scholarly journals On the robustness of attenuation measurements on teleseismic P waves: insights from micro-array analysis of the 2017 North Korean nuclear test

2019 ◽  
Vol 218 (1) ◽  
pp. 573-585 ◽  
Author(s):  
M J Bezada ◽  
J Byrnes ◽  
Z Eilon

SUMMARY Despite their importance as a fundamental constraint on Earth properties, regional-scale measurements of body-wave seismic attenuation are scarce. This is partially a result of the difficulty in producing robust estimates of attenuation. In this paper, we focus on measuring differential attenuation on records of teleseismic P waves. We examine a unique data set of five records of the North Korean nuclear test of 2017 measured at five broad-band seismic stations deployed within a few metres of each other but using different installation procedures. Given their extreme proximity, we expect zero differential intrinsic attenuation between the different records. However, we find that different attenuation measurement methods and implementation parameters in fact produce significant apparent differential attenuation (Δt*). Frequency-domain methods yield a wide range of Δt* estimates between stations, depending on measurement bandwidth and nuances of signal processing. This measurement instability increases for longer time windows. Time domain methods are largely insensitive to the frequency band being considered but are sensitive to the time window that is chosen. We determine that signal-generated noise can affect measurements in both the frequency and time domain. In some cases, the range of results amounts to a significant fraction of the range of differential attenuation across the conterminous United States as determined by a recent study. We suggest some approaches to manage the inherent instability in these measurements and recommend best practices to confidently estimate body wave attenuation.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei-Ru Jian ◽  
Ban-Yuan Kuo

<p>Seismic attenuation accompanying the velocity structures demonstrates the variations of the physical and chemical properties of the earth. The t* measurement using the seismic body wave spectrum, however, typically encounters the trade-off of corner frequency, t*, and site effect. Ko et al, [2012] proposed the cluster event method (CEM) that reduced the model parameter numbers by grouping the spatial-closed enough events for those traveling to each station along the adjacent paths and sharing one t*. Yet, the site effects among different stations collected in the same cluster bring the challenges on fitting all spectrum. We adapt the cluster strategy to group multiple nearby events recorded by one station only. Moreover, the new iterative CEM algorithm includes both the spectrum and spectral ratio data which provide constraints on seismic moments and corner frequencies of each earthquake inside the cluster, respectively. The final t* and corner frequencies are determined again by including the side effects which are averaging from spectrum residuals in the initial CEM stage. We applied the iterative CEM for earthquakes recorded at dense deployed F-net and Hi-net by NIED in the Tohoku area, Japan. The multitaper spectrums are retrieved from direct P waves with coda wavetrains tapered. Combining the spectral ratio and spectrum data with proper weightings, our new approach increases the stability of t* measurements contributed from better constrains on the corner frequency estimations.</p>


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 2493-2509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Félix Brédoire ◽  
Mark R. Bakker ◽  
Laurent Augusto ◽  
Pavel A. Barsukov ◽  
Delphine Derrien ◽  
...  

Abstract. Climate change is particularly strong in northern Eurasia and substantial ecological changes are expected in this extensive region. The reshaping and migration northwards of bioclimatic zones may offer opportunities for agricultural development in western and central Siberia. However, the bioclimatic vegetation models currently employed for projections still do not consider soil fertility, in spite of this being highly critical for plant growth. In the present study, we surveyed the phosphorus (P) status in the south-west of Siberia where soils have developed on loess parent material. We selected six sites differing in pedoclimatic conditions and the soil was sampled at different depths down to 1 m in aspen (Populus tremula L.) forest as well as in grassland areas. The P status was assessed by conventional methods and by isotope dilution kinetics. We found that P concentrations and stocks, as well as their distribution through the soil profile, were fairly homogeneous on the regional scale studied, although there were some differences between sites (particularly in organic P). The young age of the soils, together with slow kinetics of soil formation processes have probably not yet resulted in a sufficiently wide range of soil physico-chemical conditions to observe a more diverging P status. The comparison of our data set with similar vegetation contexts on the global scale revealed that the soils of south-western Siberia, and more generally of northern Eurasia, often have (very) high levels of total, organic and inorganic P. The amount of plant-available P in topsoils, estimated by the isotopically exchangeable phosphate ions, was not particularly high but was intermediate on the global scale. However, large stocks of plant-available P are stored in subsurface layers which currently have low fine-root exploration intensities. These results suggest that the P resource is unlikely to constrain vegetation growth and agricultural development under the present conditions or in the near future.


2021 ◽  
Vol 228 (1) ◽  
pp. 538-550
Author(s):  
Yishan Song ◽  
Lian-Feng Zhao ◽  
Xiao-Bi Xie ◽  
Xiao Ma ◽  
Guilin Du ◽  
...  

SUMMARY On 2019 March 21, an explosion accidentally occurred at a chemical plant in Xiangshui, Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, China. Using broad-band digital seismic data from East China, South Korea and Japan, we investigate properties of the Xiangshui explosion as well as two nearby chemical explosions and four nearby natural earthquakes in Jiangsu Province, East China. From Lg and Rayleigh waves recorded by regional networks, both body wave magnitude mb (Lg) and surface wave magnitude Ms (Rayleigh) are calculated for these events. The magnitudes of the Xiangshui explosion are mb (Lg) = 3.39 ± 0.24 and Ms = 1.95 ± 0.27, respectively. Both the empirical magnitude–yield relation for buried explosion and empirical yield–crater dimension relation for open-pit explosion are adopted for investigating the explosive yield. The result from the yield–crater dimension relation is approximately 492 ton, which is consistent with the ground truth and considerably larger than that from the buried source model. This also reveals that, for Xiangshui explosion, the explosion to seismic energy conversion rate is approximately one-third compared to a similar sized fully confined explosion. By comparing the body wave and surface wave magnitudes from explosions and nearby earthquakes, we find that the mb:Ms discriminant calculated at regional distances cannot properly distinguish explosions from natural earthquakes. However, the P/S spectral ratios Pg/Lg, Pn/Lg and Pn/Sn from the same data set can be good discriminants for identifying explosions from earthquakes.


2016 ◽  
Vol 206 (3) ◽  
pp. 1487-1491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lian-Feng Zhao ◽  
Xiao-Bi Xie ◽  
Wei-Min Wang ◽  
Jin-Lai Hao ◽  
Zhen-Xing Yao

Abstract Seismology plays an important role in characterizing potential underground nuclear tests. Using broad-band digital seismic data from Northeast China, South Korea and Japan, we investigated the properties of the recent seismic event occurred in North Korea on 2016 January 6. Using a relative location method and choosing the previous 2006 explosion as the master event, the 2016 event was located within the North Korean nuclear test site, with its epicentre at latitude 41.3003°N and longitude 129.0678°E, approximately 900 m north and 500 m west of the previous event on 2013 February 12. Based on the error ellipse, the relocation uncertainty was approximately 70 m. Using the P/S spectral ratios, including Pg/Lg, Pn/Lg and Pn/Sn, as the discriminants, we identify the 2016 event as an explosion rather than an earthquake. The body-wave magnitude calculated from regional wave Lg is mb(Lg) equal to 4.7 ± 0.2. Adopting an empirical magnitude–yield relation, and assuming that the explosion is fully coupled and detonated at a normally scaled depth, we find that the seismic yield is about 4 kt, with the uncertainties allowing a range from 2 to 8 kt.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carola Leva ◽  
Georg Rümpker ◽  
Ingo Wölbern

<p>Fogo and Brava are part of the south-western chain of the Cape Verde archipelago, which is believed to originate from a mantle plume. The two islands are located about 18 km apart from each other. Only Fogo experienced historic eruptions at intervals of about 20 years, with the last eruption from November 2014 to February 2015. In contrast to Fogo, Brava shows a high seismic activity. In our study we focus on the characterization of the seismicity in the region. We employ multi-array techniques to study the seismic activity, as many events are located offshore. Additionally, arrays are well suited for the analysis of volcano-related seismic signals without clear onset of phases. From January 2017 to January 2018 we operated a network of three seismic arrays (two on Fogo, one on Brava) and seven single short-period stations (five on Fogo, two on Brava). The arrays consist of 4 broad-band and 6 short-period stations each and are shaped circularly with an aperture of approximately 700 m. We apply a time-domain array analysis to locate seismic events. This approach is computationally more expensive than a traditional f-k analysis, but allows for a higher flexibility in the selection of relevant time windows to calculate the beam energy. For the analysis in the time-domain, traces are first shifted and then cut to suitable time windows to determine the energy stack as a function of horizontal slowness.</p><p>For a single array, epicentral distances can be estimated from arrival-time differences between S- and P-waves, by assuming a suitable velocity structure. However, with two or more arrays, epicenters can be obtained directly from the intersecting beams. The technique is applied to earthquakes as well as to hybrid events. During 2017 the seismicity is clearly dominated by volcano-tectonic earthquakes, mainly originating beneath and around Brava. Additionally we observe hybrid events on Fogo, which are characterized by a transition from high (20-40 Hz) to low (1-10 Hz) frequencies. The events lack clear phases, although they often exhibit a relatively sharp onset. These features provide ideal conditions for the application of the multi-array analysis. The hybrid events originate in the Chã das Caldeiras region, a collapse scar surrounding the present-day Fogo volcano, and are likely related to rock-fall events.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 808-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laxmi Banjare ◽  
Sant Kumar Verma ◽  
Akhlesh Kumar Jain ◽  
Suresh Thareja

Background: In spite of the availability of various treatment approaches including surgery, radiotherapy, and hormonal therapy, the steroidal aromatase inhibitors (SAIs) play a significant role as chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of estrogen-dependent breast cancer with the benefit of reduced risk of recurrence. However, due to greater toxicity and side effects associated with currently available anti-breast cancer agents, there is emergent requirement to develop target-specific AIs with safer anti-breast cancer profile. Methods: It is challenging task to design target-specific and less toxic SAIs, though the molecular modeling tools viz. molecular docking simulations and QSAR have been continuing for more than two decades for the fast and efficient designing of novel, selective, potent and safe molecules against various biological targets to fight the number of dreaded diseases/disorders. In order to design novel and selective SAIs, structure guided molecular docking assisted alignment dependent 3D-QSAR studies was performed on a data set comprises of 22 molecules bearing steroidal scaffold with wide range of aromatase inhibitory activity. Results: 3D-QSAR model developed using molecular weighted (MW) extent alignment approach showed good statistical quality and predictive ability when compared to model developed using moments of inertia (MI) alignment approach. Conclusion: The explored binding interactions and generated pharmacophoric features (steric and electrostatic) of steroidal molecules could be exploited for further design, direct synthesis and development of new potential safer SAIs, that can be effective to reduce the mortality and morbidity associated with breast cancer.


Author(s):  
Eun-Young Mun ◽  
Anne E. Ray

Integrative data analysis (IDA) is a promising new approach in psychological research and has been well received in the field of alcohol research. This chapter provides a larger unifying research synthesis framework for IDA. Major advantages of IDA of individual participant-level data include better and more flexible ways to examine subgroups, model complex relationships, deal with methodological and clinical heterogeneity, and examine infrequently occurring behaviors. However, between-study heterogeneity in measures, designs, and samples and systematic study-level missing data are significant barriers to IDA and, more broadly, to large-scale research synthesis. Based on the authors’ experience working on the Project INTEGRATE data set, which combined individual participant-level data from 24 independent college brief alcohol intervention studies, it is also recognized that IDA investigations require a wide range of expertise and considerable resources and that some minimum standards for reporting IDA studies may be needed to improve transparency and quality of evidence.


Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 348
Author(s):  
Choongsang Cho ◽  
Young Han Lee ◽  
Jongyoul Park ◽  
Sangkeun Lee

Semantic image segmentation has a wide range of applications. When it comes to medical image segmentation, its accuracy is even more important than those of other areas because the performance gives useful information directly applicable to disease diagnosis, surgical planning, and history monitoring. The state-of-the-art models in medical image segmentation are variants of encoder-decoder architecture, which is called U-Net. To effectively reflect the spatial features in feature maps in encoder-decoder architecture, we propose a spatially adaptive weighting scheme for medical image segmentation. Specifically, the spatial feature is estimated from the feature maps, and the learned weighting parameters are obtained from the computed map, since segmentation results are predicted from the feature map through a convolutional layer. Especially in the proposed networks, the convolutional block for extracting the feature map is replaced with the widely used convolutional frameworks: VGG, ResNet, and Bottleneck Resent structures. In addition, a bilinear up-sampling method replaces the up-convolutional layer to increase the resolution of the feature map. For the performance evaluation of the proposed architecture, we used three data sets covering different medical imaging modalities. Experimental results show that the network with the proposed self-spatial adaptive weighting block based on the ResNet framework gave the highest IoU and DICE scores in the three tasks compared to other methods. In particular, the segmentation network combining the proposed self-spatially adaptive block and ResNet framework recorded the highest 3.01% and 2.89% improvements in IoU and DICE scores, respectively, in the Nerve data set. Therefore, we believe that the proposed scheme can be a useful tool for image segmentation tasks based on the encoder-decoder architecture.


Author(s):  
David McCallen ◽  
Houjun Tang ◽  
Suiwen Wu ◽  
Eric Eckert ◽  
Junfei Huang ◽  
...  

Accurate understanding and quantification of the risk to critical infrastructure posed by future large earthquakes continues to be a very challenging problem. Earthquake phenomena are quite complex and traditional approaches to predicting ground motions for future earthquake events have historically been empirically based whereby measured ground motion data from historical earthquakes are homogenized into a common data set and the ground motions for future postulated earthquakes are probabilistically derived based on the historical observations. This procedure has recognized significant limitations, principally due to the fact that earthquake ground motions tend to be dictated by the particular earthquake fault rupture and geologic conditions at a given site and are thus very site-specific. Historical earthquakes recorded at different locations are often only marginally representative. There has been strong and increasing interest in utilizing large-scale, physics-based regional simulations to advance the ability to accurately predict ground motions and associated infrastructure response. However, the computational requirements for simulations at frequencies of engineering interest have proven a major barrier to employing regional scale simulations. In a U.S. Department of Energy Exascale Computing Initiative project, the EQSIM application development is underway to create a framework for fault-to-structure simulations. This framework is being prepared to exploit emerging exascale platforms in order to overcome computational limitations. This article presents the essential methodology and computational workflow employed in EQSIM to couple regional-scale geophysics models with local soil-structure models to achieve a fully integrated, complete fault-to-structure simulation framework. The computational workflow, accuracy and performance of the coupling methodology are illustrated through example fault-to-structure simulations.


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