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Examining ambient noise using colocated measurements of rotational and translational motion

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Abstract

In the past decade, a number of studies have reported the observation of rotational motion associated with seismic events. We report a first observation of rotational motion in the microseismic ambient noise band. A striking feature of rotational motion measurements is that the information about the seismic phase velocity and source back azimuth is contained in the amplitude ratio of a point measurement of rotation rate and transverse acceleration. We investigate the possibility of applying this method to ambient noise measured with a ring laser and a broadband seismometer at the Wettzell Geodetic Observatory in Germany. Using data in the secondary microseismic band, we recover local phase velocities as well as the back azimuth of the strongest noise source for two different time periods. In order to confirm these findings, we additionally compare the results with classical array processing techniques of the Gräfenberg array located nearby.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the support from the European Commission (Marie Curie Actions, ITN QUEST, www.quest-itn.org) and the German Research Foundation (project Ig16-8).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Theresienstr. 41, 80333, Munich, Germany

    Celine Hadziioannou, Joachim Wassermann & Heiner Igel

  2. Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, Sektion 2.4 Seismologie, Telegrafenberg, 14473, Potsdam, Germany

    Peter Gaebler

  3. Forschungseinrichtung Satellitengeodäsie, Fundamental Station Wettzell, Sackenrieder Strasse 25, 93444, Bad Kötzting, Germany

    Ulrich Schreiber

Authors
  1. Celine Hadziioannou
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  2. Peter Gaebler
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  3. Ulrich Schreiber
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  4. Joachim Wassermann
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  5. Heiner Igel
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Correspondence to Celine Hadziioannou.

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Hadziioannou, C., Gaebler, P., Schreiber, U. et al. Examining ambient noise using colocated measurements of rotational and translational motion. J Seismol 16, 787–796 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-012-9288-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-012-9288-5

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