Skip to main content

Seismic monitoring in the oceans by autonomous floats

Author(s): Sukhovich, Alexey; Bonnieux, Sébastien; Hello, Yann; Irisson, Jean-Olivier; Simons, Frederik J; et al

Download
To refer to this page use: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/pr16w9681f
Abstract: Our understanding of the internal dynamics of the Earth is largely based on images of seismic velocity variations in the mantle obtained with global tomography. However, our ability to image the mantle is severely hampered by a lack of seismic data collected in marine areas. Here we report observations made under different noise conditions (in the Mediterranean Sea, the Indian and Pacific Oceans) by a submarine floating seismograph, and show that such floats are able to fill the oceanic data gap. Depending on the ambient noise level, the floats can record between 35 and 63% of distant earthquakes with a moment magnitude M≥6.5. Even magnitudes <6.0 can be successfully observed under favourable noise conditions. The serendipitous recording of an earthquake swarm near the Indian Ocean triple junction enabled us to establish a threshold magnitude between 2.7 and 3.4 for local earthquakes in the noisiest of the three environments.
Publication Date: 20-Aug-2015
Citation: Sukhovich, Alexey, Sébastien Bonnieux, Yann Hello, Jean-Olivier Irisson, Frederik J. Simons, and Guust Nolet. "Seismic monitoring in the oceans by autonomous floats." Nature Communications 6, (2015): 8027. doi:10.1038/ncomms9027.
DOI: doi:10.1038/ncomms9027
EISSN: 2041-1723
Type of Material: Journal Article
Journal/Proceeding Title: Nature Communications
Version: Final published version. This is an open access article.



Items in OAR@Princeton are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.