Earthquake Seismology Laboratory

Lecturer: Dr. Hillel Wust-Bloch                (Room: 216 A; Phone: 640-5475)

The Earthquake Seismology Laboratory is a hands-on course that presents advanced signal processing techniques for full earthquake characterization. Each weekly interactive session uses real waveforms recorded in the Dead Sea region (DeadSeaNet and ISN) to practice the successive analytical stages of event catalog design. A strong emphasis is set on event detection in low-SNR environment, phase picking uncertainty and location accuracy, sparse data and location ambiguities, integration of EDT and backazimuth, the effect of complex subsurface and sub-standard velocity models on event location robustness. Optimization strategies are presented for each topic and tested on real data, integrating network and array modes. 

Each class includes an initial 15 min presentation on the topic of the day, followed by a 90 min practical lab during which participant practices with their own dataset. Each session is concluded by a final 15 min joint discussion.

Course outline:

Class I:            Introduction to data sets and analytical software packages

Class II:           Event detection

Class III:         Phase picking

Class IV:         Phase association and event declaration

Class V:          Standard event location (network mode): S-P, EDTs

Class VI:         Advanced event location (array mode): Backazimuth (BAZ) and slowness

Class VII:        Integrated event location (network and array modes)

Class VIII:      Location accuracy: Phase picking uncertainty

Class IX:         Location ambiguities: Sparse and redundant data

Class X:          Integrated location robustness: S-P, EDTs, BAZ, SLO, PM, NYAD

Class XI          Effects of complex subsurface and sub-standard velocity models

Class XII:        Integrated catalog design strategy and conclusion

Prerequisite: Earthquake Seismology I