Seismic Detection and Discrimination Using Ocean-bottom Seismographs

Seismic Detection and Discrimination Using Ocean-bottom Seismographs
Author: LeRoy M. Dorman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 158
Release: 1980
Genre: Microseisms
ISBN:

Research progress on seismic detection and discrimination using ocean-bottom seismographs (OBS's) is outlined. During this first year of DARPA contract work, our investigations have been focused primarily on using existing OBS data to address the problem of sea-floor seismic noise and to constrain models of the near-bottom seismic environment. We have completed noise studies at six of our previously occupied OBS sites. The noise levels of typical amplitude spectra roll off rapidly out to 2-4 Hz and much less rapidly beyond 4 Hz. At frequencies above 4 Hz, the noise levels are low, typically a few nanometers/Hz1/2 or less and comparable to good land-based stations. Several correlations between noise levels and other parameters, such as sediment thickness, distance from the continental margin and sea state, are discussed and used to constrain possible noise mechanisms. We hypothesize that the dominant mechanism of high-frequency (>2 Hz) noise generation at most of the sites examined thus far is of local oceanographic origin, exciting acoustic modes in the water column which couple to Stoneley modes at the sediment-water interface and waveguide modes within the sediment column. This hypothesis is supported by the analysis of noise data from two OBS arrays, which shows that the noise coherence is very low for pairs of sensors separated by as little as 200 m. We also outline some of the conclusions relevant to the seismic noise problem deduced by us from the data collected during the Lopez Island intercalibration experiment.

Seismic Detection and Discrimination Using Ocean-Bottom Seismographs

Seismic Detection and Discrimination Using Ocean-Bottom Seismographs
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 76
Release: 1981
Genre:
ISBN:

Around January 29, 1980 a mild storm occurred on the Southern California coast. During this time one of our ocean bottom seismographs (O.B.S.) was periodically recording noise samples at 31 deg N, 119 deg 48 min W, about 370 km offshore in 4 km of water. The noise energy in the 1-3 Hz frequency range correlates most strongly with the wave height on the nearby coast. The local and distant wind data were dissimilar in the durations of the disturbance and in the time of the peak amplitude. We conclude that sea floor noise near 1 Hz comes predominantly from the surf. The nonlinear mechanisms which transfer energy from gravity waves on the sea surface into the sea floor are so inefficient at these frequencies that the contribution from surf a few hundred km away dominates the energy from the sea surface a few km away. An array of 4 ocean-bottom seismometers (O.B.S.) was operated for one month during June-July, 1977 at 16.5 deg N, 100.5 deg W in the Middle America Trench near Acapulco. The purpose of the experiment was to investigate the seismicity of the accretionary prism and to study the propagation of seismic waves across the continental margin. The location of earthquakes occurring landward of the OBS array was controlled by a 7-station land-based array operated by a team of Mexican seismologists under the direction of Dr. Lautaro Ponce Mori.

Ocean Bottom Seismometer Study of the Kuril Trench Area

Ocean Bottom Seismometer Study of the Kuril Trench Area
Author: Junzo Kasahara
Publisher:
Total Pages: 108
Release: 1976
Genre: Marine geophysics
ISBN:

An ocean bottom seismograph was deployed on the seaward side of the Kuril Trench off Hokkaido, Japan, in 5460 m of water, in August 1975 during the joint Soviet-American Tsunami Expedition. During the seven-day record, S-P times were distributed in three groups: 19-24 sec, corresponding to aftershocks of the 10 June and 13 June 1975 earthquakes southeast of Nemuro, Japan and to earthquakes east of Sanriku, Japan; approximately 30 sec, from south of Erimo Peninsula, Hokkaido; and approximately 100 sec, from the Izu-Bonin Islands. Seven earthquakes, with hypocenters well determined by the land seismic net, are studied in detail. A shallow focus earthquake yields typical oceanic mantle velocities shallower than 50 km in the slab which dips under the Japanese archipelago. However, deeper focus earthquakes reveal anomalously high velocities averaged over the upper 230 km, in agreement with the models of Utsu and Oliver and Isacks. Two deep earthquakes, whose paths lie in the Pacific Ocean asthenosphere, suggest a velocity 3% lower than that predicted by Jeffreys-Bullen, in agreement with the above models. Spectral analysis of S arrivals suggests Q sub s values of 1000-1500 for nearby earthquakes and 4000-6000 for longer-distance earthquakes, implying an unusual attenuation mechanism for long travel paths, which enhances the high frequencies.