interstation phase and group velocity curves were then measured in the 6-38 s period range and tomographically inverted to produce maps of phase and group velocity variation in a 0.5° × 0.5° grid. Velocity-depth profiles were developed for each node after simultaneously inverting phase and group velocity curves and combined to produce 3-D maps of S velocity variation for the region. The S velocity models reveal a 7 km thick sedimentary cover in the Caribbean region, the Magdalena Valley, and the Cordillera Oriental, as well as crustal thicknesses in the Pacific and Caribbean region under 35 km, consistent with previous studies. They also display zones of slow velocity at 25-35 km depth under regions of both active and inactive volcanism, suggesting the presence of melts that carry the signature of segmented subduction into the overriding plate. A low-velocity zone in the same depth range is imaged under the Lower Magdalena Basin in the Caribbean region, which may represent either sublithospheric melts ponding at midcrustal levels after breaching through a fractured Caribbean flat slab or fluid migration through major faults within the Caribbean crust.

Variations in the microseismic noise level observed at the Bucovina Seismic Array (BURAR)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghica, Daniela; Radulian, Mircea; Popa, Mihaela

2005-01-01

The microseismic noise level analysis for a seismic array is an essential step to accurately process the data recorded by the system. Basically, the observed background noise is a complex combination of natural and cultural sources as local geology, specific area activity (roads traffic, agricultural and industrial activities) or weather conditions.The understanding of the BURAR site noise characteristics is important for the array specific techniques (beamforming, f-k analysis), to apply the correct bandpass filtering, in order to obtain noise suppression and conservation of the 'true' seismic signal. The array monitoring potential of very small earthquakes and explosions will be enhanced, based on the best signal-to-noise ratio.The noise study at BURAR was carried out over one-year period, considering the noise power spectra in a 0.1 to 10 Hz frequency interval, for every 24 hours: 5 minutes during day and 5 minutes during night. Only short-period vertical sensors were considered. Systematic variations in the microseismic noise level at the BURAR site were observed:- diurnal: a decreasing of about 40% in night noise level at 1 Hz frequency; at 6 Hz frequency, the decreasing could reach 80-90% for 'non-winter' months (May to October); - seasonal: during the winter time, a lower noise level is observed, due to the restraining of the local specific activity (especially agriculture and farming) and of the road traffic. To summarize the level of microseismic noise observed at BURAR for one-year observations, a model curve for array noise level has been estimated, including upper and lower bounds of noise power density together with average spectrum. The BURAR noise model will be useful in the process of local site conditions estimation, by eliminating the noise contribution from the array recording. Also, the detection processing, phase identification and events location procedures will be significantly improved. (authors)

Characteristics of Broadband Seismic Noise in Taiwan and Neighboring Islands

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Ching-Wei; Rau, Ruey-Juin

2017-04-01

We used seismic waveform data from 115 broad-band stations of BATS (Institute of Earth Science, Academia Sinica) and Central Weather Bureau Seismic Network from 2012 to 2016 for noise-level mapping in Taiwan and neighboring islands. We computed Power Spectral Density (PSD) for each station and analyzed long-term variance of microseism energy and polarizations of noise for severe weather events. The island of Taiwan is surrounded by ocean and the Central Range which has the highest peak Jade Mountain at 3,952 meters height occupies more than 66% of the island and departs it into the east and west coasts. The geographic settings then result in the high population density in the western plain and northern Taiwan. The dominant noise source in the microseism band (periods from 4-20 seconds) is the coupling between the near-coast ocean and sea floor which produces the high noise of averaging -130 dB along the west coastal area. In the eastern volcanic-arc coastal areas, the noise level is about 7% smaller than the west coast due to its deeper offshore water depth. As for the shorter periods (0.1-0.25 seconds) band, the so-called culture noise, an anthropic activity variance with the highest -103 dB can be identified in the metropolitan areas, such as the Taipei city and the noise level in the Central Range area is averaging -138 dB. Moreover, the noise also shows a daily and temporal evolution mainly related to the traffic effect. Furthermore, we determined the noise level for the entire island of Taiwan during 26-28 September, 2016, when the typhoon Megi hit the island and retrieved the enhancement of secondary microseism energy for each stations. Typhoon Megi landed in eastern and central Taiwan and reached the maximum wind speed of 45m/s in the surrounded eyewall. The Central Range, as a barrier, decreased the wind speed in southern Taiwan making an enhancement less than 10 dB, while in northern Taiwan where the direction the typhoon headed to, can reach more than 35

Wind dependence of ambient noise in a biologically rich coastal area.

Science.gov (United States)

Mathias, Delphine; Gervaise, Cédric; Di Iorio, Lucia

2016-02-01

The wind dependence of acoustic spectrum between 100 Hz and 16 kHz is investigated for coastal biologically rich areas. The analysis of 5 months of continuous measurements run in a 10 m deep shallow water environment off Brittany (France) showed that wind dependence of spectral levels is subject to masking by biological sounds. When dealing with raw data, the wind dependence of spectral levels was not significant for frequencies where biological sounds were present (2 to 10 kHz). An algorithm developed by Kinda, Simard, Gervaise, Mars, and Fortier [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 134(1), 77-87 (2013)] was used to automatically filter out the loud distinctive biological contribution and estimated the ambient noise spectrum. The wind dependence of ambient noise spectrum was always significant after application of this filter. A mixture model for ambient noise spectrum which accounts for the richness of the soundscape is proposed. This model revealed that wind dependence holds once the wind speed was strong enough to produce sounds higher in amplitude than the biological chorus (9 kn at 3 kHz, 11 kn at 8 kHz). For these higher wind speeds, a logarithmic affine law was adequate and its estimated parameters were compatible with previous studies (average slope 27.1 dB per decade of wind speed increase).

Probabilistic seismic safety assessment of a CANDU 6 nuclear power plant including ambient vibration tests: Case study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nour, Ali [Hydro Québec, Montréal, Québec H2L4P5 (Canada); École Polytechnique de Montréal, Montréal, Québec H3C3A7 (Canada); Cherfaoui, Abdelhalim; Gocevski, Vladimir [Hydro Québec, Montréal, Québec H2L4P5 (Canada); Léger, Pierre [École Polytechnique de Montréal, Montréal, Québec H3C3A7 (Canada)

2016-08-01

Highlights: • In this case study, the seismic PSA methodology adopted for a CANDU 6 is presented. • Ambient vibrations testing to calibrate a 3D FEM and to reduce uncertainties is performed. • Procedure for the development of FRS for the RB considering wave incoherency effect is proposed. • Seismic fragility analysis for the RB is presented. - Abstract: Following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in Japan there is a worldwide interest in reducing uncertainties in seismic safety assessment of existing nuclear power plant (NPP). Within the scope of a Canadian refurbishment project of a CANDU 6 (NPP) put in service in 1983, structures and equipment must sustain a new seismic demand characterised by the uniform hazard spectrum (UHS) obtained from a site specific study defined for a return period of 1/10,000 years. This UHS exhibits larger spectral ordinates in the high-frequency range than those used in design. To reduce modeling uncertainties as part of a seismic probabilistic safety assessment (PSA), Hydro-Québec developed a procedure using ambient vibrations testing to calibrate a detailed 3D finite element model (FEM) of the containment and reactor building (RB). This calibrated FE model is then used for generating floor response spectra (FRS) based on ground motion time histories compatible with the UHS. Seismic fragility analyses of the reactor building (RB) and structural components are also performed in the context of a case study. Because the RB is founded on a large circular raft, it is possible to consider the effect of the seismic wave incoherency to filter out the high-frequency content, mainly above 10 Hz, using the incoherency transfer function (ITF) method. This allows reducing significantly the non-necessary conservatism in resulting FRS, an important issue for an existing NPP. The proposed case study, and related methodology using ambient vibration testing, is particularly useful to engineers involved in seismic re-evaluation of

A method to establish seismic noise baselines for automated station assessment

Science.gov (United States)

McNamara, D.E.; Hutt, C.R.; Gee, L.S.; Benz, H.M.; Buland, R.P.

2009-01-01

We present a method for quantifying station noise baselines and characterizing the spectral shape of out-of-nominal noise sources. Our intent is to automate this method in order to ensure that only the highest-quality data are used in rapid earthquake products at NEIC. In addition, the station noise baselines provide a valuable tool to support the quality control of GSN and ANSS backbone data and metadata. The procedures addressed here are currently in development at the NEIC, and work is underway to understand how quickly changes from nominal can be observed and used within the NEIC processing framework. The spectral methods and software used to compute station baselines and described herein (PQLX) can be useful to both permanent and portable seismic stations operators. Applications include: general seismic station and data quality control (QC), evaluation of instrument responses, assessment of near real-time communication system performance, characterization of site cultural noise conditions, and evaluation of sensor vault design, as well as assessment of gross network capabilities (McNamara et al. 2005). Future PQLX development plans include incorporating station baselines for automated QC methods and automating station status report generation and notification based on user-defined QC parameters. The PQLX software is available through the USGS (http://earthquake. usgs.gov/research/software/pqlx.php) and IRIS (http://www.iris.edu/software/ pqlx/).

Design and implementation of a low-cost multichannel seismic noise recorder for array measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Soler-Llorens, Juan Luis; Juan Giner-Caturla, Jose; Molina-Palacios, Sergio; Galiana-Merino, Juan Jose; Rosa-Herranz, Julio; Agea-Medina, Noelia

2017-04-01

Soil characterization is the starting point for seismic hazard studies. Currently, the methods based on ambient noise measurements are very used because they are non-invasive methods and relatively easy to implement in urban areas. Among these methods, the analysis of array measurements provides the dispersion curve and subsequently the shear-wave velocity profile associated to the site under study. In this case, we need several sensors recording simultaneously and a data acquisition system with one channel by sensor, what can become the complete equipment unaffordable for small research groups. In this work, we have designed and implemented a low-cost multichannel ambient noise recorder for array measurements. The complete system is based on Arduino, an open source electronic development platform, which allows recording 12 differential input channels simultaneously. Besides, it is complemented with a conditioning circuit that includes an anti-aliasing filter and a selectable gain between 0 and 40dB. The data acquisition is set up through a user-friendly graphical user interface. It is important to note that the electronic scheme as well as the programming code are open hardware and software, respectively, so it allows other researchers to suite the system to their particular requirements. The developed equipment has been tested at several sites around the province of Alicante (southeast of Spain), where the soil characteristics are well-known from previous studies. Array measurements have been taken and after that, the recorded data have been analysed using the frequency-wavenumber (f-k) and the extended spatial autocorrelation (ESAC) methods. The comparison of the obtained dispersion curves with the ones obtained in previous studies shows the suitability of the implemented low-cost system for array measurements.

Accelerometer Sensor Specifications to Predict Hydrocarbon Using Passive Seismic Technique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. H. Md Khir

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The ambient seismic ground noise has been investigated in several surveys worldwide in the last 10 years to verify the correlation between observed seismic energy anomalies at the surface and the presence of hydrocarbon reserves beneath. This is due to the premise that anomalies provide information about the geology and potential presence of hydrocarbon. However a technology gap manifested in nonoptimal detection of seismic signals of interest is observed. This is due to the fact that available sensors are not designed on the basis of passive seismic signal attributes and mainly in terms of amplitude and bandwidth. This is because of that fact that passive seismic acquisition requires greater instrumentation sensitivity, noise immunity, and bandwidth, with active seismic acquisition, where vibratory or impulsive sources were utilized to receive reflections through geophones. Therefore, in the case of passive seismic acquisition, it is necessary to select the best monitoring equipment for its success or failure. Hence, concerning sensors performance, this paper highlights the technological gap and motivates developing dedicated sensors for optimal solution at lower frequencies. Thus, the improved passive seismic recording helps in oil and gas industry to perform better fracture mapping and identify more appropriate stratigraphy at low frequencies.

Seismic reflection response from cross-correlations of ambient vibrations on non-conventional hidrocarbon reservoir

Science.gov (United States)

Huerta, F. V.; Granados, I.; Aguirre, J.; Carrera, R. Á.

2017-12-01

Nowadays, in hydrocarbon industry, there is a need to optimize and reduce exploration costs in the different types of reservoirs, motivating the community specialized in the search and development of alternative exploration geophysical methods. This study show the reflection response obtained from a shale gas / oil deposit through the method of seismic interferometry of ambient vibrations in combination with Wavelet analysis and conventional seismic reflection techniques (CMP & NMO). The method is to generate seismic responses from virtual sources through the process of cross-correlation of records of Ambient Seismic Vibrations (ASV), collected in different receivers. The seismic response obtained is interpreted as the response that would be measured in one of the receivers considering a virtual source in the other. The acquisition of ASV records was performed in northern of Mexico through semi-rectangular arrays of multi-component geophones with instrumental response of 10 Hz. The in-line distance between geophones was 40 m while in cross-line was 280 m, the sampling used during the data collection was 2 ms and the total duration of the records was 6 hours. The results show the reflection response of two lines in the in-line direction and two in the cross-line direction for which the continuity of coherent events have been identified and interpreted as reflectors. There is certainty that the events identified correspond to reflections because the time-frequency analysis performed with the Wavelet Transform has allowed to identify the frequency band in which there are body waves. On the other hand, the CMP and NMO techniques have allowed to emphasize and correct the reflection response obtained during the correlation processes in the frequency band of interest. The results of the processing and analysis of ASV records through the seismic interferometry method have allowed us to see interesting results in light of the cross-correlation process in combination with

Teaching hands-on geophysics: examples from the Rū seismic network in New Zealand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Wijk, Kasper; Simpson, Jonathan; Adam, Ludmila

2017-01-01

Education in physics and geosciences can be effectively illustrated by the analysis of earthquakes and the subsequent propagation of seismic waves in the Earth. Educational seismology has matured to a level where both the hard- and software are robust and user friendly. This has resulted in successful implementation of educational networks around the world. Seismic data recorded by students are of such quality that these can be used in classic earthquake location exercises, for example. But even ocean waves weakly coupled into the Earth’s crust can now be recorded on educational seismometers. These signals are not just noise, but form the basis of more recent developments in seismology, such as seismic interferometry, where seismic waves generated by ocean waves—instead of earthquakes—can be used to infer information about the Earth’s interior. Here, we introduce an earthquake location exercise and an analysis of ambient seismic noise, and present examples. Data are provided, and all needed software is freely available. (review)

Ambient air pollution, traffic noise and adult asthma prevalence : A BioSHaRE approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cai, Yutong; Zijlema, Wilma L.; Doiron, Dany; Blangiardo, Marta; Burton, Paul R.; Fortier, Isabel; Gaye, Amadou; Gulliver, John; de Hoogh, Kees; Hveem, Kristian; Mbatchou, Stephane; Morley, David W; Stolk, Ronald P.; Elliott, Paul; Hansell, Anna L.; Hodgson, Susan

2017-01-01

We investigated the effects of both ambient air pollution and traffic noise on adult asthma prevalence, using harmonised data from three European cohort studies established in 2006-2013 (HUNT3, Lifelines and UK Biobank). Residential exposures to ambient air pollution (particulate matter with

Depth and sharpness variations of 410-km and 660-km discontinuities in North China Craton from dense array ambient noise interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, H.; Feng, J.; Poli, P.; Fang, L.; Wu, Y.

2017-12-01

Recent studies have demonstrated that body waves between pairs of stations can be successfully retrieved from ambient noise cross-correlation at both regional and global scales, although surface waves are the dominant signals. However, it is still difficult to use these retrieved body wave signals to map lateral depth variations of main structural discontinuities or velocity contrasts because of its low signal to noise ratio (SNR). In this research, based on a dense seismic array in eastern North China Craton, reflected P-wave signals from 410-km and 660-km discontinuities can be successfully recovered from ambient noise cross-correlation. To improve SNR of the reflected phases, the cross-correlations are stacked within each bin with the phase-weighted stack (PWS) method. In addition, there exist apparent spatial variations of the relative amplitude ratios between the reflected P410P and P660P phases. The retrieved P410P and P660P phases from stacked correlations reveal lateral variations of both depths and sharpness of the 410-km and 660-km discontinuities along two profiles, which may be related with hot material upwelling and the effect of stagnant Pacific plate in the transition zone beneath North China Craton. The imaging results are generally consistent with the results from teleseismic receiver functions, which demonstrate the possibility of mapping high-resolution topography and sharpness of deep internal discontinuities without earthquake-station geometric limitations. Future joint imaging with both interferometric and passive signals will be better for understanding interface architectures and related dynamic processes of the Earth.

Ambient noise tomography of Lo'ihi

Science.gov (United States)

McClement, K.; Thurber, C. H.; Teel, A.; Caplan-Auerbach, J.

2012-12-01

Lo'ihi seamount, the youngest volcano in the Hawaiian-Emperor chain, lies approximately 30 km south of Hawai'i Island with its summit still approximately 1 km below sea level. Lo'ihi offers a unique opportunity to study the early formation of a hotspot volcano and can provide insight into the deep internal structure of the other volcanoes that make up the Hawaiian Islands. This study uses Ambient Noise Tomography (ANT) to create a 3D tomographic image of Lo'ihi's S-wave velocity structure from ocean bottom seismometer (OBS) data. ANT has been used in many subaerial studies but has seen very few applications to OBS data. This study uses continuous data recorded in 2010 to 2011 from 12 short-period OBS instruments deployed on and around Lo'ihi. With the farthest distance between stations being just over 30 km, the stations provide a fairly dense coverage mainly for the northern half of the volcano. Following the approach of Masterlark et al. [2010], we computed vertical-vertical and vertical-radial cross-correlations using 97 days of continuous data from the 12 stations to produce the ambient noise Green's functions. From these, dispersion curves were produced over a frequency range from .04 Hz to 0.65 Hz . After a quality control analysis, checkerboard tests were used to determine a suitable cell size for the 2D group velocity inversions. The final step is the inversion of the group velocity dispersion curves to create a 3D Vs model. The 3D Vs image produced through this method does not provide clear evidence of a shallow magma chamber; however, when compared to a previous P-wave velocity (Vp) model [Caplan-Auerbach, 2001], a high Vp/Vs ratio is evident especially at depths from 1 km to 5 km, indicating the presence of highly fractured rock.

On measuring surface wave phase velocity from station–station cross-correlation of ambient signal

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boschi, Lapo; Weemstra, Cornelis; Verbeke, Julie

2012-01-01

We apply two different algorithms to measure surface wave phase velocity, as a function of frequency, from seismic ambient noise recorded at pairs of stations from a large European network. The two methods are based on consistent theoretical formulations, but differ in the implementation: one met...

Spatial Vertical Directionality and Correlation of Low-Frequency Ambient Noise in Deep Ocean Direct-Arrival Zones

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qiulong Yang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Wind-driven and distant shipping noise sources contribute to the total noise field in the deep ocean direct-arrival zones. Wind-driven and distant shipping noise sources may significantly and simultaneously affect the spatial characteristics of the total noise field to some extent. In this work, a ray approach and parabolic equation solution method were jointly utilized to model the low-frequency ambient noise field in a range-dependent deep ocean environment by considering their calculation accuracy and efficiency in near-field wind-driven and far-field distant shipping noise fields. The reanalysis databases of National Center of Environment Prediction (NCEP and Volunteer Observation System (VOS were used to model the ambient noise source intensity and distribution. Spatial vertical directionality and correlation were analyzed in three scenarios that correspond to three wind speed conditions. The noise field was dominated by distant shipping noise sources when the wind speed was less than 3 m/s, and then the spatial vertical directionality and vertical correlation of the total noise field were nearly consistent with those of distant shipping noise field. The total noise field was completely dominated by near field wind generated noise sources when the wind speed was greater than 12 m/s at 150 Hz, and then the spatial vertical correlation coefficient and directionality pattern of the total noise field was approximately consistent with that of the wind-driven noise field. The spatial characteristics of the total noise field for wind speeds between 3 m/s and 12 m/s were the weighted results of wind-driven and distant shipping noise fields. Furthermore, the spatial characteristics of low-frequency ambient noise field were compared with the classical Cron/Sherman deep water noise field coherence function. Simulation results with the described modeling method showed good agreement with the experimental measurement results based on the vertical line

Spatial Vertical Directionality and Correlation of Low-Frequency Ambient Noise in Deep Ocean Direct-Arrival Zones

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Qiulong; Yang, Kunde; Cao, Ran; Duan, Shunli

2018-01-01

Wind-driven and distant shipping noise sources contribute to the total noise field in the deep ocean direct-arrival zones. Wind-driven and distant shipping noise sources may significantly and simultaneously affect the spatial characteristics of the total noise field to some extent. In this work, a ray approach and parabolic equation solution method were jointly utilized to model the low-frequency ambient noise field in a range-dependent deep ocean environment by considering their calculation accuracy and efficiency in near-field wind-driven and far-field distant shipping noise fields. The reanalysis databases of National Center of Environment Prediction (NCEP) and Volunteer Observation System (VOS) were used to model the ambient noise source intensity and distribution. Spatial vertical directionality and correlation were analyzed in three scenarios that correspond to three wind speed conditions. The noise field was dominated by distant shipping noise sources when the wind speed was less than 3 m/s, and then the spatial vertical directionality and vertical correlation of the total noise field were nearly consistent with those of distant shipping noise field. The total noise field was completely dominated by near field wind generated noise sources when the wind speed was greater than 12 m/s at 150 Hz, and then the spatial vertical correlation coefficient and directionality pattern of the total noise field was approximately consistent with that of the wind-driven noise field. The spatial characteristics of the total noise field for wind speeds between 3 m/s and 12 m/s were the weighted results of wind-driven and distant shipping noise fields. Furthermore, the spatial characteristics of low-frequency ambient noise field were compared with the classical Cron/Sherman deep water noise field coherence function. Simulation results with the described modeling method showed good agreement with the experimental measurement results based on the vertical line array deployed near

The effects of music, white noise, and ambient noise on sedation and anxiety in patients under spinal anesthesia during surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Ilkkaya, Nazan Koylu; Ustun, Faik Emre; Sener, Elif Bengi; Kaya, Cengiz; Ustun, Yasemin Burcu; Koksal, Ersin; Kocamanoglu, Ismail Serhat; Ozkan, Fatih

2014-10-01

To compare effects of music, white noise, and ambient (background) noise on patient anxiety and sedation. Open, parallel, and randomized controlled trial. Seventy-five patients aged 18 to 60 years who were scheduled for surgical procedures under spinal anesthesia were randomly assigned to ambient noise (Group O), white noise (Group B), or music groups (Group M). We evaluated patients' anxiety and sedation levels via the Observer's Assessment of Alertness/Sedation (OAA/S) scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) questionnaire. At 5 minutes before surgery, the STAI-State Anxiety Inventory (SA) value was significantly lower in Group M than the other groups. At 30-minute recovery, Group M showed significantly lower STAI-SA values than the other groups. Patient satisfaction was highest in Group M. OAA/S values were not significantly different between groups during any period (P > .05). We suggest that patient-selected music reduces perioperative anxiety and contributes to patient satisfaction during the perioperative period. Copyright © 2014 American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

SeismoDome: Sonic and visual representation of earthquakes and seismic waves in the planetarium

Science.gov (United States)

Holtzman, B. K.; Candler, J.; Repetto, D.; Pratt, M. J.; Paté, A.; Turk, M.; Gualtieri, L.; Peter, D. B.; Trakinski, V.; Ebel, D. S. S.; Gossmann, J.; Lem, N.

2017-12-01

Since 2014, we have produced four "Seismodome" public programs in the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. To teach the general public about the dynamics of the Earth, we use a range of seismic data (seismicity catalogs, surface and body wave fields, ambient noise, free oscillations) to generate movies and sounds conveying aspects of the physics of earthquakes and seismic waves. The narrative aims to stretch people's sense of time and scale, starting with 2 billion years of convection, then zooming in seismicity over days to twenty years at different length scales, to hours of global seismic wave propagation, all compressed to minute long movies. To optimize the experience in the planetarium, the 180-degree fisheye screen corresponds directly to the surface of the Earth, such that the audience is inside the planet. The program consists of three main elements (1) Using sonified and animated seismicity catalogs, comparison of several years of earthquakes on different plate boundaries conveys the dramatic differences in their dynamics and the nature of great and "normal" earthquakes. (2) Animations of USArray data (based on "Ground Motion Visualizations" methods from IRIS but in 3D, with added sound) convey the basic observations of seismic wave fields, with which we raise questions about what they tell us about earthquake physics and the Earth's interior structure. (3) Movies of spectral element simulations of global seismic wave fields synchronized with sonified natural data push these questions further, especially when viewed from the interior of the planet. Other elements include (4) sounds of the global ambient noise field coupled to movies of mean ocean wave height (related to the noise source) and (5) three months of free oscillations / normal modes ringing after the Tohoku earthquake. We use and develop a wide range of sonification and animation methods, written mostly in python. Flat-screen versions of these movies

A First Layered Crustal Velocity Model for the Western Solomon Islands: Inversion of Measured Group Velocity of Surface Waves using Ambient Noise Cross-Correlation

Science.gov (United States)

Ku, C. S.; Kuo, Y. T.; Chao, W. A.; You, S. H.; Huang, B. S.; Chen, Y. G.; Taylor, F. W.; Yih-Min, W.

2017-12-01

Two earthquakes, MW 8.1 in 2007 and MW 7.1 in 2010, hit the Western Province of Solomon Islands and caused extensive damage, but motivated us to set up the first seismic network in this area. During the first phase, eight broadband seismic stations (BBS) were installed around the rupture zone of 2007 earthquake. With one-year seismic records, we cross-correlated the vertical component of ambient noise recorded in our BBS and calculated Rayleigh-wave group velocity dispersion curves on inter-station paths. The genetic algorithm to invert one-dimensional crustal velocity model is applied by fitting the averaged dispersion curves. The one-dimensional crustal velocity model is constituted by two layers and one half-space, representing the upper crust, lower crust, and uppermost mantle respectively. The resulted thickness values of the upper and lower crust are 6.4 and 14.2 km, respectively. Shear-wave velocities (VS) of the upper crust, lower crust, and uppermost mantle are 2.53, 3.57 and 4.23 km/s with the VP/VS ratios of 1.737, 1.742 and 1.759, respectively. This first layered crustal velocity model can be used as a preliminary reference to further study seismic sources such as earthquake activity and tectonic tremor.

Ambient air pollution, traffic noise and adult asthma prevalence: a BioSHaRE approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Yutong; Zijlema, Wilma L; Doiron, Dany; Blangiardo, Marta; Burton, Paul R; Fortier, Isabel; Gaye, Amadou; Gulliver, John; de Hoogh, Kees; Hveem, Kristian; Mbatchou, Stéphane; Morley, David W; Stolk, Ronald P; Elliott, Paul; Hansell, Anna L; Hodgson, Susan

2017-01-01

We investigated the effects of both ambient air pollution and traffic noise on adult asthma prevalence, using harmonised data from three European cohort studies established in 2006-2013 (HUNT3, Lifelines and UK Biobank).Residential exposures to ambient air pollution (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤10 µm (PM 10 ) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 )) were estimated by a pan-European Land Use Regression model for 2007. Traffic noise for 2009 was modelled at home addresses by adapting a standardised noise assessment framework (CNOSSOS-EU). A cross-sectional analysis of 646 731 participants aged ≥20 years was undertaken using DataSHIELD to pool data for individual-level analysis via a "compute to the data" approach. Multivariate logistic regression models were fitted to assess the effects of each exposure on lifetime and current asthma prevalence.PM 10 or NO 2 higher by 10 µg·m -3 was associated with 12.8% (95% CI 9.5-16.3%) and 1.9% (95% CI 1.1-2.8%) higher lifetime asthma prevalence, respectively, independent of confounders. Effects were larger in those aged ≥50 years, ever-smokers and less educated. Noise exposure was not significantly associated with asthma prevalence.This study suggests that long-term ambient PM 10 exposure is associated with asthma prevalence in western European adults. Traffic noise is not associated with asthma prevalence, but its potential to impact on asthma exacerbations needs further investigation. Copyright ©ERS 2017.

Origin of the chemical noise in ambient mass spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Shuiping; Zhu Zhiqiang; Huang Longzhu; Zhang Xinglei; Zhu Tenggao; Chen Huanwen

2012-01-01

The instrumental background of ambient mass spectrometry, (API-MS) is analyzed and the possible potential origins of the background noise is identified. According to the mass spectra obtained using the API-MS instruments by different manufacturers, the characteristic fragment ions all indicated that the background noise are resulted from the phthalates such as diethyl phthalate (DEP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), and silicones such as decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5) and dodecamethylcyclohexasiloxane (D6). These chemicals are probably released from the polymeric materials used in the ionization sources, such as O-type sealing ring etc. In addition, the instrumental background has to be considered especially during the analysis of phthalate and peptide compounds. (authors)

Spatial correlation analysis of seismic noise for STAR X-ray infrastructure design

Science.gov (United States)

D'Alessandro, Antonino; Agostino, Raffaele; Festa, Lorenzo; Gervasi, Anna; Guerra, Ignazio; Palmer, Dennis T.; Serafini, Luca

2014-05-01

. For this reason, we performed some measurements of seismic noise in order to characterize the environmental noise in the site in which the X-ray accelerator arise. For the characterization of the site, we carried out several passive seismic monitoring experiments at different times of the day and in different weather conditions. We recorded microtremor using an array of broadband 3C seismic sensors arranged along the linear accelerator. For each measurement point, we determined the displacement, velocity and acceleration spectrogram and power spectral density of both horizontal and vertical components. We determined also the microtremor horizontal to vertical spectral ratio as function of azimuth to individuate the main ground vibration direction and detect the existence of site or building resonance frequencies. We applied a rotation matrix to transform the North-South and East-West signal components in transversal and radial components, respect to the direction of the linear accelerator. Subsequently, for each couple of seismic stations we determined the coherence function to analyze the seismic noise spatial correlation. These analyses have allowed us to exhaustively characterize the seismic noise of the study area, from the point of view of the power and space-time variability, both in frequency and wavelength.

Noiseonomics: the relationship between ambient noise levels in the sea and global economic trends.

Science.gov (United States)

Frisk, George V

2012-01-01

In recent years, the topic of noise in the sea and its effects on marine mammals has attracted considerable attention from both the scientific community and the general public. Since marine mammals rely heavily on acoustics as a primary means of communicating, navigating, and foraging in the ocean, any change in their acoustic environment may have an impact on their behavior. Specifically, a growing body of literature suggests that low-frequency, ambient noise levels in the open ocean increased approximately 3.3 dB per decade during the period 1950-2007. Here we show that this increase can be attributed primarily to commercial shipping activity, which in turn, can be linked to global economic growth. As a corollary, we conclude that ambient noise levels can be directly related to global economic conditions. We provide experimental evidence supporting this theory and discuss its implications for predicting future noise levels based on global economic trends.

Interferometric seismic imaging around the active Lalor mine in the Flin Flon greenstone belt, Canada

Science.gov (United States)

Roots, Eric; Calvert, Andrew J.; Craven, Jim

2017-10-01

Seismic interferometry, which recovers the impulse response of the Earth by cross-correlation of ambient noise recorded at sets of two receivers, has found several applications, including the generation of virtual shot gathers for use in seismic reflection processing. To evaluate the effectiveness of this passive recording technique in mineral exploration in a hard-rock environment, 336 receivers recorded 300 h of ambient noise over the volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit of the recently discovered Lalor mine in the Canadian Flin Flon greenstone belt. A novel time-domain beamforming algorithm was developed to search for individual source locations, demonstrating that the vast majority of noise originated from the mine and ventilation shafts of the Lalor mine. The results of the beamforming were utilized in conjunction with frequency-wavenumber filtering to remove undesirable, mostly monochromatic surface wave noise originating from nearby sources. Virtual shot gathers were generated along three receiver lines, each of which was processed as a separate 2-D reflection line. Two of the resulting unmigrated reflection profiles are compared against coincident dipmoveout-stacked data from a larger, coincident 3-D dynamite seismic survey that was also acquired over the Lalor mine in 2013. Using knowledge of the local geology derived from numerous boreholes, coherent events recovered in the passive reflection profiles are inferred to be either spurious arrivals or real reflections, some of which can be interpreted in terms of geological contacts, indicating the future potential of passive recording surveys in hard rock settings.

Ambient Noise Tomography at Regional and Local Scales in Southern California using Rayleigh Wave Phase Dispersion and Ellipticity

Science.gov (United States)

Berg, E.; Lin, F. C.; Qiu, H.; Wang, Y.; Allam, A. A.; Clayton, R. W.; Ben-Zion, Y.

2017-12-01

Rayleigh waves extracted from cross-correlations of ambient seismic noise have proven useful in imaging the shallow subsurface velocity structure. In contrast to phase velocities, which are sensitive to slightly deeper structure, Rayleigh wave ellipticity (H/V ratios) constrains the uppermost crust. We conduct Rayleigh wave ellipticity and phase dispersion measurements in Southern California between 6 and 18 second periods, computed from multi-component ambient noise cross-correlations using 315 stations across the region in 2015. Because of the complimentary sensitivity of phase velocity and H/V, this method enables simple and accurate resolution of near-surface geological features from the surface to 20km depth. We compare the observed H/V ratios and phase velocities to predictions generated from the current regional models (SCEC UCVM), finding strong correspondence where the near-surface structure is well-resolved by the models. This includes high H/V ratios in the LA Basin, Santa Barbara Basin and Salton Trough; and low ratios in the San Gabriel, San Jacinto and southern Sierra Nevada mountains. Disagreements in regions such as the Western Transverse Ranges, Salton Trough, San Jacinto and Elsinore fault zones motivate further work to improve the community models. A new updated 3D isotropic model of the area is derived via a joint inversion of Rayleigh phase dispersions and H/V ratios. Additionally, we examine azimuthal dependence of the H/V ratio to ascertain anisotropy patterns for each station. Clear 180º periodicity is observed for many stations suggesting strong shallow anisotropy across the region including up to 20% along the San Andreas fault, 15% along the San Jacinto Fault and 25% in the LA Basin. To better resolve basin structures, we apply similar techniques to three dense linear geophone arrays in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino basins. The three arrays are composed by 50-125 three-component 5Hz geophones deployed for one month each with 15-25km

Crustal imaging of western Michoacán and the Jalisco Block, Mexico, from Ambient Seismic Noise

Science.gov (United States)

Spica, Zack; Cruz-Atienza, Víctor M.; Reyes-Alfaro, Gabriel; Legrand, Denis; Iglesias-Mendoza, Arturo

2014-12-01

Detailed crustal imaging of western Michoacán and the Jalisco Block is obtained from ambient noise tomography. Results show a deep and well-delineated volcanic system below the Colima volcano complex, rooting up to ~ 22 km depth, with a shallow magmatic chamber constrained to the first ~ 7 km. A shallow low-velocity system to the south of the Chapala rift and west of the Michoacán-Guanajuato volcanic field merges, underneath the Colima rift, with the Colima volcano system at about 20 km depth, honoring the geometry of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. For depths greater than ~30 km, low-velocity features become parallel to the slab strike, right beneath the Mascota, Ayutla and Tapalpa volcanic fields, suggesting the presence of the mantle wedge above the Rivera plate. All mentioned low-velocity bodies are spatially correlated with the superficial volcanic activity suggesting their magmatic origin so that, the shallower these bodies, the younger are the associated volcanic deposits. Along the coast, different depths of the uppermost layer of the Rivera and the Cocos plates suggest that the latter plate subducts with an angle ~ 9° steeper than the former.

Crustal surface wave velocity structure of the east Albany-Fraser Orogen, Western Australia, from ambient noise recordings

Science.gov (United States)

Sippl, C.; Kennett, B. L. N.; Tkalčić, H.; Gessner, K.; Spaggiari, C. V.

2017-09-01

Group and phase velocity maps in the period range 2-20 s for the Proterozoic east Albany-Fraser Orogen, Western Australia, are extracted from ambient seismic noise recorded with the 70-station ALFREX array. This 2 yr temporary installation provided detailed coverage across the orogen and the edge of the Neoarchean Yilgarn Craton, a region where no passive seismic studies of this scale have occurred to date. The surface wave velocities are rather high overall (>3 km s-1 nearly everywhere), as expected for exposed Proterozoic basement rocks. No clear signature of the transition between Yilgarn Craton and Albany-Fraser Orogen is observed, but several strong anomalies corresponding to more local geological features were obtained. A prominent, NE-elongated high-velocity anomaly in the northern part of the array is coincident with a Bouguer gravity high caused by the upper crustal metamorphic rocks of the Fraser Zone. This feature disappears towards longer periods, which hints at an exclusively upper crustal origin for this anomaly. Further east, the limestones of the Cenozoic Eucla Basin are clearly imaged as a pronounced low-velocity zone at short periods, but the prevalence of low velocities to periods of ≥5 s implies that the uppermost basement in this area is likewise slow. At longer periods, slightly above-average surface wave velocities are imaged below the Eucla Basin.

Estimation of background noise level on seismic station using statistical analysis for improved analysis accuracy

Science.gov (United States)

Han, S. M.; Hahm, I.

2015-12-01

We evaluated the background noise level of seismic stations in order to collect the observation data of high quality and produce accurate seismic information. Determining of the background noise level was used PSD (Power Spectral Density) method by McNamara and Buland (2004) in this study. This method that used long-term data is influenced by not only innate electronic noise of sensor and a pulse wave resulting from stabilizing but also missing data and controlled by the specified frequency which is affected by the irregular signals without site characteristics. It is hard and inefficient to implement process that filters out the abnormal signal within the automated system. To solve these problems, we devised a method for extracting the data which normally distributed with 90 to 99% confidence intervals at each period. The availability of the method was verified using 62-seismic stations with broadband and short-period sensors operated by the KMA (Korea Meteorological Administration). Evaluation standards were NHNM (New High Noise Model) and NLNM (New Low Noise Model) published by the USGS (United States Geological Survey). It was designed based on the western United States. However, Korean Peninsula surrounded by the ocean on three sides has a complicated geological structure and a high population density. So, we re-designed an appropriate model in Korean peninsula by statistically combined result. The important feature is that secondary-microseism peak appeared at a higher frequency band. Acknowledgements: This research was carried out as a part of "Research for the Meteorological and Earthquake Observation Technology and Its Application" supported by the 2015 National Institute of Meteorological Research (NIMR) in the Korea Meteorological Administration.

Anisotropic full waveform ambient noise and earthquake tomography of the Ontong Java Plateau and surrounding Pacific upper mantle

Science.gov (United States)

Hirsch, A. C.; Savage, B.; Shen, Y.

2017-12-01

The Ontong Java (OJP) and Manihiki plateau (MP) large igneous provinces (LIP) of the Southwest Pacific took shape from a complicated, but poorly understood geological history. Unraveling the formation and deformation of these Pacific LIPs is not straightforward due to limited available data, remote location, and atypical geology. Origin hypotheses include melting of a plume or a fast-spreading triple junction, but distinguishing between these requires a further understanding of 120 Ma of deformation of each LIP. A previous tomographic model of OJP observed highly abnormal Rayleigh shear wave speeds, >4.75km/s, and attributed these to an unusual composition, garnet and clinopyroxene residual from melting pyroxenite entrained within a rising plume. Unfortunately, this model lacks constraints on the horizontally polarized shear wave speeds, SH or Love waves, anisotropy, and attenuation. We therefore perform a transverse-isotropic, scattering-integral, full-waveform tomography between periods of 25 and 200 seconds utilizing both ambient noise empirical Green's functions and seismic data from regional earthquakes. Our tomographic model improves upon previous work using permanent and temporary seismic stations, increased model space, and utilizing three components of seismic data (vertical, radial, and tangential). Included is also an assessment of the anelastic attenuation in the western Pacific using both surface waves and multiple core reflections. Our results will improve the tomographic resolution around OJP and the Pacific upper mantle between 35 and 300 km depth. This improved model will enhance our understanding of the tectonic history of the OJP and MP regions, and the Pacific Indo-Australian plate boundary.

Ambient Field Analysis at Groningen Gas Field

Science.gov (United States)

Spica, Z.; Nakata, N.; Beroza, G. C.

2016-12-01

We analyze continuous ambient-field data at Groningen gas field (Netherlands) through cross-correlation processing. The Groningen array is composed of 75 shallow boreholes with 6 km spacing, which contain a 3C surface accelerometer and four 5-Hz 3C borehole geophones spaced at 50 m depth intervals. We successfully retrieve coherent waves from ambient seismic field on the 9 components between stations. Results show high SNR signal in the frequency range of 0.125-1 Hz, and the ZZ, ZR, RZ, RR and TT components show much stronger wave energy than other components as expected. This poster discuss the different type of waves retrieved, the utility of the combination of borehole and surface observations, future development as well as the importance to compute the 9 components of the Green's tensor to better understand the wave field propriety with ambient noise.

Optimal filter design for shielded and unshielded ambient noise reduction in fetal magnetocardiography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Comani, S; Mantini, D; Alleva, G; Luzio, S Di; Romani, G L

2005-01-01

The greatest impediment to extracting high-quality fetal signals from fetal magnetocardiography (fMCG) is environmental magnetic noise, which may have peak-to-peak intensity comparable to fetal QRS amplitude. Being an unstructured Gaussian signal with large disturbances at specific frequencies, ambient field noise can be reduced with hardware-based approaches and/or with software algorithms that digitally filter magnetocardiographic recordings. At present, no systematic evaluation of filters' performances on shielded and unshielded fMCG is available. We designed high-pass and low-pass Chebychev II-type filters with zero-phase and stable impulse response; the most commonly used band-pass filters were implemented combining high-pass and low-pass filters. The achieved ambient noise reduction in shielded and unshielded recordings was quantified, and the corresponding signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and signal-to-distortion ratio (SDR) of the retrieved fetal signals was evaluated. The study regarded 66 fMCG datasets at different gestational ages (22-37 weeks). Since the spectral structures of shielded and unshielded magnetic noise were very similar, we concluded that the same filter setting might be applied to both conditions. Band-pass filters (1.0-100 Hz) and (2.0-100 Hz) provided the best combinations of fetal signal detection rates, SNR and SDR; however, the former should be preferred in the case of arrhythmic fetuses, which might present spectral components below 2 Hz

Overview of potential issues related to seismic exploration off the north coast of B.C.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Davis, R.A. [LGL Ltd., King City, ON (Canada)

2003-07-01

British Columbia's fisheries industry is worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year and is of great cultural significance to First Nations. While concern about the impact of seismic exploration is relatively recent LGL Limited has been examining the effects of seismic exploration on marine wildlife since 1974 with particular emphasis on the significance of underwater noise from air gun arrays and the effects of seismic hearing in fish and marine mammals such as seals and whales. Research programs have been conducted in the Gulf of Mexico, the west coast of North America, Cook Inlet, Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea and the Beaufort Sea. Studies have also been conducted throughout Arctic Canada, the coastal waters of Newfoundland, the Scotian Shelf, and the Bay of Fundy. This presentation described seismic noise sources, source levels, how source levels are measured, and the path of noise with reference to transmission loss, received levels, and ambient noise. Over the decades, there have not been large-scale demonstrated effects on fisheries in the areas where seismic exploration has occurred. Major collapses have not occurred in fisheries even in the most mature oil and gas fields. It was therefore concluded that seismic exploration can be conducted safely in the northern waters of British Columbia if the programs are carefully planned and if appropriate mitigation measures are in place with good quantitative monitoring by trained biologists. 5 figs.

Rayleigh wave group velocity and shear wave velocity structure in the San Francisco Bay region from ambient noise tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Peng; Thurber, Clifford

2018-06-01

We derive new Rayleigh wave group velocity models and a 3-D shear wave velocity model of the upper crust in the San Francisco Bay region using an adaptive grid ambient noise tomography algorithm and 6 months of continuous seismic data from 174 seismic stations from multiple networks. The resolution of the group velocity models is 0.1°-0.2° for short periods (˜3 s) and 0.3°-0.4° for long periods (˜10 s). The new shear wave velocity model of the upper crust reveals a number of important structures. We find distinct velocity contrasts at the Golden Gate segment of the San Andreas Fault, the West Napa Fault, central part of the Hayward Fault and southern part of the Calaveras Fault. Low shear wave velocities are mainly located in Tertiary and Quaternary basins, for instance, La Honda Basin, Livermore Valley and the western and eastern edges of Santa Clara Valley. Low shear wave velocities are also observed at the Sonoma volcanic field. Areas of high shear wave velocity include the Santa Lucia Range, the Gabilan Range and Ben Lomond Plutons, and the Diablo Range, where Franciscan Complex or Silinian rocks are exposed.

Cultural noise and the night-day asymmetry of the seismic activity recorded at the Bunker-East (BKE) Vesuvian Station

Science.gov (United States)

Scafetta, Nicola; Mazzarella, Adriano

2018-01-01

Mazzarella and Scafetta (2016) showed that the seismic activity recorded at the Bunker-East (BKE) Vesuvian station from 1999 to 2014 suggests a higher nocturnal seismic activity. However, this station is located at about 50 m from the main road to the volcano's crater and since 2009 its seismograms also record a significant diurnal cultural noise due mostly to tourist tours to Mt. Vesuvius. Herein, we investigate whether the different seismic frequency between day and night times could be an artifact of the peculiar cultural noise that affects this station mostly from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm from spring to fall. This time-distributed cultural noise should evidently reduce the possibility to detect low magnitude earthquakes during those hours but not high magnitude events. Using hourly distributions referring to different magnitude thresholds from M = 0.2 to M = 2.0, the Gutenberg-Richter magnitude-frequency diagram applied to the day and night-time sub-catalogs and Montecarlo statistical modeling, we demonstrate that the day-night asymmetry persists despite an evident disruption induced by cultural noise during day-hours. In particular, for the period 1999-2017, and for earthquakes with M ≥ 2 we found a Gutenberg-Richter exponent b = 1.66 ± 0.07 for the night-time events and b = 2.06 ± 0.07 for day-time events. Moreover, we repeat the analysis also for an older BKE catalog covering the period from 1992 to 2000 when cultural noise was not present. The analysis confirms a higher seismic nocturnal activity that is also characterized by a smaller Gutenberg-Richter exponent b for M ≥ 2 earthquakes relative to the day-time activity. Thus, the found night-day seismic asymmetric behavior is likely due to a real physical feature affecting Mt. Vesuvius.

More noise, please: How cultural overprinting in the urban environment can be exploited for improved subsurface imaging (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Weiss, C. J.

2009-12-01

A long standing issue for geophysical imaging methods revolves around the proper treatment of "noise": Defining what noise is; separating "noise" for "signal"; filtering and suppressing noise; and recently, challenging the prevailing view that noise is a nuisance to see if, instead, it may contribute favorably toward improving subsurface imaging fidelity. This last point is particularly relevant to geophysical imaging in the urban environment where noise sources are abundant, complex, and logistical constraints on geophysical field procedures prohibit a crude "turning up the volume" approach to simply drown out the noise with powerful sources of electromagnetic and seismic energy. In this contribution I explore the concept passive geophysical imaging which uses uncorrelated ambient noise as the source of geophysical imaging energy to be used in the urban environment. Examples will be presented from seismic and ground penetrating radar methods, in addition to new theoretical results bearing on the feasibility of low-frequency electromagnetic induction techniques.

The Influence of Geography and Geology on Seismic Background Noise Levels Across the United States as Revealed by the Transportable Array

Science.gov (United States)

Anthony, R. E.; Ringler, A. T.; Holland, A. A.; Wilson, D. C.

2017-12-01

The EarthScope USArray Transportable Array (TA) has now covered the US with 3-component broadband seismometers at approximately 70 km station spacing and deployment durations of approximately 2 years. This unprecedented coverage, combined with high-quality and near homogenous installation techniques, offers a novel dataset in which to characterize spatially varying levels of background seismic noise across the United States. We present background noise maps in period bands of interest to earthquake and imaging seismology across the US (lower 48 states and Alaska). Early results from the contiguous 48 states demonstrate that ambient noise levels within the body wave period band (1-5 s) vary by > 20 dB (rel. 1 (m/s2)2/Hz) with the highest noise levels occurring at stations located within sedimentary basins and lowest within the mountain ranges of the Western US. Additionally, stations around the Great Lakes observe heightened noise levels in this band beyond the aforementioned basin amplification. We attribute this observation to local swell activity in the Great Lakes generating short-period microseism signals. This suggests that lake-generated microseisms may be a significant source of noise for Alaskan deployments situated in close proximity to lakes to facilitate float plane access. We further investigate how basin amplification and short-period lake microseism signals may noticeably impact detection and signal-to-noise of teleseismic body wave signals during certain time periods. At longer-periods (> 20 s), we generally observe larger noise levels on the horizontal components of stations situated in basins or on soft sediment, likely caused by locally induced tilt of the sensor. We will present similar analysis from the initial Alaska TA dataset to quantitatively assess how utilization of posthole sensors affects signal-to-noise for the long-period horizontal wavefield.

Newtonian noise cancellation in tensor gravitational wave detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paik, Ho Jung; Harms, Jan

2016-01-01

Terrestrial gravity noise produced by ambient seismic and infrasound fields poses one of the main sensitivity limitations in low-frequency ground-based gravitational-wave (GW) detectors. This noise needs to be suppressed by 3-5 orders of magnitude in the frequency band 10 mHz to 1 Hz, which is extremely challenging. We present a new approach that greatly facilitates cancellation of gravity noise in full-tensor GW detectors. It makes explicit use of the direction of propagation of a GW, and can therefore either be implemented in directional searches for GWs or in observations of known sources. We show that suppression of the Newtonian-noise foreground is greatly facilitated using the extra strain channels in full-tensor GW detectors. Only a modest number of auxiliary, high-sensitivity environmental sensors is required to achieve noise suppression by a few orders of magnitude. (paper)

Surface wave tomography across the Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone, SW Scandinavia, using ambient noise and earthquake data

Science.gov (United States)

Köhler, Andreas; Maupin, Valérie; Balling, Niels

2015-10-01

We produce a S-wave velocity model of the crust and upper mantle around the Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone, southern Scandinavia, by analysing ambient seismic noise and earthquake recordings on temporary and permanent regional network stations. In a first step, we perform tomographical inversion of surface wave dispersion data from seismic noise to obtain Rayleigh and Love wave phase-velocity maps from 3 to about 30 s period. Local dispersion curves are then combined with regionally averaged surface wave velocities from earthquake data measured between 15 and about 100 s period. Dispersion curves are jointly inverted for a 3-D model of the S-wave velocity and radial velocity anisotropy by using a combined Monte Carlo and linearized inversion approach. Results reveal significant crustal as well as uppermost mantle velocity variations at all depth levels. Upper crustal structural variations are mainly controlled by the thick sedimentary Danish Basin with both low S-wave velocities and high anisotropy. Despite of the known limited capability of surface wave inversion to constrain interface depths and model parameter trade-offs, obtained Moho depths are in good agreement with previous studies in the region. Marked crustal thinning is clearly revealed beneath the Danish Basin with a narrow transition to the thicker crust in Swedish shield areas. Despite very different crustal and morphological structures, Denmark and southern Norway both have similar well-defined upper-mantle low-velocity zones, interpreted as asthenosphere, starting a depth of about 100 km. Compared with southern Sweden, showing high upper-mantle velocities, characteristic for shields, velocities are reduced by 0.30-0.40 km s-1 (6-8 per cent) at the depth levels of 140-200 km and radial anisotropy of 2-4 per cent is observed. Our study confirms the importance of the Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone, as a very deep structural boundary, separating old, thick, cratonic Baltica lithosphere in southern Sweden from

Cetacean behavioral responses to noise exposure generated by seismic surveys: how to mitigate better?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clara Monaco

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Cetaceans use sound in many contexts, such as in social interactions, as well as to forage and to react in dangerous situations. Little information exists to describe how they respond physically and behaviorally to intense and long-term noise levels. Effects on cetaceans from seismic survey activities need to be understood in order to determine detailed acoustic exposure guidelines and to apply appropriated mitigation measures. This study examines direct behavioral responses of cetaceans in the southern Mediterranean Sea during seismic surveys with large airgun arrays (volume up to 5200 ci used in the TOMO-ETNA active seismic experiment of summer 2014. Wide Angle Seismic and Multi-Channel Seismic surveys had carried out with refraction and reflection seismic methods, producing about 25,800 air-gun shots. Visual monitoring undertaken in the 26 daylights of seismic exploration adopted the protocol of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Data recorded were analyzed to examine effects on cetaceans. Sighting rates, distance and orientation from the airguns were compared for different volume categories of the airgun arrays. Results show that cetaceans can be disturbed by seismic survey activities, especially during particularly events. Here we propose many integrated actions to further mitigate this exposure and implications for management.

Seismic tomography of Basse-Terre volcanic island, Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles, using earthquake travel times and noise correlations

Science.gov (United States)

Barnoud, Anne; Coutant, Olivier; Bouligand, Claire; Massin, Frédérick; Stehly, Laurent

2015-04-01

We image the volcanic island of Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles, using both earthquake travel times and noise correlations. (1) A new earthquake catalog was recently compiled for the Lesser Antilles by the CDSA/OVSG/IPGP (Massin et al., EGU General Assembly 2014) and allows us to perform classical travel time tomography to obtain smooth 3D body wave velocity models. The geometrical configuration of the volcanic arc controls the resolution of the model in our zone of interest. (2) Surface wave tomography using noise correlations was successfully applied to volcanoes (Brenguier et al., Geophys. Res. Lett. 2007). We use seismic noise recorded at 16 broad-band stations and 9 short-period stations from Basse-Terre over a period of six years (2007-2012). For each station pair, we extract a dispersion curve from the noise correlation to get surface wave velocity models. The inversion of the dispersion curves produces a 3D S-wave velocity model of the island. The spatial distribution of seismic stations accross the island is highly heterogeneous, leading to higher resolution near the dome of the Soufrière of Guadeloupe volcano. Resulting velocity models are compared with densities obtained by 3D inversion of gravimetric data (Barnoud et al., AGU Fall Meeting 2013). Further work should include simultaneous inversion of seismic and gravimetric datasets to overcome resolution limitations.

Analysis of seismic noise to check the mechanical isolation of a medical device

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sara Rombetto

2011-07-01

Full Text Available We have investigated the mechanical response of a magnetically shielded room that hosts a magnetoencephalography system that is subject to external vibrations. This is a superconducting quantum interference device, which are the most sensitive sensors for magnetic flux variations. When the magnetoencephalography operates with people inside the room, the spectrum of the flux of the magnetic field shows anomalous peaks at several frequencies between 1 Hz and 20 Hz, independent of the experiment that is being run. As the variations in the flux of the magnetic field through the sensors might not only be related to the electrical currents circulating inside the brain, but also to non-damped mechanical oscillations of the room, we installed seismic instrumentation to measure the effective motion inside the room and to compare it to the external motion. For this analysis, we recorded the ambient seismic noise at two very close stations, one inside the magnetically shielded room, the other one outside in the room in which the magnetically shielded room is itself located. Data were collected over four days, including a week-end, to study the response of the magnetically shielded room subjected to different energy levels of external vibrations. The root mean square, Fourier spectra and power spectral density show significant differences between the signal recorded inside and outside the magnetically shielded room, with several anomalous peaks in the frequency band of 1 Hz to 20 Hz. The normalized spectral quantities (horizontal to vertical spectral ratio, and ratio between the internal and external spectra show large amplification at several frequencies, reaching in some cases one order of magnitude. We concluded that the magnetically shielded room does not dampen the external vibrations, but it instead appears to amplify these across a broad frequency range.

Optimizing Seismic Monitoring Networks for EGS and Conventional Geothermal Projects

Science.gov (United States)

Kraft, Toni; Herrmann, Marcus; Bethmann, Falko; Stefan, Wiemer

2013-04-01

location problem. Optimization for additional criteria (e.g., focal mechanism determination or installation costs) can be included. We consider a 3D seismic velocity model, an European ambient seismic noise model derived from high-resolution land-use data, and existing seismic stations in the vicinity of the geotechnical site. Additionally, we account for the attenuation of the seismic signal with travel time and ambient seismic noise with depth to be able to correctly deal with borehole station networks. Using this algorithm we are able to find the optimal geometry and size of the seismic monitoring network that meets the predefined application-oriented performance criteria. This talk will focus on optimal network geometries for deep geothermal projects of the EGS and hydrothermal type, and discuss the requirements for basic seismic surveillance and high-resolution reservoir monitoring and characterization.

Engineering geological zonation of a complex landslide system through seismic ambient noise measurements at the Selmun Promontory (Malta)

Science.gov (United States)

Iannucci, Roberto; Martino, Salvatore; Paciello, Antonella; D'Amico, Sebastiano; Galea, Pauline

2018-05-01

The cliff slope of the Selmun Promontory, located in the Northern part of the island of Malta (Central Mediterranean Sea) close to the coastline, is involved in a landslide process as exhibited by the large block-size talus at its bottom. The landslide process is related to the geological succession outcropping in the Selmun area, characterized by the overposition of a grained limestone on a plastic clay, that induces a lateral spreading phenomenon associated with detachment and collapse of different-size rock blocks. The landslide process shapes a typical landscape with a stable plateau of stiff limestone bordered by an unstable cliff slope. The ruins of Għajn Ħadid Tower, the first of the 13 watchtowers built in 1658 by the Grand Master Martin de Redin, stand out on the Selmun Promontory. The conservation of this important heritage site, already damaged by an earthquake which struck the Maltese Archipelago on 1856 October 12, is currently threatened by a progressive retreat of the landslide process towards the inland plateau area. During 2015 and 2016, field surveys were carried out to derive an engineering geological model of the Selmun Promontory. After a high-resolution geomechanical survey, the spatial distribution of the joints affecting the limestone was obtained. At the same time, 116 single-station noise measurements were carried out to cover inland and edge of the limestone plateau as well as the slope where the clays outcrop. The obtained 1-hour time histories were analysed through the horizontal to vertical spectral ratio technique, as well as polarization and ellipticity analysis of particle motion to define the local seismic response in zones having different stability conditions, that is, related to the presence of unstable rock blocks characterized by different vibrational modes. The results obtained demonstrate the suitability of passive seismic geophysical techniques for zoning landslide hazard in case of rock slopes and prove the relevance of

The Effects of Ambient Conditions on Helicopter Rotor Source Noise Modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitz, Frederic H.; Greenwood, Eric

2011-01-01

A new physics-based method called Fundamental Rotorcraft Acoustic Modeling from Experiments (FRAME) is used to demonstrate the change in rotor harmonic noise of a helicopter operating at different ambient conditions. FRAME is based upon a non-dimensional representation of the governing acoustic and performance equations of a single rotor helicopter. Measured external noise is used together with parameter identification techniques to develop a model of helicopter external noise that is a hybrid between theory and experiment. The FRAME method is used to evaluate the main rotor harmonic noise of a Bell 206B3 helicopter operating at different altitudes. The variation with altitude of Blade-Vortex Interaction (BVI) noise, known to be a strong function of the helicopter s advance ratio, is dependent upon which definition of airspeed is flown by the pilot. If normal flight procedures are followed and indicated airspeed (IAS) is held constant, the true airspeed (TAS) of the helicopter increases with altitude. This causes an increase in advance ratio and a decrease in the speed of sound which results in large changes to BVI noise levels. Results also show that thickness noise on this helicopter becomes more intense at high altitudes where advancing tip Mach number increases because the speed of sound is decreasing and advance ratio increasing for the same indicated airspeed. These results suggest that existing measurement-based empirically derived helicopter rotor noise source models may give incorrect noise estimates when they are used at conditions where data were not measured and may need to be corrected for mission land-use planning purposes.

Ambient Noise Levels in Acute Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Referral Hospital

OpenAIRE

Sonia R. B D'Souza; Leslie Edward Lewis; Vijay Kumar; Ramesh Bhat Y; Jayashree Purkayastha; Hari Prakash

2017-01-01

Background: Advances in neonatal care have resulted in improved survival of neonates admitted to the intensive care of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). However, the NCU may be an inappropriate milieu, with presence of overwhelming stimuli, most potent being the continuous presence of noise in the ambience of the NICU. Aim and Objectives: To determine and describe the ambient noise levels in the acute NICU of a tertiary referral hospital. Material and Methods...

Using discrete wavelet transform features to discriminate between noise and phases in seismic waveforms

Science.gov (United States)

Forrest, R.; Ray, J.; Hansen, C. W.

2017-12-01

Currently, simple polarization metrics such as the horizontal-to-vertical ratio are used to discriminate between noise and various phases in three-component seismic waveform data collected at regional distances. Accurately establishing the identity and arrival of these waves in adverse signal-to-noise environments is helpful in detecting and locating the seismic events. In this work, we explore the use of multiresolution decompositions to discriminate between noise and event arrivals. A segment of the waveform lying inside a time-window that spans the coda of an arrival is subjected to a discrete wavelet decomposition. Multi-resolution classification features as well as statistical tests are derived from these wavelet decomposition quantities to quantify their discriminating power. Furthermore, we move to streaming data and address the problem of false positives by introducing ensembles of classifiers. We describe in detail results of these methods tuned from data obtained from Coronel Fontana, Argentina (CFAA), as well as Stephens Creek, Australia (STKA). Acknowledgement: Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-mission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA-0003525.

Understanding the amplitudes of noise correlation measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, Victor C.

2011-01-01

Cross correlation of ambient seismic noise is known to result in time series from which station-station travel-time measurements can be made. Part of the reason that these cross-correlation travel-time measurements are reliable is that there exists a theoretical framework that quantifies how these travel times depend on the features of the ambient noise. However, corresponding theoretical results do not currently exist to describe how the amplitudes of the cross correlation depend on such features. For example, currently it is not possible to take a given distribution of noise sources and calculate the cross correlation amplitudes one would expect from such a distribution. Here, we provide a ray-theoretical framework for calculating cross correlations. This framework differs from previous work in that it explicitly accounts for attenuation as well as the spatial distribution of sources and therefore can address the issue of quantifying amplitudes in noise correlation measurements. After introducing the general framework, we apply it to two specific problems. First, we show that we can quantify the amplitudes of coherency measurements, and find that the decay of coherency with station-station spacing depends crucially on the distribution of noise sources. We suggest that researchers interested in performing attenuation measurements from noise coherency should first determine how the dominant sources of noise are distributed. Second, we show that we can quantify the signal-to-noise ratio of noise correlations more precisely than previous work, and that these signal-to-noise ratios can be estimated for given situations prior to the deployment of seismometers. It is expected that there are applications of the theoretical framework beyond the two specific cases considered, but these applications await future work.

Noiseonomics: The relationship between ambient noise levels in the sea and global economic trends

OpenAIRE

Frisk, George V.

2012-01-01

In recent years, the topic of noise in the sea and its effects on marine mammals has attracted considerable attention from both the scientific community and the general public. Since marine mammals rely heavily on acoustics as a primary means of communicating, navigating, and foraging in the ocean, any change in their acoustic environment may have an impact on their behavior. Specifically, a growing body of literature suggests that low-frequency, ambient noise levels in the open ocean increas...

Relative Seismic Velocity Variations Correlate with Deformation at Kīlauea Volcano.

Science.gov (United States)

Donaldson, C.; Caudron, C.; Green, R. G.; White, R. S.

2016-12-01

Passive interferometry using ambient seismic noise is an appealing monitoring tool at volcanoes. The continuous nature of seismic noise provides better temporal resolution than earthquake interferometry and ambient noise may be sensitive to changes at depths that do not deform the volcano surface. Despite this, to our knowledge, no studies have yet comprehensively compared deformation and velocity at a volcano over a significant length of time. We use a volcanic tremor source (approximately 0.3 - 1.0 Hz) at Kīlauea volcano as a source for interferometry to measure relative velocity changes with time. The tremor source that dominates the cross correlations is located under the Halema'uma'u caldera at Kīlauea summit. By cross-correlating the vertical component of day-long seismic records between 200 pairs of stations, we extract coherent and temporally consistent coda wave signals with time lags of up to 70 seconds. Our resulting time series of relative velocity shows a remarkable correlation with the tilt record measured at Kīlauea summit. Kīlauea summit is continually inflating and deflating as the level of the lava lake rises and falls. During these deflation-inflation (DI) events the tilt increases (inflation), as the velocity increases, on the scale of days to weeks. In contrast, we also detect a longer-term velocity decrease between 2011-2015 as the volcano slowly inflates. We suggest that variations in velocity result from opening and closing cracks and pores due to changes in magma pressurization. Early modeling results indicate that pressurizing magma reservoirs at different depths can result in opposite changes in compression/extension at the surface. The consistent correlation of relative velocity and deformation in this study provides an opportunity to better understand the mechanism causing velocity changes, which currently limits the scope of passive interferometry as a monitoring tool.

Music and ambient operating room noise in patients undergoing spinal anesthesia.

Science.gov (United States)

Ayoub, Chakib M; Rizk, Laudi B; Yaacoub, Chadi I; Gaal, Dorothy; Kain, Zeev N

2005-05-01

Previous studies have indicated that music decreases intraoperative sedative requirements in patients undergoing surgical procedures under regional anesthesia. In this study we sought to determine whether this decrease in sedative requirements results from music or from eliminating operating room (OR) noise. A secondary aim of the study was to examine the relationship of response to intraoperative music and participants' culture (i.e., American versus Lebanese). Eighty adults (36 American and 54 Lebanese) undergoing urological procedures with spinal anesthesia and patient-controlled IV propofol sedation were randomly assigned to intraoperative music, white noise, or OR noise. We found that, controlling for ambient OR noise, intraoperative music decreases propofol requirements (0.004 +/- 0.002 mg . kg(-1) . min(-1) versus 0.014 +/- 0.004 mg . kg(-1) . min(-1) versus 0.012 +/- 0.002 mg . kg(-1) . min(-1); P = 0.026). We also found that, regardless of group assignment, Lebanese patients used less propofol as compared with American patients (0.005 +/- 0.001 mg . kg(-1) . min(-1) versus 0.017 +/- 0.003 mg . kg(-1) . min(-1); P = 0.001) and that, in both sites, patients in the music group required less propofol (P noise, intraoperative music decreases propofol requirements of both Lebanese and American patients who undergo urological surgery under spinal anesthesia.

Natural and anthropogenic ocean noise recorded at long-term and temporary observatories

Science.gov (United States)

Grevemeyer, Ingo; Metz, Dirk; Watts, Anthony B.; Geissler, Wolfram

2017-04-01

Most people worldwide would assume that the oceans are silent. However, a number of natural phenomenon's like ocean waves, wind, lightening, ice noise, earthquakes, and submarine volcanic activity contributes to the ambient ocean noise. During their evolution, marine animals like fish and mammals have adopted in many ways to the acoustic properties of the sea. Yet in recent decades, anthropogenic and hence manmade ocean noise level has risen profoundly. Due to extreme reliance of fish and mammals on underwater sounds for basic life functions, including searching for food or mate and the absence of any mechanism to safeguard them against it, underwater noise pollution may disrupt marine life. The primary sources of low-frequency anthropogenic noise include sounds associated with shipping, military operations, oil and gas exploration and production, and even research activities. Some scientists suggest that today virtually no marine environment is without any noise pollution. Thus, all marine life forms that rely heavily on the integrity of their acoustic habitat may have to adapt to new conditions. Of greatest concern for whales are low-frequency sounds that travel long distances in the ocean. Ship propellers and motors, for instance, produce sound at low frequencies, as do natural and manmade seismic activity. These profound, loud noises reverberate in the deep ocean and can effectively mask or block vital whale communication. However, in general very little is known about the world-wide distribution of ambient ocean noise. Thus, on a global scale and considering the vast areas of the world's oceans, we know virtually nothing about noise levels in different parts of the oceans and how anthropogenic noise contributes to ambient noise. Here, we use hydrophone recordings from the UN's Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty organization (CTBTO) and ocean-bottom seismometers to provide an assessment of noise in all major basins, including the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian

Finite-Frequency Seismic Tomography of Body Waves and Surface Waves from Ambient Seismic Noise: Crustal and Mantle Structure Beneath Eastern Eurasia

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Ren, Yong; Zhang, Wei; Yang, Ting; Shen, Yang; Yang, Xiaoping

2008-01-01

To improve seismic calibration for nuclear explosion monitoring, we use 3D sensitivity kernels of finite-frequency body and surface waves to develop models of the crustal and mantle structures beneath eastern Eurasia...

Using the Moon As A Low-Noise Seismic Detector For Strange Quark Nuggets

Science.gov (United States)

Banerdt, W. Bruce; Chui, Talso; Griggs, Cornelius E.; Herrin, Eugene T.; Nakamura, Yosio; Paik, Ho Jung; Penanen, Konstantin; Rosenbaum, Doris; Teplitz, Vigdor L.; Young, Joseph

2006-01-01

Strange quark matter made of up, down and strange quarks has been postulated by Witten [1]. Strange quark matter would be nearly charge neutral and would have density of nuclear matter (10(exp 14) gm/cu cm). Witten also suggested that nuggets of strange quark matter, or strange quark nuggets (SQNs), could have formed shortly after the Big Bang, and that they would be viable candidates for cold dark matter. As suggested by de Rujula and Glashow [2], an SQN may pass through a celestial body releasing detectable seismic energy along a straight line. The Moon, being much quieter seismically than the Earth, would be a favorable place to search for such events. We review previous searches for SQNs to illustrate the parameter space explored by using the Moon as a low-noise detector of SQNs. We also discuss possible detection schemes using a single seismometer, and using an International Lunar Seismic Network.

Waveform correlation and coherence of short-period seismic noise within Gauribidanur array with implications for event detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bhadauria, Y.S.; Arora, S.K.

1995-01-01

In continuation with our effort to model the short-period micro seismic noise at the seismic array at Gauribidanur (GBA), we have examined in detail time-correlation and spectral coherence of the noise field within the array space. This has implications of maximum possible improvement in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) relevant to event detection. The basis of this study is about a hundred representative wide-band noise samples collected from GBA throughout the year 1992. Both time-structured correlation as well as coherence of the noise waveforms are found to be practically independent of the inter element distances within the array, and they exhibit strong temporal and spectral stability. It turns out that the noise is largely incoherent at frequencies ranging upwards from 2 Hz; the coherency coefficient tends to increase in the lower frequency range attaining a maximum of 0.6 close to 0.5 Hz. While the maximum absolute cross-correlation also diminishes with increasing frequency, the zero-lag cross-correlation is found to be insensitive to frequency filtering regardless of the pass band. An extremely small value of -0.01 of the zero-lag correlation and a comparatively higher year-round average estimate at 0.15 of the maximum absolute time-lagged correlation yields an SNR improvement varying between a probable high of 4.1 and a low of 2.3 for the full 20-element array. 19 refs., 6 figs

Passive seismic monitoring of the Bering Glacier during its last surge event

Science.gov (United States)

Zhan, Z.

2017-12-01

The physical causes behind glacier surges are still unclear. Numerous evidences suggest that they probably involve changes in glacier basal conditions, such as switch of basal water system from concentrated large tunnels to a distributed "layer" as "connected cavities". However, most remote sensing approaches can not penetrate to the base to monitor such changes continuously. Here we apply seismic interferometry using ambient noise to monitor glacier seismic structures, especially to detect possible signatures of the hypothesized high-pressure water "layer". As an example, we derive an 11-year long history of seismic structure of the Bering Glacier, Alaska, covering its latest surge event. We observe substantial drops of Rayleigh and Love wavespeeds across the glacier during the surge event, potentially caused by changes in crevasse density, glacier thickness, and basal conditions.

Two-receiver measurements of phase velocity: cross-validation of ambient-noise and earthquake-based observations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kästle, Emanuel D.; Soomro, Riaz; Weemstra, C.; Boschi, Lapo; Meier, Thomas

2016-01-01

Phase velocities derived from ambient-noise cross-correlation are compared with phase velocities calculated from cross-correlations of waveform recordings of teleseismic earthquakes whose epicentres are approximately on the station–station great circle. The comparison is conducted both for Rayleigh

Passive detection and localization of fatigue cracking in aluminum plates using Green's function reconstruction from ambient noise.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Yang; Xiao, Li; Qu, Wenzhong; Lu, Ye

2017-11-01

Recent theoretical and experimental studies have demonstrated that a local Green's function can be retrieved from the cross-correlation of ambient noise field. This technique can be used to detect fatigue cracking in metallic structures, owing to the fact that the presence of crack can lead to a change in Green's function. This paper presents a method of structural fatigue cracking characterization method by measuring Green's function reconstruction from noise excitation and verifies the feasibility of crack detection in poor noise source distribution. Fatigue cracks usually generate nonlinear effects, in which different wave amplitudes and frequency compositions can cause different nonlinear responses. This study also undertakes analysis of the capacity of the proposed approach to identify fatigue cracking under different noise amplitudes and frequency ranges. Experimental investigations of an aluminum plate are conducted to assess the cross-correlations of received noise between sensor pairs and finally to detect the introduced fatigue crack. A damage index is proposed according to the variation between cross-correlations obtained from the pristine crack closed state and the crack opening-closure state when sufficient noise amplitude is used to generate nonlinearity. A probability distribution map of damage is calculated based on damage indices. The fatigue crack introduced in the aluminum plate is successfully identified and oriented, verifying that a fatigue crack can be detected by reconstructing Green's functions from an imperfect diffuse field in which ambient noise sources exist locally. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ambient Vibration and Earthquake-Data Analyses of a 62-STORY Building Using System Identification and Seismic Interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Kalkan, E.; Fletcher, J. B.; Ulusoy, H. S.; Baker, L. A.

2014-12-01

A 62-story residential tower in San Francisco—the tallest all-residential building in California—was recently instrumented by the USGS's National Strong Motion Project in collaboration with the Strong Motion Instrumentation Program of the California Geological Survey to monitor the motion of a tall building built with specifically engineered features (including buckling-restrained braces, outrigger columns and a tuned liquid damper) to reduce its sway from seismic and wind loads. This 641-ft tower has been outfitted with 72 uni-axial accelerometers, spanning through 26 different levels of the building. For damage detection and localization through structural health monitoring, we use local micro-earthquake and ambient monitoring (background noises) to define linear-elastic (undamaged) dynamic properties of the superstructure including its modal parameters (fundamental frequencies, mode shapes and modal damping values) and shear-wave propagation profile and wave attenuation inside the building, which need to be determined in advance of strong shaking. In order to estimate the baseline modal parameters, we applied a frequency domain decomposition method. Using this method, the first three bending modes in the reference east-west direction, the first two bending modes in the reference north-south direction, and the first two torsional modes were identified. The shear-wave propagation and wave attenuation inside the building were computed using deconvolution interferometry. The data used for analyses are from ambient vibrations having 20 minutes duration, and earthquake data from a local M4.5 event located just north east of Geyserville, California. We show that application of deconvolution interferometry to data recorded inside a building is a powerful technique for monitoring structural parameters, such as velocities of traveling waves, frequencies of normal modes, and intrinsic attenuation (i.e., damping). The simplicity and similarity of the deconvolved

Ambient Vibrations Measurements and 1D Site Response Modelling as a Tool for Soil and Building Properties Investigation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sebastiano Imposa

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The safety of historic buildings heritage is an important task that becomes more substantial when the buildings are directed to educational purposes. The present study aims at evaluating the dynamic features of the Benedettini complex, an historic monastery located in downtown Catania, which is at present the headquarters of the humanistic studies department of the University of Catania. Both the building’s complex response to a seismic input and the soil-to-structure interaction were investigated using ambient noise recordings. The results point out a multiple dynamic behaviour of the monastery structure that shows several oscillation modes, whereas the identification of a single natural frequency can be observed in some sites where the structure can more freely oscillate. This observation is also confirmed by the variability of computed damping values that appear linked to the different rigidity of the structure, as a function of the either the longitudinal or transversal orientation of the investigated structural elements. Moreover, the comparison between the building’s fundamental period and spectral ratios frequencies, which were obtained from free field ambient noise measurements located outside the monastery, outline the presence of potential resonance effects between the site and structure during a seismic event. Numerical modelling of the local seismic response confirms the obtained experimental site frequencies, setting into evidence that higher amplification factors are reached in the same frequency range characterizing the building.

AcquisitionFootprintAttenuationDrivenbySeismicAttributes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cuellar-Urbano Mayra

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Acquisition footprint, one of the major problems that PEMEX faces in seismic imaging, is noise highly correlated to the geometric array of sources and receivers used for onshore and offshore seismic acquisitions. It prevails in spite of measures taken during acquisition and data processing. This pattern, throughout the image, is easily confused with geological features and misguides seismic attribute computation. In this work, we use seismic data from PEMEX Exploración y Producción to show the conditioning process for removing random and coherent noise using linear filters. Geometric attributes used in a workflow were computed for obtaining an acquisition footprint noise model and adaptively subtract it from the seismic data.

Innovations in seismic tomography, their applications and induced seismic events in carbon sequestration

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Peng

This dissertation presents two innovations in seismic tomography and a new discovery of induced seismic events associated with CO2 injection at an Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) site. The following are brief introductions of these three works. The first innovated work is adaptive ambient seismic noise tomography (AANT). Traditional ambient noise tomography methods using regular grid nodes are often ill posed because the inversion grids do not always represent the distribution of ray paths. Large grid spacing is usually used to reduce the number of inversion parameters, which may not be able to solve for small-scale velocity structure. We present a new adaptive tomography method with irregular grids that provides a few advantages over the traditional methods. First, irregular grids with different sizes and shapes can fit the ray distribution better and the traditionally ill-posed problem can become more stable owing to the different parameterizations. Second, the data in the area with dense ray sampling will be sufficiently utilized so that the model resolution can be greatly improved. Both synthetic and real data are used to test the newly developed tomography algorithm. In synthetic data tests, we compare the resolution and stability of the traditional and adaptive methods. The results show that adaptive tomography is more stable and performs better in improving the resolution in the area with dense ray sampling. For real data, we extract the ambient noise signals of the seismic data near the Garlock Fault region, obtained from the Southern California Earthquake Data Center. The resulting group velocity of Rayleigh waves is well correlated with the geological structures. High velocity anomalies are shown in the cold southern Sierra Nevada, the Tehachapi Mountains and the Western San Gabriel Mountains. The second innovated work is local earthquake tomography with full topography (LETFT). In this work, we develop a new three-dimensional local earthquake tomography

Dynamic analysis of the Nova Target Chamber to assess alignment errors due to ambient noise

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McCallen, D.B.; Murray, R.C.

1984-01-01

We performed a study to determine the dynamic behavior of the Nova Target Chamber. We conducted a free vibration analysis to determine the natural frequencies of vibration and the corresponding modeshapes of the target chamber. Utilizing the free vibration results, we performed forced vibration analysis to predict the displacements of the chamber due to ambient vibration. The input support motion for the forced vibration analysis was defined by a white noise acceleration spectrum which was based on previous measurements of ground noise near the Nova site. A special purpose computer program was prepared to process the results of the forced vibration analysis. The program yields distances by which the lines of sight of the various laser beams miss the target as a result of ambient vibrations. We also performed additional estimates of miss distance to provide bounds on the results. A description of the finite element model of the chamber, the input spectrum, and the results of the analyses are included

A neural network for noise correlation classification

Science.gov (United States)

Paitz, Patrick; Gokhberg, Alexey; Fichtner, Andreas

2018-02-01

We present an artificial neural network (ANN) for the classification of ambient seismic noise correlations into two categories, suitable and unsuitable for noise tomography. By using only a small manually classified data subset for network training, the ANN allows us to classify large data volumes with low human effort and to encode the valuable subjective experience of data analysts that cannot be captured by a deterministic algorithm. Based on a new feature extraction procedure that exploits the wavelet-like nature of seismic time-series, we efficiently reduce the dimensionality of noise correlation data, still keeping relevant features needed for automated classification. Using global- and regional-scale data sets, we show that classification errors of 20 per cent or less can be achieved when the network training is performed with as little as 3.5 per cent and 16 per cent of the data sets, respectively. Furthermore, the ANN trained on the regional data can be applied to the global data, and vice versa, without a significant increase of the classification error. An experiment where four students manually classified the data, revealed that the classification error they would assign to each other is substantially larger than the classification error of the ANN (>35 per cent). This indicates that reproducibility would be hampered more by human subjectivity than by imperfections of the ANN.

Improvements of Real Time First Motion Focal Mechanism and Noise Characteristics of New Sites at the Puerto Rico Seismic Network

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, D. M.; Lopez, A. M.; Huerfano, V.; Lugo, J.; Cancel, J.

2011-12-01

Seismic networks need quick and efficient ways to obtain information related to seismic events for the purposes of seismic activity monitoring, risk assessment, and scientific knowledge among others. As part of an IRIS summer internship program, two projects were performed to provide a tool for quick faulting mechanism and improve seismic data at the Puerto Rico Seismic Network (PRSN). First, a simple routine to obtain a focal mechanisms, the geometry of the fault, based on first motions was developed and implemented for data analysts routine operations at PRSN. The new tool provides the analyst a quick way to assess the probable faulting mechanism that occurred while performing the interactive earthquake location procedure. The focal mechanism is generated on-the-fly when data analysts pick P wave arrivals onsets and motions. Once first motions have been identified, an in-house PRSN utility is employed to obtain the double couple representation and later plotted using GMT's psmeca utility. Second, we addressed the issue of seismic noise related to thermal fluctuations inside seismic vaults. Seismic sites can be extremely noisy due to proximity to cultural activities and unattended thermal fluctuations inside sensor housings, thus resulting in skewed readings. In the past, seismologists have used different insulation techniques to reduce the amount of unwanted noise that a seismometers experience due to these thermal changes with items such as Styrofoam, and fiber glass among others. PRSN traditionally uses Styrofoam boxes to cover their seismic sensors, however, a proper procedure to test how these method compare to other new techniques has never been approached. The deficiency of properly testing these techniques in the Caribbean and especially Puerto Rico is that these thermal fluctuations still happen because of the intense sun and humidity. We conducted a test based on the methods employed by the IRIS Transportable Array, based on insulation by sand burial of

Rift Structure in Eastern Papua New Guinea From the Joint Inversion of Receiver Functions and Seismic Noise

Science.gov (United States)

Abers, G. A.; Obrebski, M. J.; Jin, G.; Eilon, Z.

2014-12-01

The recent CDPapua seismic array in the active D'Entrecasteaux-Woodlark Rift provides insights into how continental crust accommodates large extension. Here, >100 km of extension has occurred in the last 4-6 Ma, exhuming rocks from 100 km depth. To better understand the modes of deformation of the crust, we analyze shear wave velocity (Vs) distribution for a set of temporary land and ocean bottom broadband stations. We resolve the depth of the main velocity contrasts using receiver function (RF) analysis, alleviating the intrinsic trade-off between depth and velocity intrinsic by joint inversion with dispersion constraints (10 - 100 s) from earthquake surface waves and ambient noise. A transdimensional Bayesian scheme explores the model space (Vs in each layer, number of interfaces and their respective depths), minimizing the number of layers required to fit the observations given their noise level. Preliminary results suggest that the Moho is sharp in most places, with a depth of 28-38 km and 20-27 km below the Papuan Peninsula and the highly-extended D'Entracasteaux Islands, respectively. The mid-lower crust of these regions appears to be similar and consistent with felsic compositions, 3.25≤Vs≤3.5 km/s, and may represent the Owen-Stanley Metamorphic Belt or underlying continental rocks. A fast layer (3.75≤Vs≤4 km/s) is observed below the Papuan Peninsula in the 20-30 km depth range and may indicate more mafic lower crust. In contrast, faster velocities between 10 and 20km depth are modeled below the Goodenough Basin (3.75≤Vs≤4 km/s) and the Trobriand Basin (3.5≤Vs≤3.75 km/s) where rocks of the Papuan Ultramafic Belt have been suggested, although these results partly depend upon complicated signals from ocean-bottom seismometers. Well-located seismicity shows that active fault systems generally follow the boundaries between regions of different crustal velocity structure. Overall these results confirm a continental velocity structure for the

Linear Array Ambient Noise Adjoint Tomography Reveals Intense Crust-Mantle Interactions in North China Craton

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Chao; Yao, Huajian; Liu, Qinya; Zhang, Ping; Yuan, Yanhua O.; Feng, Jikun; Fang, Lihua

2018-01-01

We present a 2-D ambient noise adjoint tomography technique for a linear array with a significant reduction in computational cost and show its application to an array in North China. We first convert the observed data for 3-D media, i.e., surface-wave empirical Green's functions (EGFs) to the reconstructed EGFs (REGFs) for 2-D media using a 3-D/2-D transformation scheme. Different from the conventional steps of measuring phase dispersion, this technology refines 2-D shear wave speeds along the profile directly from REGFs. With an initial model based on traditional ambient noise tomography, adjoint tomography updates the model by minimizing the frequency-dependent Rayleigh wave traveltime delays between the REGFs and synthetic Green functions calculated by the spectral-element method. The multitaper traveltime difference measurement is applied in four-period bands: 20-35 s, 15-30 s, 10-20 s, and 6-15 s. The recovered model shows detailed crustal structures including pronounced low-velocity anomalies in the lower crust and a gradual crust-mantle transition zone beneath the northern Trans-North China Orogen, which suggest the possible intense thermo-chemical interactions between mantle-derived upwelling melts and the lower crust, probably associated with the magmatic underplating during the Mesozoic to Cenozoic evolution of this region. To our knowledge, it is the first time that ambient noise adjoint tomography is implemented for a 2-D medium. Compared with the intensive computational cost and storage requirement of 3-D adjoint tomography, this method offers a computationally efficient and inexpensive alternative to imaging fine-scale crustal structures beneath linear arrays.

Empirical Green's tensor retrieved from ambient noise cross-correlations at The Geysers geothermal field, Northern California

Science.gov (United States)

Nayak, Avinash; Taira, Taka'aki; Dreger, Douglas S.; Gritto, Roland

2018-04-01

We retrieve empirical Green's functions in the frequency range (˜0.2-0.9 Hz) for interstation distances ranging from ˜1 to ˜30 km (˜0.22 to ˜6.5 times the wavelength) at The Geysers geothermal field, Northern California, from coherency of ambient seismic noise being recorded by a variety of sensors (broad-band, short-period surface and borehole sensors, and one accelerometer). The applied methodology preserves the intercomponent relative amplitudes of the nine-component Green's tensor that allows us to directly compare noise-derived Green's functions (NGFs) with normalized displacement waveforms of complete single-force synthetic Green's functions (SGFs) computed with various 1-D and 3-D velocity models using the frequency-wavenumber integration method and a 3-D finite-difference wave propagation method, respectively. These comparisons provide an effective means of evaluating the suitability of different velocity models to different regions of The Geysers, and assessing the quality of the sensors and the NGFs. In the T-Tangential, R-Radial, Z-Vertical reference frame, the TT, RR, RZ, ZR and ZZ components (first component: force direction, second component: response direction) of NGFs show clear surface waves and even body-wave phases for many station pairs. They are also broadly consistent in phase and intercomponent relative amplitudes with SGFs for the known local seismic velocity structure that was derived primarily from body-wave traveltime tomography, even at interstation distances less than one wavelength. We also find anomalous large amplitudes in TR, TZ, RT and ZT components of NGFs at small interstation distances (≲4 km) that can be attributed to ˜10°-30° sensor misalignments at many stations inferred from analysis of longer period teleseismic waveforms. After correcting for sensor misalignments, significant residual amplitudes in these components for some longer interstation distance (≳8 km) paths are better reproduced by the 3-D velocity

Association between ambient noise exposure and school performance of children living in an urban area: a cross-sectional population-based study.

Science.gov (United States)

Pujol, Sophie; Levain, Jean-Pierre; Houot, Hélène; Petit, Rémy; Berthillier, Marc; Defrance, Jérôme; Lardies, Joseph; Masselot, Cyril; Mauny, Frédéric

2014-04-01

Most of the studies investigating the effects of the external noise on children's school performance have concerned pupils in schools exposed to high levels due to aircraft or freeway traffic noise. However, little is known about the consequences of the chronic ambient noise exposure at a level commonly encountered in residential urban areas. This study aimed to assess the relationship between the school performance of 8- to 9-year-old-children living in an urban environment and their chronic ambient noise exposure at home and at school. The children's school performances on the national standardized assessment test in French and mathematics were compared with the environmental noise levels. Children's exposure to ambient noise was calculated in front of their bedrooms (Lden) and schools (LAeq,day) using noise prediction modeling. Questionnaires were distributed to the families to collect potential confounding factors. Among the 746 respondent children, 586 were included in multilevel analyses. On average, the LAeq,day at school was 51.5 dB (SD= 4.5 dB; range = 38-58 dB) and the outdoor Lden at home was 56.4 dB (SD= 4.4 dB; range = 44-69 dB). LAeq,day at school was associated with impaired mathematics score (p = 0.02) or impaired French score (p = 0.01). For a + 10 dB gap, the French and mathematics scores were on average lower by about 5.5 points. Lden at home was significantly associated with impaired French performance when considered alone (p school exposure was considered (p = 0.06). The magnitude of the observed effect on school performance may appear modest, but should be considered in light of the number of people who are potentially chronically exposed to similar environmental noise levels.

Monitoring Seasonal Changes in Permafrost Using Seismic Interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

James, S. R.; Knox, H. A.; Abbott, R. E.

2015-12-01

The effects of climate change in polar regions and their incorporation in global climate models has recently become an area of great interest. Permafrost holds entrapped greenhouse gases, e.g. CO2 and CH4, which are released to the atmosphere upon thawing, creating a positive feedback mechanism. Knowledge of seasonal changes in active layer thickness as well as long term degradation of permafrost is critical to the management of high latitude infrastructures, hazard mitigation, and increasing the accuracy of climate predictions. Methods for effectively imaging the spatial extent, depth, thickness, and discontinuous nature of permafrost over large areas are needed. Furthermore, continuous monitoring of permafrost over annual time scales would provide valuable insight into permafrost degradation. Seismic interferometry using ambient seismic noise has proven effective for recording velocity changes within the subsurface for a variety of applications, but has yet to be applied to permafrost studies. To this end, we deployed 7 Nanometrics Trillium posthole broadband seismometers within Poker Flat Research Range, located 30 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska in a zone of discontinuous permafrost. Approximately 2 years worth of nearly continuous ambient noise data was collected. Using the python package MSNoise, relative changes in velocity were calculated. Results show high amounts of variability throughout the study period. General trends of negative relative velocity shifts can be seen between August and October followed by a positive relative velocity shift between November and February. Differences in relative velocity changes with both frequency and spatial location are also observed, suggesting this technique is sensitive to permafrost variation with depth and extent. Overall, short and long term changes in shallow subsurface velocity can be recovered using this method proposing seismic interferometry is a promising new technique for permafrost monitoring. Sandia

Near surface structure of the North Anatolian Fault Zone near 30°E from Rayleigh and Love wave tomography using ambient seismic noise.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, G.; Rost, S.; Houseman, G. A.; Hillers, G.

2017-12-01

By utilising short period surface waves present in the noise field, we can construct images of shallow structure in the Earth's upper crust: a depth-range that is usually poorly resolved in earthquake tomography. Here, we use data from a dense seismic array (Dense Array for Northern Anatolia - DANA) deployed across the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) in the source region of the 1999 magnitude 7.6 Izmit earthquake in western Turkey. The NAFZ is a major strike-slip system that extends 1200 km across northern Turkey and continues to pose a high level of seismic hazard, in particular to the mega-city of Istanbul. We obtain maps of group velocity variation using surface wave tomography applied to short period (1- 6 s) Rayleigh and Love waves to construct high-resolution images of SV and SH-wave velocity in the upper 5 km of a 70 km x 35 km region centred on the eastern end of the fault segment that ruptured in the 1999 Izmit earthquake. The average Rayleigh wave group velocities in the region vary between 1.8 km/s at 1.5 s period, to 2.2 km/s at 6 s period. The NAFZ bifurcates into northern and southern strands in this region; both are active but only the northern strand ruptured in the 1999 event. The signatures of both the northern and southern branches of the NAFZ are clearly associated with strong gradients in seismic velocity that also denote the boundaries of major tectonic units. This observation implies that the fault zone exploits the pre-existing structure of the Intra-Pontide suture zone. To the north of the NAFZ, we observe low S-wave velocities ( 2.0 km/s) associated with the unconsolidated sediments of the Adapazari basin, and blocks of weathered terrigenous clastic sediments. To the south of the northern branch of the NAFZ in the Armutlu block, we detect higher velocities ( 2.9 km/s) associated with a shallow crystalline basement, in particular a block of metamorphosed schists and marbles that bound the northern branch of the NAFZ.

A 380pW Dual Mode Optical Wake-up Receiver with Ambient Noise Cancellation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Wootaek; Jang, Taekwang; Lee, Inhee; Kim, Hun-Seok; Sylvester, Dennis; Blaauw, David

2016-06-01

We present a sub-nW optical wake-up receiver for wireless sensor nodes. The wake-up receiver supports dual mode operation for both ultra-low standby power and high data rates, while canceling ambient in-band noise. In 0.18µm CMOS the receiver consumes 380pW in always-on wake-up mode and 28.1µW in fast RX mode at 250kbps.

South Ilan Plain High-Resolution 3-D S-Wave Velocity from Ambient Noise Tomography

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kai-Xun Chen

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The Ilan Plain in northeastern Taiwan is located at a pivotal point where the Ryukyu trench subduction zone, the northern Taiwan crustal stretching zone, and the ongoing arc-continent collision zone converge. In contrast to the North Ilan Plain, the South Ilan Plain exhibits a thin unconsolidated sedimentary layer with depths ranging from 0 - 1 km, high on-land seismicity and significant SE movements relative to Penghu island. We deployed a dense network of 43 short-period vertical component Texan instruments from June to November 2013 in this study, covering most of the South Ilan Plain and its vicinity. We then used the ambient noise tomography method for simultaneous phase and group Rayleigh wave velocity measurements to invert a high-resolution 3-D S-wave for shallow structures (up to a depth of 2.5 km in the South Ilan Plain. We used the fast marching method for ray tracing to deal with ray bending in an inhomogeneous medium. The resulting rays gradually bend toward high velocity zones with increasing number of iterations. The high velocity zone results are modified by more iterations and the resolutions become higher because ray crossings are proportional to ray densities for evenly distributed stations. The final results agreed well with known sedimentary basement thickness patterns. We observed nearly EW trending fast anomalies beneath the mountainous terrain abutting to the South Ilan Plain. The Chingshui location consistently exhibited a low S-wave velocity zone to a depth of 1.5 km.

Seismic Ecology

Science.gov (United States)

Seleznev, V. S.; Soloviev, V. M.; Emanov, A. F.

The paper is devoted to researches of influence of seismic actions for industrial and civil buildings and people. The seismic actions bring influence directly on the people (vibration actions, force shocks at earthquakes) or indirectly through various build- ings and the constructions and can be strong (be felt by people) and weak (be fixed by sensing devices). The great number of work is devoted to influence of violent seismic actions (first of all of earthquakes) on people and various constructions. This work is devoted to study weak, but long seismic actions on various buildings and people. There is a need to take into account seismic oscillations, acting on the territory, at construction of various buildings on urbanized territories. Essential influence, except for violent earthquakes, man-caused seismic actions: the explosions, seismic noise, emitted by plant facilities and moving transport, radiation from high-rise buildings and constructions under action of a wind, etc. can exert. Materials on increase of man- caused seismicity in a number of regions in Russia, which earlier were not seismic, are presented in the paper. Along with maps of seismic microzoning maps to be built indicating a variation of amplitude spectra of seismic noise within day, months, years. The presence of an information about amplitudes and frequencies of oscillations from possible earthquakes and man-caused oscillations in concrete regions allows carry- ing out soundly designing and construction of industrial and civil housing projects. The construction of buildings even in not seismically dangerous regions, which have one from resonance frequencies coincident on magnitude to frequency of oscillations, emitted in this place by man-caused objects, can end in failure of these buildings and heaviest consequences for the people. The practical examples of detail of engineering- seismological investigation of large industrial and civil housing projects of Siberia territory (hydro power

Relating seismicity to the velocity structure of the San Andreas Fault near Parkfield, CA

Science.gov (United States)

Lippoldt, Rachel; Porritt, Robert W.; Sammis, Charles G.

2017-06-01

The central section of the San Andreas Fault (SAF) displays a range of seismic phenomena including normal earthquakes, low-frequency earthquakes (LFE), repeating microearthquakes (REQ) and aseismic creep. Although many lines of evidence suggest that LFEs are tied to the presence of fluids, their geological setting is still poorly understood. Here, we map the seismic velocity structures associated with LFEs beneath the central SAF using surface wave tomography from ambient seismic noise to provide constraints on the physical conditions that control LFE occurrence. Fault perpendicular sections show that the SAF, as revealed by lateral contrasts in relative velocities, is contiguous to depths of 50 km and appears to be relatively localized at depths between about 15 and 30 km. This is consistent with the hypothesis that LFEs are shear-slip events on a deep extension of the SAF. We find that along strike variations in seismic behaviour correspond to changes in the seismic structure, which support proposed connections between fluids and seismicity. LFEs and REQs occur within low-velocity structures, suggesting that the presence of fluids, weaker minerals, or hydrous phase minerals may play an important role in the generation of slow-slip phenomena.

A Dense Small-Scale Seismic Network in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (Northern Tanzania)

Science.gov (United States)

Parisi, L.; Lombardo, L.; Rodriguez-Mustafa, M.; Mai, P. M.

2017-12-01

A temporary deployment consisting of sixteen broadband seismic stations is conducted for the first time in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA, Northern Tanzania), located at the boundary between the Tanzanian Craton and East African Rift. A deep knowledge of the faulting systems and tectonics of the area is needed to better understand the contribution of the synsedimentary faults to the deposition of the Olduvai and surrounding basins affecting the landscapes of the Homo Habilis first settlements. Complex fault systems have been mapped in the field but their connection, especially at depth, is not well known. A first batch of ten instruments was installed in June 2016. In June 2017 two stations were dismissed and a second batch of six stations was installed in new locations. The current network of fourteen stations will record until May 2018. Stations are equipped with Nanometrics Trillium Compact Posthole 120 s sensor and Centaur digitiser recording continuously at 200 Hz. The whole network covers 1400 km2 and station interspace ranges from 8 to 15 km. We analyse probabilistic power spectra densities of the seismic noise to obtain insights of its origin and test the performances of the stations. Although factories do not exist in the area and most of the stations are far from roads, ambient noise in the range 0.01 - 1 s is relatively high (between -120 dB and -100dB at 0.1 s) probably because of the abundance of livestock living in the NCA. Ambient noise in the period range 1 - 10 s (secondary microseisms) decreases from east to west. Although the main source of the microseisms is located in the Indian Ocean (east of the study area), a contribution from the low period tremors coming from the nearby active volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai (north-east of the study area) is expected. Whereas the longer period noise (10 - 100 s) is very low in the vertical component seismograms, it is higher than the high noise model in the horizontal components for most of the stations

Deep Water Ocean Acoustics (DWOA): The Philippine Sea, OBSANP, and THAAW Experiments

Science.gov (United States)

2015-09-30

variability of the ambient noise field, and (v) understanding the relationship between the acoustic field in the water column and the seismic field in the...acoustic field in the water column and the seismic field in the seafloor for both ambient noise and signals transmitted by a J15-3 source and (2) the...frequent periods of low ambient noise.  Ice cover is still present throughout much of the year, insulating the ocean from wind and solar forcing and

Significance of geological units of the Bohemian Massif, Czech Republic, as seen by ambient noise interferometry

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Růžek, Bohuslav; Valentová, L.; Gallovič, F.

2016-01-01

Roč. 173, č. 5 (2016), s. 1663-1682 ISSN 0033-4553 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP210/12/2336; GA MŠk LM2010008 Institutional support: RVO:67985530 Keywords : ambient noise * geological units * Bohemian Massif * velocity model Subject RIV: DC - Siesmology, Volcanology, Earth Structure Impact factor: 1.591, year: 2016

Monitoring daily and sub-daily variations in crustal strain with seismic arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Mao, S.; Campillo, M.; van der Hilst, R. D.; Brenguier, F.; Hillers, G.

2017-12-01

We demonstrate that we can monitor deformation of the shallow crust (with hourly temporal resolution) directly with seismic waves, by measuring relative seismic wave speed changes (dv/v) due to relatively known periodical forcing (tides and changes in atmospheric temperature) at Piton de la Fournaise Volcano (PdF), La Réunion. We use ambient seismic noise recorded (for one month) at VolcArray, an experiment with three arrays of 49 vertical-component geophones deployed on a 7x7 grid of approximately 80 m spacing. Through noise-based coda wave interferometry we infer for each array the average relative changes in propagation speed of seismic waves (dv/v) as a function of time, which relate to temporal changes in medium properties within 100m depth. The variations in dv/v ( 0.05%) on time-scales longer than a day are best explained by effects of precipitation on pore pressure. In contrast, the (weaker) daily and sub-daily fluctuations of dv/v ( 0.01%) are likely to be caused by tidal and thermal effects. We verify that the inferred variations of dv/v are unrelated to spatiotemporal changes of noise wavefields. We further compare the power spectrum of dv/v with spectra of simulated tide-induced volumetric strain, temperature records, very broadband (VBB) seismograms, and borehole tilt records. In all five types of data, dominant peaks are found at around diurnal, semi-diurnal, and ter-diurnal frequencies. A comparison of phase and spectra of the data suggests that the tidal and thermal effects on dv/v are of similar magnitude but vary with frequency. Theoretical modeling of tide- and temperature-induced strain in different frequency bands agrees with the relative magnitude of the two effects on dv/v from passive monitoring.

Statistics and vertical directionality of low-frequency ambient noise at the North Pacific Acoustics Laboratory site

Science.gov (United States)

Baggeroer, Arthur B.; NPAL Group; Colosi, J. A.; Cornuelle, B. D.; Dushaw, B. D.; Dzieciuch, M. A.; Howe, B. M.; Mercer, J. A.; Munk, W. H.; Spindel, R. C.; Worcester, P. F.

2005-03-01

We examine statistical and directional properties of the ambient noise in the 10-100 Hz frequency band from the NPAL array. Marginal probability densities are estimated as well as mean square levels, skewness and kurtoses in third octave bands. The kurotoses are markedly different from Gaussian except when only distant shipping is present. Extremal levels reached ~150 dB re 1 μ Pa, suggesting levels 60dB greater than the mean ambient were common in the NPAL data sets. Generally, these were passing ships. We select four examples: i) quiescent noise, ii) nearby shipping, iii) whale vocalizations and iv) a micro earthquake for the vertical directional properties of the NPAL noise since they are representative of the phenomena encountered. We find there is modest broadband coherence for most of these cases in their occupancy band across the NPAL aperture. Narrowband coherence analysis from VLA to VLA was not successful due to ambiguities. Examples of localizing sources based upon this coherence are included. kw diagrams allow us to use data above the vertical aliasing frequency. Ducted propagation for both the quiescent and micro earthquake (T phase) are identified and the arrival angles of nearby shipping and whale vocalizations. MFP localizations were modestly successful for nearby sources, but long range ones could not be identified, most likely because of signal mismatch in the MFP replica. .

Imaging the Iceland Hotspot Track Beneath Greenland with Seismic Noise Correlations

Science.gov (United States)

Mordret, A.

2017-12-01

During the past 65 million years, the Greenland craton drifted over the Iceland hotspot; however, uncertainties in geodynamic modeling and a lack of geophysical evidence prevent an accurate reconstruction of the hotspot track. I image the Greenland lithosphere down to 300 km depth with seismic noise tomography. The hotspot track is observed as a linear high-velocity anomaly in the middle crust associated with magmatic intrusions. In the upper mantle, the remnant thermal signature of the hotspot manifests as low velocity and low viscosity bodies. This new detailed picture of the Greenland lithosphere will drive more accurate geodynamic reconstructions of tectonic plate motions and prediction of Greenland heat flow, which in turn will enable more precise estimations of the Greenland ice-sheet mass balance.

Non-stationary least-squares complex decomposition for microseismic noise attenuation

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yangkang

2018-06-01

Microseismic data processing and imaging are crucial for subsurface real-time monitoring during hydraulic fracturing process. Unlike the active-source seismic events or large-scale earthquake events, the microseismic event is usually of very small magnitude, which makes its detection challenging. The biggest trouble of microseismic data is the low signal-to-noise ratio issue. Because of the small energy difference between effective microseismic signal and ambient noise, the effective signals are usually buried in strong random noise. I propose a useful microseismic denoising algorithm that is based on decomposing a microseismic trace into an ensemble of components using least-squares inversion. Based on the predictive property of useful microseismic event along the time direction, the random noise can be filtered out via least-squares fitting of multiple damping exponential components. The method is flexible and almost automated since the only parameter needed to be defined is a decomposition number. I use some synthetic and real data examples to demonstrate the potential of the algorithm in processing complicated microseismic data sets.

Shear wave velocity structure of the Anatolian Plate and surrounding regions using Ambient Noise Tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Delph, J. R.; Beck, S. L.; Zandt, G.; Biryol, C. B.; Ward, K. M.

2013-12-01

The Anatolian Plate consists of various lithospheric terranes amalgamated during the closure of the Tethys Ocean, and is currently extruding to the west in response to a combination of the collision of the Arabian plate in the east and the roll back of the Aegean subduction zone in the west. We used Ambient Noise Tomography (ANT) at periods structure of the Anatolian Plate. We computed a total of 13,779 unique cross-correlations using one sample-per-second vertical component broadband seismic data from 215 stations from 8 different networks over a period of 7 years to compute fundamental-mode Rayleigh wave dispersion curves following the method of Benson et al. (2007). We then inverted the dispersion data to calculate phase velocity maps for 11 periods from 8 s - 40 s throughout Anatolia and the Aegean regions (Barmin et al. 2001). Using smoothed Moho values derived from Vanacore et al. (2013) in our starting models, we inverted our dispersion curves using a linear least-squares iterative inversion scheme (Herrmann & Ammon 2004) to produce a 3-D shear-wave velocity model of the crust and uppermost mantle throughout Anatolia and the Aegean. We find a good correlation between our seismic shear wave velocities and paleostructures (suture zones) and modern deformation (basin formation and fault deformation). The most prominent crustal velocity contrasts occur across intercontinental sutures zones, resulting from the juxtaposition of the compositionally different basements of the amalgamated terranes. At shallow depths, seismic velocity contrasts correspond closely with surficial features. The Thrace, Cankiri and Tuz Golu basins, and accretionary complexes related to the closure of the Neotethys are characterized by slow shear wave velocities, while the Menderes and Kirsehir Massifs, Pontides, and Istanbul Zone are characterized by fast velocities. We find that the East Anatolia Plateau has slow shear-wave velocities, as expected due to high heat flow and active

Ambient Sensors

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Börner, Dirk; Specht, Marcus

2014-01-01

This software sketches comprise two custom-built ambient sensors, i.e. a noise and a movement sensor. Both sensors measure an ambient value and process the values to a color gradient (green > yellow > red). The sensors were built using the Processing 1.5.1 development environment. Available under

Correlation of Crustal Structures and Seismicity Patterns in Northern Appalachians

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, X.; Gao, H.

2017-12-01

The earthquake distributions in northern Appalachians are bounded by major geologically-defined terrane boundaries. There is a distinct seismic gap within Taconic Belt between the Western Quebec Seismic Zone (WQSZ) to the west and the seismically active Ganderia terrane to the east. It is not clear, however, what crustal structures control the characteristics of earthquake clustering in this region. Here we present a newly constructed crustal shear velocity model for the northern Appalachians using Rayleigh wave data extracted from ambient noises. Our tomographic model reveals strongly heterogeneous seismic structures in the crust. We observe multiple NW-dipping patches of high-velocity anomalies in the upper crust beneath the southeastern WQSZ. The upper crust shear velocities in the Ganderia and Avalonia region are generally lower than those beneath the WQSZ. The middle crust has relatively lower velocities in the study area. The earthquakes in the study area are constrained within the upper crust. Most of the earthquake hypocenters within the WQSZ are concentrated along the NW-dipping boundaries separating the high-velocity anomalies. In contrast, most of the earthquake hypocenters in the Ganderia and Avalonia region are diffusely distributed without clear vertical lineaments. The orientations of maximum compressive stresses change from W-E in the Ganderia and Avalonia region to SW-NE in the WQSZ. The contrasts in seismicity, velocity, and stress field across the Taconic Belt indicate that the Taconic Belt terrane may act as a seismically inactive buffer zone in northern Appalachians.

Characterization of site conditions for selected seismic stations in eastern part of Romania

Science.gov (United States)

Grecu, B.; Zaharia, B.; Diaconescu, M.; Bala, A.; Nastase, E.; Constantinescu, E.; Tataru, D.

2018-02-01

Strong motion data are essential for seismic hazard assessment. To correctly understand and use this kind of data is necessary to have a good knowledge of local site conditions. Romania has one of the largest strong motion networks in Europe with 134 real-time stations. In this work, we aim to do a comprehensive site characterization for eight of these stations located in the eastern part of Romania. We make use of a various seismological dataset and we perform ambient noise and earthquake-based investigations to estimate the background noise level, the resonance frequencies and amplification of each site. We also derive the Vs30 parameter from the surface shear-wave velocity profiles obtained through the inversion of the Rayleigh waves recorded in active seismic measurements. Our analyses indicate similar results for seven stations: high noise levels for frequencies larger than 1 Hz, well defined fundamental resonance at low frequencies (0.15-0.29 Hz), moderate amplification levels (up to 4 units) for frequencies between 0.15 and 5-7 Hz and same soil class (type C) according to the estimated Vs30 and Eurocode 8. In contrast, the eighth station for which the soil class is evaluated of type B exhibits a very good noise level for a wide range of frequencies (0.01-20 Hz), a broader fundamental resonance at high frequencies ( 8 Hz) and a flat amplification curve between 0.1 and 3-4 Hz.

APL-UW Deep Water Propagation: Philippine Sea Signal Physics and North Pacific Ambient Noise and NPANL Support

Science.gov (United States)

2014-09-30

involve us in workshops focusing on the impact of ambient noise on the acoustic marine soundscape , and and invite DOS Kauai Linux CPU 294± ≈ 15 286... SoundScapes ” and a planning letter titled “GLOSS: GLobal Ocean SoundScapes : Phase I Connecting the worlds oceans through sound” have been produced in order

Towards a first design of a Newtonian-noise cancellation system for Advanced LIGO

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coughlin, M; Mukund, N; Mitra, S; Harms, J; Driggers, J; Adhikari, R

2016-01-01

Newtonian gravitational noise from seismic fields is predicted to be a limiting noise source at low frequency for second generation gravitational-wave detectors. Mitigation of this noise will be achieved by Wiener filtering using arrays of seismometers deployed in the vicinity of all test masses. In this work, we present optimized configurations of seismometer arrays using a variety of simplified models of the seismic field based on seismic observations at LIGO Hanford. The model that best fits the seismic measurements leads to noise reduction limited predominantly by seismometer self-noise. A first simplified design of seismic arrays for Newtonian-noise cancellation at the LIGO sites is presented, which suggests that it will be sufficient to monitor surface displacement inside the buildings. (paper)

Reducing Risk of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in Collegiate Music Ensembles Using Ambient Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Powell, Jason; Chesky, Kris

2017-09-01

Student musicians are at risk for noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) as they develop skills and perform during instructional activities. Studies using longitudinal dosimeter data show that pedagogical procedures and instructor behaviors are highly predictive of NIHL risk, thus implying the need for innovative approaches to increase instructor competency in managing instructional activities without interfering with artistic and academic freedom. Ambient information systems, an emerging trend in human-computer interaction that infuses psychological behavioral theories into technologies, can help construct informative risk-regulating systems. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of introducing an ambient information system into the ensemble setting. The system used two ambient displays and a counterbalanced within-subjects treatment study design with six jazz ensemble instructors to determine if the system could induce a behavior change that alters trends in measures resulting from dosimeter data. This study assessed efficacy using time series analysis to determine changes in eight statistical measures of behavior over a 9-wk period. Analysis showed that the system was effective, as all instructors showed changes in a combination of measures. This study is in an important step in developing non-interfering technology to reduce NIHL among academic musicians.

Seismicity at Old Faithful Geyser: an isolated source of geothermal noise and possible analogue of volcanic seismicity

Science.gov (United States)

Kieffer, Susan Werner

1984-09-01

Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, U.S.A., is a relatively isolated source of seismic noise and exhibits seismic behavior similar to that observed at many volcanoes, including "bubblequakes" that resemble B-type "earthquakes", harmonic tremor before and during eruptions, and periods of seismic quiet prior to eruptions. Although Old Faithful differs from volcanoes in that the conduit is continuously open, that rock-fracturing is not a process responsible for seismicity, and that the erupting fluid is inviscid H 2O rather than viscous magma, there are also remarkable similarities in the problems of heat and mass recharge to the system, in the eruption dynamics, and in the seismicity. Water rises irregularly into the immediate reservoir of Old Faithful as recharge occurs, a fact that suggests that there are two enlarged storage regions: one between 18 and 22 m (the base of the immediate reservoir) and one between about 10 and 12 m depth. Transport of heat from hot water or steam entering at the base of the recharging water column into cooler overlying water occurs by migration of steam bubbles upward and their collapse in the cooler water, and by episodes of convective overturn. An eruption occurs when the temperature of the near-surface water exceeds the boiling point if the entire water column is sufficiently close to the boiling curve that the propagation of pressure-release waves (rarefactions) down the column can bring the liquid water onto the boiling curve. The process of conversion of the liquid water in the conduit at the onset of an eruption into a two-phase liquid-vapor mixture takes on the order of 30 s. The seismicity is directly related to the sequence of filling and heating during the recharge cycle, and to the fluid mechanics of the eruption. Short (0.2-0.3 s), monochromatic, high-frequency events (20-60 Hz) resembling unsustained harmonic tremor and, in some instances, B-type volcanic earthquakes, occur when exploding or imploding

Total annoyance from an industrial noise source with a main spectral component combined with a background noise.

Science.gov (United States)

Alayrac, M; Marquis-Favre, C; Viollon, S

2011-07-01

When living close to an industrial plant, people are exposed to a combination of industrial noise sources and a background noise composed of all the other noise sources in the environment. As a first step, noise annoyance indicators in laboratory conditions are proposed for a single exposure to an industrial noise source. The second step detailed in this paper involves determining total annoyance indicators in laboratory conditions for ambient noises composed of an industrial noise source and a background noise. Two types of steady and permanent industrial noise sources are studied: low frequency noises with a main spectral component at 100 Hz, and noises with a main spectral component in middle frequencies. Five background noises are assessed so as to take into account different sound environments which can usually be heard by people living around an industrial plant. One main conclusion of this study is that two different analyses are necessary to determine total annoyance indicators for this type of ambient noise, depending on the industrial noise source composing it. Therefore, two total annoyance indicators adapted to the ambient noises studied are proposed. © 2011 Acoustical Society of America

Noise from wind turbines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fegeant, Olivier [Royal Inst. of Tech., Stockholm (Sweden). Dept. of Building Sciences

2002-02-01

A rapid growth of installed wind power capacity is expected in the next few years. However, the siting of wind turbines on a large scale raises concerns about their environmental impact, notably with respect to noise. To this end, variable speed wind turbines offer a promising solution for applications in densely populated areas like the European countries, as this design would enable an efficient utilisation of the masking effect due to ambient noise. In rural and recreational areas where wind turbines are sited, the ambient noise originates from the action of wind on the vegetation and about the listener's ear (pseudo-noise). It shows a wind speed dependence similar to that of the noise from a variable speed wind turbine and can therefore mask the latter for a wide range of conditions. However, a problem inherent to the design of these machines is their proclivity to pure tone generation, because of the enhanced difficulty of avoiding structural resonances in the mechanical parts. Pure tones are deemed highly annoying and are severely regulated by most noise policies. In relation to this problem, the vibration transmission of structure-borne sound to the tower of the turbine is investigated, in particular when the tower is stiffened at its upper end. Furthermore, since noise annoyance due to wind turbine is mostly a masking issue, the wind-related sources of ambient noise are studied and their masking potentials assessed. With this aim, prediction models for wind-induced vegetation noise and pseudo-noise have been developed. Finally, closely related to the effect of masking, is the difficulty, regularly encountered by local authorities and wind farm developers, to measure noise immission from wind turbines. A new measurement technique has thus been developed in the course of this work. Through improving the signal-to-noise ratio between wind turbine noise and ambient noise, the new technique yields more accurate measurement results.

Ambient vibrations of unstable rock slopes - insights from numerical modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Burjanek, Jan; Kleinbrod, Ulrike; Fäh, Donat

2017-04-01

The recent events in Nepal (2015 M7.8 Gorkha) and New Zealand (2016 M7.8 Kaikoura) highlighted the importance of earthquake-induced landslides, which caused significant damages. Moreover, landslide created dams present a potential developing hazard. In order to reduce the costly consequences of such events it is important to detect and characterize earthquake susceptible rock slope instabilities before an event, and to take mitigation measures. For the characterisation of instable slopes, acquisition of ambient vibrations might be a new alternative to the already existing methods. We present both observations and 3D numerical simulations of the ambient vibrations of unstable slopes. In particular, models of representative real sites have been developed based on detailed terrain mapping and used for the comparison between synthetics and observations. A finite-difference code has been adopted for the seismic wave propagation in a 3D inhomogeneous visco-elastic media with irregular free surface. It utilizes a curvilinear grid for a precise modeling of curved topography and local mesh refinement to make computational mesh finer near the free surface. Topographic site effects, controlled merely by the shape of the topography, do not explain the observed seismic response. In contrast, steeply-dipping compliant fractures have been found to play a key role in fitting observations. Notably, the synthetized response is controlled by inertial mass of the unstable rock, and by stiffness, depth and network density of the fractures. The developed models fit observed extreme amplification levels (factors of 70!) and show directionality as well. This represents a possibility to characterize slope structure and infer depth or volume of the slope instability from the ambient noise recordings in the future.

Classroom Noise and Teachers' Voice Production

Science.gov (United States)

Rantala, Leena M.; Hakala, Suvi; Holmqvist, Sofia; Sala, Eeva

2015-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this study was to research the associations between noise (ambient and activity noise) and objective metrics of teachers' voices in real working environments (i.e., classrooms). Method: Thirty-two female and 8 male teachers from 14 elementary schools were randomly selected for the study. Ambient noise was measured during breaks…

Correlações entre ruído ambiental em sala de aula e voz do professor Correlations between classroom environmental noise and teachers' voice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafaela Fernanda Guidini

2012-12-01

Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Identificar se existe correlação entre ruído ambiental no interior da sala de aula, intensidade da voz e presença de alteração vocal em professores. MÉTODOS: Foi realizada medição do ruído ambiental em dez salas de escolas municipais de ensino fundamental. A intensidade das vozes das professoras foi medida durante atividade de ensino. Amostras de vogal prolongada [é] e contagem de 1 a 20 emitidas pelas professoras foram analisadas utilizando escala GRBASI. Os resultados obtidos foram correlacionados. RESULTADOS: A média de ruído ambiental sem a presença das crianças em sala de aula variou de 40 a 51 dB(A e com a presença das crianças de 45 a 65 dB(A. Entre as professoras, houve 70% de ocorrência de vozes alteradas no grau geral (G e 90% com tensão na voz (S, variando entre graus discreto e moderado. Constatou-se variação entre 52 dB(A e 68 dB(A na intensidade da voz das professoras, atingindo 7,48 dB(A acima do nível do ruído ambiental. Houve correlação entre a intensidade vocal das professoras e ruído ambiental na presença das crianças durante a aula. CONCLUSÃO: Os níveis de ruído ambiental em sala de aula são altos e se correlacionam com o aumento da intensidade das vozes das professoras. Embora com alta ocorrência de vozes alteradas, não é possível correlacioná-las com o nível de ruído ambiental.PURPOSE: To explore the existence of correlations between environmental noise in classrooms, voice intensity and teacher's vocal problems. METHODS: Environmental noise was measured in 10 classrooms of municipal elementary schools; the intensity of teachers' voice was measured during teaching practice; teachers' speech samples containing emissions of sustained vowel [é] and counting from 1 to 20 were analyzed using the GRBASI protocol; and the results were tested for correlation. RESULTS: The average of environmental noise varied from 40 to 51 dB(A without the presence of children in the classroom, and

Reorganization of auditory map and pitch discrimination in adult rats chronically exposed to low-level ambient noise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weimin eZheng

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Behavioral adaption to a changing environment is critical for an animal’s survival. How well the brain can modify its functional properties based on experience essentially defines the limits of behavioral adaptation. In adult animals the extent to which experience shapes brain function has not been fully explored. Moreover, the perceptual consequences of experience-induced changes in the brains of adults remain unknown. Here we show that the tonotopic map in the primary auditory cortex of adult rats living with low-level ambient noise underwent a dramatic reorganization. Behaviorally, chronic noise-exposure impaired fine, but not coarse pitch discrimination. When tested in a noisy environment, the noise-exposed rats performed as well as in a quiet environment whereas the control rats performed poorly. This suggests that noise-exposed animals had adapted to living in a noisy environment. Behavioral pattern analyses revealed that stress or distraction engendered by the noisy background could not account for the poor performance of the control rats in a noisy environment. A reorganized auditory map may therefore have served as the neural substrate for the consistent performance of the noise-exposed rats in a noisy environment.

6C polarization analysis - seismic direction finding in coherent noise, automated event identification, and wavefield separation

Science.gov (United States)

Schmelzbach, C.; Sollberger, D.; Greenhalgh, S.; Van Renterghem, C.; Robertsson, J. O. A.

2017-12-01

Polarization analysis of standard three-component (3C) seismic data is an established tool to determine the propagation directions of seismic waves recorded by a single station. A major limitation of seismic direction finding methods using 3C recordings, however, is that a correct propagation-direction determination is only possible if the wave mode is known. Furthermore, 3C polarization analysis techniques break down in the presence of coherent noise (i.e., when more than one event is present in the analysis time window). Recent advances in sensor technology (e.g., fibre-optical, magnetohydrodynamic angular rate sensors, and ring laser gyroscopes) have made it possible to accurately measure all three components of rotational ground motion exhibited by seismic waves, in addition to the conventionally recorded three components of translational motion. Here, we present an extension of the theory of single station 3C polarization analysis to six-component (6C) recordings of collocated translational and rotational ground motions. We demonstrate that the information contained in rotation measurements can help to overcome some of the main limitations of standard 3C seismic direction finding, such as handling multiple arrivals simultaneously. We show that the 6C polarisation of elastic waves measured at the Earth's free surface does not only depend on the seismic wave type and propagation direction, but also on the local P- and S-wave velocities just beneath the recording station. Using an adaptation of the multiple signal classification algorithm (MUSIC), we demonstrate how seismic events can univocally be identified and characterized in terms of their wave type. Furthermore, we show how the local velocities can be inferred from single-station 6C data, in addition to the direction angles (inclination and azimuth) of seismic arrivals. A major benefit of our proposed 6C method is that it also allows the accurate recovery of the wave type, propagation directions, and phase

ASDF: An Adaptable Seismic Data Format with Full Provenance

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, J. A.; Krischer, L.; Tromp, J.; Lefebvre, M. P.

2015-12-01

In order for seismologists to maximize their knowledge of how the Earth works, they must extract the maximum amount of useful information from all recorded seismic data available for their research. This requires assimilating large sets of waveform data, keeping track of vast amounts of metadata, using validated standards for quality control, and automating the workflow in a careful and efficient manner. In addition, there is a growing gap between CPU/GPU speeds and disk access speeds that leads to an I/O bottleneck in seismic workflows. This is made even worse by existing seismic data formats that were not designed for performance and are limited to a few fixed headers for storing metadata.The Adaptable Seismic Data Format (ASDF) is a new data format for seismology that solves the problems with existing seismic data formats and integrates full provenance into the definition. ASDF is a self-describing format that features parallel I/O using the parallel HDF5 library. This makes it a great choice for use on HPC clusters. The format integrates the standards QuakeML for seismic sources and StationXML for receivers. ASDF is suitable for storing earthquake data sets, where all waveforms for a single earthquake are stored in a one file, ambient noise cross-correlations, and adjoint sources. The format comes with a user-friendly Python reader and writer that gives seismologists access to a full set of Python tools for seismology. There is also a faster C/Fortran library for integrating ASDF into performance-focused numerical wave solvers, such as SPECFEM3D_GLOBE. Finally, a GUI tool designed for visually exploring the format exists that provides a flexible interface for both research and educational applications. ASDF is a new seismic data format that offers seismologists high-performance parallel processing, organized and validated contents, and full provenance tracking for automated seismological workflows.

Characterization of the seismic environment at the Sanford Underground Laboratory, South Dakota

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Harms, J; Dorsher, S; Kandhasamy, S; Mandic, V [University of Minnesota, 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States); Acernese, F; Barone, F [Universita degli Studi di Salerno, Fisciano (Saudi Arabia) (Italy); Bartos, I; Marka, S [Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 (United States); Beker, M; Van den Brand, J F J; Rabeling, D S [Nikhef, National Institute for Subatomic Physics, Science Park 105, 1098 XG Amsterdam (Netherlands); Christensen, N; Coughlin, M [Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057 (United States); DeSalvo, R [California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Heise, J; Trancynger, T [Sanford Underground Laboratory, 630 East Summit Street, Lead, SD 57754 (United States); Mueller, G [University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 (United States); Naticchioni, L [Department of Physics, University of Rome ' Sapienza' , P.le Aldo Moro 2, 00185 Rome (Italy); O' Keefe, T [Saint Louis University, 3450 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63103 (United States); Sajeva, A, E-mail: janosch@caltech.ed [Dipartimento di Fisica ' Enrico Fermi' , Universita di Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo, Pisa (Italy)

2010-11-21

An array of seismometers is being developed at the Sanford Underground Laboratory, the former Homestake mine, in South Dakota to study the properties of underground seismic fields and Newtonian noise, and to investigate the possible advantages of constructing a third-generation gravitational-wave detector underground. Seismic data were analyzed to characterize seismic noise and disturbances. External databases were used to identify sources of seismic waves: ocean-wave data to identify sources of oceanic microseisms and surface wind-speed data to investigate correlations with seismic motion as a function of depth. In addition, sources of events contributing to the spectrum at higher frequencies are characterized by studying the variation of event rates over the course of a day. Long-term observations of spectral variations provide further insight into the nature of seismic sources. Seismic spectra at three different depths are compared, establishing the 4100 ft level as a world-class low seismic-noise environment.

Acoustic/seismic signal propagation and sensor performance modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, D. Keith; Marlin, David H.; Mackay, Sean

2007-04-01

Performance, optimal employment, and interpretation of data from acoustic and seismic sensors depend strongly and in complex ways on the environment in which they operate. Software tools for guiding non-expert users of acoustic and seismic sensors are therefore much needed. However, such tools require that many individual components be constructed and correctly connected together. These components include the source signature and directionality, representation of the atmospheric and terrain environment, calculation of the signal propagation, characterization of the sensor response, and mimicking of the data processing at the sensor. Selection of an appropriate signal propagation model is particularly important, as there are significant trade-offs between output fidelity and computation speed. Attenuation of signal energy, random fading, and (for array systems) variations in wavefront angle-of-arrival should all be considered. Characterization of the complex operational environment is often the weak link in sensor modeling: important issues for acoustic and seismic modeling activities include the temporal/spatial resolution of the atmospheric data, knowledge of the surface and subsurface terrain properties, and representation of ambient background noise and vibrations. Design of software tools that address these challenges is illustrated with two examples: a detailed target-to-sensor calculation application called the Sensor Performance Evaluator for Battlefield Environments (SPEBE) and a GIS-embedded approach called Battlefield Terrain Reasoning and Awareness (BTRA).

Modeling continuous seismic velocity changes due to ground shaking in Chile

Science.gov (United States)

Gassenmeier, Martina; Richter, Tom; Sens-Schönfelder, Christoph; Korn, Michael; Tilmann, Frederik

2015-04-01

In order to investigate temporal seismic velocity changes due to earthquake related processes and environmental forcing, we analyze 8 years of ambient seismic noise recorded by the Integrated Plate Boundary Observatory Chile (IPOC) network in northern Chile between 18° and 25° S. The Mw 7.7 Tocopilla earthquake in 2007 and the Mw 8.1 Iquique earthquake in 2014 as well as numerous smaller events occurred in this area. By autocorrelation of the ambient seismic noise field, approximations of the Green's functions are retrieved. The recovered function represents backscattered or multiply scattered energy from the immediate neighborhood of the station. To detect relative changes of the seismic velocities we apply the stretching method, which compares individual autocorrelation functions to stretched or compressed versions of a long term averaged reference autocorrelation function. We use time windows in the coda of the autocorrelations, that contain scattered waves which are highly sensitive to minute changes in the velocity. At station PATCX we observe seasonal changes in seismic velocity as well as temporary velocity reductions in the frequency range of 4-6 Hz. The seasonal changes can be attributed to thermal stress changes in the subsurface related to variations of the atmospheric temperature. This effect can be modeled well by a sine curve and is subtracted for further analysis of short term variations. Temporary velocity reductions occur at the time of ground shaking usually caused by earthquakes and are followed by a recovery. We present an empirical model that describes the seismic velocity variations based on continuous observations of the local ground acceleration. Our hypothesis is that not only the shaking of earthquakes provokes velocity drops, but any small vibrations continuously induce minor velocity variations that are immediately compensated by healing in the steady state. We show that the shaking effect is accumulated over time and best described by

Adaptive prediction applied to seismic event detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clark, G.A.; Rodgers, P.W.

1981-01-01

Adaptive prediction was applied to the problem of detecting small seismic events in microseismic background noise. The Widrow-Hoff LMS adaptive filter used in a prediction configuration is compared with two standard seismic filters as an onset indicator. Examples demonstrate the technique's usefulness with both synthetic and actual seismic data

Seismic evidence for multiple-stage exhumation of high/ultrahigh pressure metamorphic rocks in the eastern Dabie orogenic belt

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Yinhe; Zhao, Kaifeng; Tang, Chi-Chia; Xu, Yixian

2018-05-01

The Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt in China contains one of the largest exposures of high and ultrahigh pressure (HP and UHP) metamorphic rocks in the world. The origin of HP/UHP metamorphic rocks and their exhumation to the surface in this belt have attracted great interest in the geologic community because the study of exhumation history of HP/UHP rocks helps to understand the process of continental-continental collision and the tectonic evolution of post-collision. However, the exhumation mechanism of the HP-UHP rocks to the surface is still contentious. In this study, by deploying 28 broadband seismic stations in the eastern Dabie orogenic belt and combining seismic data from 40 stations of the China National Seismic Network (CNSN), we image the high-resolution crustal isotropic shear velocity and radial anisotropy structure using ambient noise tomography. Our high-resolution 3D models provide new information about the exhumation mechanism of HP/UHP rocks and the origin of two dome structures.

Seismic data acquisition at the FACT site for the CASPAR project.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jones, Kyle R.; Chael, Eric Paul; Hart, Darren M.

2012-01-01

Since May 2010, we have been recording continuous seismic data at Sandia's FACT site. The collected signals provide us with a realistic archive for testing algorithms under development for local monitoring of explosive testing. Numerous small explosive tests are routinely conducted around Kirtland AFB by different organizations. Our goal is to identify effective methods for distinguishing these events from normal daily activity on and near the base, such as vehicles, aircraft, and storms. In this report, we describe the recording system, and present some observations of the varying ambient noise conditions at FACT. We present examples of various common, non-explosive, sources. Next we show signals from several small explosions, and discuss their characteristic features.

Pre-failure behaviour of an unstable limestone cliff from displacement and seismic data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J.-L. Got

2010-04-01

Full Text Available We monitored the displacement and seismic activity of an unstable vertical rock slice in a natural limestone cliff of the southeast Vercors massif, southeast France, during the months preceding its collapse. Displacement measurements showed an average acceleration of the movement of its top, with clear increases in the displacement velocity and in the discrete seismic event production rate during periods where temperature falls, with more activity when rainfall or frost occurs. Crises of discrete seismic events produce high amplitudes in periodograms, but do not change the high frequency base noise level rate. We infer that these crises express the critical crack growth induced by water weakening (from water vapor condensation or rain of the rock strength rather than to a rapid change in applied stresses. Seismic noise analysis showed a steady increase in the high frequency base noise level and the emergence of spectral modes in the signal recorded by the sensor installed on the unstable rock slice during the weeks preceding the collapse. High frequency seismic noise base level seems to represent subcritical crack growth. It is a smooth and robust parameter whose variations are related to generalized changes in the rupture process. Drop of the seismic noise amplitude was concomitant with the emergence of spectral modes – that are compatible with high-order eigenmodes of the unstable rock slice – during the later stages of its instability. Seismic noise analysis, especially high frequency base noise level analysis may complement that of inverse displacement velocity in early-warning approaches when strong displacement fluctuations occur.

Seismic and resistivity anisotropy analysis at the Low-Noise Underground Laboratory (LSBB) of Rustrel (France)

Science.gov (United States)

Zeyen, H. J.; Bereš, J.; Gaffet, S.; Sénéchal, G.; Rousset, D.; Pessel, M.

2011-12-01

Many geological materials exhibit anisotropic behaviour. A limestone massif, especially if cracked with fractures and faults in a predominant orientation is expected to manifest seismic and electric resistivity anisotropy. Seismic velocity within air- or water-filled cracks is smaller than in the rock matrix. Therefore, the velocity parallel to fractures, controlled mainly by the rock matrix, is expected to be faster than perpendicular to the fractures, where waves have to cross fractures and rock matrix. Seismic and resistivity measurements were conducted in three underground galleries of the Low-Noise Underground Gallery (LSBB) in southern France forming a horse-shoe setting. The galleries are located inside a karstic limestone massif. Around 22500 first arrival travel-times were picked and different types of pole-pole and dipole-dipole resistivity measurement were carried out in parallel. Resistivities and velocities vary strongly with direction of observation. The direction of fast velocities is at right angle with the one of slow velocities, a typical sign for anisotropy. Observation of a system of subparallel fractures allows to approximate the actual rock anisotropy by a horizontal transverse isotropy model. The dataset was treated by different approaches, including simple cosine fit, inversion of average anisotropy parameters using a Monte-Carlo approach, isotropic and anisotropic tomography inversion. All of the above confirm the directions of fast and slow velocities (30°N and 120°N respectively) and an anisotropy of about 10%. Common measurements of seismic and resistivity data at different periods of the year will have the potential to determine quantitatively the fracture density and the free water content in this karst massif.

Adaptive prediction applied to seismic event detection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Clark, G.A.; Rodgers, P.W.

1981-09-01

Adaptive prediction was applied to the problem of detecting small seismic events in microseismic background noise. The Widrow-Hoff LMS adaptive filter used in a prediction configuration is compared with two standard seismic filters as an onset indicator. Examples demonstrate the technique's usefulness with both synthetic and actual seismic data.

The Canarian Seismic Monitoring Network: design, development and first result

Science.gov (United States)

D'Auria, Luca; Barrancos, José; Padilla, Germán D.; García-Hernández, Rubén; Pérez, Aaron; Pérez, Nemesio M.

2017-04-01

Tenerife is an active volcanic island which experienced several eruptions of moderate intensity in historical times, and few explosive eruptions in the Holocene. The increasing population density and the consistent number of tourists are constantly raising the volcanic risk. In June 2016 Instituto Volcanologico de Canarias started the deployment of a seismological volcano monitoring network consisting of 15 broadband seismic stations. The network began its full operativity in November 2016. The aim of the network are both volcano monitoring and scientific research. Currently data are continuously recorded and processed in real-time. Seismograms, hypocentral parameters, statistical informations about the seismicity and other data are published on a web page. We show the technical characteristics of the network and an estimate of its detection threshold and earthquake location performances. Furthermore we present other near-real time procedures on the data: analysis of the ambient noise for determining the shallow velocity model and temporal velocity variations, detection of earthquake multiplets through massive data mining of the seismograms and automatic relocation of events through double-difference location.

Seismicity within the Irpinia Fault System As Monitored By Isnet (Irpinia Seismic Network) and Its Possible Relation with Fluid Storage

Science.gov (United States)

Festa, G.; Zollo, A.; Amoroso, O.; Ascione, A.; Colombelli, S.; Elia, L.; Emolo, A.; Martino, C.; Mazzoli, S.; Orefice, A.; Russo, G.

2014-12-01

ISNet (http://isnet.fisica.unina.it) is deployed in Southern Apennines along the active fault system responsible for the 1980, M 6.9 Irpinia earthquake. ISNet consists of 32 seismic stations equipped with both strong motion and velocimetric instruments (either broadband or short-period), with the aim of capture a broad set of seismic signals, from ambient noise to strong motion. Real time and near real time procedures run at ISNet with the goal of monitoring the seismicity, check possible space-time anomalies, detect seismic sequences and launch an earthquake early warning in the case of potential significant ground shaking in the area. To understand the role of fluids on the seismicity of the area, we investigated velocity and attenuation models. The former is built from accurate cross-correlation picking and S wave detection based onto polarization analysis. Joint inversion of both P and S arrival times is then based on a linearized multi-scale tomographic approach. Attenuation is instead obtained from inversion of displacement spectra, deconvolving for the source effect. High VP/VS and QS/QP >1 were found within a ~15 km wide rock volume where intense microseismicity is located. This indicates that concentration of seismicity is possibly controlled by high pore fluid pressure. This earthquake reservoir may come from a positive feedback between the seismic pumping that controls the fluid transmission through the fractured damage zone and the low permeability of cross fault barrier, increasing the fluid pore pressure within the fault bounded block. In this picture, sequences mostly occur at the base of this fluid rich layer. They show an anomalous pattern in the earthquake occurrence per magnitude classes; main events evolve with a complex source kinematics, as obtained from backprojection of apparent source time functions, indicating possible directivity effects. In this area sequences might be the key for understanding the transition between the deep

Environmental resources of selected areas of Hawaii: Climate, ambient air quality, and noise

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lombardi, D.A.; Blasing, T.J.; Easterly, C.E.; Reed, R.M. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States); Hamilton, C.B. [Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)

1995-03-01

This report has been prepared to make available and archive background scientific data and related information on climate, ambient air quality, and ambient noise levels collected during the preparation of the environmental impact statement (EIS) for Phases 3 and 4 of the Hawaii Geothermal Project (HGP) as defined by the state of Hawaii in its April 1989 proposal to Congress. The US Department of Energy (DOE) published a notice withdrawing its Notice of Intent to prepare the HGP-EIS. Since the state of Hawaii is no longer pursuing or planning to pursue the HGP, DOE considers the project to be terminated. The report presents a general description of the climate add air quality for the islands of Hawaii (henceforth referred to as Hawaii), Maui and Oahu. It also presents a literature review as baseline information on the health effects of sulfide. The scientific background data and related information is being made available for use by others in conducting future scientific research in these areas. This report describes the environmental resources present in the areas studied (i.e., the affected environment) and does not represent an assessment of environmental impacts.

Probing dynamic hydrologic system of slowly-creeping landslides with passive seismic imaging: A comprehensive landslide monitoring site at Lantai, Ilan area in Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, H. H.; Hsu, Y. J.; Kuo, C. Y.; Chen, C. C.; Kuo, L. W.; Chen, R. F.; Lin, C. R.; Lin, P. P.; Lin, C. W.; Lin, M. L.; Wang, K. L.

2017-12-01

A unique landslide monitoring project integrating multidisciplinary geophysics experiments such as GPS, inclinometer, piezometer, and spontaneous potential log has been established at Lantai, Ilan area to investigating the possible detachment depth range and the physical mechanism of a slowly creeping landslide. In parallel with this, a lately deployed local seismic network also lends an opportunity to employ the passive seismic imaging technique to detect the time-lapse changes of seismic velocity in and around the landslide area. Such technique that retrieves Green's functions by cross-correlation of continuous ambient noise has opened new opportunities to seismologically monitoring the environmental and tectonic events such as ground water variation, magma intrusion under volcanos, and co-seismic medium damage in recent years. Integrating these geophysical observations, we explore the primary controls of derived seismic velocity changes and especially the hydrological response of the landslide to the passage of Megi typhoon in the last September 2016, which could potentially further our understanding of the dynamic system of landslides and in turn help the hazard mitigation.

Measuring changes in ambient noise levels from the installation and operation of a surge wave energy converter in the coastal ocean

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haxel, Joe H [Oregon State Univ., Newport, OR (United States); Henkel, Sarah K [Oregon State Univ., Newport, OR (United States)

2017-10-18

Ecosystem impacts resulting from elevated underwater noise levels generated by anthropogenic activities in the coastal ocean are poorly understood and remain difficult to address as a result of a significant gap in knowledge for existing nearshore sound levels. Ambient noise is an important habitat component for marine mammals and fish that use sound for essential functions such as communication, navigation, and foraging. Questions surrounding the amplitudes, frequency distributions, and durations of noise emissions from renewable wave energy conversion (WEC) projects during their construction and operation present concerns for long-term consequences in marine habitats. Oregon’s dynamic nearshore environment presents significant challenges for passive acoustic monitoring that include flow noise contamination from wave orbital motions, turbulence from breaking surf, equipment burial, and fishing pressure from sport and commercial crabbers. This project included 2 techniques for passive acoustic data collection: 1) campaign style deployments of fixed hydrophone lander stations to capture temporal variations in noise levels and 2) a drifting hydrophone system to record spatial variations within the project site. The hydrophone lander deployments were effective and economically feasible for enabling robust temporal measurements of ambient noise levels in a variety of sea state conditions. Limiting factors for the fixed stations included 1) a flow shield mitigation strategy failure in the first deployment resulting in significant wideband data contamination and 2) flow noise contamination of the unshielded sensors restricting valuable analysis to frequencies above 500 Hz for subsequent deployments. Drifting hydrophone measurements were also effective and economically feasible (although logistically challenging in the beginning of the project due to vessel time constraints) providing a spatial distribution of sound levels, comparisons of noise levels in varying levels

Seismically observed seiching in the Panama Canal

Science.gov (United States)

McNamara, D.E.; Ringler, A.T.; Hutt, C.R.; Gee, L.S.

2011-01-01

A large portion of the seismic noise spectrum is dominated by water wave energy coupled into the solid Earth. Distinct mechanisms of water wave induced ground motions are distinguished by their spectral content. For example, cultural noise is generally Panama Canal there is an additional source of long-period noise generated by standing water waves, seiches, induced by disturbances such as passing ships and wind pressure. We compare seismic waveforms to water level records and relate these observations to changes in local tilt and gravity due to an oscillating seiche. The methods and observations discussed in this paper provide a first step toward quantifying the impact of water inundation as recorded by seismometers. This type of quantified understanding of water inundation will help in future estimates of similar phenomena such as the seismic observations of tsunami impact. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.

Unsupervised seismic facies analysis with spatial constraints using regularized fuzzy c-means

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Chengyun; Liu, Zhining; Cai, Hanpeng; Wang, Yaojun; Li, Xingming; Hu, Guangmin

2017-12-01

Seismic facies analysis techniques combine classification algorithms and seismic attributes to generate a map that describes main reservoir heterogeneities. However, most of the current classification algorithms only view the seismic attributes as isolated data regardless of their spatial locations, and the resulting map is generally sensitive to noise. In this paper, a regularized fuzzy c-means (RegFCM) algorithm is used for unsupervised seismic facies analysis. Due to the regularized term of the RegFCM algorithm, the data whose adjacent locations belong to same classification will play a more important role in the iterative process than other data. Therefore, this method can reduce the effect of seismic data noise presented in discontinuous regions. The synthetic data with different signal/noise values are used to demonstrate the noise tolerance ability of the RegFCM algorithm. Meanwhile, the fuzzy factor, the neighbour window size and the regularized weight are tested using various values, to provide a reference of how to set these parameters. The new approach is also applied to a real seismic data set from the F3 block of the Netherlands. The results show improved spatial continuity, with clear facies boundaries and channel morphology, which reveals that the method is an effective seismic facies analysis tool.

Seismic and thermodynamics constraints on temperature and composition of the Italian crust.

Science.gov (United States)

Diaferia, G.; Cammarano, F.; Piana Agostinetti, N.; Gao, C.; Boschi, L.; Molinari, I.

2017-12-01

Describing the variation of temperature and composition within the crust is of key importance for the understanding of its formation, evolution and its volcano-tectonic processes. We combine different geophysical observations with information on material properties, contributing to improve our knowledge on the structure, chemical and thermal heterogeneity of the crust. We use thermodynamic modeling to assess the effects of temperature, pressure and water content on seismic velocities. We find that i) temperature, rather than composition and water content, plays a major role in affecting seismic properties of crustal rocks, ii) mineralogical phase transitions, such as the α-β quartz transition and the plagioclase breakdown, play an important role on seismic observables, iii) the ratio between shear-wave velocity and density does not change appreciably in the crust, even as temperature and mineralogy are varied. Informed by these findings, we apply a trans-dimensional Montecarlo Markov-Chain inversion algorithm to jointly invert Rayleigh wave dispersion curves and receiver functions. Dispersion curves are derived from ambient-noise and provide a homogeneous coverage of the Italian Peninsula. More than 200 receiver functions are used with their error and correlation functions included during the inversion phase, to account for data uncertainty. The ensemble of seismic models obtained through the joint inversion is analyzed and preliminary interpretations based on petrological and thermodynamics constraints are presented.

Micromachined silicon seismic accelerometer development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barron, C.C.; Fleming, J.G.; Montague, S. [and others

1996-08-01

Batch-fabricated silicon seismic transducers could revolutionize the discipline of seismic monitoring by providing inexpensive, easily deployable sensor arrays. Our ultimate goal is to fabricate seismic sensors with sensitivity and noise performance comparable to short-period seismometers in common use. We expect several phases of development will be required to accomplish that level of performance. Traditional silicon micromachining techniques are not ideally suited to the simultaneous fabrication of a large proof mass and soft suspension, such as one needs to achieve the extreme sensitivities required for seismic measurements. We have therefore developed a novel {open_quotes}mold{close_quotes} micromachining technology that promises to make larger proof masses (in the 1-10 mg range) possible. We have successfully integrated this micromolding capability with our surface-micromachining process, which enables the formation of soft suspension springs. Our calculations indicate that devices made in this new integrated technology will resolve down to at least sub-{mu}G signals, and may even approach the 10{sup -10} G/{radical}Hz acceleration levels found in the low-earth-noise model.

A seismic network to investigate the sedimentary hosted hydrothermal Lusi system

Science.gov (United States)

Javad Fallahi, Mohammad; Mazzini, Adriano; Lupi, Matteo; Obermann, Anne; Karyono, Karyono

2016-04-01

The 29th of May 2006 marked the beginning of the sedimentary hosted hydrothermal Lusi system. During the last 10 years we witnessed numerous alterations of the Lusi system behavior that coincide with the frequent seismic and volcanic activity occurring in the region. In order to monitor the effect that the seismicity and the activity of the volcanic arc have on Lusi, we deployed a ad hoc seismic network. This temporary network consist of 10 broadband and 21 short period stations and is currently operating around the Arjuno-Welirang volcanic complex, along the Watukosek fault system and around Lusi, in the East Java basin since January 2015. We exploit this dataset to investigate surface wave and shear wave velocity structure of the upper-crust beneath the Arjuno-Welirang-Lusi complex in the framework of the Lusi Lab project (ERC grant n° 308126). Rayleigh and Love waves travelling between each station-pair are extracted by cross-correlating long time series of ambient noise data recorded at the stations. Group and phase velocity dispersion curves are obtained by time-frequency analysis of cross-correlation functions, and are tomographically inverted to provide 2D velocity maps corresponding to different sampling depths. 3D shear wave velocity structure is then acquired by inverting the group velocity maps.

Site response assessment using borehole seismic records

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Donghee; Chang, Chunjoong; Choi, Weonhack [KHNP Central Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-05-15

In regions with high seismic activity, such as Japan, the Western United States and Taiwan, borehole seismometers installed deep underground are used to monitor seismic activity during the course of seismic wave propagation at various depths and to study the stress changes due to earthquakes and analyze the connection to fault movements. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) and the Korea Institute of Geology and Mining (KIGAM) have installed and are operating borehole seismometers at a depth of 70∼100 meters for the precise determination of epicenters. Also, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. (KHNP) has installed and is operating 2 borehole seismic stations near Weolseong area to observe at a depth of 140 meters seismic activities connected to fault activity. KHNP plans to operate in the second half of 2014 a borehole seismic station for depths less than 300 and 600 meters in order to study the seismic response characteristics in deep strata. As a basic study for analyzing ground motion response characteristics at depths of about 300 to 600 meters in connection with the deep geological disposal of spent nuclear fuel, the present study examined the background noise response characteristics of the borehole seismic station operated by KHNP. In order to analyze the depth-dependent impact of seismic waves at deeper depths than in Korea, seismic data collected by Japan's KIK-net seismic stations were used and the seismic wave characteristics analyzed by size and depth. In order to analyze the borehole seismic observation data from the seismic station operated by KHNP, this study analyzed the background noise characteristics by using a probability density function.

Site response assessment using borehole seismic records

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Donghee; Chang, Chunjoong; Choi, Weonhack

2014-01-01

In regions with high seismic activity, such as Japan, the Western United States and Taiwan, borehole seismometers installed deep underground are used to monitor seismic activity during the course of seismic wave propagation at various depths and to study the stress changes due to earthquakes and analyze the connection to fault movements. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) and the Korea Institute of Geology and Mining (KIGAM) have installed and are operating borehole seismometers at a depth of 70∼100 meters for the precise determination of epicenters. Also, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. (KHNP) has installed and is operating 2 borehole seismic stations near Weolseong area to observe at a depth of 140 meters seismic activities connected to fault activity. KHNP plans to operate in the second half of 2014 a borehole seismic station for depths less than 300 and 600 meters in order to study the seismic response characteristics in deep strata. As a basic study for analyzing ground motion response characteristics at depths of about 300 to 600 meters in connection with the deep geological disposal of spent nuclear fuel, the present study examined the background noise response characteristics of the borehole seismic station operated by KHNP. In order to analyze the depth-dependent impact of seismic waves at deeper depths than in Korea, seismic data collected by Japan's KIK-net seismic stations were used and the seismic wave characteristics analyzed by size and depth. In order to analyze the borehole seismic observation data from the seismic station operated by KHNP, this study analyzed the background noise characteristics by using a probability density function

Long-term exposure to road traffic noise, ambient air pollution, and cardiovascular risk factors in the HUNT and lifelines cohorts.

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Yutong; Hansell, Anna L; Blangiardo, Marta; Burton, Paul R; de Hoogh, Kees; Doiron, Dany; Fortier, Isabel; Gulliver, John; Hveem, Kristian; Mbatchou, Stéphane; Morley, David W; Stolk, Ronald P; Zijlema, Wilma L; Elliott, Paul; Hodgson, Susan

2017-08-01

Blood biochemistry may provide information on associations between road traffic noise, air pollution, and cardiovascular disease risk. We evaluated this in two large European cohorts (HUNT3, Lifelines). Road traffic noise exposure was modelled for 2009 using a simplified version of the Common Noise Assessment Methods in Europe (CNOSSOS-EU). Annual ambient air pollution (PM10, NO2) at residence was estimated for 2007 using a Land Use Regression model. The statistical platform DataSHIELD was used to pool data from 144 082 participants aged ≥20 years to enable individual-level analysis. Generalized linear models were fitted to assess cross-sectional associations between pollutants and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), blood lipids and for (Lifelines only) fasting blood glucose, for samples taken during recruitment in 2006-2013. Pooling both cohorts, an inter-quartile range (IQR) higher day-time noise (5.1 dB(A)) was associated with 1.1% [95% confidence interval (95% CI: 0.02-2.2%)] higher hsCRP, 0.7% (95% CI: 0.3-1.1%) higher triglycerides, and 0.5% (95% CI: 0.3-0.7%) higher high-density lipoprotein (HDL); only the association with HDL was robust to adjustment for air pollution. An IQR higher PM10 (2.0 µg/m3) or NO2 (7.4 µg/m3) was associated with higher triglycerides (1.9%, 95% CI: 1.5-2.4% and 2.2%, 95% CI: 1.6-2.7%), independent of adjustment for noise. Additionally for NO2, a significant association with hsCRP (1.9%, 95% CI: 0.5-3.3%) was seen. In Lifelines, an IQR higher noise (4.2 dB(A)) and PM10 (2.4 µg/m3) was associated with 0.2% (95% CI: 0.1-0.3%) and 0.6% (95% CI: 0.4-0.7%) higher fasting glucose respectively, with both remaining robust to adjustment for air/noise pollution. Long-term exposures to road traffic noise and ambient air pollution were associated with blood biochemistry, providing a possible link between road traffic noise/air pollution and cardio-metabolic disease risk. Published on behalf of the European Society of

Accurate Ambient Noise Assessment Using Smartphones

Science.gov (United States)

Zamora, Willian; Calafate, Carlos T.; Cano, Juan-Carlos; Manzoni, Pietro

2017-01-01

Nowadays, smartphones have become ubiquitous and one of the main communication resources for human beings. Their widespread adoption was due to the huge technological progress and to the development of multiple useful applications. Their characteristics have also experienced a substantial improvement as they now integrate multiple sensors able to convert the smartphone into a flexible and multi-purpose sensing unit. The combined use of multiple smartphones endowed with several types of sensors gives the possibility to monitor a certain area with fine spatial and temporal granularity, a procedure typically known as crowdsensing. In this paper, we propose using smartphones as environmental noise-sensing units. For this purpose, we focus our study on the sound capture and processing procedure, analyzing the impact of different noise calculation algorithms, as well as in determining their accuracy when compared to a professional noise measurement unit. We analyze different candidate algorithms using different types of smartphones, and we study the most adequate time period and sampling strategy to optimize the data-gathering process. In addition, we perform an experimental study comparing our approach with the results obtained using a professional device. Experimental results show that, if the smartphone application is well tuned, it is possible to measure noise levels with a accuracy degree comparable to professional devices for the entire dynamic range typically supported by microphones embedded in smartphones, i.e., 35–95 dB. PMID:28430126

3D shear wave velocity structure revealed with ambient noise tomography on a DAS array

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, X.; Thurber, C. H.; Wang, H. F.; Fratta, D.

2017-12-01

An 8700-m Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) cable was deployed at Brady's Hot Springs, Nevada in March 2016 in a 1.5 by 0.5 km study area. The layout of the DAS array was designed with a zig-zag geometry to obtain relatively uniform areal and varied angular coverage, providing very dense coverage with a one-meter channel spacing. This array continuously recorded signals of a vibroseis truck, earthquakes, and traffic noise during the 15-day deployment. As shown in a previous study (Zeng et al., 2017), ambient noise tomography can be applied to DAS continuous records to image shear wave velocity structure in the near surface. To avoid effects of the vibroseis truck operation, only continuous data recorded during the nighttime was used to compute noise cross-correlation functions for channel pairs within a given linear segment. The frequency band of whitening was set at 5 to 15 Hz and the length of the cross-correlation time window was set to 60 second. The phase velocities were determined using the multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) methodology. The phase velocity dispersion curve was then used to invert for shear wave velocity profiles. A preliminarily velocity model at Brady's Hot Springs (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2015) was used as the starting model and the sensitivity kernels of Rayleigh wave group and phase velocities were computed with this model. As the sensitivity kernel shows, shear wave velocity in the top 200 m can be constrained with Rayleigh wave group and phase velocities in our frequency band. With the picked phase velocity data, the shear wave velocity structure can be obtained via Occam's inversion (Constable et al., 1987; Lai 1998). Shear wave velocity gradually increases with depth and it is generally faster than the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (2015) model. Furthermore, that model has limiting constraints at shallow depth. The strong spatial variation is interpreted to reflect the different sediments and

VS of the uppermost crust structure of the Campi Flegrei caldera (southern Italy) from ambient noise Rayleigh wave analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Costanzo, M. R.; Nunziata, C.; Strollo, R.

2017-11-01

Shear wave velocities (VS) are defined in the uppermost 1-2 km of the Campi Flegrei caldera through the non-linear inversion of the group velocity dispersion curves of fundamental-mode Rayleigh waves extracted from ambient noise cross-correlations between two receivers. Noise recordings, three months long, at 12 seismic stations are cross-correlated between all couples of stations. The experiment provided successful results along 54 paths (inter-stations distance), of which 27 sampled a depth > 1 km. VS contour lines are drawn from 0.06 km b.s.l. to 1 km depth b.s.l. and show difference between the offshore (gulf of Pozzuoli and coastline) and the onshore areas. At 0.06 km b.s.l., the gulf of Pozzuoli and the coastline are characterized by VS of 0.3-0.5 km/s and of 0.5-0.7 km/s, respectively. Such velocities are typical of Neapolitan pyroclastic soils and fractured or altered tuffs. The inland shows VS in the range 0.7-0.9 km/s, typical of Neapolitan compact tuffs. Velocities increase with depth and, at 1 km depth b.s.l., velocities lower than 1.5 km/s are still present in the gulf and along the coastline while velocities higher than 1.9 km/s characterize the eastern sector (grossly coincident with the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff caldera rim), the S. Vito plain and the area between Solfatara and SW of Astroni. Such features are much more evident along two cross-sections drawn in the offshore and onshore sectors by integrating our VS models with literature data. Our models join previous noise cross-correlation studies at greater scale at depths of 0.7-0.8 km, hence the picture of the Campi Flegrei caldera is shown up to a depth of 15 km. VS of about 1.7 km/s, corresponding to compression velocities (VP) of about 3 km/s (computed by using the VP/VS ratio resulted in the inversion), are found at depths of 1.1 km, in the centre of the gulf of Pozzuoli, and at a depth of about 0.7 km b.s.l. onshore. An increment of VS velocity ( 1.9-2.0 km/s) is locally observed onshore

Seismic interferometry by crosscorrelation and by multidimensional deconvolution: a systematic comparison

Science.gov (United States)

Wapenaar, Kees; van der Neut, Joost; Ruigrok, Elmer; Draganov, Deyan; Hunziker, Jürg; Slob, Evert; Thorbecke, Jan; Snieder, Roel

2011-06-01

Seismic interferometry, also known as Green's function retrieval by crosscorrelation, has a wide range of applications, ranging from surface-wave tomography using ambient noise, to creating virtual sources for improved reflection seismology. Despite its successful applications, the crosscorrelation approach also has its limitations. The main underlying assumptions are that the medium is lossless and that the wavefield is equipartitioned. These assumptions are in practice often violated: the medium of interest is often illuminated from one side only, the sources may be irregularly distributed, and losses may be significant. These limitations may partly be overcome by reformulating seismic interferometry as a multidimensional deconvolution (MDD) process. We present a systematic analysis of seismic interferometry by crosscorrelation and by MDD. We show that for the non-ideal situations mentioned above, the correlation function is proportional to a Green's function with a blurred source. The source blurring is quantified by a so-called interferometric point-spread function which, like the correlation function, can be derived from the observed data (i.e. without the need to know the sources and the medium). The source of the Green's function obtained by the correlation method can be deblurred by deconvolving the correlation function for the point-spread function. This is the essence of seismic interferometry by MDD. We illustrate the crosscorrelation and MDD methods for controlled-source and passive-data applications with numerical examples and discuss the advantages and limitations of both methods.

MyShake: Building a smartphone seismic network

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Q.; Allen, R. M.; Schreier, L.

2014-12-01

We are in the process of building up a smartphone seismic network. In order to build this network, we did shake table tests to evaluate the performance of the smartphones as seismic recording instruments. We also conducted noise floor test to find the minimum earthquake signal we can record using smartphones. We added phone noises to the strong motion data from past earthquakes, and used these as an analogy dataset to test algorithms and to understand the difference of using the smartphone network and the traditional seismic network. We also built a prototype system to trigger the smartphones from our server to record signals which can be sent back to the server in near real time. The phones can also be triggered by our developed algorithm running locally on the phone, if there's an earthquake occur to trigger the phones, the signal recorded by the phones will be sent back to the server. We expect to turn the prototype system into a real smartphone seismic network to work as a supplementary network to the existing traditional seismic network.

Intérvalo unitario de tiempo de medición para ruido ambiental Unit timing for environmental noise measurements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William A. Giraldo A.

2011-01-01

Full Text Available En las entidades ambientales, los encargados de las mediciones de ruido ambiental y en general todas las personas que de una u otra forma han trabajado en esta temática, en algún momento se han puesto a pensar sobre la representatividad del tiempo unitario de muestreo y la forma de realizar evaluaciones para dar cumplimiento con dicho tiempo, sin que se aumenten considerablemente los costos de medición. En este artículo se plantea una metodología para determinar cómo un intervalo de cierta duración -en este caso, quince (15 minutos- para el muestreo del nivel de presión sonora es representativo para el período de una (1 hora, logrando de esta manera optimizar el uso de los sonómetros "fijos" y proponiendo una estrategia para reducir los costos en las mediciones de ruido ambiental y en general la elaboración de mapas de ruido.The managers of environmental noise measurements in environmental control agencies, or in general every person that work in this subject, have to think on the representativity of the unit measurement time interval, and how to evaluate it in order to get good quality results regarding the unit measurement time without increasing the measurement costs. A methodology for deciding if a certain measuring time interval -in this case, fifteen (15 minutes- is representative of noise pressure levels occurring during one hour, is proposed in this paper. This methodology allows to optimize the use of stationary sound level meters and to propose a strategy for reducing the costs of environmental noise measurements and of the designing of noise maps in general.

Visualization of volumetric seismic data

Science.gov (United States)

Spickermann, Dela; Böttinger, Michael; Ashfaq Ahmed, Khawar; Gajewski, Dirk

2015-04-01

Mostly driven by demands of high quality subsurface imaging, highly specialized tools and methods have been developed to support the processing, visualization and interpretation of seismic data. 3D seismic data acquisition and 4D time-lapse seismic monitoring are well-established techniques in academia and industry, producing large amounts of data to be processed, visualized and interpreted. In this context, interactive 3D visualization methods proved to be valuable for the analysis of 3D seismic data cubes - especially for sedimentary environments with continuous horizons. In crystalline and hard rock environments, where hydraulic stimulation techniques may be applied to produce geothermal energy, interpretation of the seismic data is a more challenging problem. Instead of continuous reflection horizons, the imaging targets are often steep dipping faults, causing a lot of diffractions. Without further preprocessing these geological structures are often hidden behind the noise in the data. In this PICO presentation we will present a workflow consisting of data processing steps, which enhance the signal-to-noise ratio, followed by a visualization step based on the use the commercially available general purpose 3D visualization system Avizo. Specifically, we have used Avizo Earth, an extension to Avizo, which supports the import of seismic data in SEG-Y format and offers easy access to state-of-the-art 3D visualization methods at interactive frame rates, even for large seismic data cubes. In seismic interpretation using visualization, interactivity is a key requirement for understanding complex 3D structures. In order to enable an easy communication of the insights gained during the interactive visualization process, animations of the visualized data were created which support the spatial understanding of the data.

Enhancement of the Signal-to-Noise Ratio in Sonic Logging Waveforms by Seismic Interferometry

KAUST Repository

Aldawood, Ali

2012-04-01

Sonic logs are essential tools for reliably identifying interval velocities which, in turn, are used in many seismic processes. One problem that arises, while logging, is irregularities due to washout zones along the borehole surfaces that scatters the transmitted energy and hence weakens the signal recorded at the receivers. To alleviate this problem, I have extended the theory of super-virtual refraction interferometry to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) sonic waveforms. Tests on synthetic and real data show noticeable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) enhancements of refracted P-wave arrivals in the sonic waveforms. The theory of super-virtual interferometric stacking is composed of two redatuming steps followed by a stacking procedure. The first redatuming procedure is of correlation type, where traces are correlated together to get virtual traces with the sources datumed to the refractor. The second datuming step is of convolution type, where traces are convolved together to dedatum the sources back to their original positions. The stacking procedure following each step enhances the signal to noise ratio of the refracted P-wave first arrivals. Datuming with correlation and convolution of traces introduces severe artifacts denoted as correlation artifacts in super-virtual data. To overcome this problem, I replace the datuming with correlation step by datuming with deconvolution. Although the former datuming method is more robust, the latter one reduces the artifacts significantly. Moreover, deconvolution can be a noise amplifier which is why a regularization term is utilized, rendering the datuming with deconvolution more stable. Tests of datuming with deconvolution instead of correlation with synthetic and real data examples show significant reduction of these artifacts. This is especially true when compared with the conventional way of applying the super-virtual refraction interferometry method.

Road traffic noise and incident myocardial infarction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Mette; Andersen, Zorana Jovanovic; Nordsborg, Rikke B

2012-01-01

Both road traffic noise and ambient air pollution have been associated with risk for ischemic heart disease, but only few inconsistent studies include both exposures.......Both road traffic noise and ambient air pollution have been associated with risk for ischemic heart disease, but only few inconsistent studies include both exposures....

Seismic and thermal structure of the crust and uppermost mantle beneath Antarctica from inversion of multiple seismic datasets

Science.gov (United States)

Wiens, D.; Shen, W.; Anandakrishnan, S.; Aster, R. C.; Gerstoft, P.; Bromirski, P. D.; Dalziel, I.; Hansen, S. E.; Heeszel, D.; Huerta, A. D.; Nyblade, A.; Stephen, R. A.; Wilson, T. J.; Winberry, J. P.; Stern, T. A.

2017-12-01

Since the last decade of the 20th century, over 200 broadband seismic stations have been deployed across Antarctica (e.g., temporary networks such as TAMSEIS, AGAP/GAMSEIS, POLENET/ANET, TAMNNET and RIS/DRIS by U.S. geoscientists as well as stations deployed by Japan, Britain, China, Norway, and other countries). In this presentation, we discuss our recent efforts to build reference crustal and uppermost mantle shear velocity (Vs) and thermal models for continental Antarctica based on those seismic arrays. By combing the high resolution Rayleigh wave dispersion maps derived from both ambient noise and teleseismic earthquakes, together with P receiver function waveforms, we develop a 3-D Vs model for the crust and uppermost mantle beneath Central and West Antarctica to a depth of 200 km. Additionally, using this 3-D seismic model to constrain the crustal structure, we re-invert for the upper mantle thermal structure using the surface wave data within a thermodynamic framework and construct a 3-D thermal model for the Antarctic lithosphere. The final product, a high resolution thermal model together with associated uncertainty estimates from the Monte Carlo inversion, allows us to derive lithospheric thickness and surface heat flux maps for much of the continent. West Antarctica shows a much thinner lithosphere ( 50-90 km) than East Antarctica ( 130-230 km), with a sharp transition along the Transantarctic Mountains (TAM). A variety of geological features, including a slower/hotter but highly heterogeneous West Antarctica and a much faster/colder East Antarctic craton, are present in the 3-D seismic/thermal models. Notably, slow seismic velocities observed in the uppermost mantle beneath the southern TAM are interpreted as a signature of lithospheric foundering and replacement with hot asthenosphere. The high resolution image of these features from the 3-D models helps further investigation of the dynamic state of Antarctica's lithosphere and underlying asthenosphere

Controlled Noise Seismology

KAUST Repository

Hanafy, Sherif M.

2015-08-19

We use controlled noise seismology (CNS) to generate surface waves, where we continuously record seismic data while generating artificial noise along the profile line. To generate the CNS data we drove a vehicle around the geophone line and continuously recorded the generated noise. The recorded data set is then correlated over different time windows and the correlograms are stacked together to generate the surface waves. The virtual shot gathers reveal surface waves with moveout velocities that closely approximate those from active source shot gathers.

Controlled Noise Seismology

KAUST Repository

Hanafy, Sherif M.; AlTheyab, Abdullah; Schuster, Gerard T.

2015-01-01

We use controlled noise seismology (CNS) to generate surface waves, where we continuously record seismic data while generating artificial noise along the profile line. To generate the CNS data we drove a vehicle around the geophone line and continuously recorded the generated noise. The recorded data set is then correlated over different time windows and the correlograms are stacked together to generate the surface waves. The virtual shot gathers reveal surface waves with moveout velocities that closely approximate those from active source shot gathers.

Shot-noise-limited optical Faraday polarimetry with enhanced laser noise cancelling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Jiaming; Luo, Le; Carvell, Jeff; Cheng, Ruihua; Lai, Tianshu; Wang, Zixin

2014-01-01

We present a shot-noise-limited measurement of optical Faraday rotations with sub-ten-nanoradian angular sensitivity. This extremely high sensitivity is achieved by using electronic laser noise cancelling and phase sensitive detection. Specially, an electronic laser noise canceller with a common mode rejection ratio of over 100 dB was designed and built for enhanced laser noise cancelling. By measuring the Faraday rotation of ambient air, we demonstrate an angular sensitivity of up to 9.0×10 −9  rad/√(Hz), which is limited only by the shot-noise of the photocurrent of the detector. To date, this is the highest angular sensitivity ever reported for Faraday polarimeters in the absence of cavity enhancement. The measured Verdet constant of ambient air, 1.93(3)×10 −9 rad/(G cm) at 633 nm wavelength, agrees extremely well with the earlier experiments using high finesse optical cavities. Further, we demonstrate the applications of this sensitive technique in materials science by measuring the Faraday effect of an ultrathin iron film

Noise Configuration and fault zone anisotropy investigation from Taiwan Chelungpu-fault Deep Borehole Array

Science.gov (United States)

Hung, R. J.; Ma, K. F.; Song, T. R. A.; Nishida, K.; Lin, Y. Y.

2016-12-01

The Taiwan Chelungpu-fault Drilling Project was operated to understand the fault zone characteristics associated with the 1999 Chichi earthquake. Seven Borehole Seismometers (TCDPBHS) were installed through the identified fault zone to monitor the micro-seismic activities, as well as the fault-zone seismic structure properties. To understand the fault zone anisotropy and its possible temporal variations after the Chichi earthquake, we calculated cross-correlations of the noise at different stations to obtain cross correlation functions (CCFs) of the ambient noise field between every pair of the stations. The result shows that TCDP well site suffers from complex wavefield, and phase traveltime from CCF can't provide explicit result to determine the dominated wavefield. We first analyze the power density spectra and probability density functions of this array. We observe that the spectra show diurnal variation in the frequency band 1-25 Hz, suggesting human-generated sources are dominated in this frequency band. Then, we focus on the particle motion analysis at each CCF. We assume one component at a station plays as a visual source and compute the CCF tensor in other station components. The particle motion traces show high linearity which indicate that the dominated wavefield in our study area is body wave signals with the azimuth approximate to 60° from north. We also analyze the Fourier spectral amplitudes by rotating every 5 degrees in time domain to search for the maximum background energy distribution. The result shows that the spectral amplitudes are stronger at NE-SW direction, with shallow incident angles which are comparable with the CCF particle motion measurement. In order to obtain higher resolution about the dominated wavefield in our study area, we also used beamforming from surface station array to validate our results from CCF analysis. In addition to the CCF analysis to provide the noise configuration at the TCDPBHS site for further analysis on

Noise reduction in long‐period seismograms by way of array summing

Science.gov (United States)

Ringler, Adam; Wilson, David; Storm, Tyler; Marshall, Benjamin T.; Hutt, Charles R.; Holland, Austin

2016-01-01

Long‐period (>100  s period) seismic data can often be dominated by instrumental noise as well as local site noise. When multiple collocated sensors are installed at a single site, it is possible to improve the overall station noise levels by applying stacking methods to their traces. We look at the noise reduction in long‐period seismic data by applying the time–frequency phase‐weighted stacking method of Schimmel and Gallart (2007) as well as the phase‐weighted stacking (PWS) method of Schimmel and Paulssen (1997) to four collocated broadband sensors installed in the quiet Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory underground vault. We show that such stacking methods can improve vertical noise levels by as much as 10 dB over the mean background noise levels at 400 s period, suggesting that greater improvements could be achieved with an array involving multiple sensors. We also apply this method to reduce local incoherent noise on horizontal seismic records of the 2 March 2016 Mw 7.8 Sumatra earthquake, where the incoherent noise levels at very long periods are similar in amplitude to the earthquake signal. To maximize the coherency, we apply the PWS method to horizontal data where relative azimuths between collocated sensors are estimated and compared with a simpler linear stack with no azimuthal rotation. Such methods could help reduce noise levels at various seismic stations where multiple high‐quality sensors have been deployed. Such small arrays may also provide a solution to improving long‐period noise levels at Global Seismographic Network stations.

Underwater noise from a wave energy converter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tougaard, Jakob

A recent addition to the anthropogenic sources of underwater noise is offshore wave energy converters. Underwater noise was recorded from the Wavestar wave energy converter located at Hastholm, Denmark (57°7.73´N, 8°37.23´E). The Wavestar is a full-scale test and demonstration converter...... in full operation and start and stop of the converter. Median broad band (10 Hz – 20 kHz) sound pressure level (Leq) was 123 dB re. 1 Pa, irrespective of status of the wave energy converter (stopped, running or starting/stopping). The most pronounced peak in the third-octave spectrum was in the 160 Hz...... significant noise above ambient could be detected above the 250 Hz band. The absolute increase in noise above ambient was very small. L50 third-octave levels in the four bands with the converter running were thus only 1-2 dB above ambient L50 levels. The noise recorded 25 m from the wave energy converter...

The monterey bay broadband ocean bottom seismic observatory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Uhrhammer

2006-06-01

Full Text Available We report on the installation of a long-term buried ocean-floor broadband seismic station (MOBB in Monterey Bay, California (USA, 40km off-shore, at a water depth of 1000 m. The station was installed in April 2002 using a ship and ROV, in a collaborative effort between the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI and the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory (BSL. The station is located on the western side of the San Gregorio Fault, a major fault in the San Andreas plate boundary fault system. In addition to a 3-component CMG-1T seismometer package, the station comprises a current meter and Differential Pressure Gauge, both sampled at high-enough frequency (1 Hz to allow the study of relations between background noise on the seismometers and ocean waves and currents. The proximity of several land-based broadband seismic stations of the Berkeley Digital Seismic Network allows insightful comparisons of land/ocean background seismic noise at periods relevant to regional and teleseismic studies. The station is currently autonomous. Recording and battery packages are exchanged every 3 months during scheduled one day dives. Ultimately, this station will be linked to shore using continuous telemetry (cable and/or buoy and will contribute to the earthquake notification system in Northern California. We present examples of earthquake and noise data recorded during the first 6 months of operation of MOBB. Lessons learned from these and continued recordings will help understand the nature and character of background noise in regional off-shore environments and provide a reference for the installation of future off-shore temporary and permanent broadband seismic stations.

Post-seismic velocity changes following the 2010 Mw 7.1 Darfield earthquake, New Zealand, revealed by ambient seismic field analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Heckels, R. EG; Savage, M. K.; Townend, J.

2018-05-01

Quantifying seismic velocity changes following large earthquakes can provide insights into fault healing and reloading processes. This study presents temporal velocity changes detected following the 2010 September Mw 7.1 Darfield event in Canterbury, New Zealand. We use continuous waveform data from several temporary seismic networks lying on and surrounding the Greendale Fault, with a maximum interstation distance of 156 km. Nine-component, day-long Green's functions were computed for frequencies between 0.1 and 1.0 Hz for continuous seismic records from immediately after the 2010 September 04 earthquake until 2011 January 10. Using the moving-window cross-spectral method, seismic velocity changes were calculated. Over the study period, an increase in seismic velocity of 0.14 ± 0.04 per cent was determined near the Greendale Fault, providing a new constraint on post-seismic relaxation rates in the region. A depth analysis further showed that velocity changes were confined to the uppermost 5 km of the subsurface. We attribute the observed changes to post-seismic relaxation via crack healing of the Greendale Fault and throughout the surrounding region.

On the application of Hidden Markov Model and Bayesian Belief Network to seismic noise at Las Canadas Caldera, Tenerife, Spain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quintero Oliveros, Anggi; Carniel, Roberto; Tarraga, Marta; Aspinall, Willy

2008-01-01

The Teide-Pico Viejo volcanic complex situated in Tenerife Island (Canary Islands, Spain) has recently shown signs of unrest, long after its last eruptive episode at Chinyero in 1909, and the last explosive episode which happened at Montana Blanca, 2000 years ago. In this paper we study the seismicity of the Teide-Pico Viejo complex recorded between May and December 2004, in order to show the applicability of tools such as Hidden Markov Models and Bayesian Belief Networks which can be used to build a structure for evaluating the probability of given eruptive or volcano-related scenarios. The results support the existence of a bidirectional relationship between volcano-tectonic events and the background seismic noise - in particular its frequency content. This in turn suggests that the two phenomena can be related to one unique process influencing their generation

On the application of Hidden Markov Model and Bayesian Belief Network to seismic noise at Las Canadas Caldera, Tenerife, Spain

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Quintero Oliveros, Anggi [Dipartimento di Georisorse e Territorio, Universita di Udine (Italy); Departamento de Ciencias de La Tierra, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Caracas (Venezuela); Carniel, Roberto [Dipartimento di Georisorse e Territorio, Universita di Udine (Italy)], E-mail: roberto.carniel@uniud.it; Tarraga, Marta [Departamento de Volcanologia, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Madrid (Spain); Aspinall, Willy [Aspinall and Associates, 5 Woodside Close, Beaconsfield, Bucks (United Kingdom)

2008-08-15

The Teide-Pico Viejo volcanic complex situated in Tenerife Island (Canary Islands, Spain) has recently shown signs of unrest, long after its last eruptive episode at Chinyero in 1909, and the last explosive episode which happened at Montana Blanca, 2000 years ago. In this paper we study the seismicity of the Teide-Pico Viejo complex recorded between May and December 2004, in order to show the applicability of tools such as Hidden Markov Models and Bayesian Belief Networks which can be used to build a structure for evaluating the probability of given eruptive or volcano-related scenarios. The results support the existence of a bidirectional relationship between volcano-tectonic events and the background seismic noise - in particular its frequency content. This in turn suggests that the two phenomena can be related to one unique process influencing their generation.

Environmental Resources of Selected Areas of Hawaii: Climate, Ambient Air Quality, and Noise (DRAFT)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lombardi, D.A.; Blasing, T.J.; Easterly, C.E.; Hamilton, C.B.

1994-06-01

This report has been prepared to make available and archive background scientific data and related information on climate, ambient air quality, and ambient noise levels collected during the preparation of the environmental impact statement (EIS) for Phases 3 and 4 of the Hawaii Geothermal Project (HGP) as defined by the state of hawaii in its April 1989 proposal to Congress. The US Department of Energy (DOE) published a notice in the Federal Register on May 17, 1994 withdrawing its Notice of Intent of February 14, 1992, to prepare the HGP-EIS. Since the state of Hawaii is no longer pursuing or planning to pursue the HGP, DOE considers the project to be terminated. The report presents a general description of the climate and air quality for the islands of Hawaii (henceforth referred to as Hawaii), Maui, and Oahu. It also presents a literature review as baseline information on the health effects of hydrogen sulfide. the scientific background data and related information is being made available for use by others in conducting future scientific research in these areas. This report describes the environmental resources present in the areas studied (i.e., the affected environment) and does not represent an assessment of environmental impacts.

Spectral Characteristics of Pitot Noise

Science.gov (United States)

Hornung, H. G.; Parziale, N. J.

For experimental studies of transition from laminar to turbulent boundary layer flow it is important to know the ambient noise spectrum in the facility. In supersonic wind tunnels this is often assessed by measuring pitot pressure noise.

Advances in Rotational Seismic Measurements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pierson, Robert [Applied Technology Associates, Albuquerque, NM (United States); Laughlin, Darren [Applied Technology Associates, Albuquerque, NM (United States); Brune, Robert [Applied Technology Associates, Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2016-10-19

Rotational motion is increasingly understood to be a significant part of seismic wave motion. Rotations can be important in earthquake strong motion and in Induced Seismicity Monitoring. Rotational seismic data can also enable shear selectivity and improve wavefield sampling for vertical geophones in 3D surveys, among other applications. However, sensor technology has been a limiting factor to date. The US Department of Energy (DOE) and Applied Technology Associates (ATA) are funding a multi-year project that is now entering Phase 2 to develop and deploy a new generation of rotational sensors for validation of rotational seismic applications. Initial focus is on induced seismicity monitoring, particularly for Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) with fracturing. The sensors employ Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) principles with broadband response, improved noise floors, robustness, and repeatability. This paper presents a summary of Phase 1 results and Phase 2 status.

The use of multiwavelets for uncertainty estimation in seismic surface wave dispersion.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Poppeliers, Christian [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2017-12-01

This report describes a new single-station analysis method to estimate the dispersion and uncer- tainty of seismic surface waves using the multiwavelet transform. Typically, when estimating the dispersion of a surface wave using only a single seismic station, the seismogram is decomposed into a series of narrow-band realizations using a bank of narrow-band filters. By then enveloping and normalizing the filtered seismograms and identifying the maximum power as a function of frequency, the group velocity can be estimated if the source-receiver distance is known. However, using the filter bank method, there is no robust way to estimate uncertainty. In this report, I in- troduce a new method of estimating the group velocity that includes an estimate of uncertainty. The method is similar to the conventional filter bank method, but uses a class of functions, called Slepian wavelets, to compute a series of wavelet transforms of the data. Each wavelet transform is mathematically similar to a filter bank, however, the time-frequency tradeoff is optimized. By taking multiple wavelet transforms, I form a population of dispersion estimates from which stan- dard statistical methods can be used to estimate uncertainty. I demonstrate the utility of this new method by applying it to synthetic data as well as ambient-noise surface-wave cross-correlelograms recorded by the University of Nevada Seismic Network.

Seismic signal auto-detecing from different features by using Convolutional Neural Network

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Y.; Zhou, Y.; Yue, H.; Zhou, S.

2017-12-01

We try Convolutional Neural Network to detect some features of seismic data and compare their efficience. The features include whether a signal is seismic signal or noise and the arrival time of P and S phase and each feature correspond to a Convolutional Neural Network. We first use traditional STA/LTA to recongnize some events and then use templete matching to find more events as training set for the Neural Network. To make the training set more various, we add some noise to the seismic data and make some synthetic seismic data and noise. The 3-component raw signal and time-frequancy ananlyze are used as the input data for our neural network. Our Training is performed on GPUs to achieve efficient convergence. Our method improved the precision in comparison with STA/LTA and template matching. We will move to recurrent neural network to see if this kind network is better in detect P and S phase.

Proximity to traffic, ambient air pollution, and community noise in relation to incident rheumatoid arthritis.

Science.gov (United States)

De Roos, Anneclaire J; Koehoorn, Mieke; Tamburic, Lillian; Davies, Hugh W; Brauer, Michael

2014-10-01

The risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been associated with living near traffic; however, there is evidence suggesting that air pollution may not be responsible for this association. Noise, another traffic-generated exposure, has not been studied as a risk factor for RA. We investigated proximity to traffic, ambient air pollution, and community noise in relation to RA in the Vancouver and Victoria regions of British Columbia, Canada. Cases and controls were identified in a cohort of adults that was assembled using health insurance registration records. Incident RA cases from 1999 through 2002 were identified by diagnostic codes in combination with prescriptions and type of physician (e.g., rheumatologist). Controls were matched to RA cases by age and sex. Environmental exposures were assigned to each member of the study population by their residential postal code(s). We estimated relative risks using conditional logistic regression, with additional adjustment for median income at the postal code. RA incidence was increased with proximity to traffic, with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.37 (95% CI: 1.11, 1.68) for residence ≤ 50 m from a highway compared with residence > 150 m away. We found no association with traffic-related exposures such as PM2.5, nitrogen oxides, or noise. Ground-level ozone, which was highest in suburban areas, was associated with an increased risk of RA (OR = 1.26; 95% CI: 1.18, 1.36 per interquartile range increase). Our study confirms a previously observed association of RA risk with proximity to traffic and suggests that neither noise levels nor traffic-related air pollutants are responsible for this relationship. Additional investigation of neighborhood and individual correlates of residence near roadways may provide new insight into risk factors for RA.

Local seismic monitoring east and north of Toronto - Volume 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohajer, A.A.; Doughty, M.

1996-08-01

Monitoring of small magnitude ('micro') earthquakes in a dense local network is one of the techniques used to delineate currently active faults and seismic sources. The conventional wisdom is that smaller, but more frequent, seismic events normally occur on active fault planes and a log linear empirical relation between frequency and magnitude can be used to estimate the magnitude and recurrence (frequency) of the larger events. A program of site-specific seismic monitoring has been supported by the AECB since 1991, to investigate the feasibility of microearthquake detection in suburban areas of east Toronto in order to assess the rate activity of local events in the vicinity of the nuclear power plants at Pickering and Darlington. For deployment of the seismic stations at the most favorable locations an extensive background noise survey was carried out. This survey involved measuring and comparing the amplitude response of the ambient vibration caused by natural phenomena (e.g. wind blow, water flow, wave action) or human activities such as farming, mining and industrial work at 25 test sites. Subsequently, a five-station seismic network, with a 30 km aperture, was selected between the Pickering and Darlington nuclear power plants on Lake Ontario, to the south, and Lake Scugog to the north. The detection threshold obtained for two of the stations allows recording of local events M L =0-2, a magnitude range which is usually not detected by regional seismic networks. An analysis of several thousand triggered signals resulted in the identification of about 120 local events, which can not be assigned to any source other than the natural release of crustal stresses. The recurrence frequency of these microearthquakes shows a linear relationship which matches that of larger events in the last two centuries in this region. The preliminary results indicate that the stress is currently accumulating and is being released within clusters of small earthquakes

A comparison of high-frequency noise levels on Cascadia Initiative ocean-bottom seismometers

Science.gov (United States)

Hilmo, R.; Wilcock, W. S. D.; Roland, E. C.; Bodin, P.; Connolly, J.

2017-12-01

The Cascadia Initiative (CI) included a four-year deployment of 70 ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs) on the Cascadia subduction zone and the Juan de Fuca plate for the purposes of characterizing seismicity and imaging the Earth's interior. The Cascadia subduction zone megathrust exhibits very low rates of seismicity relative to most other subduction zones, and there is great motivation to understand deformation on the megathrust because of its potential to produce a catastrophic M9 earthquake. An understanding of earthquake detectability of the CI network, based on knowledge of noise levels, could contribute to the interpretation of earthquake catalogs derived from the experiment and aid in the design of future networks. This project is aimed at estimating these thresholds of local earthquake detectability and how they change across the array both geographically and temporally. We characterize background noise levels recorded from 0.1 to 20 Hz with an emphasis on the frequency band used to detect local seismicity ( 3-15 Hz) to understand how noise levels depend on instrument design and environmental parameters including seafloor depth, season and oceanographic conditions. Our initial analysis of 3 weeks of vertical channel data in September, January, and May 2012-2013 shows that noise increase significantly moving from the continental shelf to deeper water. Noise levels at a given depth vary with instrument type but further analysis is required to determine whether this reflects variations in instrumental noise and ground coupling noise or errors in the scaling of the instrument response. There is also a strong seasonality in recorded noise levels at some frequencies, with winter noise levels exceeding spring and fall noise levels by up to 10 decibels in both the microseism band and in the fin whale calling band (15-20 Hz). In contrast, the seasonal noise level in the local seismicity band for a given instrument type and location shows smaller noise variation

Seismic monitoring leveraging existing telecom infrastructure at the SDASA: Active, passive, and ambient-noise analysis

KAUST Repository

Martin, Eileen R.

2017-11-28

We analyze active and passive seismic data recorded by the Stanford distributed acoustic sensing array (SDASA) located in conduits under the Stanford University campus. For the active data we used low-energy sources (betsy gun and sledge hammer) and recorded data using both the DAS array and 98 three-component nodes deployed along a 2D line. The joint analysis of shot profiles extracted from the two data sets shows that some surface waves and refracted events are consistently recorded by the DAS array. In areas where geophone coupling was suboptimal because of surface obstructions, DAS recordings are more coherent. In contrast, surface waves are more reliably recorded by the geophones than the DAS array. Because of the noisy environment and weak sources, neither data set shows clear reflections. We demonstrate the repeatability of DAS recordings of local earthquakes by comparing two weak events (magnitude 0.95 and 1.34) with epicenters 100 m apart that occurred only one minute from each other. Analyzing another local, and slightly stronger, earthquake (magnitude 2.0) we show how the kinematics of both the P-arrival and S-arrival can be measured from the DAS data. Interferometric analysis of passive data shows that reliable virtual-source responses can be extracted from the DAS data. We observe Rayleigh waves when correlating aligned receivers, and Love waves when correlating receivers belonging to segments of the array parallel to each other. Dispersion analysis of the virtual sources shows the expected decrease in surface-wave velocity with increasing frequency.

Seismic monitoring leveraging existing telecom infrastructure at the SDASA: Active, passive, and ambient-noise analysis

KAUST Repository

Martin, Eileen R.; Castillo, Chris M.; Cole, Steve; Sawasdee, Paphop Stock; Yuan, Siyuan; Clapp, Robert; Karrenbach, Martin; Biondi, Biondo L.

2017-01-01

We analyze active and passive seismic data recorded by the Stanford distributed acoustic sensing array (SDASA) located in conduits under the Stanford University campus. For the active data we used low-energy sources (betsy gun and sledge hammer) and recorded data using both the DAS array and 98 three-component nodes deployed along a 2D line. The joint analysis of shot profiles extracted from the two data sets shows that some surface waves and refracted events are consistently recorded by the DAS array. In areas where geophone coupling was suboptimal because of surface obstructions, DAS recordings are more coherent. In contrast, surface waves are more reliably recorded by the geophones than the DAS array. Because of the noisy environment and weak sources, neither data set shows clear reflections. We demonstrate the repeatability of DAS recordings of local earthquakes by comparing two weak events (magnitude 0.95 and 1.34) with epicenters 100 m apart that occurred only one minute from each other. Analyzing another local, and slightly stronger, earthquake (magnitude 2.0) we show how the kinematics of both the P-arrival and S-arrival can be measured from the DAS data. Interferometric analysis of passive data shows that reliable virtual-source responses can be extracted from the DAS data. We observe Rayleigh waves when correlating aligned receivers, and Love waves when correlating receivers belonging to segments of the array parallel to each other. Dispersion analysis of the virtual sources shows the expected decrease in surface-wave velocity with increasing frequency.

Two applications of time reversal mirrors: Seismic radio and seismic radar

KAUST Repository

Hanafy, Sherif M.

2011-07-08

Two seismic applications of time reversal mirrors (TRMs) are introduced and tested with field experiments. The first one is sending, receiving, and decoding coded messages similar to a radio except seismic waves are used. The second one is, similar to radar surveillance, detecting and tracking a moving object(s) in a remote area, including the determination of the objects speed of movement. Both applications require the prior recording of calibrationGreen’s functions in the area of interest. This reference Green’s function will be used as a codebook to decrypt the coded message in the first application and as a moving sensor for the second application. Field tests show that seismicradar can detect the moving coordinates ( x(t), y(t), z(t)) of a person running through a calibration site. This information also allows for a calculation of his velocity as a function of location. Results with the seismic radio are successful in seismically detecting and decoding coded pulses produced by a hammer. Both seismic radio and radar are highly robust to signals in high noise environments due to the super-stacking property of TRMs.

Evolution and strengthening of the Calabrian Regional Seismic Network during the Pollino sequence

Science.gov (United States)

D'Alessandro, Antonino; Gervasi, Anna; Guerra, Ignazio

2013-04-01

noise level at the stations, the precision and accuracy of the hypocenter location and the magnitude detection threshold. The performance of a seismic network is strongly influenced by the noise level of its stations. The accuracy of phase picks depends on the quality of the signals within the frequency range typical of local and regional events. To evaluate the performance of the RSRC we have first estimated the background noise level of each station. The noise spectra was used to mapping the average power of noise and to study the spatial and temporal variability. To determine the location performance of the RSRC we used the Seismic Network Evaluation through Simulation (SNES) method. By means of the SNES method we investigate the improvement of the RSRC after the installation of some stand-alone stations. For this purpose we compare the location errors and the magnitude detection threshold of the RSRC before and after the installation of these temporary stations.

Seismic microzonation and velocity models of El Ejido area (SE Spain) from the diffuse-field H/V method

Science.gov (United States)

García-Jerez, Antonio; Seivane, Helena; Navarro, Manuel; Piña-Flores, José; Luzón, Francisco; Vidal, Francisco; Posadas, Antonio M.; Aranda, Carolina

2016-04-01

El Ejido town is located in the Campo de Dalías coastal plain (Almería province, SE Spain), emplaced in one of the most seismically active regions of Spain. The municipality has 84000 inhabitants and presented a high growth rate during the last twenty years. The most recent intense seismic activity occurred close to this town was in 1993 and 1994, with events of Mb = 4.9 and Mb = 5.0, respectively. To provide a basis for site-specific hazard analysis, we first carried out a seismic microzonation of this town in terms of predominant periods and geotechnical properties. The predominant periods map was obtained from ambient noise observations on a grid of 250 x 250 m in the main urban area, and sparser measurements on the outskirts. These broad-band records, of about 20 minutes long each, were analyzed by using the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio technique (H/V). Dispersion curves obtained from two array measurements of ambient noise and borehole data provided additional geophysical information. All the surveyed points in the town were found to have relatively long predominant periods ranging from 0.8 to 2.3 s and growing towards the SE. Secondary high-frequency (> 2Hz) peaks were found at about the 10% of the points only. On the other hand, Vs30 values of 550 - 650 m/s were estimated from the array records, corresponding to cemented sediments and medium-hard rocks. The local S-wave velocity structure has been inverted from the H/V curves for a subset of the measurement sites. We used an innovative full-wavefield method based on the diffuse-wavefield approximation (Sánchez-Sesma et al., 2011) combined with the simulated annealing algorithm. Shallow seismic velocities and deep boreholes data were used as constraints. The results show that the low-frequency resonances are related with the impedance contrast between several hundred meters of medium-hard sedimentary rocks (marls and calcarenites) with the stiffer basement of the basin, which dips to the SE. These

Bayesian seismic AVO inversion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buland, Arild

2002-07-01

A new linearized AVO inversion technique is developed in a Bayesian framework. The objective is to obtain posterior distributions for P-wave velocity, S-wave velocity and density. Distributions for other elastic parameters can also be assessed, for example acoustic impedance, shear impedance and P-wave to S-wave velocity ratio. The inversion algorithm is based on the convolutional model and a linearized weak contrast approximation of the Zoeppritz equation. The solution is represented by a Gaussian posterior distribution with explicit expressions for the posterior expectation and covariance, hence exact prediction intervals for the inverted parameters can be computed under the specified model. The explicit analytical form of the posterior distribution provides a computationally fast inversion method. Tests on synthetic data show that all inverted parameters were almost perfectly retrieved when the noise approached zero. With realistic noise levels, acoustic impedance was the best determined parameter, while the inversion provided practically no information about the density. The inversion algorithm has also been tested on a real 3-D dataset from the Sleipner Field. The results show good agreement with well logs but the uncertainty is high. The stochastic model includes uncertainties of both the elastic parameters, the wavelet and the seismic and well log data. The posterior distribution is explored by Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation using the Gibbs sampler algorithm. The inversion algorithm has been tested on a seismic line from the Heidrun Field with two wells located on the line. The uncertainty of the estimated wavelet is low. In the Heidrun examples the effect of including uncertainty of the wavelet and the noise level was marginal with respect to the AVO inversion results. We have developed a 3-D linearized AVO inversion method with spatially coupled model parameters where the objective is to obtain posterior distributions for P-wave velocity, S

Reducing the uncertainty in the fidelity of seismic imaging results

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, H. W.; Zou, Z.

2017-12-01

A key aspect in geoscientific inversion is quantifying the quality of the results. In seismic imaging, we must quantify the uncertainty of every imaging result based on field data, because data noise and methodology limitations may produce artifacts. Detection of artifacts is therefore an important aspect in uncertainty quantification in geoscientific inversion. Quantifying the uncertainty of seismic imaging solutions means assessing their fidelity, which defines the truthfulness of the imaged targets in terms of their resolution, position error and artifact. Key challenges to achieving the fidelity of seismic imaging include: (1) Difficulty to tell signal from artifact and noise; (2) Limitations in signal-to-noise ratio and seismic illumination; and (3) The multi-scale nature of the data space and model space. Most seismic imaging studies of the Earth's crust and mantle have employed inversion or modeling approaches. Though they are in opposite directions of mapping between the data space and model space, both inversion and modeling seek the best model to minimize the misfit in the data space, which unfortunately is not the output space. The fact that the selection and uncertainty of the output model are not judged in the output space has exacerbated the nonuniqueness problem for inversion and modeling. In contrast, the practice in exploration seismology has long established a two-fold approach of seismic imaging: Using velocity modeling building to establish the long-wavelength reference velocity models, and using seismic migration to map the short-wavelength reflectivity structures. Most interestingly, seismic migration maps the data into an output space called imaging space, where the output reflection images of the subsurface are formed based on an imaging condition. A good example is the reverse time migration, which seeks the reflectivity image as the best fit in the image space between the extrapolation of time-reversed waveform data and the prediction

The stability of H/V spectral ratios from noise measurements in Armutlu Peninsula (Turkey)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Livaoğlu, Hamdullah, E-mail: hamdullah.livaoglu@kocaeli.edu.tr; Irmak, T. Serkan; Caka, Deniz; Yavuz, Evrim; Tunç, B.; Baris, S. [Faculty of Engineering, Department of Geophysics, Kocaeli University, 41380, Kocaeli (Turkey); Lühr, B. G.; Woith, H. [GFZ, German Research Centre for Geoscience, Postsdam (Germany)

2016-04-18

The horizontal to vertical spectral ratio (H/V) method has been successfully using in order to estimate the fundamental resonance frequency of the sedimentary cover, its thickness and amplification factor since at least 3 decades. There are numerous studies have been carried out on the stability of the H/V spectral ratios. Almost all studies showed that fundamental frequency is stable even measurements are repeated at different times. From this point of view, the results will show us an approach whether the stations are suitable for accurate estimate of earthquake studies and engineering purposes or not. Also we want to see if any effects of the amplification factor changing on the seismograms for Armutlu Seismic Network (ARNET) even though seismic stations are established far away from cultural noise and located on hard rock sites. It has been selected one hour recorded data of all stations during the most stationary times. The amplification and resonant frequency variations of H/V ratio were calculated to investigate temporal stability in time. There is a total harmony in fundamental frequencies values and H/V spectral ratio values in time-lagged periods. Some stations shows secondary minor peaks in high frequency band due to a shallow formation effect or cultural noises around. In the east side of the area ILYS station shows amplitude peak in lower fundamental frequency band from expected. This could compose a high amplification in lower frequencies and so that yield less reliable results in local earthquakes studies. By the experimental results from ambient noise analysis, it could be worked up for relocation of one station.

Burar seismic station: evaluation of seismic performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghica, Daniela; Popa, Mihaela

2005-01-01

A new seismic monitoring system, the Bucovina Seismic Array (BURAR), has been established since July 2002, in the Northern part of Romania, in a joint effort of the Air Force Technical Applications Center, USA, and the National Institute for Earth Physics (NIEP), Romania. The small-aperture array consists of 10 seismic sensors (9 vertical short-period and one three-component broad band) located in boreholes and distributed in a 5 x 5 km 2 area. At present, the seismic data are continuously recorded by the BURAR and transmitted in real-time to the Romanian National Data Center in Bucharest and National Data Center of the USA, in Florida. Based on the BURAR seismic information gathered at the National Data Center, NIEP (ROM N DC), in the August 2002 - December 2004 time interval, analysis and statistical assessments were performed. Following the preliminary processing of the data, several observations on the global performance of the BURAR system were emphasized. Data investigation showed an excellent efficiency of the BURAR system particularly in detecting teleseismic and regional events. Also, a statistical analysis for the BURAR detection capability of the local Vrancea events was performed in terms of depth and magnitude for the year 2004. The high signal detection capability of the BURAR resulted, generally, in improving the location solutions for the Vrancea seismic events. The location solution accuracy is enhanced when adding BURAR recordings, especially in the case of low magnitude events (recorded by few stations). The location accuracy is increased, both in terms of constraining hypocenter depth and epicentral coordinates. Our analysis certifies the importance of the BURAR system in NIEP efforts to elaborate seismic bulletins. Furthermore, the specific procedures for array data processing (beam forming, f-k analysis) increase significantly the signal-to-noise ratio by summing up the coherent signals from the array components, and ensure a better accuracy

Bowhead whale aggregation areas and their role in the mitigation of seismic noise

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Joynt, A.A.; Harwood, L.A. [Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Ottawa, ON (Canada)

2007-07-01

Aerial surveys have been conducted to document the distribution and relative abundance of bowhead whales in the offshore Beaufort Sea. They have shown that bowhead feeding aggregations form in traditional areas where oceanographic conditions favour the concentration of zooplankton. However, not all aggregation areas are attractive to bowheads due to varying oceanographic conditions. Some of the feeding aggregation areas are located in offshore waters which have been subject to seismic exploration activity. There is limited knowledge of the effects of underwater noise or industrial activity on Arctic marine mammals in their critical habitat because of the difficulty of studying in a marine Arctic environment. This has presented a challenge regarding the establishment of proper mitigation specific to critical habitats. Data from emerging science and industry's input from experiences in similar environments like the Chukchi Sea is bringing about new data from which to develop better and realistic mitigation. It was concluded that continuing cooperation between regulators, science, and industry is the key to creating innovative approaches to mitigate the effects of industry on marine mammals. figs.

Robust estimation of seismic coda shape

Science.gov (United States)

Nikkilä, Mikko; Polishchuk, Valentin; Krasnoshchekov, Dmitry

2014-04-01

We present a new method for estimation of seismic coda shape. It falls into the same class of methods as non-parametric shape reconstruction with the use of neural network techniques where data are split into a training and validation data sets. We particularly pursue the well-known problem of image reconstruction formulated in this case as shape isolation in the presence of a broadly defined noise. This combined approach is enabled by the intrinsic feature of seismogram which can be divided objectively into a pre-signal seismic noise with lack of the target shape, and the remainder that contains scattered waveforms compounding the coda shape. In short, we separately apply shape restoration procedure to pre-signal seismic noise and the event record, which provides successful delineation of the coda shape in the form of a smooth almost non-oscillating function of time. The new algorithm uses a recently developed generalization of classical computational-geometry tool of α-shape. The generalization essentially yields robust shape estimation by ignoring locally a number of points treated as extreme values, noise or non-relevant data. Our algorithm is conceptually simple and enables the desired or pre-determined level of shape detail, constrainable by an arbitrary data fit criteria. The proposed tool for coda shape delineation provides an alternative to moving averaging and/or other smoothing techniques frequently used for this purpose. The new algorithm is illustrated with an application to the problem of estimating the coda duration after a local event. The obtained relation coefficient between coda duration and epicentral distance is consistent with the earlier findings in the region of interest.

Particulate Matter and Noise Impact Studies of Waste Rock Dump*

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Michael

2016-06-01

Jun 1, 2016 ... (vegetation) among other recommended strategies would control ambient noise ... respiratory system's natural defences and lodge ... Environmental noise monitoring was conducted ..... (1998), “Nocturnal Aircraft Noise and.

Seismic Monitoring and Characterization of the 2012 Outburst Flood of the Ice-Dammed Lake A.P.Olsen (NE Greenland)

Science.gov (United States)

Behm, M.; Walter, J. I.; Binder, D.; Mertl, S.

2017-12-01

Since the Zackenberg Research Station (ZRS) in NE-Greenland was established in 1995, regular floods of the adjacent Zackenberg River have been observed. The floods result from the sudden discharge of a marginal, ice-dammed lake at the pre-dominantly cold-based A.P. Olsen Ice Cap about 35 km inland. The lake filling usually starts with the melting season in May/June and ends with the flood sometime after early July. The run-off water from the lake discharges through the subsurface of the adjacent Argo glacier. The actual migration paths and depth of the water within the glacier are unknown until it re-appears at the glacier terminus at a distance of 4 km to the ice-dam. In spring 2012 a surface seismic monitoring network was installed on Argo glacier in 2-3 m boreholes near the lake to acquire continuous data for the whole fill- and drain cycle from start of May to end of November. The network comprises 3 stations with three-component sensors and 2 stations designed as tripartite arrays with vertically oriented sensors. The maximum interstation distance is 1.2 km. Microseismic event detection and localization is facilitated by the homogenous seismic structure of the ice and the extremely high S/N ratio of the borehole installations. An initial detection based on an STA/LTA algorithm and event assocator results in order-of-magnitude 100,000 seismic events. These events are generally attributed to the opening of surface crevasses due to the presence of weak body waves and strong surface wave energy, interpreted to be Rayleigh waves with dominant frequencies around 1-4 Hz. Time-lapse cross-correlations of the ambient seismic noise field reconstruct the surface waves travelling between the stations. Weekly stacks of the cross-correlations are stable, and show a distinct change correlated with the outburst flood. Apparent surface wave velocities increase slightly several weeks prior to the outburst event, which itself is characterized by a decrease in the correlation

Automated seismic detection of landslides at regional scales: a Random Forest based detection algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Hibert, C.; Michéa, D.; Provost, F.; Malet, J. P.; Geertsema, M.

2017-12-01

Detection of landslide occurrences and measurement of their dynamics properties during run-out is a high research priority but a logistical and technical challenge. Seismology has started to help in several important ways. Taking advantage of the densification of global, regional and local networks of broadband seismic stations, recent advances now permit the seismic detection and location of landslides in near-real-time. This seismic detection could potentially greatly increase the spatio-temporal resolution at which we study landslides triggering, which is critical to better understand the influence of external forcings such as rainfalls and earthquakes. However, detecting automatically seismic signals generated by landslides still represents a challenge, especially for events with small mass. The low signal-to-noise ratio classically observed for landslide-generated seismic signals and the difficulty to discriminate these signals from those generated by regional earthquakes or anthropogenic and natural noises are some of the obstacles that have to be circumvented. We present a new method for automatically constructing instrumental landslide catalogues from continuous seismic data. We developed a robust and versatile solution, which can be implemented in any context where a seismic detection of landslides or other mass movements is relevant. The method is based on a spectral detection of the seismic signals and the identification of the sources with a Random Forest machine learning algorithm. The spectral detection allows detecting signals with low signal-to-noise ratio, while the Random Forest algorithm achieve a high rate of positive identification of the seismic signals generated by landslides and other seismic sources. The processing chain is implemented to work in a High Performance Computers centre which permits to explore years of continuous seismic data rapidly. We present here the preliminary results of the application of this processing chain for years

3D seismic denoising based on a low-redundancy curvelet transform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao, Jingjie; Zhao, Jingtao; Hu, Zhiying

2015-01-01

Contamination of seismic signal with noise is one of the main challenges during seismic data processing. Several methods exist for eliminating different types of noises, but optimal random noise attenuation remains difficult. Based on multi-scale, multi-directional locality of curvelet transform, the curvelet thresholding method is a relatively new method for random noise elimination. However, the high redundancy of a 3D curvelet transform makes its computational time and memory for massive data processing costly. To improve the efficiency of the curvelet thresholding denoising, a low-redundancy curvelet transform was introduced. The redundancy of the low-redundancy curvelet transform is approximately one-quarter of the original transform and the tightness of the original transform is also kept, thus the low-redundancy curvelet transform calls for less memory and computational resource compared with the original one. Numerical results on 3D synthetic and field data demonstrate that the low-redundancy curvelet denoising consumes one-quarter of the CPU time compared with the original curvelet transform using iterative thresholding denoising when comparable results are obtained. Thus, the low-redundancy curvelet transform is a good candidate for massive seismic denoising. (paper)

Monterey Bay ambient noise profiles using underwater gliders

OpenAIRE

Chandrayadula, Tarun K.; Miller, Chris W.; Joseph, John

2013-01-01

The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.4799131 In 2012, during two separate week-long deployments, underwater gliders outfitted with external hydrophones profiled the upper 100-200 m of the Monterey Bay. The environment contained various noises made by marine mammals, ships, winds, and earthquakes. Unlike hydrophone receivers moored to a fixed location, moving gliders measure noise variability across a wide terrain. However, underwater mobile s...

Noise reduction by support vector regression with a Ricker wavelet kernel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deng, Xiaoying; Yang, Dinghui; Xie, Jing

2009-01-01

We propose a noise filtering technology based on the least-squares support vector regression (LS-SVR), to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of seismic data. We modified it by using an admissible support vector (SV) kernel, namely the Ricker wavelet kernel, to replace the conventional radial basis function (RBF) kernel in seismic data processing. We investigated the selection of the regularization parameter for the LS-SVR and derived a concise selecting formula directly from the noisy data. We used the proposed method for choosing the regularization parameter which not only had the advantage of high speed but could also obtain almost the same effectiveness as an optimal parameter method. We conducted experiments using synthetic data corrupted by the random noise of different types and levels, and found that our method was superior to the wavelet transform-based approach and the Wiener filtering. We also applied the method to two field seismic data sets and concluded that it was able to effectively suppress the random noise and improve the data quality in terms of SNR

Noise reduction by support vector regression with a Ricker wavelet kernel

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Xiaoying; Yang, Dinghui; Xie, Jing

2009-06-01

We propose a noise filtering technology based on the least-squares support vector regression (LS-SVR), to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of seismic data. We modified it by using an admissible support vector (SV) kernel, namely the Ricker wavelet kernel, to replace the conventional radial basis function (RBF) kernel in seismic data processing. We investigated the selection of the regularization parameter for the LS-SVR and derived a concise selecting formula directly from the noisy data. We used the proposed method for choosing the regularization parameter which not only had the advantage of high speed but could also obtain almost the same effectiveness as an optimal parameter method. We conducted experiments using synthetic data corrupted by the random noise of different types and levels, and found that our method was superior to the wavelet transform-based approach and the Wiener filtering. We also applied the method to two field seismic data sets and concluded that it was able to effectively suppress the random noise and improve the data quality in terms of SNR.

When can Empirical Green Functions be computed from Noise Cross-Correlations? Hints from different Geographical and Tectonic environments

Science.gov (United States)

Matos, Catarina; Silveira, Graça; Custódio, Susana; Domingues, Ana; Dias, Nuno; Fonseca, João F. B.; Matias, Luís; Krueger, Frank; Carrilho, Fernando

2014-05-01

Noise cross-correlations are now widely used to extract Green functions between station pairs. But, do all the cross-correlations routinely computed produce successful Green Functions? What is the relationship between noise recorded in a couple of stations and the cross-correlation between them? During the last decade, we have been involved in the deployment of several temporary dense broadband (BB) networks within the scope of both national projects and international collaborations. From 2000 to 2002, a pool of 8 BB stations continuously operated in the Azores in the scope of the Memorandum of Understanding COSEA (COordinated Seismic Experiment in the Azores). Thanks to the Project WILAS (West Iberia Lithosphere and Astenosphere Structure, PTDC/CTE-GIX/097946/2008) we temporarily increased the number of BB deployed in mainland Portugal to more than 50 (permanent + temporary) during the period 2010 - 2012. In 2011/12 a temporary pool of 12 seismometers continuously recorded BB data in the Madeira archipelago, as part of the DOCTAR (Deep Ocean Test Array Experiment) project. Project CV-PLUME (Investigation on the geometry and deep signature of the Cape Verde mantle plume, PTDC/CTE-GIN/64330/2006) covered the archipelago of Cape Verde, North Atlantic, with 40 temporary BB stations in 2007/08. Project MOZART (Mozambique African Rift Tomography, PTDC/CTE-GIX/103249/2008), covered Mozambique, East Africa, with 30 temporary BB stations in the period 2011 - 2013. These networks, located in very distinct geographical and tectonic environments, offer an interesting opportunity to study seasonal and spatial variations of noise sources and their impact on Empirical Green functions computed from noise cross-correlation. Seismic noise recorded at different seismic stations is evaluated by computation of the probability density functions of power spectral density (PSD) of continuous data. To assess seasonal variations of ambient noise sources in frequency content, time-series of

Crust azimuthal anisotropy beneath the eastern Tibetan Plateau revealed by ambient noise tomography

Science.gov (United States)

Bao, X.; Song, X.

2017-12-01

The continental collision between India and Eurasia in the Cenozoic has resulted in the rise and growth of the vast Tibetan Plateau (TP). Various geodynamic models, such as rigid-block extrusion, continuous deformation, and the mid-lower crustal flow, have been proposed to describe the growth and expansion of eastern Tibet. To better understand the deformation mechanism of the eastern TP, we performed ambient noise tomography using data from permanent and temporary stations and constructed Rayleigh wave azimuthally anisotropic phase-velocity maps at periods from 8 to 30 s, which mainly sample the crustal structure. The dominant direction of fast wave propagation is oriented NW-SE in the northeastern and eastern TP and N-S in the southeastern TP, which is consistent with the trends of main strike-slip faults and the fast polarization directions of SKS waves and suggests vertically coherent deformation. Furthermore, the magnitude of crustal anisotropy is continuous across main strike-slip faults, which contracts with the prediction of rigid-block extrusion model. Taken together, our model supports vertically coherent distributed deformation in the eastern TP.

Slab dehydration in Cascadia and its relationship to volcanism, seismicity, and non-volcanic tremor

Science.gov (United States)

Delph, J. R.; Levander, A.; Niu, F.

2017-12-01

The characteristics of subduction beneath the Pacific Northwest (Cascadia) are variable along strike, leading to the segmentation of Cascadia into 3 general zones: Klamath, Siletzia, and Wrangelia. These zones show marked differences in tremor density, earthquake density, seismicity rates, and the locus and amount of volcanism in the subduction-related volcanic arc. To better understand what controls these variations, we have constructed a 3D shear-wave velocity model of the upper 80 km along the Cascadia margin from the joint inversion of CCP-derived receiver functions and ambient noise surface wave data using 900 temporary and permanent broadband seismic stations. With this model, we can investigate variations in the seismic structure of the downgoing oceanic lithosphere and overlying mantle wedge, the character of the crust-mantle transition beneath the volcanic arc, and local to regional variations in crustal structure. From these results, we infer the presence and distribution of fluids released from the subducting slab and how they affect the seismic structure of the overriding lithosphere. In the Klamath and Wrangelia zones, high seismicity rates in the subducting plate and high tremor density correlate with low shear velocities in the overriding plate's forearc and relatively little arc volcanism. While the cause of tremor is debated, intermediate depth earthquakes are generally thought to be due to metamorphic dehydration reactions resulting from the dewatering of the downgoing slab. Thus, the seismic characteristics of these zones combined with rather sparse arc volcanism may indicate that the slab has largely dewatered by the time it reaches sub-arc depths. Some of the water released during earthquakes (and possibly tremor) may percolate into the overriding plate, leading to slow seismic velocities in the forearc. In contrast, Siletzia shows relatively low seismicity rates and tremor density, with relatively higher shear velocities in the forearc

Towards Noise Tomography and Passive Monitoring Using Distributed Acoustic Sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Paitz, P.; Fichtner, A.

2017-12-01

Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) has the potential to revolutionize the field of seismic data acquisition. Thanks to their cost-effectiveness, fiber-optic cables may have the capability of complementing conventional geophones and seismometers by filling a niche of applications utilizing large amounts of data. Therefore, DAS may serve as an additional tool to investigate the internal structure of the Earth and its changes over time; on scales ranging from hydrocarbon or geothermal reservoirs to the entire globe. An additional potential may be in the existence of large fibre networks deployed already for telecommunication purposes. These networks that already exist today could serve as distributed seismic antennas. We investigate theoretically how ambient noise tomography may be used with DAS data. For this we extend the theory of seismic interferometry to the measurement of strain. With numerical, 2D finite-difference examples we investigate the impact of source and receiver effects. We study the effect of heterogeneous source distributions and the cable orientation by assessing similarities and differences to the Green's function. We also compare the obtained interferometric waveforms from strain interferometry to displacement interferometric wave fields obtained with existing methods. Intermediate results show that the obtained interferometric waveforms can be connected to the Green's Functions and provide consistent information about the propagation medium. These simulations will be extended to reservoir scale subsurface structures. Future work will include the application of the theory to real-data examples. The presented research depicts the early stage of a combination of theoretical investigations, numerical simulations and real-world data applications. We will therefore evaluate the potentials and shortcomings of DAS in reservoir monitoring and seismology at the current state, with a long-term vision of global seismic tomography utilizing DAS data from

Multispectral Analysis of Surface Wave (MASW) Analysis of Near-Surface Structure at Brady Hot Springs from Active Source and Ambient Noise Using a 8700-meter Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) Array

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, H. F.; Lord, N. E.; Zeng, X.; Fratta, D.; Feigl, K. L.; Team, P.

2016-12-01

The Porotomo research team deployed 8700-meters of Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) cable in a shallow trench on the surface and 400 meters down a borehole at Brady Hot Springs, Nevada in March 2016. The goal of the experiment was to detect changes in geophysical properties associated with hydrologic changes. The DAS cable occupied a natural laboratory of 1500-by-500-by-400-meters overlying a commercial, geothermal field operated by Ormat Technologies. The DAS cable was laid out in three parallel zig-zag lines with line segments approximately 120-meters in length. A large Vibroseis truck (T-Rex) provided the seismic source with a sweep frequency between 5 and 80 Hz over 20 seconds. Over the 15 days of the experiment, the Vibroseis truck re-occupied approximately 250 locations outside and within the array days while changes were made in water reinjection from the power plant into wells in the field. At each source location, one vertical and two orthogonal horizontal modes were excited. Dispersion curves were constructed using MASW and a Vibroseis source location approximately in line with each DAS cable segment or from ambient noise correlation functions. Representative fence diagrams of S-wave profiles were constructed by inverting the dispersion curves obtained for several different line segments.

Dark Fiber and Distributed Acoustic Sensing: Applications to Monitoring Seismicity and Near-Surface Properties

Science.gov (United States)

Ajo Franklin, J. B.; Lindsey, N.; Dou, S.; Freifeld, B. M.; Daley, T. M.; Tracy, C.; Monga, I.

2017-12-01

"Dark Fiber" refers to the large number of fiber-optic lines installed for telecommunication purposes but not currently utilized. With the advent of distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), these unused fibers have the potential to become a seismic sensing network with unparalleled spatial extent and density with applications to monitoring both natural seismicity as well as near-surface soil properties. While the utility of DAS for seismic monitoring has now been conclusively shown on built-for-purpose networks, dark fiber deployments have been challenged by the heterogeneity of fiber installation procedures in telecommunication as well as access limitations. However, the potential of telecom networks to augment existing broadband monitoring stations provides a strong incentive to explore their utilization. We present preliminary results demonstrating the application of DAS to seismic monitoring on a 20 km run of "dark" telecommunications fiber between West Sacramento, CA and Woodland CA, part of the Dark Fiber Testbed maintained by the DOE's ESnet user facility. We show a small catalog of local and regional earthquakes detected by the array and evaluate fiber coupling by using variations in recorded frequency content. Considering the low density of broadband stations across much of the Sacramento Basin, such DAS recordings could provide a crucial data source to constrain small-magnitude local events. We also demonstrate the application of ambient noise interferometry using DAS-recorded waveforms to estimate soil properties under selected sections of the dark fiber transect; the success of this test suggests that the network could be utilized for environmental monitoring at the basin scale. The combination of these two examples demonstrates the exciting potential for combining DAS with ubiquitous dark fiber to greatly extend the reach of existing seismic monitoring networks.

An effective approach to attenuate random noise based on compressive sensing and curvelet transform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Wei; Cao, Siyuan; Zu, Shaohuan; Chen, Yangkang

2016-01-01

Random noise attenuation is an important step in seismic data processing. In this paper, we propose a novel denoising approach based on compressive sensing and the curvelet transform. We formulate the random noise attenuation problem as an L _1 norm regularized optimization problem. We propose to use the curvelet transform as the sparse transform in the optimization problem to regularize the sparse coefficients in order to separate signal and noise and to use the gradient projection for sparse reconstruction (GPSR) algorithm to solve the formulated optimization problem with an easy implementation and a fast convergence. We tested the performance of our proposed approach on both synthetic and field seismic data. Numerical results show that the proposed approach can effectively suppress the distortion near the edge of seismic events during the noise attenuation process and has high computational efficiency compared with the traditional curvelet thresholding and iterative soft thresholding based denoising methods. Besides, compared with f-x deconvolution, the proposed denoising method is capable of eliminating the random noise more effectively while preserving more useful signals. (paper)

Background Noise of the Aldeia da Serra Region (Portugal) from a temporary broad band network

Science.gov (United States)

Wachilala, Piedade; Borges, José; Caldeira, Bento; Bezzeghoud, Mourad

2017-04-01

In this study, we analyse seismic background noise to assess the effect of noise based on the detectability of a temporary network constituted by DOCTAR (Deep Ocean Test Array), who have been deployed in a period between 2011 and 2012 in Portugal mainland, and the Évora permanent seismic station. This network is constituted by 14 digital broadband stations (14 CMG-3ESP and one STS2 sensors) with a flat response between the 60 sec to 50 Hz, 24-bit and 120s to 60Hz respectively. The temporary network was operated in continuous recording mode (three-components) in a region located in the north of the region of Évora, within a radius of about 30 km around the village of Aldeia da Serra, region in which there is an important seismic activity in the context of Portugal mainland. We calculated power spectral densities of background noise for each station/component and compare them with high-noise model and low-noise model of Peterson (1993). We consider different for day and night local and for different periods of the year. Power spectral density estimates show moderate noise levels with all stations falling within the high and low bounds of Peterson (1993). Considering the results of the noise, we estimate the detection limit of each station and consequently the detectability of the network. From this information and taking in attention the events recorded during the period of DOCTAR operation we analyse the improvement promoted by this temporary network regarding the existent seismic networks to the local seismicity study. This work was partially supported by COMPETE 2020 program (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007690 project). We acknowledge GFZ Potsdam for providing part of the data used in this study.

Seismicity Precursors of the M6.0 2004 Parkfield and M7.0 1989Loma Prieta Earthquakes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Korneev, Valeri A.

2006-03-09

The M6.0 2004 Parkfield and M7.0 1989 Loma Prietastrike-slip earthquakes on the San Andreas Fault (SAF) were preceded byseismicity peaks occurring several months prior to the main events.Earthquakes directly within the SAF zone were intentionally excluded fromthe analysis because they manifest stress-release processes rather thanstress accumulation. The observed increase in seismicity is interpretedas a signature of the increasing stress level in the surrounding crust,whereas the peaks and the subsequent decrease in seismicity areattributed to damage-induced softening processes. Furthermore, in bothcases there is a distinctive zone of low seismic activity that surroundsthe epicentral region in the pre-event period. The increase of seismicityin the crust surrounding a potential future event and the development ofa low-seismicity epicentral zone can be regarded as promising precursoryinformation that could help signal the arrival of large earthquakes. TheGutenberg-Richter relationship (GRR) should allow extrapolation ofseismicity changes down to seismic noise level magnitudes. Thishypothesis is verified by comparison of seismic noise at 80 Hz with theParkfield M4 1993-1994 series, where noise peaks 5 months before theseries to about twice the background level.

Automated seismic waveform location using Multichannel Coherency Migration (MCM)-I. Theory

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Peidong; Angus, Doug; Rost, Sebastian; Nowacki, Andy; Yuan, Sanyi

2018-03-01

With the proliferation of dense seismic networks sampling the full seismic wavefield, recorded seismic data volumes are getting bigger and automated analysis tools to locate seismic events are essential. Here, we propose a novel Multichannel Coherency Migration (MCM) method to locate earthquakes in continuous seismic data and reveal the location and origin time of seismic events directly from recorded waveforms. By continuously calculating the coherency between waveforms from different receiver pairs, MCM greatly expands the available information which can be used for event location. MCM does not require phase picking or phase identification, which allows fully automated waveform analysis. By migrating the coherency between waveforms, MCM leads to improved source energy focusing. We have tested and compared MCM to other migration-based methods in noise-free and noisy synthetic data. The tests and analysis show that MCM is noise resistant and can achieve more accurate results compared with other migration-based methods. MCM is able to suppress strong interference from other seismic sources occurring at a similar time and location. It can be used with arbitrary 3D velocity models and is able to obtain reasonable location results with smooth but inaccurate velocity models. MCM exhibits excellent location performance and can be easily parallelized giving it large potential to be developed as a real-time location method for very large datasets.

Potential Impacts of Ambient Noise in the on Marine Mammals

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Frisk, George

2003-01-01

The Committee was charged with assessing our state of knowledge of underwater noise and recommending research areas to assist in determining whether noise in the ocean adversely affects marine mammals...

Temporal Variability in Seismic Velocity at the Salton Sea Geothermal Field

Science.gov (United States)

Taira, T.; Nayak, A.; Brenguier, F.

2015-12-01

We characterize the temporal variability of ambient noise wavefield and search for velocity changes associated with activities of the geothermal energy development at the Salton Sea Geothermal Field. The noise cross-correlations (NCFs) are computed for ~6 years of continuous three-component seismic data (December 2007 through January 2014) collected at 8 sites from the CalEnergy Subnetwork (EN network) with MSNoise software (Lecocq et al., 2014, SRL). All seismic data are downloaded from the Southern California Earthquake Data Center. Velocity changes (dv/v) are obtained by measuring time delay between 5-day stacks of NCFs and the reference NCF (average over the entire 6 year period). The time history of dv/v is determined by averaging dv/v measurements over all station/channel pairs (252 combinations). Our preliminary dv/v measurement suggests a gradual increase in dv/v over the 6-year period in a frequency range of 0.5-8.0 Hz. The resultant increase rate of velocity is about 0.01%/year. We also explore the frequency-dependent velocity change at the 5 different frequency bands (0.5-2.0 Hz, 0.75-3.0 Hz, 1.0-4.0 Hz, 1.5-6.0 Hz, and 2.0-8.0 Hz) and find that the level of this long-term dv/v variability is increased with increase of frequency (i.e., the highest increase rate of ~0.15%/year at the 0.5-2.0 Hz band). This result suggests that the velocity changes were mostly occurred in a depth of ~500 m assuming that the coda parts of NCFs (~10-40 s depending on station distances) are predominantly composed of scattered surface waves, with the SoCal velocity model (Dreger and Helmberger, 1993, JGR). No clear seasonal variation of dv/v is observed in the frequency band of 0.5-8.0 Hz.

Monitoring changes in seismic velocity related to an ongoing rapid inflation event at Okmok volcano, Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

Bennington, Ninfa; Haney, Matt; De Angelis, Silvio; Thurber, Clifford; Freymueller, Jeff

2015-01-01

Okmok is one of the most active volcanoes in the Aleutian Arc. In an effort to improve our ability to detect precursory activity leading to eruption at Okmok, we monitor a recent, and possibly ongoing, GPS-inferred rapid inflation event at the volcano using ambient noise interferometry (ANI). Applying this method, we identify changes in seismic velocity outside of Okmok’s caldera, which are related to the hydrologic cycle. Within the caldera, we observe decreases in seismic velocity that are associated with the GPS-inferred rapid inflation event. We also determine temporal changes in waveform decorrelation and show a continual increase in decorrelation rate over the time associated with the rapid inflation event. Themagnitude of relative velocity decreases and decorrelation rate increases are comparable to previous studies at Piton de la Fournaise that associate such changes with increased production of volatiles and/ormagmatic intrusion within the magma reservoir and associated opening of fractures and/or fissures. Notably, the largest decrease in relative velocity occurs along the intrastation path passing nearest to the center of the caldera. This observation, along with equal amplitude relative velocity decreases revealed via analysis of intracaldera autocorrelations, suggests that the inflation sourcemay be located approximately within the center of the caldera and represent recharge of shallow magma storage in this location. Importantly, there is a relative absence of seismicity associated with this and previous rapid inflation events at Okmok. Thus, these ANI results are the first seismic evidence of such rapid inflation at the volcano.

The Analysis and Suppression of the spike noise in vibrator record

Science.gov (United States)

Jia, H.; Jiang, T.; Xu, X.; Ge, L.; Lin, J.; Yang, Z.

2013-12-01

During the seismic exploration with vibrator, seismic recording systems have often been affected by random spike noise in the background, which leads to strong data distortions as a result of the cross-correlation processing of the vibrator method. Partial or total loss of the desired seismic information is possible if no automatic spike reduction is available in the field prior to correlation of the field record. Generally speaking, original record of vibrator is uncorrelated data, in which the signal is non-wavelet form. In order to obtain the seismic record similar to explosive source, the signal of uncorrelated data needs to use the correlation algorithm to compress into wavelet form. The correlation process results in that the interference of spike in correlated data is not only being suppressed, but also being expanded. So the spike noise suppression of vibrator is indispensable. According to numerical simulation results, the effect of spike in the vibrator record is mainly affected by the amplitude and proportional points in the uncorrelated record. When the spike noise ratio in uncorrelated record reaches 1.5% and the average amplitude exceeds 200, it will make the SNR(signal-to-noise ratio) of the correlated record lower than 0dB, so that it is difficult to separate the signal. While the amplitude and ratio is determined by the intensity of background noise. Therefore, when the noise level is strong, in order to improve SNR of the seismic data, the uncorrelated record of vibrator need to take necessary steps to suppress spike noise. For the sake of reducing the influence of the spike noise, we need to make the detection and suppression of spike noise process for the uncorrelated record. Because vibrator works by inputting sweep signal into the underground long time, ideally, the peak and valley values of each trace have little change. On the basis of the peak and valley values, we can get a reference amplitude value. Then the spike can be detected and

An investigation of time-frequency domain phase-weighted stacking and its application to phase-velocity extraction from ambient noise's empirical Green's functions

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Guoliang; Niu, Fenglin; Yang, Yingjie; Xie, Jun

2018-02-01

The time-frequency domain phase-weighted stacking (tf-PWS) technique based on the S transform has been employed in stacking empirical Green's functions (EGFs) derived from ambient noise data, mainly due to its superior power in enhancing weak signals. Questions such as the induced waveform distortion and the feasibility of phase-velocity extraction are yet to be thoroughly explored. In this study, we investigate these issues by conducting extensive numerical tests with both synthetic data and USArray transportable array (TA) ambient noise data. We find that the errors in the measured phase velocities associated with waveform distortion caused by the tf-PWS depend largely on the way of how the inverse S transform (IST) is implemented. If frequency IST is employed in tf-PWS, the corresponding errors are generally less than 0.1 per cent, sufficiently small that the measured phase velocities can be safely used in regular surface wave tomography. On the other hand, if a time IST is used in tf-PWS, then the extracted phase velocities are systematically larger than those measured from linearly stacked ones, and the discrepancy can reach as much as ˜0.4 per cent at some periods. Therefore, if tf-PWS is used in stacking EGFs, then frequency IST is preferred to transform the stacked S spectra back to the time domain for the stacked EGFs.

Ambient diagnostics

CERN Document Server

Cai, Yang

2014-01-01

Part I. FundamentalsIntroductionWhat is Ambient Diagnostics?Diagnostic ModelsMultimedia IntelligenceCrowd SourcingSoft SensorsScience of SimplicityPersonal DiagnosesBasic AlgorithmsBasic ToolsSummaryProblemsTransformationEarly Discoveries of Heartbeat PatternsTransforms, Features, and AttributesSequential FeaturesSpatiotemporal FeaturesShape FeaturesImagery FeaturesFrequency Domain FeaturesMulti-Resolution FeaturesSummaryProblemsPattern RecognitionSimilarities and DistancesClustering MethodsClassification MethodsClassifier Accuracy MeasuresSummaryProblemsPart II. Multimedia IntelligenceSound RecognitionMicrophone AppsModern Acoustic Transducers (Microphones)Frequency Response CharacteristicsDigital Audio File FormatsHeart Sound SensingLung Sound SensingSnore MeterSpectrogram (STFT)Ambient Sound AnalysisSound RecognitionRecognizing Asthma SoundPeak ShiftFeature CompressionRegroupingNoise IssuesFuture ApplicationsSummaryProblemsColor SensorsColor SensingHuman Color VisionColor SensorsColor Matching ExperimentsC...

Internet-Based Solutions for a Secure and Efficient Seismic Network

Science.gov (United States)

Bhadha, R.; Black, M.; Bruton, C.; Hauksson, E.; Stubailo, I.; Watkins, M.; Alvarez, M.; Thomas, V.

2017-12-01

The Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN), operated by Caltech and USGS, leverages modern Internet-based computing technologies to provide timely earthquake early warning for damage reduction, event notification, ShakeMap, and other data products. Here we present recent and ongoing innovations in telemetry, security, cloud computing, virtualization, and data analysis that have allowed us to develop a network that runs securely and efficiently.Earthquake early warning systems must process seismic data within seconds of being recorded, and SCSN maintains a robust and resilient network of more than 350 digital strong motion and broadband seismic stations to achieve this goal. We have continued to improve the path diversity and fault tolerance within our network, and have also developed new tools for latency monitoring and archiving.Cyberattacks are in the news almost daily, and with most of our seismic data streams running over the Internet, it is only a matter of time before SCSN is targeted. To ensure system integrity and availability across our network, we have implemented strong security, including encryption and Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).SCSN operates its own data center at Caltech, but we have also installed real-time servers on Amazon Web Services (AWS), to provide an additional level of redundancy, and eventually to allow full off-site operations continuity for our network. Our AWS systems receive data from Caltech-based import servers and directly from field locations, and are able to process the seismic data, calculate earthquake locations and magnitudes, and distribute earthquake alerts, directly from the cloud.We have also begun a virtualization project at our Caltech data center, allowing us to serve data from Virtual Machines (VMs), making efficient use of high-performance hardware and increasing flexibility and scalability of our data processing systems.Finally, we have developed new monitoring of station average noise levels at most stations

Integrating ambient noise with GIS for a new perspective on volcano imaging and monitoring: The case study of Mt. Etna

Science.gov (United States)

Guardo, R.; De Siena, L.

2017-11-01

The timely estimation of short- and long-term volcanic hazard relies on the availability of detailed 3D geophysical images of volcanic structures. High-resolution seismic models of the absorbing uppermost conduit systems and highly-heterogeneous shallowest volcanic layers, while particularly challenging to obtain, provide important data to locate feasible eruptive centres and forecast flank collapses and lava ascending paths. Here, we model the volcanic structures of Mt. Etna (Sicily, Italy) and its outskirts using the Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio method, generally applied to industrial and engineering settings. The integration of this technique with Web-based Geographic Information System improves precision during the acquisition phase. It also integrates geological and geophysical visualization of 3D surface and subsurface structures in a queryable environment representing their exact three-dimensional geographic position, enhancing interpretation. The results show high-resolution 3D images of the shallowest volcanic and feeding systems, which complement (1) deeper seismic tomography imaging and (2) the results of recent remote sensing imaging. The study recovers a vertical structure that divides the pre-existing volcanic complexes of Ellittico and Cuvigghiuni. This could be interpreted as a transitional phase between the two systems. A comparison with recent remote sensing and geological results, however, shows that anomalies are generally related to volcano-tectonic structures active during the last 17 years. We infer that seismic noise measurements from miniaturized instruments, when combined with remote sensing techniques, represent an important resource to monitor volcanoes in unrest, reducing the risk of loss of human lives and instrumentation.

Extraction of Pn seismic signals from air-gun shots recorded by the Cascadia Amphibious seismic experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Rathnayaka, S.; Gao, H.

2017-12-01

The goal of this study is to extract Pn (head wave) seismic waveforms recorded by both offshore and onshore (broadband and short period) seismic stations and evaluate the data quality. Two offshore active-source seismic experiments, MGL 1211 and MGL 1212, were conducted from 13th June to 24th July 2012, during the first year deployment of the Cascadia Initiative Amphibious Array. In total, we choose 110 ocean bottom seismometers and 209 inland stations that are located along the entire Cascadia subduction zone. We first remove the instrument response, and then explore the potential frequency ranges and the diurnal effect. We make the common receiver gathering for each seismic station and filter the seismic waveforms at multiple frequency bands, ranging from 3-5 Hz, 5-10 Hz, 10-20 Hz, to 20-40 Hz, respectively. To quantitatively evaluate the data quality, we calculate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the waveforms for usable stations that record clear Pn arrivals at multiple frequency bands. Our results show that most offshore stations located at deep water (>1.5 km) record clear air-gun shot signals at frequencies higher than 3 Hz and up to 550 km away from the source. For most stations located on the shallow continental shelf, the seismic recordings appear much noisier at all the frequencies compared to stations at deep water. Three general trends are observed for the SNR distribution; First, the SNR ratio increases from lower to higher frequency bands; Second, the ratio decreases with the increasing source-to-receiver distance; And third, the ratio increases from shallow to deep water. We also observe a rough negative relationship of the signal-to-noise ratio with the thickness of the marine sediment. Only 5 inland stations record clear air-gun shot arrivals up to 200 km away from the source. More detailed data quality analysis with more results will also be present.

Earthquake Monitoring with the MyShake Global Smartphone Seismic Network

Science.gov (United States)

Inbal, A.; Kong, Q.; Allen, R. M.; Savran, W. H.

2017-12-01

Smartphone arrays have the potential for significantly improving seismic monitoring in sparsely instrumented urban areas. This approach benefits from the dense spatial coverage of users, as well as from communication and computational capabilities built into smartphones, which facilitate big seismic data transfer and analysis. Advantages in data acquisition with smartphones trade-off with factors such as the low-quality sensors installed in phones, high noise levels, and strong network heterogeneity, all of which limit effective seismic monitoring. Here we utilize network and array-processing schemes to asses event detectability with the MyShake global smartphone network. We examine the benefits of using this network in either triggered or continuous modes of operation. A global database of ground motions measured on stationary phones triggered by M2-6 events is used to establish detection probabilities. We find that the probability of detecting an M=3 event with a single phone located 20 nearby phones closely match the regional catalog locations. We use simulated broadband seismic data to examine how location uncertainties vary with user distribution and noise levels. To this end, we have developed an empirical noise model for the metropolitan Los-Angeles (LA) area. We find that densities larger than 100 stationary phones/km2 are required to accurately locate M 2 events in the LA basin. Given the projected MyShake user distribution, that condition may be met within the next few years.

Seismic isolation of Advanced LIGO: Review of strategy, instrumentation and performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matichard, F; Mittleman, R; Mason, K; Biscans, S; Barnum, S; Evans, M; Foley, S; Lantz, B; Celerier, C; Clark, D; DeBra, D; Kissel, J; Allwine, E; Abbott, B; Abbott, R; Abbott, S; Coyne, D; McIver, J; Birch, J; DeRosa, R

2015-01-01

The new generation of gravitational waves detectors require unprecedented levels of isolation from seismic noise. This article reviews the seismic isolation strategy and instrumentation developed for the Advanced LIGO observatories. It summarizes over a decade of research on active inertial isolation and shows the performance recently achieved at the Advanced LIGO observatories. The paper emphasizes the scientific and technical challenges of this endeavor and how they have been addressed. An overview of the isolation strategy is given. It combines multiple layers of passive and active inertial isolation to provide suitable rejection of seismic noise at all frequencies. A detailed presentation of the three active platforms that have been developed is given. They are the hydraulic pre-isolator, the single-stage internal isolator and the two-stage internal isolator. The architecture, instrumentation, control scheme and isolation results are presented for each of the three systems. Results show that the seismic isolation sub-system meets Advanced LIGO’s stringent requirements and robustly supports the operation of the two detectors. (paper)

Reflection seismic imaging of the upper crystalline crust for characterization of potential repository sites: Fine tuning the seismic source

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Juhlin, C.; Palm, H.; Bergman, B. [Uppsala Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Earth Sciences

2001-09-01

SKB is currently carrying out studies to determine which seismic techniques, and how, they will be used for investigations prior to and during the building of a high-level nuclear waste repository. Active seismic methods included in these studies are refraction seismics, reflection seismics, and vertical seismic profiling (VSP). The main goal of the active seismic methods is to locate fracture zones in the crystalline bedrock. Plans are to use longer reflection seismic profiles (3.4 km) in the initial stages of the site investigations. The target depth for these seismic profiles is 100-1500 m. Prior to carrying out the seismic surveys over actual candidate waste repository sites it has been necessary to carry out a number of tests to determine the optimum acquisition parameters. This report constitutes a summary of the tests carried out by Uppsala University. In addition, recommended acquisition and processing parameters are presented at the end of the report. A major goal in the testing has been to develop a methodology for acquiring high-resolution reflection seismic data over crystalline rock in as a cost effective manner as possible. Since the seismic source is generally a major cost in any survey, significant attention has been given to reducing the cost of the source. It was agreed upon early in the study that explosives were the best source from a data quality perspective and, therefore, only explosive source methods have been considered in this study. The charge size and shot hole dimension required to image the upper 1-1.5 km of bedrock is dependent upon the conditions at the surface. In this study two types of shot hole drilling methods have been employed depending upon whether the thickness of the loose sediments at the surface is greater or less than 0.5 m. The charge sizes and shot hole dimensions required are: Loose sediment thickness less than 0.5 m: 15 g in 90 cm deep 12 mm wide uncased shot holes. Loose sediment thickness greater than 0.5 m: 75 g

Noise cancellation in magnetoencephalography and electroencephalography with isolated reference sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Kraus, Jr., Robert H.; Espy, Michelle A.; Matlachov, Andrei; Volegov, Petr

2010-06-01

An apparatus measures electromagnetic signals from a weak signal source. A plurality of primary sensors is placed in functional proximity to the weak signal source with an electromagnetic field isolation surface arranged adjacent the primary sensors and between the weak signal source and sources of ambient noise. A plurality of reference sensors is placed adjacent the electromagnetic field isolation surface and arranged between the electromagnetic isolation surface and sources of ambient noise.

The functions of sound production in the lined seahorse, Hippocampus erectus, and effects of loud ambient noise on its behavior and physiology in captive environments

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Paul August

Loud noise in aquaria represents a cacophonous environment for captive fishes. I tested the effects of loud noise on acoustic communication, feeding behavior, courtship behavior, and the stress response of the lined seahorse, Hippocampus erectus. Total Root Mean Square (RMS) power of ambient noise to which seahorses are exposed in captivity varies widely but averages 126.1 +/- 0.8 deciBels with reference to one micropascal (dB re: 1 muPa) at the middle of the water column and 133.7 +/- 1.1 dB at the tank bottom, whereas ambient noise in the wild averages 119.6 +/- 3.5 dB. Hearing sensitivity of H. erectus, measured from auditory evoked potentials, demonstrated maximum spectrum-level sensitivities of 105.0 +/- 1.5 dB and 3.5 x 10-3 + 7.6 x 10-4 m/s2 at 200 Hz; which is characteristic of hearing generalists. H. erectus produces acoustic clicks with mean peak spectrum-level amplitudes of 94.3 +/- 0.9 dB at 232 +/- 16 Hz and 1.5 x 10 -3 +/- 1.9 x 10-4 m/s2 at 265 +/- 22 Hz. Frequency matching of clicks to best hearing sensitivity, and estimates of audition of broadband signals suggest that seahorses may hear conspecific clicks, especially in terms of particle motion. Behavioral investigations revealed that clicking did not improve prey capture proficiency. However, animals clicked more often as time progressed in a courtship sequence, and mates performed more courtship behaviors with control animals than with muted animals, lending additional evidence to the role of clicking as an acoustic signal during courtship. Despite loud noise and the role of clicking in communication, masking of the acoustic signal was not demonstrated. Seahorses exposed to loud noise in aquaria for one month demonstrated physiological, chronic stress responses: reduced weight and body condition, and increased heterophil to lymphocyte ratio. Behavioral alterations were characterized by greater mean and variance of activity among animals housed in loud tanks in the first week, followed by

A seismic hazard overview of the Mitidja Basin (Northern Algeria)

Science.gov (United States)

Fontiela, J. F.; Borges, J.; Ouyed, M.; Bezzeghoud, M.; Idres, M.; Caldeira, B.; Boughacha, M. S.; Carvalho, J.; Samai, S.; Aissa, S.; Benfadda, A.; Chimouni, R.; Yalaoui, R.; Dias, R.

2017-12-01

The Mitidja Basin (MB) is located in N Algeria and it is filled by quaternary sediments with a length of 100 km on the EW direction and around 20 km width. The S and N limites comprise the Boumerdes-Larbaa-Blida, and the Thenia-Sahel active fault system, respectively. Both fault systems are of the reverse type with opposed dips and accommodate a general slip rate of ˜4 mm/year. In the basin occurred earthquakes that caused severe damage and losses such as the ones of Algiers (1365, Io=X; 1716, Io=X) and the Bourmedes earthquake (Mw 6.9; May 2003) that affected the area of Zemmouri and caused 2.271 deaths. The event was caused by the reactivation of the MB boundary faults. The earthquake generated a max uplift of 0.8m along the coast and a horizontal max. slip of 0.24m.Recent studies show that the Boumerdes earthquake overloaded the adjacent faults system with a stress increase between 0.4 and 1.5 bar. The stress change recommends a detailed study of mentioned faults system due to the increase of the seismic hazard. The high seismogenic potential of the fault system bordering the MB, increases the vulnerability of densely populated areas of Algiers and the amplification effect caused by the basin are the motivation of this project that will focus on the evaluation of the seismic hazard of the region. To achieve seismic hazard assessment on the MB, through realistic predictions of strong ground motion, caused by moderate and large earthquakes, it is important 1) develop a detailed 3D velocity/structure model of the MB that includes geological constraints, seismic reflection data acquired on wells, refraction velocities and seismic noise data, and determination of the attenuation laws based on instrumental records; 2) evaluate the seismic potential and parameters of the main active faults of the MB; 3) develop numerical methods (deterministic and stochastic) to simulate strong ground motions produced by extended seismic sources. To acquire seismic noise were used

Global seismic inversion as the next standard step in the processing sequence

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maver, Kim G.; Hansen, Lars S.; Jepsen, Anne-Marie; Rasmussen, Klaus B.

1998-12-31

Seismic inversion of post stack seismic data has until recently been regarded as a reservoir oriented method since the standard inversion techniques rely on extensive well control and a detailed user derived input model. Most seismic inversion techniques further requires a stable wavelet. As a consequence seismic inversion is mainly utilised in mature areas focusing of specific zones only after the seismic data has been interpreted and is well understood. By using an advanced 3-D global technique, seismic inversion is presented as the next standard step in the processing sequence. The technique is robust towards noise within the seismic data, utilizes a time variant wavelet, and derives a low frequency model utilizing the stacking velocities and only limited well control. 4 figs.

Impact of magnitude uncertainties on seismic catalogue properties

Science.gov (United States)

Leptokaropoulos, K. M.; Adamaki, A. K.; Roberts, R. G.; Gkarlaouni, C. G.; Paradisopoulou, P. M.

2018-05-01

Catalogue-based studies are of central importance in seismological research, to investigate the temporal, spatial and size distribution of earthquakes in specified study areas. Methods for estimating the fundamental catalogue parameters like the Gutenberg-Richter (G-R) b-value and the completeness magnitude (Mc) are well established and routinely applied. However, the magnitudes reported in seismicity catalogues contain measurement uncertainties which may significantly distort the estimation of the derived parameters. In this study, we use numerical simulations of synthetic data sets to assess the reliability of different methods for determining b-value and Mc, assuming the G-R law validity. After contaminating the synthetic catalogues with Gaussian noise (with selected standard deviations), the analysis is performed for numerous data sets of different sample size (N). The noise introduced to the data generally leads to a systematic overestimation of magnitudes close to and above Mc. This fact causes an increase of the average number of events above Mc, which in turn leads to an apparent decrease of the b-value. This may result to a significant overestimation of seismicity rate even well above the actual completeness level. The b-value can in general be reliably estimated even for relatively small data sets (N < 1000) when only magnitudes higher than the actual completeness level are used. Nevertheless, a correction of the total number of events belonging in each magnitude class (i.e. 0.1 unit) should be considered, to deal with the magnitude uncertainty effect. Because magnitude uncertainties (here with the form of Gaussian noise) are inevitable in all instrumental catalogues, this finding is fundamental for seismicity rate and seismic hazard assessment analyses. Also important is that for some data analyses significant bias cannot necessarily be avoided by choosing a high Mc value for analysis. In such cases, there may be a risk of severe miscalculation of

Low-noise wide-band amplifiers for stochastic beam cooling experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leskovar, B.; Lo, C.C.

1982-01-01

Noise characteristics of the continuous-wave wide-band amplifier systems for stochastic beam cooling experiments are presented. Also, the noise performance, bandwidth capability and gain stability of components used in these amplifiers are summarized and compared in the 100 MHz to 40 GHz frequency range. This includes bipolar and field-effect transistors, parametric amplifier, Schottky diode mixer and maser. Measurements of the noise characteristics and scattering parameters of variety GaAs FETs as a function of ambient temperature are also given. Performance data and design information are presented on a broadband 150-500 MHz preamplifier having noise temperature of approximately 35 0 K at ambient temperature of 20 0 K. An analysis of preamplifier stability based on scattering parameters concept is included

Time-lapse seismic attribute analysis for a water-flooded reservoir

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jin, Long; Sen, M K; Stoffa, P L; Seif, R K

2008-01-01

One of the goals of time-lapse seismic monitoring is the direct detection of the fluid front and two-phase contact area. However, several factors affect the quality of time-lapse seismic difference data and decrease detectability. One of these factors is random noise. In this paper, we propose five different methods aimed at improving the quality and detectability of noisy time-lapse seismic difference data. Common to these methods is the transform of the differences to a domain where the time-lapse signal and random noise are well separated. Our proposed methods include direct Fourier transform based spectral decomposition, bispectra, wavelet transform, singular value decomposition and hybrid methods. We also propose a method that combines multiple time-lapse difference data and gives a final difference which enhances the common part and attenuates the differences of the multiple difference images resulting in a better detectability than the original images. A synthetic time-lapse model is used to demonstrate the feasibility of our proposed methods

Sources and levels of ambient ocean sound near the Antarctic Peninsula.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert P Dziak

Full Text Available Arrays of hydrophones were deployed within the Bransfield Strait and Scotia Sea (Antarctic Peninsula region from 2005 to 2009 to record ambient ocean sound at frequencies of up to 125 and 500 Hz. Icequakes, which are broadband, short duration signals derived from fracturing of large free-floating icebergs, are a prominent feature of the ocean soundscape. Icequake activity peaks during austral summer and is minimum during winter, likely following freeze-thaw cycles. Iceberg grounding and rapid disintegration also releases significant acoustic energy, equivalent to large-scale geophysical events. Overall ambient sound levels can be as much as ~10-20 dB higher in the open, deep ocean of the Scotia Sea compared to the relatively shallow Bransfield Strait. Noise levels become lowest during the austral winter, as sea-ice cover suppresses wind and wave noise. Ambient noise levels are highest during austral spring and summer, as surface noise, ice cracking and biological activity intensifies. Vocalizations of blue (Balaenoptera musculus and fin (B. physalus whales also dominate the long-term spectra records in the 15-28 and 89 Hz bands. Blue whale call energy is a maximum during austral summer-fall in the Drake Passage and Bransfield Strait when ambient noise levels are a maximum and sea-ice cover is a minimum. Fin whale vocalizations were also most common during austral summer-early fall months in both the Bransfield Strait and Scotia Sea. The hydrophone data overall do not show sustained anthropogenic sources (ships and airguns, likely due to low coastal traffic and the typically rough weather and sea conditions of the Southern Ocean.

On the Retrieval of the Directional Scattering Matrix from Directional Noise

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wapenaar, C.P.A.; Thorbecke, J.W.

2013-01-01

The crosscorrelation of ambient acoustic noise observed at two receivers yields the impulse response between these receivers, assuming that the noise field is diffuse. In practical situations the noise field exhibits directionality, which imprints the angle-dependent correlation function. For the

Suspension-thermal noise in spring–antispring systems for future gravitational-wave detectors

Science.gov (United States)

Harms, Jan; Mow-Lowry, Conor M.

2018-01-01

Spring–antispring systems have been investigated in the context of low-frequency seismic isolation in high-precision optical experiments. These systems provide the possibility to tune the fundamental resonance frequency to, in principle, arbitrarily low values, and at the same time maintain a compact design. It was argued though that thermal noise in spring–antispring systems would not be as small as one may naively expect from lowering the fundamental resonance frequency. In this paper, we present calculations of suspension-thermal noise for spring–antispring systems potentially relevant in future gravitational-wave detectors, i.e. the beam-balance tiltmeter, and the Roberts linkage. We find a concise expression of the suspension-thermal noise spectrum, which assumes a form very similar to the well-known expression for a simple pendulum. For systems such as the Roberts linkage foreseen as passive seismic isolation, we find that while they can provide strong seismic isolation due to a very low fundamental resonance frequency, their thermal noise is determined by the dimension of the system and is insensitive to fine-tunings of the geometry that can strongly influence the resonance frequency. By analogy, i.e. formal similarity of the equations of motion, this is true for all horizontal mechanical isolation systems with spring–antispring dynamics. This imposes strict requirements on mechanical spring–antispring systems for seismic isolation in potential future low-frequency gravitational-wave detectors as we discuss for the four main concepts, atom-interferometric, superconducting, torsion-bars, and conventional laser interferometer, and generally suggests that thermal noise needs to be evaluated carefully for high-precision experiments implementing spring–antispring dynamics.

High-resolution and super stacking of time-reversal mirrors in locating seismic sources

KAUST Repository

Cao, Weiping

2011-07-08

Time reversal mirrors can be used to backpropagate and refocus incident wavefields to their actual source location, with the subsequent benefits of imaging with high-resolution and super-stacking properties. These benefits of time reversal mirrors have been previously verified with computer simulations and laboratory experiments but not with exploration-scale seismic data. We now demonstrate the high-resolution and the super-stacking properties in locating seismic sources with field seismic data that include multiple scattering. Tests on both synthetic data and field data show that a time reversal mirror has the potential to exceed the Rayleigh resolution limit by factors of 4 or more. Results also show that a time reversal mirror has a significant resilience to strong Gaussian noise and that accurate imaging of source locations from passive seismic data can be accomplished with traces having signal-to-noise ratios as low as 0.001. Synthetic tests also demonstrate that time reversal mirrors can sometimes enhance the signal by a factor proportional to the square root of the product of the number of traces, denoted as N and the number of events in the traces. This enhancement property is denoted as super-stacking and greatly exceeds the classical signal-to-noise enhancement factor of. High-resolution and super-stacking are properties also enjoyed by seismic interferometry and reverse-time migration with the exact velocity model. © 2011 European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers.

Full-wave Ambient Noise Tomography of Mt Rainier volcano, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Flinders, Ashton; Shen, Yang

2015-04-01

Mount Rainier towers over the landscape of western Washington (USA), ranking with Fuji-yama in Japan, Mt Pinatubo in the Philippines, and Mt Vesuvius in Italy, as one of the great stratovolcanoes of the world. Notwithstanding its picturesque stature, Mt Rainier is potentially the most devastating stratovolcano in North America, with more than 3.5 million people living beneath is shadow in the Seattle-Tacoma area. The primary hazard posed by the volcano is in the form of highly destructive debris flows (lahars). These lahars form when water and/or melted ice erode away and entrain preexisting volcanic sediment. At Mt Rainier these flows are often initiated by sector collapse of the volcano's hydrothermally rotten flanks and compounded by Mt Rainier's extensive snow and glacial ice coverage. It is therefore imperative to ascertain the extent of the volcano's summit hydrothermal alteration, and determine areas prone to collapse. Despite being one of the sixteen volcanoes globally designated by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior as warranting detailed and focused study, Mt Rainier remains enigmatic both in terms of the shallow internal structure and the degree of summit hydrothermal alteration. We image this shallow internal structure and areas of possible summit alteration using ambient noise tomography. Our full waveform forward modeling includes high-resolution topography allowing us to accuratly account for the effects of topography on the propagation of short-period Rayleigh waves. Empirical Green's functions were extracted from 80 stations within 200 km of Mt Rainier, and compared with synthetic greens functions over multiple frequency bands from 2-28 seconds.

Seismic interferometry of railroad induced ground motions: body and surface wave imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Quiros, Diego A.; Brown, Larry D.; Kim, Doyeon

2016-04-01

Seismic interferometry applied to 120 hr of railroad traffic recorded by an array of vertical component seismographs along a railway within the Rio Grande rift has recovered surface and body waves characteristic of the geology beneath the railway. Linear and hyperbolic arrivals are retrieved that agree with surface (Rayleigh), direct and reflected P waves observed by nearby conventional seismic surveys. Train-generated Rayleigh waves span a range of frequencies significantly higher than those recovered from typical ambient noise interferometry studies. Direct P-wave arrivals have apparent velocities appropriate for the shallow geology of the survey area. Significant reflected P-wave energy is also present at relatively large offsets. A common midpoint stack produces a reflection image consistent with nearby conventional reflection data. We suggest that for sources at the free surface (e.g. trains) increasing the aperture of the array to record wide angle reflections, in addition to longer recording intervals, might allow the recovery of deeper geological structure from railroad traffic. Frequency-wavenumber analyses of these recordings indicate that the train source is symmetrical (i.e. approaching and receding) and that deeper refracted energy is present although not evident in the time-offset domain. These results confirm that train-generated vibrations represent a practical source of high-resolution subsurface information, with particular relevance to geotechnical and environmental applications.

Full waveform ambient noise tomography of Mount Rainer

Science.gov (United States)

Flinders, A. F.; Shen, Y.

2014-12-01

Mount Rainier towers over the landscape of western Washington, ranking with Fuji-yama in Japan, Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines, and Mt. Vesuvius in Italy, as one of the great stratovolcanoes of the world. Notwithstanding it's picturesque stature, Mt. Rainier is potentially the most devastating stratovolcano in North America, with more than 3.5 million people living beneath its shadow in the Seattle-Tacoma area. The primary hazard posed by the volcano is in the form of highly destructive volcanic debris flows (lahars). These lahars form when water and/or melted ice erode away and entrain preexisting volcanic sediment. At Mt. Rainier these flows are often initiated by sector collapse of the volcano's hydrothermally rotten flanks and compounded from Mt. Rainier's extensive snow and glacial ice coverage. It is therefore imperative to ascertain the extent of summit hydrothermal alteration within the volcano, and determine areas prone to collapse. Despite being one of the sixteen volcanoes globally designated by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior as warranting detailed and focused study, Mt. Rainier remains enigmatic both in terms of shallow internal structure and the degree of summit hydrothermal alteration. We image this shallow internal structure and areas of possible summit alteration using ambient noise tomography. Our full waveform forward modeling includes high-resolution topography, allowing us to accurately account for the effects of topography on the propagation of short-period Rayleigh waves. Empirical Green's functions were extracted from 80 stations within 200 km of Mount Rainier and compared with synthetic greens functions over multiple frequency bands from 2-28 seconds. The preliminary model shows a broad (60 km wide) low shear-wave velocity anomaly in the mid-crust beneath the volcano. The mid-crust low-velocity body extends to the surface beneath the volcano summit in a narrow near-vertical conduit, the

Jet Noise Scaling in Dual Stream Nozzles

Science.gov (United States)

Khavaran, Abbas; Bridges, James

2010-01-01

Power spectral laws in dual stream jets are studied by considering such flows a superposition of appropriate single-stream coaxial jets. Noise generation in each mixing region is modeled using spectral power laws developed earlier for single stream jets as a function of jet temperature and observer angle. Similarity arguments indicate that jet noise in dual stream nozzles may be considered as a composite of four single stream jets representing primary/secondary, secondary/ambient, transition, and fully mixed zones. Frequency filter are designed to highlight spectral contribution from each jet. Predictions are provided at an area ratio of 2.0--bypass ratio from 0.80 to 3.40, and are compared with measurements within a wide range of velocity and temperature ratios. These models suggest that the low frequency noise in unheated jets is dominated by the fully mixed region at all velocity ratios, while the high frequency noise is dominated by the secondary when the velocity ratio is larger than 0.80. Transition and fully mixed jets equally dominate the low frequency noise in heated jets. At velocity ratios less than 0.50, the high frequency noise from primary/bypass becomes a significant contributing factor similar to that in the secondary/ambient jet.

Does ambient noise or hypobaric atmosphere influence olfactory and gustatory function?

Science.gov (United States)

Rahne, Torsten; Köppke, Robert; Nehring, Michael; Plontke, Stefan K; Fischer, Hans-Georg

2018-01-01

Multidimensional food perception is based mainly on gustatory and olfactory function. Recent research has demonstrated that hypobaric pressure impairs gustatory function and that background noise or distracting auditory stimulation impairs olfactory function. Using a hypobaric chamber, the odor identification, discrimination, and thresholds as well as taste identification and threshold scores were measured in 16 healthy male volunteers under normal and hypobaric (6380 ft) conditions using clinically validated tests. In both conditions, background noise was either canceled out or replaced by white noise presentation (70 dB sound pressure level). Olfactory sensitivity for n-butanol and gustatory sensitivity were impaired in a hypobaric atmosphere. White noise did not influence the odor test results. White noise stimulation impaired sensitivity for sour and sweet but not for bitter or salty tastants. We conclude that hypobaric or noisy environments could impair gustatory and olfactory sensitivity selectively for particular tastants and odorants.

Noise problems in coal mining complex- a case discussion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mishra, Y.; Mitra, H.; Ghosh, S.; Pal, A.K.

1996-01-01

Noise monitoring study was conducted at Moonidih mining complex of Jharia coal-field. The study included monitoring and analysis of ambient as well as workplace noise levels. An attempt has been made to critically analyse the noise situation through octave band analysis, thereby identifying alarming noise frequencies for each noise generating equipment having Leq level more than 90 dBA. A noise model has also been developed to draw noise contours of the entire mining complex. Based on these studies, suitable control measures have been suggested. (author). 6 refs., 3 figs

Planetary Seismology : Lander- and Wind-Induced Seismic Signals

Science.gov (United States)

Lorenz, Ralph

2016-10-01

Seismic measurements are of interest for future geophysical exploration of ocean worlds such as Europa or Titan, as well as Venus, Mars and the Moon. Even when a seismometer is deployed away from a lander (as in the case of Apollo) lander-generated disturbances are apparent. Such signatures may be usefully diagnostic of lander operations (at least for outreach), and may serve as seismic excitation for near-field propagation studies. The introduction of these 'spurious' events may also influence the performance of event detection and data compression algorithms.Examples of signatures in the Viking 2 seismometer record of lander mechanism operations are presented. The coherence of Viking seismometer noise levels and wind forcing is well-established : some detailed examples are examined. Wind noise is likely to be significant on future Mars missions such as InSight, as well as on Titan and Venus.

Imaging Seismic Source Variations Using Back-Projection Methods at El Tatio Geyser Field, Northern Chile

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, C. L.; Lawrence, J. F.

2014-12-01

During October 2012, 51 geophones and 6 broadband seismometers were deployed in an ~50x50m region surrounding a periodically erupting columnar geyser in the El Tatio Geyser Field, Chile. The dense array served as the seismic framework for a collaborative project to study the mechanics of complex hydrothermal systems. Contemporaneously, complementary geophysical measurements (including down-hole temperature and pressure, discharge rates, thermal imaging, water chemistry, and video) were also collected. Located on the western flanks of the Andes Mountains at an elevation of 4200m, El Tatio is the third largest geyser field in the world. Its non-pristine condition makes it an ideal location to perform minutely invasive geophysical studies. The El Jefe Geyser was chosen for its easily accessible conduit and extremely periodic eruption cycle (~120s). During approximately 2 weeks of continuous recording, we recorded ~2500 nighttime eruptions which lack cultural noise from tourism. With ample data, we aim to study how the source varies spatially and temporally during each phase of the geyser's eruption cycle. We are developing a new back-projection processing technique to improve source imaging for diffuse signals. Our method was previously applied to the Sierra Negra Volcano system, which also exhibits repeating harmonic and diffuse seismic sources. We back-project correlated seismic signals from the receivers back to their sources, assuming linear source to receiver paths and a known velocity model (obtained from ambient noise tomography). We apply polarization filters to isolate individual and concurrent geyser energy associated with P and S phases. We generate 4D, time-lapsed images of the geyser source field that illustrate how the source distribution changes through the eruption cycle. We compare images for pre-eruption, co-eruption, post-eruption and quiescent periods. We use our images to assess eruption mechanics in the system (i.e. top-down vs. bottom-up) and

Using H/V Spectral Ratio Analysis to Map Sediment Thickness and to Explain Macroseismic Intensity Variation of a Low-Magnitude Seismic Swarm in Central Belgium

Science.gov (United States)

Van Noten, K.; Lecocq, T.; Camelbeeck, T.

2013-12-01

Between 2008 and 2010, the Royal Observatory of Belgium received numerous ';Did You Feel It'-reports related to a 2-year lasting earthquake swarm at Court-Saint-Etienne, a small town in a hilly area 20 km SE of Brussels, Belgium. These small-magnitude events (-0.7 ≤ ML ≤ 3.2, n = c. 300 events) were recorded both by the permanent seismometer network in Belgium and by a locally installed temporary seismic network deployed in the epicentral area. Relocation of the hypocenters revealed that the seismic swarm can be related to the reactivation of a NW-SE strike-slip fault at 3 to 6 km depth in the basement rocks of the Lower Palaeozoic London-Brabant Massif. This sequence caused a lot of emotion in the region because more than 60 events were felt by the local population. Given the small magnitudes of the seismic swarm, most events were more often heard than felt by the respondents, which is indicative of a local high-frequency earthquake source. At places where the bedrock is at the surface or where it is covered by thin alluvial sediments ( 30 m). In those river valleys that have a considerable alluvial sedimentary cover, macroseismic intensities are again lower. To explain this variation in macroseismic intensity we present a macroseismic analysis of all DYFI-reports related to the 2008-2010 seismic swarm and a pervasive H/V spectral ratio (HVSR) analysis of ambient noise measurements to model the thickness of sediments covering the London-Brabant Massif. The HVSR method is a very powerful tool to map the basement morphology, particularly in regions of unknown subsurface structure. By calculating the soil's fundamental frequency above boreholes, we calibrated the power-law relationship between the fundamental frequency, shear wave velocity and the thickness of sediments. This relationship is useful for places where the sediment thickness is unknown and where the fundamental frequency can be calculated by H/V spectral ratio analysis of ambient noise. In a

Impact of Vessel Noise on Oyster Toadfish (Opsanus tau) Behavior and Implications for Underwater Noise Management

Science.gov (United States)

Krahforst, Cecilia S.

Underwater noise and its impacts on marine life are growing management concerns. This dissertation considers both the ecological and social concerns of underwater noise, using the oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau) as a model species. Oyster toadfish call for mates using a boatwhistle sound, but increased ambient noise levels from vessels or other anthropogenic activities are likely to influence the ability of males to find mates. If increased ambient noise levels reduce fish fitness then underwater noise can impact socially valued ecosystem services (e.g. fisheries). The following ecological objectives of the impacts of underwater noise on oyster toadfish were investigated: (1) to determine how noise influences male calling behavior; (2) to assess how areas of high vessel activity ("noisy") and low vessel activity ("quiet") influence habitat utilization (fish standard length and occupancy rate); and (3) to discover if fitness (number of clutches and number of embryos per clutch) is lower in "noisy" compared with "quiet" sites. Field experiments were executed in "noisy" and "quiet" areas. Recorded calls by males in response to playback sounds (vessel, predator, and snapping shrimp sounds) and egg deposition by females ("noisy" vs. "quiet" sites) demonstrated that oyster toadfish are impacted by underwater noise. First, males decreased their call rates and called louder in response to increased ambient noise levels. Second, oyster toadfish selected nesting sites in areas with little or no inboard motorboat activity. Third, male oyster toadfish at "noisy" sites either had no egg clutches on their shelters or the number of embryos per clutch was significantly lower than in the "quiet" areas. Underwater noise and disturbance from vessels are influencing the fitness of the oyster toadfish. The social significance of the growing concerns regarding underwater noise was investigated by identifying dominant themes found within two types of texts: four recent underwater noise

A procedure for noise uncoupling in laser interferometry

CERN Document Server

Barone, F; Rosa, R D; Eleuteri, A; Milano, L; Qipiani, K

2002-01-01

A numerical procedure for noise recognition and uncoupling is described. The procedure is applied to a Michelson interferometer and is effective in seismic and acoustic noise uncoupling from the output signal of the interferometer. Due to the low data flow coming from the instrumentation this uncoupling can be performed in real time and it is useful as a data quality procedure for interferometer data output.

The seismic monitoring network of Mt. Vesuvius

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Massimo Orazi

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Mt. Vesuvius (southern Italy is one of the most hazardous volcanoes in the world. Its activity is currently characterized by moderate seismicity, with hypocenters located beneath the crater zone with depth rarely exceeding 5 km and magnitudes generally less than 3. The current configuration of the seismic monitoring network of Mt. Vesuvius consists of 18 seismic stations and 7 infrasound microphones. During the period 2006-2010 a seismic array with 48 channels was also operative. The station distribution provides appropriate coverage of the area around the volcanic edifice. The current development of the network and its geometry, under conditions of low seismic noise, allows locating seismic events with M<1. Remote instruments continuously transmit data to the main acquisition center in Naples. Data transmission is realized using different technological solutions based on UHF, Wi-Fi radio links, and TCP/IP client-server applications. Data are collected in the monitoring center of the Osservatorio Vesuviano (Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Naples section, which is equipped with systems for displaying and analyzing signals, using both real-time automatic and manual procedures. 24-hour surveillance allows to immediately communicate any significant anomaly to the Civil Protection authorities.

Multiple attenuation to reflection seismic data using Radon filter and Wave Equation Multiple Rejection (WEMR) method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Erlangga, Mokhammad Puput [Geophysical Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Ganesha Street no.10 Basic Science B Buliding fl.2-3 Bandung, 40132, West Java Indonesia puput.erlangga@gmail.com (Indonesia)

2015-04-16

Separation between signal and noise, incoherent or coherent, is important in seismic data processing. Although we have processed the seismic data, the coherent noise is still mixing with the primary signal. Multiple reflections are a kind of coherent noise. In this research, we processed seismic data to attenuate multiple reflections in the both synthetic and real seismic data of Mentawai. There are several methods to attenuate multiple reflection, one of them is Radon filter method that discriminates between primary reflection and multiple reflection in the τ-p domain based on move out difference between primary reflection and multiple reflection. However, in case where the move out difference is too small, the Radon filter method is not enough to attenuate the multiple reflections. The Radon filter also produces the artifacts on the gathers data. Except the Radon filter method, we also use the Wave Equation Multiple Elimination (WEMR) method to attenuate the long period multiple reflection. The WEMR method can attenuate the long period multiple reflection based on wave equation inversion. Refer to the inversion of wave equation and the magnitude of the seismic wave amplitude that observed on the free surface, we get the water bottom reflectivity which is used to eliminate the multiple reflections. The WEMR method does not depend on the move out difference to attenuate the long period multiple reflection. Therefore, the WEMR method can be applied to the seismic data which has small move out difference as the Mentawai seismic data. The small move out difference on the Mentawai seismic data is caused by the restrictiveness of far offset, which is only 705 meter. We compared the real free multiple stacking data after processing with Radon filter and WEMR process. The conclusion is the WEMR method can more attenuate the long period multiple reflection than the Radon filter method on the real (Mentawai) seismic data.

Existing reflection seismic data re-processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Higashinaka, Motonori; Sano, Yukiko; Kozawa, Takeshi

2005-08-01

This document is to report the results of existing seismic data re-processing around Horonobe town, Hokkaido, Japan, which is a part of the Horonobe Underground Research Project. The main purpose of this re-processing is to recognize the subsurface structure of Omagari Fault and fold system around Omagari Fault. The seismic lines for re-processing are TYHR-A3 line and SHRB-2 line, which JAPEX surveyed in 1975. Applying weathering static correction using refraction analysis and noise suppression procedure, we have much enhanced seismic profile. Following information was obtained from seismic re-processing results. TYHR-A3 line: There are strong reflections, dipping to the west. These reflections are corresponding western limb of anticline to the west side of Omagari Fault. SHRB-2 line: There are strong reflections, dipping to the west, at CDP 60-140, while there are reflections, dipping to the east, to the east side of CDP 140. These reflections correspond to the western limb and the eastern limb of the anticline, which is parallel to Omagari FAULT. This seismic re-processing provides some useful information to know the geological structure around Omagari Fault. (author)

Near-surface elastic changes in the Ross Ice Shelf arising from transient storm and melt forcing observed with high-frequency ambient seismic noise

Science.gov (United States)

Chaput, J.; Aster, R. C.; Baker, M. G.; Gerstoft, P.; Bromirski, P. D.; Nyblade, A.; Stephen, R. A.; Wiens, D.

2017-12-01

Ice shelf collapse can herald subsequent grounded ice instability. However, robust understanding of external mechanisms capable of triggering rapid changes remains elusive. Improved understanding therefore requires improved remote and in-situ measurements of ice shelf properties. Using nearly three years of continuous data from a recently deployed 34-station broadband seismic array on the Ross Ice Shelf, we analyze persistent temporally varying, anisotropic near-surface resonant wave modes at frequencies above 1 Hz that are highly sensitive to small changes in elastic shelf properties to depths of tens of m. We further find that these modes exhibit both progressive (on the scale of months) and rapid (on the scale of hours) changes in frequency content. The largest and most rapid excursions are associated with forcing from local storms, and with a large regional ice shelf melt event in January 2016. We hypothesize that temporally variable behavior of the resonance features arises from wind slab formation during storms and/or to porosity changes, and to the formation of percolation-related refrozen layers and thinning in the case of surface melting. These resonance variations can be reproduced and inverted for structural changes using numerical wave propagation models, and thus present an opportunity for 4-D structural monitoring of shallow ice shelf elasticity and structure using long-duration seismic recordings.