Abstract
Rapid finite fault source determination is critical for reliable and robust tsunami early warnings. Near-field Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) observations have shown value to constrain the source inversion, but real-time GNSS stations are sparse along most of the active faults. Here we propose an automatic earthquake finite source inversion (AutoQuake Inversion) algorithm jointly using near-field (epicentral distance < 1000 km) GNSS data and mid-range (epicentral distance from 30° to 45°) teleseismic P displacement waveforms. Neither the near-field GNSS nor the mid-range teleseismic data clip or saturate during large earthquakes, while the fast-traveling P-waves are still essential to constrain the source in regions where very few or no GNSS stations are available. Real-time determination of the fault geometry remains to be the main challenge for rapid finite source inversion. We adopt a strategy to use the pre-defined geometry Slab2 for earthquakes within it or to forecast a focal mechanism based on near-by historical events for earthquakes without Slab2 prior. The algorithm has been implemented successfully in the prototype of JPL’s GPS-Aided Tsunami Early-Detection system and tested for many real events recently. This article provides the framework of the algorithm, documents the retrospective and real-time results, and discusses remaining challenges for future improvements.
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Acknowledgements
We thank two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments. The research described here was conducted at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contracts with NASA. The Sentineal-1 InSAR measurements for 5 August 2018 Mw 7.0 Lombok event were provided by Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis project (ARIA) group at JPL and Caltech. The seismic waveforms were provided by Data Management Center of the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology. GNSS data were provided by JPL (www.gdgps.net) and GEONET of Japan. Slab2 is available at https://github.com/usgs/slab2 and Global catenoid moment tensors are available at https://www.globalcmt.org/CMTsearch.html. The work also made use of GMT software for plotting and SAC for seismic data processing.
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Chen, K., Liu, Z. & Song, Y.T. Automated GNSS and Teleseismic Earthquake Inversion (AutoQuake Inversion) for Tsunami Early Warning: Retrospective and Real-Time Results. Pure Appl. Geophys. 177, 1403–1423 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-019-02252-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-019-02252-x