SCEC Workshop: Converting Advances in Seismology into Earthquake Science
Dates: September 22-23, 2003 (Monday and Tuesday)
Location: Caltech, Seismo Lab
Conveners: Egill Hauksson, Caltech; Peter M. Shearer, UCSD; John E. Vidale, UCLA
We are convening a two-day SCEC workshop to promote innovative uses of seismic recordings and associated derived datasets in seismological research. We plan to focus on the general needs of observational earthquake seismology; SCEC will hold other workshops to address detailed issues of sub-disciplines within seismology, such as strong motion seismology, seismic hazards modeling, or computational simulation modeling.
The goals of the workshop are:
- Review the state of instrumentation, data archiving, and near real-time access to data in California, and how recent improvements have served the scientific community.
- Highlight new frontiers in the science of analyzing seismograms that will contribute to the science goals of SCEC.
- Strive for a consensus on the improvements to data center operations that would best facilitate future research.
- Explore how the future USArray or other EarthScope projects may supplement the existing California instrumentation and datasets to solve scientific problems.
At present, SCEC and USGS programs are funding a variety of seismological research to improve earthquake locations, moment tensor solutions, resolution of physical processes within earthquake clusters, and tomographic models. During the workshop, we will review these and other relevant projects and discuss how we can make more rapid progress. In particular, we would like to explore how we can encourage innovative research that exploits the whole seismic wavefield and monitors continuous waveform data.
With the current and planned configuration of CISN, we want to ensure that we capture the most relevant data in the next large earthquake sequence in California. Are we collecting all the relevant data at the critical locations? For instance, how many instruments are likely to be located within 5 km of the rupture plane of the next M7+ earthquake? What is the optimal density and distribution of broadband instrumentation?
As we advance the state of the art of interpreting seismograms, we must transform modern operator-assisted post-recording algorithms into real-time processing. The CISN is interested in implementing real-time products that go beyond estimating epicenters and magnitudes. Possible improvements are implementation of moment tensor algorithms, cross-correlation of travel times for high precision hypocenters, and estimation of finite source models for ShakeMap and aftershock prediction. Looking farther ahead, we see a variety of applications, which include real-time monitoring of seismicity and possibly trapped waves within discrete precisely defined volumes, such as the San Andreas fault zone, to identify the onset of and monitor foreshock activity.
A preliminary agenda and hotel information are available for download below. If you need financial support to attend this workshop, please contact Egill Hauksson and John McRaney ASAP.
