Spatial coherence of seismic wave fields across an alluvial valley (weak motion)

The loss of coherence of seismic waves, even over small distances, can become significant and consequently important for engineering applications. This coherence loss depends on several parameters (frequency, inter-station distance), but their dependencies are not well understood yet. We show the results of a detailed analysis of the spatial variability of the coherence between two signals. This analysis is based on a simple model which is an exponential function of inter-station distance and frequency. Data from a temporary network of 36 weak-motion instruments installed at the EURO-SEISTEST site, north-east of Thessaloniki (Greece), is used in this work. The data offers the unique possibility to study the loss of coherence over a wide range of distances, as the inter-station distances are between 8 m and 5488 m. We test the influence on the coherence of the length of the time-window of the signals, of the type of the waves present in the time-window and of the common energy of the signals. We also show that, at least at this particular site, the loss of coherence with distance is probably marked by a "cross over" distance, distinguishing two different ranges: one for inter-station distances up to 100 m and the other above 100 m. Finally, we find that the coherence determined from noise recordings behaves in a rather similar way to the one determined from coda-waves and more stationary (longer) signals. Therefore, noise can be useful for a rough, but quick estimation of the loss of coherence, at least for inter-station distances larger than 100 m.