SCEC Award Number 17177 View PDF
Proposal Category Collaborative Proposal (Integration and Theory)
Proposal Title Automation and Validation of Second Moment Inversions for Rupture Directivity of Moderate Earthquakes
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
Jeff McGuire Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Yehuda Ben-Zion University of Southern California
Other Participants Haoran Meng, USC graduate student
SCEC Priorities 1d, 2d, 2a SCEC Groups EFP, FARM, Seismology
Report Due Date 06/15/2018 Date Report Submitted 06/08/2018
Project Abstract
 This project explored both the theoretical underpinnings of the second moment method, its relationship to stress drop estimation, and the automation of measurement algorithms for it using datasets in both Oklahoma and Southern California.
Intellectual Merit Countless studies have determined stress drops using over simplified models from the 1970s. Our study has explored ways to update this approach for modern datasets. The second moment approach removes at least 1 order of magnitude in scatter in stress drop by not making any assumptions about earthquake geometry.
Broader Impacts This project involved USC graduate student Haoran Meng and WHOI postdoc Wenyuan Fan.
Exemplary Figure Figure 3.