Source and scatering effects on the spectra of small local earthquakes

1981 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 1687-1700
Author(s):  
Keiiti Aki

Abstract In order to separate the scattering effect from the source effect on high-frequency seismic waves, the spectra of S and coda waves are studied simultaneously for 900 small earthquakes (magnitude 3 to 4) in the Kanto region, Japan. The observed S-wave spectrum is the source spectrum modified by the attenuation and forward-scattering effect, while the coda spectrum is the source spectrum modified by the attenuation and back-scattering effect. From previous studies (Aki, 1980a, b) on the same data set, we know about the attenuation effect. Comparing the S-wave spectrum with the coda spectrum, we find that our data are consistent with the source spectrum with corner frequencies 3 to 6 Hz, and high-frequency decay ω−1 to ω−2, and support the hypothesis that scattering is the major cause of attenuation of S waves in the lithosphere, in which the small-scale Rayleigh scattering (Q−1 ∝ f3) applies to frequencies lower than 3 Hz and the large-scale scattering (Q−1 ∝ f0∼−1) to higher frequencies. The high-frequency decay of the source spectrum appears to be somewhat steeper for shallower earthquakes. We found that two areas with significantly different tectonic features shared similar attenuation and source effects, but showed very different envelopes of seismograms due to different forward-scattering effects. The forward-scattering effect may be the most sensitive to the structural difference.

1989 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 95-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.E. Hough ◽  
K. Jacob ◽  
R. Busby ◽  
P.A. Friberg

Abstract We present analysis of a magnitude 3.5 event which occurred at 9 km epicentral distance from a digital strong motion instrument operated by the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research. Although the size of this isolated event is such that it can scarcely be considered to be a significant earthquake, a careful analysis of this high quality recording does yield several interesting results: 1) the S-wave spectra can be interpreted in terms of a simple omega-squared source spectrum and frequency-independent attenuation, 2) there is the suggestion of a poorly-resolved resonance in the P-wave spectrum, and perhaps most importantly, 3) the apparently simple S-wave spectra can be fit almost equally well with a surprisingly wide range of seismic corner frequencies, from roughly 5 to 25 Hz. This uncertainty in corner frequency translates into uncertainties in inferred Q values of almost an order of magnitude, and into uncertainties in stress drop of two orders of magnitude. Given the high quality of the data and the short epicentral distance to the station, we consider it likely that resolution of spectral decay and corner frequency will be at least as poor for any other recording of earthquakes with comparable or smaller magnitudes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 457-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Hannawald ◽  
Carsten Schmidt ◽  
René Sedlak ◽  
Sabine Wüst ◽  
Michael Bittner

Abstract. Between December 2013 and August 2017 the instrument FAIM (Fast Airglow IMager) observed the OH airglow emission at two Alpine stations. A year of measurements was performed at Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany (48.09∘ N, 11.28∘ E) and 2 years at Sonnblick, Austria (47.05∘ N, 12.96∘ E). Both stations are part of the network for the detection of mesospheric change (NDMC). The temporal resolution is two frames per second and the field-of-view is 55 km × 60 km and 75 km × 90 km at the OH layer altitude of 87 km with a spatial resolution of 200 and 280 m per pixel, respectively. This resulted in two dense data sets allowing precise derivation of horizontal gravity wave parameters. The analysis is based on a two-dimensional fast Fourier transform with fully automatic peak extraction. By combining the information of consecutive images, time-dependent parameters such as the horizontal phase speed are extracted. The instrument is mainly sensitive to high-frequency small- and medium-scale gravity waves. A clear seasonal dependency concerning the meridional propagation direction is found for these waves in summer in the direction to the summer pole. The zonal direction of propagation is eastwards in summer and westwards in winter. Investigations of the data set revealed an intra-diurnal variability, which may be related to tides. The observed horizontal phase speed and the number of wave events per observation hour are higher in summer than in winter.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Hannawald ◽  
Carsten Schmidt ◽  
René Sedlak ◽  
Sabine Wüst ◽  
Michael Bittner

Abstract. Between December 2013 and August 2017 the instrument FAIM (Fast Airglow IMager) observed the OH airglow emission at two Alpine stations. One year of measurements was performed at Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany (48.09° N, 11.28° E) and two years at Sonnblick, Austria (47.05° N, 12.96° E). Both stations are part of the Network for the detection of mesospheric change (NDMC). The temporal resolution is two frames per second and the field of view is 55 km × 60 km and 75 km × 90 km at the OH layer altitude of 87 km with a spatial resolution of 200 m and 280 m per pixel, respectively. This results in two dense datasets allowing precise derivation of horizontal gravity wave parameters. The analysis is based on a two-dimensional Fast Fourier Transform with fully automatic peak extraction. By combining the information of consecutive images time-dependent parameters such as the horizontal phase speed are extracted. The instrument is mainly sensitive to high-frequency small- and medium-scale gravity waves. A clear seasonal dependency concerning the meridional propagation direction is found for these waves in summer in direction to the summer pole. The zonal direction of propagation is eastwards in summer and westwards in winter. Investigations of the data set revealed an intra-diurnal variability, which may be related to tides. The observed horizontal phase speed and the number of wave events per observation hour are higher in summer than in winter.


2021 ◽  
Vol 503 (2) ◽  
pp. 2688-2705
Author(s):  
C Doux ◽  
E Baxter ◽  
P Lemos ◽  
C Chang ◽  
A Alarcon ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Beyond ΛCDM, physics or systematic errors may cause subsets of a cosmological data set to appear inconsistent when analysed assuming ΛCDM. We present an application of internal consistency tests to measurements from the Dark Energy Survey Year 1 (DES Y1) joint probes analysis. Our analysis relies on computing the posterior predictive distribution (PPD) for these data under the assumption of ΛCDM. We find that the DES Y1 data have an acceptable goodness of fit to ΛCDM, with a probability of finding a worse fit by random chance of p = 0.046. Using numerical PPD tests, supplemented by graphical checks, we show that most of the data vector appears completely consistent with expectations, although we observe a small tension between large- and small-scale measurements. A small part (roughly 1.5 per cent) of the data vector shows an unusually large departure from expectations; excluding this part of the data has negligible impact on cosmological constraints, but does significantly improve the p-value to 0.10. The methodology developed here will be applied to test the consistency of DES Year 3 joint probes data sets.


2006 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 393-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. De Lauro ◽  
S. De Martino ◽  
M. Falanga ◽  
M. Palo

Abstract. We analyze time series of Strombolian volcanic tremor, focusing our attention on the frequency band [0.1–0.5] Hz (very long period (VLP) tremor). Although this frequency band is largely affected by noise, we evidence two significant components by using Independent Component Analysis with the frequencies, respectively, of ~0.2 and ~0.4 Hz. We show that these components display wavefield features similar to those of the high frequency Strombolian signals (>0.5 Hz). In fact, they are radially polarised and located within the crater area. This characterization is lost when an enhancement of energy appears. In this case, the presence of microseismic noise becomes relevant. Investigating the entire large data set available, we determine how microseismic noise influences the signals. We ascribe the microseismic noise source to Scirocco wind. Moreover, our analysis allows one to evidence that the Strombolian conduit vibrates like the asymmetric cavity associated with musical instruments generating self-sustained tones.


1982 ◽  
Vol 72 (6A) ◽  
pp. 1957-1968
Author(s):  
Mansour Niazi

abstract Two sets of observations obtained during the 15 October 1979 Imperial Valley earthquake, MS 6.9, are presented. The data suggest different dynamic characteristics of the source when viewed in different frequency bands. The first data set consists of the observed residuals of the horizontal peak ground accelerations and particle velocity from predicted values within 50 km of the fault surface. The residuals are calculated from a nonlinear regression analysis of the data (Campbell, 1981) to the following empirical relationships, PGA = A 1 ( R + C 1 ) − d 1 , PGV = A 2 ( R + C 2 ) − d 2 in which R is the closest distance to the plane of rupture. The so-calculated residuals are correlated with a positive scalar factor signifying the focusing potential at each observation point. The focusing potential is determined on the basis of the geometrical relation of the station relative to the rupture front on the fault plane. The second data set consists of the acceleration directions derived from the windowed-time histories of the horizontal ground acceleration across the El Centro Differential Array (ECDA). The horizontal peak velocity residuals and the low-pass particle acceleration directions across ECDA require the fault rupture to propagate northwestward. The horizontal peak ground acceleration residuals and the high-frequency particle acceleration directions, however, are either inconclusive or suggest an opposite direction for rupture propagation. The inconsistency can best be explained to have resulted from the incoherence of the high-frequency radiation which contributes most effectively to the registration of PGA. A test for the sensitivity of the correlation procedure to the souce location is conducted by ascribing the observed strong ground shaking to a single asperity located 12 km northwest of the hypocenter. The resulting inconsistency between the peak acceleration and velocity observations in relation to the focusing potential is accentuated. The particle velocity of Delta Station, Mexico, in either case appears abnormally high and disagrees with other observations near the southeastern end of the fault trace. From the observation of a nearly continuous counterclockwise rotation of the plane of P-wave particle motion at ECDA, the average rupture velocity during the first several seconds of source activation is estimated to be 2.0 to 3.0 km/sec. A 3 km upper bound estimate of barrier dimensions is tentatively made on the basis of the observed quasiperiodic variation of the polarization angles.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lila San Roque

AbstractDespite their central role in question formation, content interrogatives in spontaneous conversation remain relatively under-explored cross-linguistically. This paper outlines the structure of ‘where’ expressions in Duna, a language spoken in Papua New Guinea, and examines where-questions in a small Duna data set in terms of their frequency, function, and the responses they elicit. Questions that ask ‘where?’ have been identified as a useful tool in studying the language of space and place, and, in the Duna case and elsewhere, show high frequency and functional flexibility. Although where-questions formulate place as an information gap, they are not always answered through direct reference to canonical places. While some question types may be especially “socially costly” (Levinson 2012), asking ‘where’ perhaps provides a relatively innocuous way of bringing a particular event or situation into focus.


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