One-station estimates of seismic moments from the mantle magnitudeM m: The case of the regional field (1.5°≤Δ≤15°)

We extend to the regional field of distances the procedure of one-station estimation of seismic moments using the mantle magnitudeM _m, as introduced earlier in the case of teleseismic events. A theoretical analysis of the validity of the asymptotic expansion of normal modes in terms of surface waves, which was used in the development ofM _m, upholds the validity of the algorithm for distances as short as 1.5°. This is confirmed by the analysis of a dataset of 149 GEOSCOPE records obtained at distances ranging from 1.5 to 15°, from earthquakes with moments between 10²⁴ and 2.5×10²⁷ dyn-cm. The performance ofM _m as measured in terms of average residual with respect to published values ofM ₀, and standard deviation of the residuals, is not degraded in this distance range, with respect to the teleseismic case. This indicates that the mantle magnitudeM _mcan be reliably used at regional distances, notably for tsunami warning applications.