Seismology

Objectives:
The objectives of the Seismology group are to support the SCEC mission to gather data on earthquakes in Southern California, and use the seismic networks as research tools to integrate the data into physics-based models that improve our understanding of earthquake phenomena. Proposals to enhance the seismic networks as research tools and foster innovations in network deployments, data collection, and data processing are encouraged, especially where they include collaboration with network operators in Southern California and provide community products that support one or more of the numbered goals in A, B, C or D.

Important SCEC resources are the Southern California Earthquake Data Center (SCEDC) whose continued operation is essential to deciphering Southern California earthquakes as well as crustal and fault structure, the network of SCEC funded borehole instruments to record high quality reference ground motions, and the pool of portable instruments that is operated in support of targeted deployments or aftershock response.

Research Strategies:
Examples of research strategies that support the objectives above include:

• Enhancement and continued operation of the SCEDC and other existing SCEC facilities. In particular, the near real-time availability of earthquake data from SCEDC and enhanced automated access are important for ongoing SCEC research activities. In support of tomographic, state of stress, earthquake predictability, and other seismicity studies, enhance the availability and usefulness of data products, such as waveforms, catalogs of earthquake parameters, arrival time and polarity information, and signal-to-noise measures as well as moment tensors and first motion mechanisms (A6, A7).
• Enhancements in the real-time processing of network data to improve the estimation of source parameters in relation to known and unknown faults (A3, A4, A10). Other activities could be testing of the performance of new early-warning algorithms, the determination of high precision real-time earthquake locations, or developing finite source algorithms for use in the real-time processing environment (D).
• Experiments that investigate the near-fault crustal properties as well as develop constraints on crustal structure and state of stress are also the goals of other SCEC groups (A7, A10, C). Develop innovative and practical strategies for densification of seismic instrumentation, including borehole instrumentation, along major fault zones in Southern California to measure fault zone properties and capture near-field motions for constraining kinematic and dynamic simulations of earthquakes (B1, B2, B3, B4, B5). Collaborations, for instance with the ANSS and NEES projects, that would augment existing and planned network stations with downhole and surface instrumentation to assess site response, nonlinear effects, and the ground coupling of built structures (B4, B6) are encouraged. Collaborations with EarthScope and other network operators to develop innovative new methods to search for unusual signals using combined seismic, GPS, and borehole strainmeter data (A5, A6) are also encouraged. Other possible strategies (often started with SCEC seed funds) include the design of future passive and active experiments such as dense array measurements of basin structure and large earthquake properties, OBS deployments, and deep basement borehole studies.