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Detection and Analysis of Near-Surface Explosions on the Kola Peninsula

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Abstract

Seismic and infrasonic observations of signals from a sequence of near-surface explosions at a site on the Kola Peninsula have been analyzed. NORSAR’s automatic network processing of these events shows a significant scatter in the location estimates and, to improve the automatic classification of the events, we have performed full waveform cross-correlation on the data set. Although the signals from the different events share many characteristics, the waveforms do not exhibit a ripple-for-ripple correspondence and cross-correlation does not result in the classic delta-function indicative of repeating signals. Using recordings from the ARCES seismic array (250 km W of the events), we find that a correlation detector on a single channel or three-component station would not be able to detect subsequent events from this source without an unacceptable false alarm rate. However, performing the correlation on each channel of the full ARCES array, and stacking the resulting traces, generates a correlation detection statistic with a suppressed background level which is exceeded by many times its standard deviation on only very few occasions. Performing f-k analysis on the individual correlation coefficient traces, and rejecting detections indicating a non-zero slowness vector, results in a detection list with essentially no false alarms. Applying the algorithm to 8 years of continuous ARCES data identified over 350 events which we confidently assign to this sequence. The large event population provides additional confidence in relative travel-time estimates and this, together with the occurrence of many events between 2002 and 2004 when a temporary network was deployed in the region, reduces the variability in location estimates. The best seismic location estimate, incorporating phase information for many hundreds of events, is consistent with backazimuth measurements for infrasound arrivals at several stations at regional distances. At Lycksele, 800 km SW of the events, as well as at ARCES, infrasound is detected for most of the events in the summer and for few in the winter. At Apatity, some 230 km S of the estimated source location, infrasound is detected for most events. As a first step to providing a Ground Truth database for this useful source of infrasound, we provide the times of explosions for over 50 events spanning 1 year.

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Acknowledgments

Maps were created using GMT software (Wessel and Smith, 1995). This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy (National Nuclear Security Administration) under Award Number DE-FC52-05NA26604. This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, make any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. We are grateful to Professor Ludwik Liszka at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Umeå, Sweden, for providing access to the infrasound data from the IRF station network. We thank colleagues at the Kola Regional Seismological Center for providing the requested segments of infrasound data from the mircobarograph array at Apatity, Russia. We acknowledge Tormod Kværna of NORSAR and Gary Steele of TU-Delft for technical assistance and two anonymous referees for very constructive reviews which have significantly improved the paper. We acknowledge the IRIS Data Management Center for waveform data from the KEV station in Finland which is operated by the Institute of Seismology at the University of Helsinki. Copies of NORSAR technical reports can be obtained by contacting the authors or by sending an email to info@norsar.no

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  1. NORSAR, P.O. Box 53, 2027, Kjeller, Norway

    Steven J. Gibbons & Frode Ringdal

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  1. Steven J. Gibbons
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Correspondence to Steven J. Gibbons.

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Gibbons, S.J., Ringdal, F. Detection and Analysis of Near-Surface Explosions on the Kola Peninsula. Pure Appl. Geophys. 167, 413–436 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-009-0038-8

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