Exact and asymptotic synthetic multiplet spectra on an ellipsoidal earth

Summary. Exact spectra of a normal mode multiplet _nS_l or _n T_l on a non-rotating ellipsoidal earth are composed of l + 1 lines. Asymptotically, in the limit of large l , such spectra appear, however, as a single line or peak broadened by attenuation alone. The location within the multiplet of this single peak depends only upon the angle of inclination of the source-receiver great circle path to the axis of ellipsoidal symmetry. The appearance of a single peak is produced by the cancellation of nearby singlets. To assess the utility of the single peak approximation, exact and asymptotic synthetic spectra have been compared directly for a number of multiplets and for a variety of source-receiver configurations. Except in the immediate vicinity of the source and its antipode, the approximation appears to be satisfactory on an ellipsoidal earth down to about l ∼ 10. Additional studies will be required to determine the limits of validity on a laterally heterogeneous earth.     

First-order asymptotics for the eigenfrequencies of the Earth and application to the retrieval of large-scale lateral variations of structure

Summary . We present a variety of examples, showing systematic fluctuations as a function of angular order of measured eigenfrequencies for given normal modes of the Earth. The data are single station measurements from the GEOSCOPE network. Such fluctuations are attributed to departures from the lowest order asymptotic expression of the geometrical optics approximation. We derive first-order asymptotic expressions for the location parameter for all three components of the Earth's motion, by a method based on the stationary phase approximation and geometric relations on the unit sphere.
We illustrate the sensitivity of the fluctuations to the different parameters involved (source parameters, epicentral distance, laterally heterogeneous earth model) with synthetic examples corresponding to GEOSCOPE observations. Finally, we show the results of first attempts at inversion, which indicate that, when the fluctuations are taken into account, more accurate estimates of the great circle average eigenfrequencies can be obtained, and additional constraints put on the structure in the neighbourhood of the great circle.     

Multiplet-Multiplet Coupling Due to Lateral Heterogeneity: Asymptotic Effects On the Amplitude and Frequency of the Earth's Normal Modes

Summary. Starting with the first-order formulation of quasi-degenerate splitting theory for the normal modes of a laterally heterogeneous earth, we have obtained an asymptotic expression for the coupling terms corresponding to neighbouring multiplets along the same dispersion branch as the mode considered, valid to order 1/ℓ, where ℓ is the angular order of this mode (ℓ≥ 1).
We show that, to order zero, these coupling terms introduce a small shift in epicentral distance into the expression for the long period seismogram obtained by normal mode summation. This shift depends on the difference between the great circle and the minor arc averages of the local frequency. the coupling terms thus permit us to reconcile results obtained by normal-mode summation and by a propagating wave approach, as far as the dependence on structure of the phase of surface waves is concerned.
To order 1/ℓ, the coupling terms result in a perturbation in the amplitude of the mode considered, which depends on spatial derivatives of the local frequency and thus on the structure in the vicinity of the source station great circle path. We show that this term is equivalent to that which is found using ray perturbation methods for propagating surface waves. We compare and discuss the assumptions underlying both approaches and illustrate, by an example, the potential of the asymptotic normal-mode formulation for improved modelling of lateral heterogeneity in the earth.     

Gaussian beams for surface waves in laterally slowly-varying media

Summary. Asymptotic ray theory is applied to surface waves in a medium where the lateral variations of structure are very smooth. Using ray-centred coordinates, parabolic equations are obtained for lateral variations while vertical structural variations at a given point are specified by eigenfunctions of normal mode theory as for the laterally homogeneous case. Final results on wavefields close to a ray can be expressed by formulations similar to those for elastic body waves in 2-D laterally heterogeneous media, except that the vertical dependence is described by eigenfunctions of 'local' Love or Rayleigh waves. The transport equation is written in terms of geometrical-ray spreading, group velocity and an energy integral. For the horizontal components there are both principal and additional components to describe the curvature of rays along the surface, as in the case of elastic body waves. The vertical component is decoupled from the horizontal components. With complex parameters the solutions for the dynamic ray tracing system correspond to Gaussian beams: the amplitude distribution is bell-shaped along the direction perpendicular to the ray and the solution is regular everywhere, even at caustics. Most of the characteristics of Gaussian beams for 2-D elastic body waves are also applicable to the surface wave case. At each frequency the solution may be regarded as a set of eigenfunctions propagating over a 2-D surface according to the phase velocity mapping.     

A Theory of Toroidal Core Oscillations of the Earth

A rotating incompressible fluid bounded by two concentric spherical rigid surfaces can exhibit purely toroidal free oscillations. The eigenfrequencies are fractions of the angular frequency of rotation. If the bounding surfaces are slightly ellipsoidal, secondary spheroidal fields become existent, and in general, a free mode splits into a doublet with one of which exists only when the inner bounding surface is present.
For the real earth, the compressibility of the outer core, the elasticity of the solid earth, and the self-gravitation of the entire earth modify the toroidal core oscillations. The present treatment gives explicitly the effects of these parameters on the eigenfrequencies.     

The Free Oscillations of an Anisotropic and Heterogeneous Earth

Generalized spherical harmonics are used to simplify the calculation of the perturbation matrix elements (coupling coefficients) for the free oscillations of an anisotropic and laterally heterogeneous earth. In the asymptotic limit of large angular order, the local frequency pertubration which depends on the azimuth and on the location of Earth's surface is defined, and the correspondence to surface waves is established.     

The subseismic approximation in core dynamics—II. Love numbers and surface gravity

This paper extends our earlier examinations of the utility of various approximations for treating the dynamics of the Earth's liquid core on time-scales of the order of 10⁴ to 10⁸ s. We discuss the effects of representing the response of the mantle and inner core by static (versus dynamic) Love numbers, and of invoking the subseismic approximation for treating core flow, used either only in the interior of the liquid core (SSA-1) or also at the boundaries (SSA-2). The success of each approximation (or combinations thereof) is measured by comparing the resulting surface gravity effects (computed for a given earthquake excitation), and (for the Slichter mode) the distribution of translational momentum, with reference calculations in which none of these approximations is made. We conclude that for calculations of the Slichter triplet, none of the approximations is satisfactory, i.e. a full solution (using dynamic Love numbers at elastic boundaries and no core flow approximation) is required in order to avoid spurious eigenfrequencies and to yield correct eigenfunctions (e.g. conserving translational momentum) and surface gravity. For core undertones, the use of static Love numbers at rigid boundaries is acceptable, along with SSA-1 (i.e. provided the subseismic approximation is not invoked at the core boundaries). Although the calculations presented here are for a non-rotating earth model, we argue that the principal conclusions should be applicable to the rotating Earth. Shortcomings of the subseismic approximation appear to arise because both SSA-1 and SSA-2 lower the order of the governing system of differential equations (giving rise to a singular perturbation problem), and because SSA-2 overdetermines the boundary conditions (making it impossible for solutions to satisfy all continuity requirements at core boundaries).     

A search for Chandler and nearly diurnal free wobbles using Liouville equations

Summary. The basic equations describing the dynamical effects of the Earth's fluid core (Liouville, Navier-Stokes and elasticity equations) are derived for an ellipsoidal earth model without axial symmetry but with an homogeneous and deformable fluid core and elastic mantle.
We develop the balance of moment of momentum up to the second order and use Love numbers to describe the inertia tensor's variations. The inertial torque takes into account the ellipticity and the volume change of the liquid core. On the core—mantle boundary we locate dissipative, magnetic and viscous torques. In this way we obtain quite a complete formulation for the Liouville equations.
These equations are restricted in order to obtain the usual Chandler and nearly diurnal eigenfrequencies.
Then we propose a method for calculating the perturbations of these eigenfrequencies when considering additional terms in the Liouville equations.     

Asymptotic eigenfrequencies of the Earth's normal modes

We derive asymptotic formulae for the toroidal and spheroidal eigenfrequencies of a SNREI earth model with two discontinuities, by considering the constructive interference of propagating SH and P-SV body waves. For a model with a smooth solid inner core, fluid outer core and mantle, there are four SH and 10 P-SV ray parameters regimes, each of which must be examined separately. The asymptotic eigenfrequency equations in each of these regimes depend only on the intercept times of the propagating wave types and the reflection and transmission coefficients of the waves at the free surface and the two discontinuities. If the classical geometrical plane-wave reflection and transmission coefficients are used, the final eigenfrequency equations are all real. In general, the asymptotic eigenfrequencies agree extremely well with the exact numerical eigenfrequencies; to illustrate this, we present comparisons for a crustless version of earth model 1066A.     

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

Summary. In examining the effect of discontinuities in the Earth's interior on free oscillations, McNabb, Anderssen & Lapwood derived an equation for the asymptotic behaviour of torsional overtone eigenfrequencies of a discontinuous earth model, the constants in their equation being explicitly determined only for the case of one internal discontinuity. Since Brune's phase correlation method for the evaluation of eigenfrequencies from body-wave data implies a ray-mode duality only for continuous earth models, it is desirable to justify the McNabb et al. formulation from the point of view of ray theory.
By a novel method of ray analysis, Wang, Cleary & Anderssen showed that, for earth models with a single discontinuity between the Earth's surface and the core—mantle boundary, the McNabb et al. formulation can be derived from an adaptation of Brune's method to multiply reflected SH body waves recorded at small epicentral distances. In this paper, the technique of Wang et al. is extended to derive the McNabb et al. formulation (with constants explicitly determined) for the general case of earth models with N discontinuities. This establishes a basis for a ray-mode duality for discontinuous earth models.     

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.     

Some effects of lateral heterogeneities in the upper mantle on postglacial land uplift close to continental margins

We investigate the effects of lateral heterogeneities in the upper mantle on the calculation of postglacial land uplift. For the model calculations we use a commercial finite-element code, which enables us to solve the equations governing a layered, isotropic. incompressible, Maxwell-viscoelastic half-space with laterally varying layer thicknesses and physical properties. Following previous investigations performed by Sabadini. Yuen & Portney (1986) and Gasperini & Sabadini (1989), we extend their results using a more realistic loading history and different earth models. We then focus our attention on the question whether lateral heterogeneities in the upper mantle can be modelled correctly using a set of homogeneous earth models. To this end, a comparison of model calculations using both laterally homogeneous and heterogeneous earth models is performed.
We find that lateral heterogeneities in the upper mantle significantly influence the calculated postglacial land uplift. The resolving power of relative sea-level observations for the prescribed lateral heterogeneities used in this study is mainly focused on observations around the load margin and outside the glaciated areas, where differences in predicted land uplift between individual models are large enough to be resolved by observations.
We can qualitatively determine lateral heterogeneities in the upper mantle using a set of laterally homogeneous earth models, if the geological structure, for example a continental margin, is known. However, in order to infer the correct values of lithospheric thickness and asthenospheric viscosity, we need to use laterally heterogeneous models.     

A procedure for estimating lateral variations from low-frequency eigenspectra data

Summary. Expressions are derived for the zeroth and first moments of an isolated normal mode multiplet in the presence of rotational anisotropy, lateral heterogeneity and attenuation. It is demonstrated that, to first order, the zeroth moment is independent of the heterogeneity and the first moment is a linear functional of the heterogeneity. The location of the multiplet, defined in terms of the ratio of the first moment to the zeroth moment, is used to set up a linear inverse problem for lateral variations. The approximations employed in deriving the differential kernels are uniformly valid for all angular orders. In addition, formula for the differential kernels asymptotically valid in the limit of large angular order are developed, and the correspondence between these formulae and the geometrical optics approximation is established. It is shown that, in the limit of weak heterogeneity and large angular order, the location of the multiplet is the average of the local perturbation to the eigenfrequency over the great circular path containing the source and receiver.     

Asymptotic overtone structure in eigenfrequencies of torsional normal modes of the Earth: a model study

Summary. The study of the asymptotic behaviour of eigenfrequencies of torsional modes of the Earth is of interest in the problem of the existence of discontinuities in the Earth's interior and the determination of their depth and scale, since the solotone effect, which is a persistent oscillatory cohponent in the asymptotic overtone structure, is very sensitive to the presence of discontinuities. The asymptotic behaviour of torsional eigenfrequencies of the second order differential equation for the Earth's free oscillations can be compared with that obtained from eigenfrequencies evaluated from synthetic SH-wave seismograms by Brune's phase correlation method, using various earth models. The solotone effect that appears in the former for discontinuous models can be explained in terms of multiple reflections fram the discontinuities, and can be reconstructed from synthetic SH -wave pulses arising from these reflections. Its properties vary systematically with the depth and the scale of discontinuities and can be superposed for several discontinuities.     

Coupled normal-mode sensitivity to inner-core shear velocity and attenuation

We have studied the response of normal modes to perturbations in inner-core shear velocity and attenuation, using fully coupled mode synthetics. Our results indicate that (i) mode pairs   _n S _l – _{n ±1} S _l   are strongly coupled by anelasticity, (ii) this coupling causes shear velocity perturbations to strongly affect the Q values of modes through exchange of inner-core characteristics, (iii) there is no evidence for a weakly attenuating inner core in shear, and (iv) the discrepancy between attenuation models returned from normal modes and body waves is small. These results suggest that inversions for inner-core attenuation and shear velocity should be performed simultaneously and should take account of the strong cross-coupling due to attenuation.     

Oscillation, Nutation and Wobble of an Elliptical Rotating Earth with Liquid Outer Core

We have constructed a general first-order theory describing those small oscillations of a rotating elliptical earth that are affected by the presence of a liquid outer core. The theory is applicable to free core oscillations and earth tides. Care has been taken to include the effects of the wobble or nutation due to the rotation of the outer core relative to the solid earth. On the basis of the theory the free spheroidal modes of degree 2 and order 1 have been investigated. We have searched for and listed undertones with periods less than 28 hr. No upper limit to the eigenperiods has been detected. It is shown that stable, unstable and neutral polytropic cores are capable of free oscillation. At a period close to the sidereal day the spheroidal mode is accompanied by rigid rotation of the liquid outer core with respect to the solid earth. This is the well-known diurnal wobble of the Earth. It appears probable that the diurnal wobble is one of a class of similar wobbles that involve large toroidal motions in the outer core. Finally, the amplitudes of the 18·6-yr principal nutations has been computed. Excellent agreement is found with observed values.     

The effect of a general aspherical perturbation on the free oscillations of the Earth

summary . The Lagrangian governing the infinitesimal elastic-gravitational oscillations of a completely general earth model with interior fluid—solid boundaries is given. Rayleigh's principle is then used to derive a formula for calculating the first-order perturbations in the eigenfrequencies due to an arbitrary slight perturbation of a spherically symmetric, non-rotating, isotropic starting model. The perturbations considered include rotation, asphericity, elastic anisotropy, and a deviatoric initial stress, as well as a change in the positions of both welded and fluid—solid boundaries.     

Comparison of global synthetic seismograms calculated using the spherical 2.5-D finite-difference method with observed long-period waveforms including data from the intra-Antarctic region

We have been developing an accurate and efficient numerical scheme, which uses the finite-difference method (FDM) in spherical coordinates, for the computation of global seismic wave propagation through laterally heterogeneous realistic Earth models. In the field of global seismology, traditional axisymmetric modeling has been used widely as an efficient approach since it can solve the 3-D elastodynamic equation in spherical coordinates on a 2-D cross-section of the Earth, assuming structures to be invariant with respect to the axis through the seismic source. However, it has the severe disadvantages that asymmetric structures about the axis cannot be incorporated and the source mechanisms with arbitrary shear dislocation have not been attempted for a long time. Our scheme is based on the framework of axisymmetric modeling but has been extended to treat asymmetric structures, arbitrary moment-tensor point sources, anelastic attenuation, and the Earth center which is a singularity of wave equations in spherical coordinates. All these types of schemes which solve 3-D wavefields on a 2-D model cross-section are classified as 2.5-D modeling, so we have named our scheme the spherical 2.5-D FDM. In this study, we compare synthetic seismograms calculated using our FDM scheme with three-component observed long-period seismograms including data from stations newly installed in Antarctica in conjunction with the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007–2008. Seismic data from inland Antarctica are expected to reveal images of the Earth's deep interior with enhanced resolution because of the high signal-to-noise ratio and wide extent of this region, in addition to the rarity of sampling paths along the rotation axis of the Earth. We calculate synthetic seismograms through the preliminary reference earth model (PREM) including attenuation using a moment-tensor point source for the November 9, 2009 Fiji earthquake. Our results show quite good agreement between synthetic and observed seismograms, which indicates the accuracy of observations in the Antarctica, as well as the feasibility of the spherical 2.5-D modeling scheme.     

Seismogram synthesis using normal mode superposition: the locked mode approximation

Summary. A normal mode superposition approach is used to synthesize complete seismic codas for flat layered earth models and the P-SV phases. Only modes which have real eigenwavenumbers are used so that the search for eigenvalues in the complex wavenumber plane is confined to the real axis. In order to synthesize early P -wave arrivals by summing a number of'trapped'modes, an anomalously high velocity cap layer is added to the bottom of the structure so that most of the seismic energy is contained in the upper layers as high-order surface waves. Causality arguments are used to define time windows for which the resulting synthetic seismograms are close approximations to the exact solutions without the cap layer. The traditional Thomson—Haskell matrix approach to computing the normal modes is reformulated so that numerical problems encountered at high frequencies are avoided and numerical results of the locked mode approximation are given.     

The influence of a density stratification and of an incompressibility modulus on the spectrum of core modes

The concept of a deformation of a simple, non-rotating, spherically symmetric earth model with a fluid outer core, although it is a highly artificial physical situation, provides a useful computational algorithm that allows one lo determine analytically modes of vibration without any Love-number theory. In particular, on these analytically determined modes, we impose regularity conditions at the centre and boundary conditions at the surface, as well as conditions of continuity at the inner-core-outer-core boundary and at the core-mantle boundary. They lead to an eigenvalue equation for the frequency of oscillation. The range of frequencies obtained in this way for different earth models gives an indication of the influence of compressibility and non-homogeneity on the spectrum of eigenfrequencies.