SCEC Award Number 12036 View PDF
Proposal Category Individual Proposal (Integration and Theory)
Proposal Title 2012 SCEC Proposal: Code Development for Continuous and Automated Monitoring of the Horizontal Displacement Gradient Tensor Field in Southern California
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
William Holt Stony Brook University
Other Participants Gina Shcherbenko
SCEC Priorities 5b, 2c, 1d SCEC Groups Transient Detection, Geodesy, CSEP
Report Due Date 03/15/2013 Date Report Submitted N/A
Project Abstract
 Through previous SCEC funding we have developed, tested, and automated a geodetic network processing system for detection of anomalous strain transients in Southern California. At the time of this writing graduate student Gina Shcherbenko is working to finalize these codes for use within the Collaboratory for the Study of Earthquake Predictability (CSEP). The modeling procedure determines time-dependent displacement gradient fields from continuous GPS (cGPS) time series [Hernandez et al., 2005, 2007]. The method has been tested using the SCEC IV Transient Detection Exercise and is able to recover the spatial and temporal distribution of slow events (Figure 2). As proposed, we have now developed a method for evaluation of the statistical significance of measured strain anomalies [Holt and Shcherbenko, 2013].
The work completed to date fulfills the SCEC Science Objective 5b “Application of geodetic detectors to the search for aseismic transients across southern California” and also supports Science Objectives 2c, 1d, and 1e and 2d. Moreover, this work fulfills the recommendations under Research Strategies in Tectonic Geodesy to: (a) “Improve our understanding of the processes underlying detected transient deformation signals and/or their seismic hazard implications through data collection and development of new analysis tools.”
Intellectual Merit The intellectual merit is that we have developed a modeling procedure that quantifies time-dependent velocity, displacement and velocity gradient tensor fields from continuous GPS time series in southern California. The code is ready for use as tool for automated detection of anomalous strain events within southern California. The plan fulfills the SCEC Science Objective 5b: “Application of geodetic detectors to the search for aseismic transients across southern California” and also supports Science Objectives 2c: “Lowered thresholds for detecting aseismic and infraseismic transients, and improved methods for separating triggering by aseismic transients from triggering by other earthquakes” and 1d: “Development of a Community Geodetic Model (CGM) for California, in collaboration with the UNAVCO community, to constrain long-term deformation and fault-slip models.” Moreover, this work fulfills the recommendations under Research Strategies in Tectonic Geodesy to: (a) “Improve our understanding of the processes underlying detected transient deformation signals and/or their seismic hazard implications through data collection and development of new analysis tools.”
Broader Impacts The Broader Impact of this work involves the training of a graduate student, Gina Shcherbenko. The development of a data product, enabling automated detection of anomalous strain from CGPS data also constitutes a broader impact.
Exemplary Figure Figure 4.