First-Year Performance of a Nationwide Earthquake Early Warning System Using a Wavefield-Based Ground-Motion Prediction Algorithm in Japan

2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (2A) ◽  
pp. 826-834
Author(s):  
Yuki Kodera ◽  
Naoki Hayashimoto ◽  
Ken Moriwaki ◽  
Keishi Noguchi ◽  
Jun Saito ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ground Motion ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Ground Motions ◽  
Earthquake Early Warning ◽  
Japan Meteorological Agency ◽  
Prediction Algorithm ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
First Year ◽  
Earthquake Early Warning System ◽  
Earthquake Scenarios

Abstract The propagation of local undamped motion (PLUM) algorithm is a wavefield-based method that predicts ground motions using direct observations. In March 2018, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) implemented PLUM into its nationwide earthquake early warning (EEW) system, in order to enhance system robustness for complex earthquake scenarios in which traditional source-based algorithms fail to provide accurate and timely ground-motion predictions. This was the first nationwide EEW system to implement a wavefield-based methodology. Here, we evaluate the performance of PLUM during its first year of implementation in the JMA EEW system, using earthquakes that occurred between March 2018 and March 2019; these include 13 earthquakes that satisfied the public warning issuance criteria. Our analysis shows that PLUM predicted ground motions without significant errors and reduced the number of missed warnings. These findings indicate that introducing the wavefield-based methodology benefits EEW users with high tolerance of false alarms, including the general public.

Optimizing Earthquake Early Warning Alert Distance Strategies Using the July 2019 Mw 6.4 and Mw 7.1 Ridgecrest, California, Earthquakes

2020 ◽  
Vol 110 (4) ◽  
pp. 1872-1886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessie K. Saunders ◽  
Brad T. Aagaard ◽  
Annemarie S. Baltay ◽  
Sarah E. Minson
Keyword(s):  
Ground Motion ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Ground Motions ◽  
Protective Action ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Prediction Equation ◽  
Earthquake Early Warning ◽  
Source Characterization ◽  
Earthquake Early Warning System ◽  
Alert Distance

ABSTRACT The ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system aims to alert people who experience modified Mercalli intensity (MMI) IV+ shaking during an earthquake using source estimates (magnitude and location) to estimate median-expected peak ground motions with distance, then using these ground motions to determine median-expected MMI and thus the extent of MMI IV shaking. Because median ground motions are used, even if magnitude and location are correct, there will be people outside the alert region who experience MMI IV shaking but do not receive an alert (missed alerts). We use 91,000 “Did You Feel It?” survey responses to the July 2019 Mw 6.4 and Mw 7.1 Ridgecrest, California, earthquakes to determine which ground-motion to intensity conversion equation (GMICE) best fits median MMI with distance. We then explore how incorporating uncertainty from the ground-motion prediction equation and the GMICE in the alert distance calculation can produce more accurate MMI IV alert regions for a desired alerting strategy (e.g., aiming to alert 95% of people who experience MMI IV+ shaking), assuming accurate source characterization. Without incorporating ground-motion uncertainties, we find MMI IV alert regions using median-expected ground motions alert fewer than 20% of the population that experiences MMI IV+ shaking. In contrast, we find >94% of the people who experience MMI IV+ shaking can be included in the MMI IV alert region when two standard deviations of ground-motion uncertainty are included in the alert distance computation. The optimal alerting strategy depends on the false alert tolerance of the community due to the trade-off between minimizing missed and false alerts. This is especially the case for situations like the Mw 6.4 earthquake when alerting 95% of the 5 million people who experience MMI IV+ also results in alerting 14 million people who experience shaking below this level and do not need to take protective action.

Event Detection Performance of the PLUM Earthquake Early Warning Algorithm in Southern California

2019 ◽  
Vol 109 (4) ◽  
pp. 1524-1541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth S. Cochran ◽  
Julian Bunn ◽  
Sarah E. Minson ◽  
Annemarie S. Baltay ◽  
Deborah L. Kilb ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Ground Motion ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Southern California ◽  
Ground Motions ◽  
Tohoku Earthquake ◽  
Prediction Equation ◽  
Earthquake Early Warning ◽  
Japan Meteorological Agency ◽  
Origin Time

Abstract We test the Japanese ground‐motion‐based earthquake early warning (EEW) algorithm, propagation of local undamped motion (PLUM), in southern California with application to the U.S. ShakeAlert system. In late 2018, ShakeAlert began limited public alerting in Los Angeles to areas of expected modified Mercalli intensity (IMMI) 4.0+ for magnitude 5.0+ earthquakes. Most EEW systems, including ShakeAlert, use source‐based methods: they estimate the location, magnitude, and origin time of an earthquake from P waves and use a ground‐motion prediction equation to identify regions of expected strong shaking. The PLUM algorithm uses observed ground motions directly to define alert areas and was developed to address deficiencies in the Japan Meteorological Agency source‐based EEW system during the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku earthquake sequence. We assess PLUM using (a) a dataset of 193 magnitude 3.5+ earthquakes that occurred in southern California between 2012 and 2017 and (b) the ShakeAlert testing and certification suite of 49 earthquakes and other seismic signals. The latter suite includes events that challenge the current ShakeAlert algorithms. We provide a first‐order performance assessment using event‐based metrics similar to those used by ShakeAlert. We find that PLUM can be configured to successfully issue alerts using IMMI trigger thresholds that are lower than those implemented in Japan. Using two stations, a trigger threshold of IMMI 4.0 for the first station and a threshold of IMMI 2.5 for the second station PLUM successfully detect 12 of 13 magnitude 5.0+ earthquakes and issue no false alerts. PLUM alert latencies were similar to and in some cases faster than source‐based algorithms, reducing area that receives no warning near the source that generally have the highest ground motions. PLUM is a simple, independent seismic method that may complement existing source‐based algorithms in EEW systems, including the ShakeAlert system, even when alerting to light (IMMI 4.0) or higher ground‐motion levels.

scholarly journals Developments of the Nationwide Earthquake Early Warning System in Japan After the 2011 Mw9.0 Tohoku-Oki Earthquake

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuki Kodera ◽  
Naoki Hayashimoto ◽  
Koji Tamaribuchi ◽  
Keishi Noguchi ◽  
Ken Moriwaki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Point Source ◽  
Ground Motion ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Prediction Accuracy ◽  
Ground Motions ◽  
Earthquake Early Warning ◽  
Japan Meteorological Agency ◽  
Motion Prediction ◽  
Ground Motion Prediction ◽  
Strong Ground

In Japan, the nationwide earthquake early warning (EEW) system has been being operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) since 2007, disseminating information on imminent strong ground motion to the general public and advanced technical users. In the beginning of the operation, the system ran based mainly on standard source-based algorithms with a point-source location estimate and ground motion prediction equation. The point-source algorithms successfully provided ground motion predictions with high accuracy during the initial operation; however, the 2011 Mw9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake and the subsequent intense aftershock and triggered earthquake activities underscored the weaknesses of the source-based approach. In this paper, we summarize major system developments after the Tohoku-Oki event to overcome the limits of the standard point-source algorithms and to enhance the EEW performance further. In addition, we evaluate how the system performance was influenced by the updates. One of significant improvements in the JMA EEW system was the implementation of two new ground motion prediction methods: the integrated particle filter (IPF) and propagation of local undamped motion (PLUM) algorithms. IPF is a robust point-source algorithm based on the Bayesian inference, and PLUM is a wavefield-based algorithm that predicts ground motions directly from observed shakings. Another notable update was the incorporation of new observation facilities including S-net, a large-scale ocean bottom seismometer network deployed along the Japan and Kuril trenches. The prediction accuracy and warning issuance performance analysis for the updated JMA EEW system showed that IPF improved the source-based ground motion prediction accuracy and reduced the risk of issuing overpredicted warnings. PLUM made the system less likely to underpredict strong ground motions and improved the warning issuance timeliness. The detection time analysis for the S-net incorporation suggested that S-net enabled the system to issue the first EEW report earlier than before the S-net incorporation for earthquakes around the Japan and Kuril trenches. Those findings indicate that the JMA EEW system has made substantial progress both on software and hardware aspects over the 10 years after the Tohoku-Oki earthquake.

scholarly journals Feasibility study of earthquake early warning in Tehran, Iran

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Enferadi ◽  
Z. H. Shomali ◽  
A. Niksejel
Keyword(s):  
Early Warning ◽  
Early Warning System ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Earthquake Early Warning ◽  
Disaster Mitigation ◽  
Lead Times ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Earthquake Parameters ◽  
Earthquake Early Warning System ◽  
Earthquake Scenarios

AbstractIn this study, we examine the scientific feasibility of an Earthquake Early Warning System in Tehran, Iran, by the integration of the Tehran Disaster Mitigation and Management Organization (TDMMO) accelerometric network and the PRobabilistic and Evolutionary early warning SysTem (PRESTo). To evaluate the performance of the TDMMO-PRESTo system in providing the reliable estimations of earthquake parameters and the available lead-times for The Metropolis of Tehran, two different approaches were analyzed in this work. The first approach was assessed by applying the PRESTo algorithms on waveforms from 11 moderate instrumental earthquakes that occurred in the vicinity of Tehran during the period 2009–2020. Moreover, we conducted a simulation analysis using synthetic waveforms of 10 large historical earthquakes that occurred in the vicinity of Tehran. We demonstrated that the six worst-case earthquake scenarios can be considered for The Metropolis of Tehran, which are mostly related to the historical and instrumental events that occurred in the southern, eastern, and western parts of Tehran. Our results indicate that the TDMMO-PRESTo system could provide reliable and sufficient lead-times of about 1 to 15s and maximum lead-times of about 20s for civil protection purposes in The Metropolis of Tehran.

Ground Motion Estimation Using Front Site Wave Form Data Based on RVM for Earthquake Early Warning

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 667-677
Author(s):  
Yincheng Yang ◽  
◽  
Masato Motosaka ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ground Motion ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Earthquake Early Warning ◽  
Peak Ground Velocity ◽  
Wave Form ◽  
Source Information ◽  
Ground Acceleration ◽  
P Waves ◽  
Earthquake Early Warning System

The use of the earthquake early warning system (EEWS), one of the most useful emergency response tools, requires that the accuracy of real-time ground motion prediction (GMP) be enhanced. This requires that waveform information at observation points along earthquake wave propagation paths (hereafter, front-site waveform information) be used effectively. To enhance the combined reliability of different systems, such as on-site and local/regional warning, we present a GMP method using front-site waveform information by applying a relevant vector machine (RVM). We present methodology and application examples for a case study estimating peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV) for earthquakes in the Miyagi-Ken Oki subduction zone. With no knowledge of source information, front site waveforms have been used to predict ground motion at target sites. Five input variables – earthquake PGA, PGD, pulse rise time, average period and theVpmax/Amaxratio – have been used for the first 4 to 6 seconds of P-waves in training a regression model. We found that RVM is a useful tool for the prediction of peak ground motion.

scholarly journals Real-Time Prediction of Impending Ground Shaking: Review of Wavefield-Based (Ground-Motion-Based) Method for Earthquake Early Warning

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitsuyuki Hoshiba
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Ground Motion ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Ground Motions ◽  
Source Parameters ◽  
Earthquake Early Warning ◽  
Peak Ground Velocity ◽  
Ground Shaking ◽  
Time Prediction ◽  
Seismic Waveform

Earthquake early warning (EEW) systems aim to provide advance warning of impending ground shaking, and the technique used for real-time prediction of shaking is a crucial element of EEW systems. Many EEW systems are designed to predict the strength of seismic ground motions (peak ground acceleration, peak ground velocity, or seismic intensity) based on rapidly estimated source parameters (the source-based method), such as hypocentral location, origin time, magnitude, and extent of fault rupture. Recently, however, the wavefield-based (or ground-motion-based) method has been developed to predict future ground motions based directly on the current wavefield, i.e., ground motions monitored in real-time at neighboring sites, skipping the process of estimation of the source parameters. The wavefield-based method works well even for large earthquakes with long duration and huge rupture extents, highly energetic earthquakes that deviate from standard empirical relations, and multiple simultaneous earthquakes, for which the conventional source-based method sometimes performs inadequately. The wavefield-based method also enables prediction of the ongoing seismic waveform itself using the physics of wave propagation, thus providing information on the duration, in addition to the strength of strong ground motion for various frequency bands. In this paper, I review recent developments of the wavefield-based method, from simple applications using relatively sparse observation networks to sophisticated data assimilation techniques exploiting dense networks.

The Extended Integrated Particle Filter Method (IPFx) as a High-Performance Earthquake Early Warning System

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masumi Yamada ◽  
Koji Tamaribuchi ◽  
Stephen Wu
Keyword(s):  
Particle Filter ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Seismic Intensity ◽  
Earthquake Early Warning ◽  
Japan Meteorological Agency ◽  
Estimation Accuracy ◽  
Filter Method ◽  
Source Estimation ◽  
Single Station ◽  
Seismic Networks

ABSTRACT An earthquake early warning (EEW) system rapidly analyzes seismic data to report the occurrence of an earthquake before strong shaking is felt at a site. In Japan, the integrated particle filter (IPF) method, a new source-estimation algorithm, was recently incorporated into the EEW system to improve the source-estimation accuracy during active seismicity. The problem of the current IPF method is that it uses the trigger information computed at each station in a specific format as the input and is therefore applicable to only limited seismic networks. This study proposes the extended IPF (IPFx) method to deal with continuous waveforms and merge all Japanese real-time seismic networks into a single framework. The new source determination algorithm processes seismic waveforms in two stages. The first stage (single-station processing) extracts trigger and amplitude information from continuous waveforms. The second stage (network processing) accumulates information from multiple stations and estimates the location and magnitude of ongoing earthquakes based on Bayesian inference. In 10 months of continuous online experiments, the IPFx method showed good performance in detecting earthquakes with maximum seismic intensity ≥3 in the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) catalog. By merging multiple seismic networks into a single EEW system, the warning time of the current EEW system can be improved further. The IPFx method provides accurate shaking estimation even at the beginning of event detection and achieves seismic intensity error <0.25  s after detecting an event. This method correctly avoided two major false alarms on 5 January 2018 and 30 July 2020. The IPFx method offers the potential of expanding the JMA IPF method to global seismic networks.

The First Stage of an Earthquake Early Warning System in South Korea

2017 ◽  
Vol 88 (6) ◽  
pp. 1491-1498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong‐Hoon Sheen ◽  
Jung‐Ho Park ◽  
Heon‐Cheol Chi ◽  
Eui‐Hong Hwang ◽  
In‐Seub Lim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Early Warning System ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Earthquake Early Warning ◽  
Earthquake Early Warning System
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