Characteristics of Low-Frequency Horizontal Noise of Ocean-Bottom Seismic Data

Horizontal records of ocean-bottom seismographs are usually noisy at low frequencies (< 0.1 Hz). The noise source is believed to be associated with ocean-bottom currents that may tilt the instrument. Currently horizontal records are mainly used to remove the coherent noise in vertical records, and there has been little literature that quantitatively discusses the mechanism and characteristics of low-frequency horizontal noise. In this article, we analyze in situ ocean-bottom measurements by rotating the data horizontally and evaluating the coherency between different channels. Results suggest that the horizontal noise consists of two components, random noise and principle noise whose direction barely changes in time. The amplitude and the direction of the latter are possibly related to the intensity and direction of ocean-bottom currents. Rotating the horizontal records to the direction of the principle noise can largely suppress the principle noise in the orthogonal horizontal channel. In addition, the horizontal noise is incoherent with pressure, indicating that the noise source is not ocean surface water waves (infragravity waves). At some stations in shallow waters (<300 m), horizontal noise around 0.07 Hz is found to be linearly proportional to the temporal derivative of pressure, which is explained by forces of added mass due to infragravity waves.

Ocean-Bottom Seismographs Based on Broadband MET Sensors: Architecture and Deployment Case Study in the Arctic

The Arctic seas are now of particular interest due to their prospects in terms of hydrocarbon extraction, development of marine transport routes, etc. Thus, various geohazards, including those related to seismicity, require detailed studies, especially by instrumental methods. This paper is devoted to the ocean-bottom seismographs (OBS) based on broadband molecular–electronic transfer (MET) sensors and a deployment case study in the Laptev Sea. The purpose of the study is to introduce the architecture of several modifications of OBS and to demonstrate their applicability in solving different tasks in the framework of seismic hazard assessment for the Arctic seas. To do this, we used the first results of several pilot deployments of the OBS developed by Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IO RAS) and IP Ilyinskiy A.D. in the Laptev Sea that took place in 2018–2020. We highlighted various seismological applications of OBS based on broadband MET sensors CME-4311 (60 s) and CME-4111 (120 s), including the analysis of ambient seismic noise, registering the signals of large remote earthquakes and weak local microearthquakes, and the instrumental approach of the site response assessment. The main characteristics of the broadband MET sensors and OBS architectures turned out to be suitable for obtaining high-quality OBS records under the Arctic conditions to solve seismological problems. In addition, the obtained case study results showed the prospects in a broader context, such as the possible influence of the seismotectonic factor on the bottom-up thawing of subsea permafrost and massive methane release, probably from decaying hydrates and deep geological sources. The described OBS will be actively used in further Arctic expeditions.

Research using seismic waves for orientation of the Ocean - Bottom Seismographs

Orientation of the Ocean-Bottom Seismograph (OBS) devices is an important task that must complete before using these data. While the OBS direction is determined correctly, we can correct the rotation angle of the coordinate system so that we obtain the maximum amplitude seismic signals for different seismic waves. In this article, we present the method using seismic waves to determine the direction of the OBS. The results obtained from 11 OBSs in the East Sea show that these stations have misdirected from different angles. This method has advantage with high reliability. Specially, we can widely apply for the OBS devices in other oceans.

Seismicity trends and detachment fault structure at 13°N, Mid-Atlantic Ridge

At slow-spreading ridges, plate separation is commonly partly accommodated by slip on long-lived detachment faults, exposing upper mantle and lower crustal rocks on the seafloor. However, the mechanics of this process, the subsurface structure, and the interaction of these faults remain largely unknown. We report the results of a network of 56 ocean-bottom seismographs (OBSs), deployed in 2016 at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near 13°N, that provided dense spatial coverage of two adjacent detachment faults and the intervening ridge axis. Although both detachments exhibited high levels of seismicity, they are separated by an ~8-km-wide aseismic zone, indicating that they are mechanically decoupled. A linear band of seismic activity, possibly indicating magmatism, crosscuts the 13°30′N domed detachment surface, confirming previous evidence for fault abandonment. Farther south, where the 2016 OBS network spatially overlapped with a similar survey done in 2014, significant changes in the patterns of seismicity between these surveys are observed. These changes suggest that oceanic detachments undergo previously unobserved cycles of stress accumulation and release as plate spreading is accommodated.

An Efficient Approach of Data Adaptive Polarization Filter to Extract Teleseismic Phases from the Ocean-Bottom Seismograms

The microseism is the strongest component of background seismic noise that masks seismic signals recorded by ocean-bottom seismographs (OBSs). Such undesired noise hampers the identification of critical seismic phases and sometimes even the entire waveform. Here, we introduce the data adaptive polarization filter (DAPF), an approach that suppresses random signals from the background seismic-noise significantly to overcome such difficulties. To automate this task, we have developed a self-contained software suite—DAPF-v1, supported by a MATLAB graphical user interface. The polarization filter is constructed from the data spectral density matrices of seismogram segments employing multitaper spectral analysis approach. We demonstrate a successful application of this technique to the OBSs deployed in the Indian Ocean. Our results confirm substantially enhanced signal-to-noise ratio after application of DAPF. The application of this technique has extensive implications for seismological studies particularly those aimed at understanding deep mantle dynamics, in which phase identification and qualitative waveform recovery are crucial yet challenging.

Frequency Limit for the Pressure Compliance Correction of Ocean-Bottom Seismic Data

Vertical records of ocean-bottom seismographs (OBSs) are usually noisy at low frequencies, and one important noise source is the varying ocean-bottom pressure that results from ocean-surface water waves. The relation between the ocean-bottom pressure and the vertical seafloor motion, called the compliance pressure transfer function (PTF), can be derived using background seismic data. During an earthquake, earthquake signals also generate ocean-bottom pressure fluctuations, and the relation between the ocean-bottom pressure and the vertical seafloor motion is named the seismic PTF in this article. Conventionally, we use the whole pressure records and the compliance PTF to remove the compliance noise; the earthquake-induced pressure and the seismic PTF are ignored, which may distort the original signals. In this article, we analyze the data from 24 OBSs with water depth ranging from 107 to 4462 m. We find that for most stations, the investigated frequency range (0.01–0.2 Hz) can be divided into four bands depending on the water depth. In band (I) of lowest frequencies (<0.11, <0.05, and <0.02 Hz for water depth of 107, 1109, and 2650 m, respectively), the vertical seafloor acceleration is composed mostly of pressure compliance noise, which can be removed using the compliance PTF. The compliance PTF is much smaller than the seismic PTF, so distortion of earthquake signals is negligible. In band (II) of higher frequencies (0.11–0.20, 0.05–0.11, and 0.02–0.05 Hz for water depth of 107, 1109, and 2650 m, respectively), the vertical acceleration and ocean-bottom pressure are largely uncorrelated. In bands (III) and (IV) of even higher frequencies (>0.11 and >0.08 Hz for water depth of 1109 and 2650 m, respectively), the compliance noise is negligible, and the ocean-bottom pressure is mostly caused by the seafloor motion. Thus, the compliance can be safely ignored in frequency band (I).