Observations of Infrasound and Subsonic Disturbances Related to Severe Weather

Summary During the past 10 years the Geoacoustics Group of NOAA's Wave Propagation Laboratory studied travelling low-frequency pressure variations related to thunderstorms and severe weather. Two general categories of waves were associated with severe weather conditions: 'subsonic' pressure disturbances and infrasonic waves with acoustic velocities. The low-frequency pressure variations were measured at the Earth's surface using microphone arrays located at times thousands of kilometres from the severe-weather disturbance. The radiated infra- sound was related to thunderstorms penetrating the tropopause and spectral analyses were performed on several signals. Possible practical applications to storm warning and classification are discussed for both infrasound and 'subsonic' pressure disturbances. Past measurements of these signals are reviewed.     

Auroral Infrasonic Waves and Poleward Expansions of Auroral Substorms at Inuvik, N.W.T., Canada

Summary Observations at Inuvik (70.4° dipole latitude) have shown that supersonic motions of auroral arcs that sweep across the zenith from south to north during poleward expansions of auroral substorms do not generate observable auroral infrasonic waves. This is in contrast to the fact that equator-ward supersonic motions of similar auroral arcs do produce large amplitude infrasonic bow waves. These results imply an asymmetry in the basic generation mechanism of infrasound within the auroral electrojet arcs.     

Infrasound Radiated During the Montana Earthquake of 1959 August 18

Summary Seismic waves caused by earthquakes radiate infrasound into the atmosphere as they proceed over the Earth's surface. Several instances of such sound waves radiated locally by seismic waves passing through the Washington, D.C., area have been observed at the infrasonic station there. A notable instance was the great Montana earthquake of 1959 August 18. Measurements of the radiated infrasound gave data on the seismic waves, including their travel times, local speeds, directions of travel, amplitudes, and waveforms.     

Observations of Acoustic Aurora in the 1–16 Hz Range

Summary Acoustic aurora have been heard by long-term residents of the artic. They have also been recorded on microbarographs. Acoustic events associated with aurora are now reported in the near infrasonic range (1–16 Hz) at Barrow, Alaska. These observations were made with the aid of a resonant detector achieving a high signal-to-noise ratio similar to that used in extending the rocket-grenade technique to 109km. Over 100 impulsive events of a quasi-repetitive nature were recorded on a patrol basis during January 1970. Acoustic events were correlated with disturbed magnetic conditions and optical aurora but uncorrelated with lower-frequency auroral microbarograph events at College or Inuvik.
It is hoped that these initial observations will persuade interested parties to a more complete study of this phenomena and encourage an explanation of the generation mechanism for auroral infrasonic waves.     

Air-Coupled Seismic Waves at Long Range from Apollo Launchings

Summary Microphones and seismographs were co-located in arrays on Skidaway Island, Georgia, for the launchings of Apollo 13 and 14, 374 km to the south. Simultaneous acoustic and seismic waves were recorded for both events at times appropriate to the arrival of the acoustic waves from the source. Significant comparisons of the true signals are (1) the acoustic signal is relatively broadband compared to the nearly monochromatic seismic signal; (2) the seismic signal is much more continuous than the more pulse-like acoustic signal; (3) ground loading from the pressure variations of the acoustic waves is shown to be too small to account for the seismic waves; (4) the measured phase velocities of both acoustic and seismic waves across the local instrument arrays differ by less than 6 per cent and possibly 3 per cent if experimental error is included. It is concluded that the seismic waves are generated by resonant coupling to the acoustic waves along some 10 km of path on Skidaway Island. The thickness of unconsolidated sediment on the island is appropriate to a resonant ground wave frequency of 3.5 to 4 Hz, as observed. Under appropriate conditions, ground wave observations may prove more effective means of detecting certain aspects of acoustic signals in view of the filtering of wind noise and amplification through resonance.     

Phase–velocity dispersion curves and small-scale geophysics using noise correlation slantstack technique

It has been demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally that the Green's function between two receivers can be retrieved from the cross-correlation of isotropic noise records. Since surface waves dominate noise records in geophysics, tomographic inversion using noise correlation techniques have been performed from Rayleigh waves so far. However, very few numerical studies implying surface waves have been conducted to confirm the extraction of the true dispersion curves from noise correlation in a complicated soil structure. In this paper, synthetic noise has been generated in a small-scale (<1 km) numerical realistic environment and classical processing techniques are applied to retrieve the phase velocity dispersion curves, first step toward an inversion. We compare results obtained from spatial autocorrelation method (SPAC), high-resolution frequency-wavenumber method (HRFK) and noise correlation slantstack techniques on a 10-sensor array. Two cases are presented in the (1–20 Hz) frequency band that corresponds to an isotropic or a directional noise wavefield. Results show that noise correlation slantstack provides very accurate phase velocity estimates of Rayleigh waves within a wider frequency band than classical techniques and is also suitable for accurately retrieving Love waves dispersion curves.     

Correlation of Winds and Geographic Features with Production of Certain Infrasonic Signals in the Atmosphere

Summary Of the waves which propagate in the atmosphere at acoustic velocity in the period range from 10 to 100 s, one type has been classified by triangulation as arising principally from mountainous regions. These signals were first described as 'northwesters' or '310 ers' by the NBS Geoacoustics Group under R. K. Cook at Washington, D.C., from the predominant direction of arrival. Subsequent operation of an observatory at Boulder, Colorado by Vernon Goerke gave a source region by triangulation in the Pacific Northwest, primarily in Montana and Alberta. Installations of observatories at College, Alaska (Wilson) and Pullman, Washington-Moscow, Idaho (Craine and Thomas) enlarged the data base available, and triangulation showed the principal source areas to be along the coast of British Columbia and in the inland Rocky Mountains of the British Columbia-Alberta border. This paper discusses the presently known characteristics of this class of infrasonic waves, locates the triangulation areas, reviews selected events, and suggests that certain of these waves are produced as aerodynamic sound. The paper shows a correlation between the 500 mb jet stream velocity and direction in these mountainous regions, and the detection of these atmospheric pressure waves.     

Born scattering of longperiod body waves

The Born approximation is applied to the modelling of the propagation of deeply turning longperiod body waves through heterogeneities in the lowermost mantle. We use an exact Green's function for a spherically symmetric earth model that also satisfies the appropriate boundary conditions at internal boundaries and the surface of the earth. The scattered displacement field is obtained by a numerical quadrature of the product of the Green's function, the exciting wavefield and structural perturbations. We study three examples: scattering of longperiod P waves from a plume rising from the coremantle boundary (CMB), generation of longperiod precursors to PKIKP by strong, localized scatterers at the CMB, and propagation of corediffracted P waves through largescale heterogeneities in D". The main results are as follows: (1) the signals scattered from a realistic plume are small with relative amplitudes of less than 2 per cent at a period of 20 s, rendering plume detection a fairly difficult task; (2) strong heterogeneities at the CMB of appropriate size may produce observable longperiod precursors to PKIKP in spite of the presence of a diffraction from the PKP B caustic; (3) corediffracted P  waves ( P _diff) are sensitive to structure in D" far off the geometrical ray path and also far beyond the entry and exit points of the ray into and out of D"; sensitivity kernels exhibit ringshaped patterns of alternating sign reminiscent of Fresnel zones; (4) P _diff also shows a nonnegligible sensitivity to shear wave velocity in D"; (5) down to periods of 40 s, the Born approximation is sufficiently accurate to allow waveform modelling of P _diff through largescale heterogeneities in D" of up to 5 per cent.     

Diffraction of P, S and Rayleigh waves by three-dimensional topographies

The diffraction of P, S and Rayleigh waves by 3-D topographies in an elastic half-space is studied using a simplified indirect boundary element method (IBEM). This technique is based on the integral representation of the diffracted elastic fields in terms of single-layer boundary sources. It can be seen as a numerical realization of Huygens principle because diffracted waves are constructed at the boundaries from where they are radiated by means of boundary sources. A Fredholm integral equation of the second kind for such sources is obtained from the stress-free boundary conditions. A simplified discretization scheme for the numerical and analytical integration of the exact Green's functions, which employs circles of various sizes to cover most of the boundary surface, is used.
The incidence of elastic waves on 3-D topographical profiles is studied. We analyse the displacement amplitudes in the frequency, space and time domains. The results show that the vertical walls of a cylindrical cavity are strong diffractors producing emission of energy in all directions. In the case of a mountain and incident P, SV and SH waves the results show a great variability of the surface ground motion. These spatial variations are due to the interference between locally generated diffracted waves. A polarization analysis of the surface displacement at different locations shows that the diffracted waves are mostly surface and creeping waves.     

Surface wave tomography of the western United States from ambient seismic noise: Rayleigh and Love wave phase velocity maps

We present the results of Rayleigh wave and Love wave phase velocity tomography in the western United States using ambient seismic noise observed at over 250 broad-band stations from the EarthScope/USArray Transportable Array and regional networks. All available three-component time-series for the 12-month span between 2005 November 1 and 2006 October 31 have been cross-correlated to yield estimated empirical Rayleigh and Love wave Green's functions. The Love wave signals were observed with higher average signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) than Rayleigh wave signals and hence cannot be fully explained by the scattering of Rayleigh waves. Phase velocity dispersion curves for both Rayleigh and Love waves between 5 and 40 speriod were measured for each interstation path by applying frequency–time analysis. The average uncertainty and systematic bias of the measurements are estimated using a method based on analysing thousands of nearly linearly aligned station-triplets. We find that empirical Green's functions can be estimated accurately from the negative time derivative of the symmetric component ambient noise cross-correlation without explicit knowledge of the source distribution. The average traveltime uncertainty is less than 1 s at periods shorter than 24 s. We present Rayleigh and Love wave phase speed maps at periods of 8, 12, 16,and 20 s. The maps show clear correlations with major geological structures and qualitative agreement with previous results based on Rayleigh wave group speeds.     

Seismic vertical array analysis for phase decomposition

We propose a vertical array analysis method that decomposes complex seismograms into body and surface wave time histories by using a velocity structure at the vertical array site. We assume that the vertical array records are the sum of vertically incident plane P and S waves, and laterally incident Love and Rayleigh waves. Each phase at the surface is related to that at a certain depth by the transfer function in the frequency domain; the transfer function is obtained by Haskell's matrix method, assuming a 1-D velocity structure. Decomposed P , S and surface waves at the surface are estimated from the vertical array records and the transfer functions by using a least-squares method in the frequency domain; their time histories are obtained by the inverse Fourier transform. We carried out numerical tests of this method based on synthetic vertical array records consisting of vertically incident plane P and S waves and laterally incident plane Love and Rayleigh waves. Perfect results of the decomposed P , S , Love and Rayleigh waves were obtained for synthetic records without noise. A test of the synthetic records in which a small amount of white noise was added yielded a reasonable result for the decomposed P , S and surface waves. We applied this method to real vertical array records from the Ashigara valley, a moderate-sized sedimentary valley. The array records from two earthquakes occurring at depths of 123 and 148 km near the array (epicentral distance of about 31 km) exhibited long-duration later phases. The analysis showed that duration of the decomposed S waves was a few seconds and that the decomposed surface waves appeared a few seconds after the direct S -wave arrival and had very long duration. This result indicated that the long-duration later phases were generated not by multireflected S waves, but by basin-induced surface waves.     

A Preliminary Investigation into the Relationship between Long-Period Seismic Noise and Local Fluctuations in the Atmospheric Pressure Field

Summary The displacement response of an elastic half space to a plane pressure wave is examined in order to establish the conditions under which sources of this type can contribute significantly to the long-period seismic noise field. The study is restricted to pressure waves which propagate at velocities well below the seismic wave velocities characteristic of the half space. The numerical studies indicate that pressure waves with amplitudes of 100 μbar or more can contribute significantly to the long-period vertical background noise observed at the surface, provided that the detectors are located on sections of alluvial fill or poorly to moderately indurated sandstones and shales whose thicknesses are greater than about a kilometre. These same waves can also create significant tilt noise on long-period horizontal seismographs located at or near the surface, regardless of the rock type. The seismic disturbances created by pressure waves decay rapidly away from the surface. Therefore, it appears that it may be possible to eliminate the effects of atmospherically generated noise by placing the detectors at moderate depths.     

Traveltime measurements from noise correlation: stability and detection of instrumental time-shifts

We test the feasibility of using Green's functions extracted from records of ambient seismic noise to monitor temporal changes in the Earth crust properties by repeated measurements at regional distances. We use about 11 yr of continuous recordings to extract surface waves between three pairs of stations in California. The correlations are computed in a moving 1-month window and we analyse the temporal evolution of measured interstation traveltimes. The comparison of the arrival times in the positive and negative correlation time of Rayleigh and Love waves allows us to separate time-shifts associated with any form of physical change in the medium, those resulting from clock drift or other instrumental errors, and those due to change in the localization of the noise sources. This separation is based on the principle of time symmetry. When possible, we perform our analysis in two different period bands: 5–10 and 10–20 s. The results indicate that significant instrumental time errors (0.5 s) are present in the data. These time-shifts can be measured and tested by closure relation and finally corrected independently of any velocity model. The traveltime series show a periodic oscillation that we interpret as the signature of the seasonal variation of the region of origin of the seismic noise. Between 1999 and 2005, the final arrival time fluctuations have a variance of the order of 0.01 s. This allows us to measure interstation traveltimes with errors smaller than 0.3 per cent of the interstation traveltime and smaller than 1 per cent of the used wave period. This level of accuracy was not sufficient to detect clear physical variation of crustal velocity during the considered 11 yr between the three stations in California. Such changes may be more easily detectable when considering pairs of stations more closely located to each other and in the vicinity of tectonically active faults or volcanoes.     

Earth Motion Caused by Local Atmospheric Pressure Changes

Summary Observations have been made of the local atmospheric pressure field and the long-period seismic noise fields both on the surface of the Earth and in a mine at a depth of 183 metres. The observations show that during windy intervals and in the period range 20–100 s there is a strong correlation between local atmospheric pressure changes and the noise recorded by a vertical seismograph located on the surface. In contrast, over the same range of periods there is no correlation between the seismic noise recorded in the mine and local atmospheric pressure changes except during the passage of acoustic waves. It is shown that the noise in this pass band is not due to the buoyant response of the seismograph, but is caused by the motion of the Earth responding to atmospheric pressure changes.     

Generation of complete theoretical seismograms for SH—

Summary. We report the initial results of our attempts to obtain theoretical seismograms for direct comparison with the experimental time series obtained with the long-period instruments of the WWSSN. The entire theoretical seismogram, including both body waves and surface waves, can be generated for a spherical, anelastic earth by simple inverse Fourier transformation of the sum of the propagating fundamental and higher-mode surface waves. The key to success in reproducing the WWSSN records involves the number of modes, and the minimum period used in these computations; here we use eight modes and a minimum period of 2 s. Efficient computational algorithms make it possible to handle up to 2000 frequency points for each mode; approximately 200 layers are used to model the radial heterogeneity of the earth; attenuation is treated exactly. Examples are given of the SH theoretical seismograms resulting from dislocation sources buried at various depths in the Earth.     

Co-Phase Analysis of Atmospheric Wave Data

Summary Co-phase is a statistic designed for the detection and parameter estimation of signals by detector arrays. Ionospheric motions detected by an array of four phase-path sounders following a large earthquake are found by the co-phase technique to have a phase velocity equal to that of seismic Rayleigh waves of the same period, and to arrive from the direction of the epicentre. The calculation of co-phase for an 80-min sample of data from an 8-element array of microbarographs detects the presence of a signal from a high energy event despite a signal-to-noise ratio of less than unity. Co-phase analysis of acoustic signals generated by the Saturn-Apollo rocket launches indicates that these signals originate at ionospheric heights and propagate in a waveguide between a soundspeed maximum and a steep density gradient in the mesosphere.     

The Spatial Distribution of Rapid Geomagnetic Fluctuations: Part II

i
A detailed examination has been made of some examples of rapid irregular magnetic field changes which occurred during a typical geomagnetic storm, selected from 180mm/h recordings. The following points were noted:
1. At a number of different times of day, the rapid irregular changes at a given observing station were extremely various. They varied widely in form, and loops ranged in shape from nearly linear ones to crude circles.
2. During a chosen interval, the rapid irregular changes at neighbouring stations were very similar, and between mid-latitude stations 1200 km apart there was still a strong relationship between the changes occurring during defined time intervals.
3. Phase differences between stations, during the chosen interval, were very small. The average phase gradient North to South was less than 0.5 ∼ 10–⁷ s/cm. There was a suggestion of an average phase gradient East to West of the order of 10–⁷ s/cm.
4. Vector diagrams of increments between selected times indicated large scale patterns in which the horizontal vectors tended to converge, the points of convergence being variable in position. To this extent, the changes examined cannot be distinguished either from micropulsations or from slow irregular variations.
5. Some of the evidence suggested a type of current circulation which either travelled eastwards as a whole, or spread in extent, while pulsating in amplitude.
6. The average phase gradient East to West and the suggestion of an eastward moving current circulation, both referring to daylight hemisphere changes, are reminiscent of a deduction by Dungey concerning propagation of waves on the Chapman-Ferraro surface.     

Ray-mode duality for SH waves in earth models with crust and mantle discontinuities—I. The case of one discontinuity

Summary. The method of phase correlation devised by Brune for the evaluation of overtone eigenfrequencies of the Earth from body-wave data involves the explicit use of a ray-mode duality for strictly continuous earth models. Consequently, investigation of the application of the ray-mode duality approach to models containing discontinuities is desirable.
McNabb, Anderssen & Lapwood have obtained an equation for the behaviour of overtone eigenfrequencies from discontinuous earth models. By means of a novel method for the decomposition of multiply-reflected body waves, it can be shown that, for earth models with a single discontinuity between the surface and the core—mantle boundary, the McNabb et al. formulation can be derived from an adaptation of Brune's formula to multiply-reflected SH body waves at small epicentral distances. This establishes a basis for a ray-mode duality for models with a single discontinuity.     

Observations of the phase SP at distances less than 40°

Summary. A detailed analysis of short-period shear waves using an array of three component seismometers near Tennant Creek in the centre of northern Australia has found only isolated samples of the phase Sp which, for a mode conversion at the crust/mantle boundary precedes the S arrival by about 6 s. Two strong phases commonly observed in the S wavetrain in the distance range 30–40° with a time separation of between 6 and 8 s have been determined to be the phases S and SP respectively. Contrary to the Jeffreys-Bullen seismological tables, SP is first generated at a minimum distance not of 40°, but rather in the vicinity of 20°.     

基于G0分布的SAR图像水边线提取方法

为了更加精准地从合成孔径雷达（SAR）图像中提取水边线,提出基于G0分布的SAR图像水边线提取方法。首先,将SAR图像域划分为大小相等的子块,并假设每个子块内像素强度服从独立同一的G0分布;利用矩估计方法得到对应每个子块的粗糙度和散射性参数;根据设定的参数阈值,可划分出粗略的水域,并确定该区域的几何中心;以该几何中心为圆心,向四周做射线,保留经过陆地区域的射线;利用似然函数确定每条射线上的水-陆分界点,依次连接分界点,进而实现SAR图像水边线提取。采用本文方法,分别对模拟和真实SAR图像进行水边线提取实验。定性和定量结果表明：采用基于G0分布的SAR图像水边线提取方法能够有效地克服斑点噪声的影响。