A statistical approach to crowdsourced smartphone-based earthquake early warning systems

The Earthquake Network research project implements a crowdsourced earthquake early warning system based on smartphones. Smartphones, which are made available by the global population, exploit the Internet connection to report a signal to a central server every time a vibration is detected by the on-board accelerometer sensor. This paper introduces a statistical approach for the detection of earthquakes from the data coming from the network of smartphones. The approach allows to handle a dynamic network in which the number of active nodes constantly changes and where nodes are heterogeneous in terms of sensor sensibility and transmission delay. Additionally, the approach allows to keep the probability of false alarm under control. The statistical approach is applied to the data collected by three subnetworks related to the cities of Santiago (Chile), Iquique (Chile) and Kathmandu (Nepal). The detection capabilities of the approach are discussed in terms of earthquake magnitude and detection delay. A simulation study is carried out in order to link the probability of detection and the detection delay to the behaviour of the network under an earthquake event.     

地震预警震级计算方法研究综述

地震预警系统是减轻地震灾害的有效手段之一,世界上多个国家和地区都已经建立了地震预警系统,并在实际应用中取得了显著的减灾实效.由于地震预警系统应用中的高度时效性要求,预警震级计算是整个地震预警系统中最重要也是最困难的一部分.本文回顾总结了地震预警研究中采用的一些震级计算方法,并将其归纳为三大类算法:与初始周期相关的算法、与初始幅值相关的算法和与初始强度相关的算法.对每种算法都做了详尽介绍和仔细分析,同时列举出与该算法相关的研究成果.通过对这些算法的分析总结并结合我国地震观测台网的实际情况,作者推荐τc、Pd两种方法作为我国地震预警系统建设中优先采用的两种预警震级算法.     

Performance-based earthquake early warning

Significant investments are undergoing internationally to develop earthquake early warning (EEW) systems. So far, reasonably, the most of the research in this field was lead by seismologists as the issues to determine essential feasibility of EEW were mainly related to the earthquake source. Many of them have been brilliantly solved, and the principles of this discipline are collected in the so-called real-time seismology. On the other hand, operating EEW systems rely on general-purpose intensity measures as proxies for the impending ground motion potential and are suitable for population alert. In fact, to date, comparatively little attention was given to EEW by earthquake engineering, and design approaches for structure-specific EEW are mostly lacking. Applications to site-specific systems have not been extensively investigated and EEW convenience is not yet proven except a few pioneering cases, although the topic is certainly worthwhile. For example, in structure-specific EEW the determination of appropriate alarm thresholds is important when the false alarm may induce significant losses; similarly, economic appeal with respect to other risk mitigation strategies as seismic upgrade should be assessed. In the paper the least issues to be faced in the design of engineering applications of EEW are reviewed and some work done in this direction is discussed. The review presented intends to summarize the work of the author and co-workers in this field illustrating a possible performance-based approach for the design of structure-specific applications of EEW.     

On the use of JMA intensity in earthquake early warning systems

The estimation of strength of shaking at a site from the initial P-wave portion of ground motion is the key problems for shortening the alert time of the earthquake Early Warning (EEW). The most of the techniques proposed for the purpose utilize (a) ground motion models based on the estimated magnitude and hypocentral distance, or (b) the interim proxies, such as initial vertical displacement P _d . We suggest the instrumental Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) intensity (JMA_I) as a characteristic for fast estimation of damage potential in the EEW systems. We investigated the scaling relations between JMA_I measured using the whole earthquake recordings (overall intensity) and using particular time intervals of various duration (2.0–8.0 s) starting from the P-wave arrival (preliminary intensity). The dataset included 3,660 records (K-NET and the KiK-net networks) from 55 events (M _W 4.1–7.4) occurred in 1999–2008 in Japan. We showed that the time interval of 4–5 s from the P-wave arrival can be used for reliable estimations of the overall intensity with the average standard error of about 0.5 JMA units. The uncertainty in the prediction may be reduced by consideration of local site conditions or by development of the station-specific models.     

地震预警立法问题的探讨

地震预警作为一种防震减灾手段,目前受到我国政府和公众的极大关注。为了实现地震预警的社会效能,必须将其纳入法制化管理。本文首先论述了地震预警立法的必要性和可行性,然后就立法思路展开分析,最后对地震预警的主要立法内容进行了较为详细的阐述。     

Designing efficient earthquake early warning systems: case study of Almaty, Kazakhstan

Rapidly expanding urban areas in Central Asia are increasingly vulnerable to seismic risk; but at present, no earthquake early warning (EEW) systems exist in the region despite their successful implementation in other earthquake-prone areas. Such systems aim to provide short (seconds to tens of seconds) warnings of impending disaster, enabling the first risk mitigation and damage control steps to be taken. This study presents the feasibility of such a system for Almaty, Kazakhstan. Genetic algorithms are used to design efficient EEW networks, computing optimal station locations and trigger thresholds in recorded ground acceleration. Factors like the possibility of station failure, elevation and access difficulty to a potential site, and the potential usefulness of existing stations in the region are considered. We present a large set of possible efficient networks, to which further selection criteria can be applied by both the installation teams and the end user, such as authorities in Almaty.     

Structural monitoring and earthquake early warning systems for the AHEPA hospital in Thessaloniki

This study aims at presenting the analyses of monitoring data that have been used in the context of structural monitoring and Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) for a hospital building in Thessaloniki. Permanent and temporary instrumentation arrays, implemented under the responsibility of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (SDGEE-AUTH) in close cooperation with German Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) are presented. The ambient noise data recorded at the temporarily installed networks are used for the dynamic characterization of the building based on both vibrational and waveform approaches. Moreover, long-term ambient noise recordings from the permanent array installed within the hospital are used for the investigation of the daily and seasonal wandering of the building resonance frequencies related to environmental effects. The modal identification results are used in a comprehensive framework for the computation of the up-to-date fragility curves representing the actual structural state considering aging effects of the construction materials, possible pre-existing damages and changes in the geometry and mass distribution. The building-specific fragility functions are integrated into two independent EEW systems and rapid damage assessment approaches, namely the PRESTo software and an onsite EEW algorithm on the instruments of the permanent array, to provide the expected level of damage after strong ground shaking at the monitored building. The implemented monitoring networks and the developed operational tools can be used in the context of seismic risk mitigation and preparedness for structural safety assessment under earthquake loading.     

地震预警震级确定方法研究

地震预警技术是减轻地震灾害损失的有效手段之一.地震预警系统中,地震震级计算是最重要也是最困难的部分之一.利用日本KiK-net台网和四川汶川余震共142次地震事件的记录,分别采用τc和Pd方法统计得到了地震预警震级的计算公式,震级计算的方差分别为0.62和0.56个震级单位.为消除震级计算过程中出现的震级饱和现象,作者拓展了Pd方法,提出了一套对位移幅值连续追踪测定的算法.当时间窗长度为10 s时,采用该方法的震级计算方差仅为0.37个震级单位,充分满足地震预警系统的需求.同时,该方法也实现了信息的连续过渡,提高了对现有信息的利用率.最后,还对位移幅值Pd用于地震动峰值PGV的估计以及不同特征参数间的相容性等内容进行了讨论.     

地震预警定位方法研究

实时地震定位是地震预警系统中必须解决的关键问题之一.文中在借鉴已有实时地震定位方法的基础上并结合我国台网的实际情况,推导得到一套利用前三/四台P波、S波到时信息进行实时定位的算法.作者选取2000年至2008年问福建省地震监测台网记录到的68个3.0级以上地震对该算法进行验证.研究结果表明,采用文中方法的定位结果具有一...     

Evaluation of earthquake signal characteristics for early warning

This paper evaluates different characteristics for earthquake early warning.The scaling relationships between magnitude,epicenter distance and calculated parameters are derived from earthquake event data from USGS.The standard STA/LTA method is modified by adding two new parameters to eliminate the effects of the spike-type noise and small pulsetype noise ahead of the onset of the P-wave.After the detection of the P-wave,the algorithm extracts 12 kinds of parameters from the first 3 seconds of the P-wave.Then stepwise regression analysis of these parameters is performed to estimate the epicentral distance and magnitude.Six different parameters are selected to estimate the epicentral distance,and the median error for all 419 estimates is 16.5 km.Four parameters are optimally combined to estimate the magnitude,and the mean error for all events is 0.0 magnitude units,with a standard deviation of 0.5.Finally,based on the estimation results,additional work is proposed to improve the accuracy of the results.     

Comparison of two earthquake early warning location methods

According to earthquake catalog records of Fujian Seismic Network, the T _now method and the four-station continuous location method put forward by Jin Xing are inspected by using P-wave arrival information of the first four stations in each earthquake. It shows that the four-station continuous location method can locate more seismic events than the T _now method. By analyzing the results, it is concluded that the reason for this is that the T _now method makes use of information from stations without being triggered, while some stations failed to be reflected in earthquake catalog because of discontinuous records or unclear records of seismic phases. For seismic events whose location results can be given, there is no obvious difference in location results of the two methods and positioning deviation of most seismic events is also not significant. For earthquakes outside the network, the positioning deviation may amplify as the epicentral distance enlarges, which may relate to the situation that the seismic stations are centered on one side of epicenter and the opening angle between seismic stations used for location and epicenter is small.     

Probabilistic earthquake early warning times in Fujian Province

Earthquake early warning （EEW） systems are a new and effective way to mitigate the damage associated with earthquakes. A prototype EEW system is currently being constructed in the Fujian Province, a region along the Southeast coast of China. It is anticipated that the system will be completed in time to be tested at the end of this year （2013）. In order to evaluate how much advanced warning the EEW system will be able to provide different cities in Fujian, we established an EEW information release scheme based on the seismic monitoring stations distributed in the region. Based on this scheme, we selected 71 historical earthquakes. We then obtained the delineation of the region＇s potential seismic source data in order to estimate the highest potential seismic intensities for each city as well as the EEW system warning times. For most of the Fujian Province, EEW alarms would sound several seconds prior to the arrival of the destructive wave. This window of time gives city inhabitants the opportunity to take protective measures before the full intensity of the earthquake strikes.     

新型地震预警方法研究及预警能力分析

本文研究了一种不同于传统地震预警方法的新型预警方法。这种预警方法利用数据同化技术对实时波动场进行精确估计,然后再利用基于辐射传输理论的蒙特卡洛直接模拟法对波动能量的传播做数值模拟,并最终计算预警目标区烈度并做阈值判断发出预警警报。整个预警过程无需触发、无需定位、无需测定震级、无需利用衰减关系,较传统预警方法具有明显不同的技术手段,比较有效避免了传统地震预警方法中一系列基于经验统计规律的误差累积和单纯依靠初至P波信息在应对复杂地震时的局限性。本文选择了2011年3月11日日本M_w9.0地震和2016年2月6日台湾M_w6.7美浓地震作为预警模拟震例,分析并论证了本文预警方法在处理网外地震、网内地震以及复杂地震时的预警能力,最终得出本文预警方法在应对网内地震时具有良好的预警准确性和时效性,以及相对于传统预警方法在处理复杂地震时具有较大的优势。最后,总结并展望了本文研究工作的不足之处和有待继续研究的地方。     

高速铁路地震预警系统现状综述

地震是对高速列车安全运营威胁最大的自然灾害。在目前地震预报技术还很不成熟的情况下,发展地震预警技术是当前减轻或避免地震对高速铁路危害的重要措施。文中阐述了地震预警技术的原理及其在铁路方面的应用。对国内外已有的高速铁路地震预警系统的发展和现状进行了介绍。结合国内外的发展现状和京沪高速铁路对地震预警系统的实际需求,对我国高速铁路的地震预警系统进行了探讨。主要针对高速铁路预警系统的报警阈值,监测点的布置,列车控制方式和预警系统的基本组成等关键问题的研究现状进行了总结和探讨。对我国高速铁路地震预警系统的建立具有重要的借鉴意义。     

Advanced real-time acquisition of the Vrancea earthquake early warning system

The Vrancea seismogenic zone in Romania represents a peculiar source of seismic hazard, which is a major concern in Europe, especially to neighboring regions of Bulgaria, Serbia and Republic of Moldavia. Earthquakes in the Carpathian–Pannonian region are confined to the crust, except the Vrancea zone, where earthquakes with focal depth down to 200 km occur. One of the cities most affected by earthquakes in Europe is Bucharest. Situated at 140–170 km distance from Vrancea epicenter zone, Bucharest encountered many damages due to high energy Vrancea intermediate-depth earthquakes; the March 4, 1977 event (M_w=7.2) produced the collapse of 36 buildings with 8–12 levels, while more than 150 old buildings were seriously damaged. A dedicated set of applications and a method to rapidly estimate magnitude in 4–5 s from detection of P wave in the epicenter were developed. They were tested on all recorded data. The magnitude error for 77.9% of total considered events is in the interval [−0.3, +0.3] magnitude units. This is acceptable taking into account that the magnitude is computed from only 3 stations in a 5 s time interval (1 s delay is caused by data packing). The ability to rapidly estimate the earthquake magnitude combined with powerful real-time software, as parts of an early warning system, allows us to send earthquake warning to Bucharest in real time, in about 5 s after detection in the epicenter. This allows 20–27 s warning time to automatically issue preventive actions at the warned facility.     

Real-time numerical shake prediction and updating for earthquake early warning

Ground motion prediction is important for earthquake early warning systems, because the region’s peak ground motion indicates the potential disaster. In order to predict the peak ground motion quickly and precisely with limited station wave records, we propose a real-time numerical shake prediction and updating method. Our method first predicts the ground motion based on the ground motion prediction equation after P waves detection of several stations, denoted as the initial prediction. In order to correct the prediction error of the initial prediction, an updating scheme based on real-time simulation of wave propagation is designed. Data assimilation technique is incorporated to predict the distribution of seismic wave energy precisely. Radiative transfer theory and Monte Carlo simulation are used for modeling wave propagation in 2-D space, and the peak ground motion is calculated as quickly as possible. Our method has potential to predict shakemap, making the potential disaster be predicted before the real disaster happens. 2008 M _S8.0 Wenchuan earthquake is studied as an example to show the validity of the proposed method.     

Deep learning for P-wave arrival picking in earthquake early warning

Fast and accurate P-wave arrival picking significantly affects the performance of earthquake early warning(EEW)systems.Automated P-wave picking algorithms used in EEW have encountered problems of falsely picking up noise,missing P-waves and inaccurate P-wave arrival estimation.To address these issues,an automatic algorithm based on the convolution neural network(DPick)was developed,and trained with a moderate number of data sets of 17,717 accelerograms.Compared to the widely used approach of the short-term average/long-term average of signal characteristic function(STA/LTA),DPick is 1.6 times less likely to detect noise as a P-wave,and 76 times less likely to miss P-waves.In terms of estimating P-wave arrival time,when the detection task is completed within 1 s,DPick′s detection occurrence is 7.4 times that of STA/LTA in the 0.05 s error band,and 1.6 times when the error band is 0.10 s.This verified that the proposed method has the potential for wide applications in EEW.     

岩石断裂释放的臭氧可用于地震预测

识别地震前兆作为早期预警信号一直是全球地震研究所致力的重要目标.近日,发表于《应用物理学快报》杂志(2011年11月21日)的最新研究表明,岩石断裂释放的臭氧可作为判断地震即将发生的一个指标.     

重大工程地震预警初步研究

现代电子技术的应用使强震仪的功能大大加强,数字强震仪和电子通讯技术的应用使得地震预警能够实现,本文介绍了地震预警的传统方法和基于现代信息技术的地震预警理论和方法,以日本的UrEDAS为例,详细介绍了基于P波单台定位,定震级的方法,对我国开展相关研究具有借鉴意义。