Building a Natural-Hazard-Resilient High-Quality Seismic Network: How WI Network Sustained Hurricanes Maria and Irma

2020 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Marie Saurel ◽  
Jordane Corbeau ◽  
Sébastien Deroussi ◽  
Tristan Didier ◽  
Arnaud Lemarchand ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Seismic Data ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
Seismic Network ◽  
Tsunami Warning ◽  
Coastal Hazards ◽  
Lesser Antilles ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Small Aperture

Abstract Between 2008 and 2014, the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) and the University of the West Indies, Seismic Research Centre (UWI-SRC) designed and built a regional seismic network across the Lesser Antilles. One of the goals of the network is to provide real-time seismic data to the tsunami warning centers in the framework of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group working toward the establishment of a tsunami and other coastal hazards early warning system (ICG-CARIBE-EWS) for the Caribbean and adjacent regions (McNamara et al., 2016). In an area prone to hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions, we chose different techniques and technologies to ensure that our cooperated network could survive and keep providing data in case of major natural hazards. The Nanometrics very small aperture terminal (VSAT) technology is at the heart of the system. It allows for duplicated data collection at the three observatories (Trinidad, Martinique, and Guadeloupe; Anglade et al., 2015). In 2017, the network design and implementation were put to the test with Saffir–Simpson category 5 hurricanes Irma and Maria that went, respectively, through the north and central portion of the Lesser Antilles, mainly impacting the sites operated by volcanological and seismological observatories of IPGP in Martinique (Observatoire Volcanologique et Sismologique de Martinique [OVSM]) and in Guadeloupe (Observatoire Volcanologique et Sismologique de Guadeloupe [OVSG]). Our concepts proved to be valid with a major data shortage of less than 12 hr and only two stations having sustained heavy damage. In this article, we review the strengths and weaknesses of the initial design and discuss various steps that can be taken to enhance the ability of our cooperated network to provide timely real-time seismic data to tsunami warning centers under any circumstances.

scholarly journals Real-time earthquake monitoring for tsunami warning in the Indian Ocean and beyond

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 2611-2622 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Hanka ◽  
J. Saul ◽  
B. Weber ◽  
J. Becker ◽  
P. Harjadi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Monitoring System ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Seismic Network ◽  
Tsunami Warning ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Real Time Data ◽  
Earthquake Monitoring ◽  
The Indian Ocean

Abstract. The Mw = 9.3 Sumatra earthquake of 26 December 2004 generated a tsunami that affected the entire Indian Ocean region and caused approximately 230 000 fatalities. In the response to this tragedy the German government funded the German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) Project. The task of the GEOFON group of GFZ Potsdam was to develop and implement the seismological component. In this paper we describe the concept of the GITEWS earthquake monitoring system and report on its present status. The major challenge for earthquake monitoring within a tsunami warning system is to deliver rapid information about location, depth, size and possibly other source parameters. This is particularly true for coast lines adjacent to the potential source areas such as the Sunda trench where these parameters are required within a few minutes after the event in order to be able to warn the population before the potential tsunami hits the neighbouring coastal areas. Therefore, the key for a seismic monitoring system with short warning times adequate for Indonesia is a dense real-time seismic network across Indonesia with densifications close to the Sunda trench. A substantial number of supplementary stations in other Indian Ocean rim countries are added to strengthen the teleseismic monitoring capabilities. The installation of the new GITEWS seismic network – consisting of 31 combined broadband and strong motion stations – out of these 21 stations in Indonesia – is almost completed. The real-time data collection is using a private VSAT communication system with hubs in Jakarta and Vienna. In addition, all available seismic real-time data from the other seismic networks in Indonesia and other Indian Ocean rim countries are acquired also directly by VSAT or by Internet at the Indonesian Tsunami Warning Centre in Jakarta and the resulting "virtual" network of more than 230 stations can jointly be used for seismic data processing. The seismological processing software as part of the GITEWS tsunami control centre is an enhanced version of the widely used SeisComP software and the well established GEOFON earthquake information system operated at GFZ in Potsdam (http://geofon.gfz-potsdam.de/db/eqinfo.php). This recently developed software package (SeisComP3) is reliable, fast and can provide fully automatic earthquake location and magnitude estimates. It uses innovative visualization tools, offers the possibility for manual correction and re-calculation, flexible configuration, support for distributed processing and data and parameter exchange with external monitoring systems. SeisComP3 is not only used for tsunami warning in Indonesia but also in most other Tsunami Warning Centres in the Indian Ocean and Euro-Med regions and in many seismic services worldwide.

Capturing, Preserving, and Digitizing Legacy Seismic Data from the Montserrat Volcano Observatory Analog Seismic Network, July 1995–December 2004

2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (4) ◽  
pp. 2127-2140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn Thompson ◽  
John A. Power ◽  
Jochen Braunmiller ◽  
Andrew B. Lockhart ◽  
Lloyd Lynch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Seismic Data ◽  
Original Data ◽  
South Florida ◽  
Seismic Network ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Spectral Amplitude ◽  
Assistance Program ◽  
Waveform Data ◽  
Amplitude Measurement

Abstract An eruption of the Soufrière Hills Volcano (SHV) on the eastern Caribbean island of Montserrat began on 18 July 1995 and continued until February 2010. Within nine days of the eruption onset, an existing four-station analog seismic network (ASN) was expanded to 10 sites. Telemetered data from this network were recorded, processed, and archived locally using a system developed by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP). In October 1996, a digital seismic network (DSN) was deployed with the ability to capture larger amplitude signals across a broader frequency range. These two networks operated in parallel until December 2004, with separate telemetry and acquisition systems (analysis systems were merged in March 2001). Although the DSN provided better quality data for research, the ASN featured superior real-time monitoring tools and captured valuable data including the only seismic data from the first 15 months of the eruption. These successes of the ASN have been rather overlooked. This article documents the evolution of the ASN, the VDAP system, the original data captured, and the recovery and conversion of more than 230,000 seismic events from legacy SUDS, Hypo71, and Seislog formats into Seisan database with waveform data in miniSEED format. No digital catalog existed for these events, but students at the University of South Florida have classified two-thirds of the 40,000 events that were captured between July 1995 and October 1996. Locations and magnitudes were recovered for ∼10,000 of these events. Real-time seismic amplitude measurement, seismic spectral amplitude measurement, and tiltmeter data were also captured. The result is that the ASN seismic dataset is now more discoverable, accessible, and reusable, in accordance with FAIR data principles. These efforts could catalyze new research on the 1995–2010 SHV eruption. Furthermore, many observatories have data in these same legacy data formats and might benefit from procedures and codes documented here.

scholarly journals Evaluation for hypocenter estimation error in the southwestern Kuril trench using Japan and Russia joint seismic data

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masayoshi Ichiyanagi ◽  
Mikhaylov Valentin ◽  
Dmitry Kostylev ◽  
Yuri Levin ◽  
Hiroaki Takahashi
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Seismic Data ◽  
Estimation Error ◽  
Tsunami Warning ◽  
Disaster Mitigation ◽  
Border Zone ◽  
Japan Meteorological Agency ◽  
Estimation Accuracy ◽  
Waveform Data ◽  
Kuril Trench

Abstract The southwestern Kuril trench is seismically active due to the subduction of the Pacific plate. Great earthquakes in this zone have frequently induced fatal disasters. Seismic monitoring and hypocenter catalogues provide fundamental information on earthquake occurrence and disaster mitigation. Real-time hypocenter and magnitude estimates are extremely crucial data for tsunami warning systems. However, this region is located in the international border zone between Japan and Russia. The Japan Meteorological Agency and Russian Academy of Sciences have routinely determined hypocenters and issued earthquake information independently. Waveform data have not yet been exchanged internationally in real time. Here, we evaluated how a hypothetical Japan-Russia joint seismic network could potentially improve the hypocenter estimation accuracy. Experiments using numerical and observed data indicated that the joint network extended the distance over which hypocenters can be accurately determined over 100 km eastward compared to the Japan network only. This fact suggests that joint seismic data have the potential to improve the hypocenter accuracy in this region, which would provide improved performance in gathering disaster information at the moment of a tsunami warning.

scholarly journals OGS improvements in 2012 in running the North-eastern Italy Seismic Network: the Ferrara VBB borehole seismic station

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 61-67
Author(s):  
D. Pesaresi ◽  
M. Romanelli ◽  
C. Barnaba ◽  
P. L. Bragato ◽  
G. Durì
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Seismic Station ◽  
Broad Band ◽  
Seismic Monitoring ◽  
Seismic Network ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Seismic Stations ◽  
The North ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Borehole Seismic

Abstract. The Centro di Ricerche Sismologiche (CRS, Seismological Research Centre) of the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS, Italian National Institute for Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics) in Udine (Italy) after the strong earthquake of magnitude M=6.4 occurred in 1976 in the Italian Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, started to operate the North-eastern Italy Seismic Network: it currently consists of 17 very sensitive broad band and 18 simpler short period seismic stations, all telemetered to and acquired in real time at the OGS-CRS data centre in Udine. Real time data exchange agreements in place with other Italian, Slovenian, Austrian and Swiss seismological institutes lead to a total number of about 100 seismic stations acquired in real time, which makes the OGS the reference institute for seismic monitoring of North-eastern Italy. The south-western edge of the OGS seismic network (Fig. 1) stands on the Po alluvial basin: earthquake localization and characterization in this area is affected by the presence of soft alluvial deposits. OGS ha already experience in running a local seismic network in high noise conditions making use of borehole installations in the case of the micro-seismicity monitoring of a local gas storage site for a private company. Following the ML = 5.9 earthquake that struck the Emilia region around Ferrara in Northern Italy on 20 May 2012 at 02:03:53 UTC, a cooperation of Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, OGS, the Comune di Ferrara and the University of Ferrara lead to the reinstallation of a previously existing very broad band (VBB) borehole seismic station in Ferrara. The aim of the OGS intervention was on one hand to extend its real time seismic monitoring capabilities toward South-West, including Ferrara and its surroundings, and on the other hand to evaluate the seismic response at the site. We will describe improvements in running the North-eastern Italy Seismic Network, including details of the Ferrara VBB borehole station configuration and installation, with first results.

Integration of operational Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems and COVID-19 data for the humanitarian community

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Proietti ◽  
Alessandro Annunziato ◽  
Pamela Probst ◽  
Stefano Paris ◽  
Thomas Peter
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Early Warning Systems ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Joint Research ◽  
Coordination System

<p>To improve preparedness and response in case of large-scale disasters, the international humanitarian community needs to understand the anticipated impact of an event as soon as possible in order to take informed operational decisions. The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), DG ECHO, and the United Nations’ OCHA and UNOSAT launched the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (www.GDACS.org) in 2002-03 as cooperation platform to provide early disaster warning and coordination services to humanitarian actors. After more than 15 years, GDACS has around 30k registered users among humanitarian organisations at global level.</p><p>At the beginning, one of GDACS’s main tasks was the dissemination of automatic alerts for earthquakes, tsunamis and tropical cyclones; today, the system has been augmented to include also floods, droughts and volcanoes, and it will soon include forest fires.  Alerts are sent to the international humanitarian community to ensure timely warning in severe events that are expected to require international assistance. Alert levels are determined by automated algorithms without, or with very limited, human intervention, using automatic real-time data-feeds from various scientific institutes or the JRC’s own systems.</p><p>From 2020, because of the potential impact of the COVID-19 emergency on international preparedness and response activities, the COVID-19 situation in affected countries is now also monitored by the system, providing real time information updates on the website. This new feature allows to consider in the planning of the emergency response, the severity of the outbreak in the affected countries.</p><p>This contribution presents the challenges and outcomes of combining science-based information from different independent systems into a single Multi-Hazard Early Warning System and introduces new functionalities that were recently developed to address the new challenges related to the COVID-19 emergency.</p>

scholarly journals The Italian National Seismic Network and the earthquake and tsunami monitoring and surveillance systems

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 31-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Michelini ◽  
Lucia Margheriti ◽  
Marco Cattaneo ◽  
Gianpaolo Cecere ◽  
Giuseppe D'Anna ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Strong Motion ◽  
Seismic Network ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Civil Protection ◽  
Tsunami Warning System ◽  
Moment Tensors ◽  
The North

Abstract. The Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) is an Italian research institution, with focus on Earth Sciences. INGV runs the Italian National Seismic Network (Rete Sismica Nazionale, RSN) and other networks at national scale for monitoring earthquakes and tsunami as a part of the National Civil Protection System coordinated by the Italian Department of Civil Protection (Dipartimento di Protezione Civile, DPC). RSN is composed of about 400 stations, mainly broadband, installed in the Country and in the surrounding regions; about 110 stations feature also co-located strong motion instruments, and about 180 have GPS receivers and belong to the National GPS network (Rete Integrata Nazionale GPS, RING). The data acquisition system was designed to accomplish, in near-real-time, automatic earthquake detection, hypocenter and magnitude determination, moment tensors, shake maps and other products of interest for DPC. Database archiving of all parametric results are closely linked to the existing procedures of the INGV seismic monitoring environment and surveillance procedures. INGV is one of the primary nodes of ORFEUS (Observatories & Research Facilities for European Seismology) EIDA (European Integrated Data Archive) for the archiving and distribution of continuous, quality checked seismic data. The strong motion network data are archived and distributed both in EIDA and in event based archives; GPS data, from the RING network are also archived, analyzed and distributed at INGV. Overall, the Italian earthquake surveillance service provides, in quasi real-time, hypocenter parameters to the DPC. These are then revised routinely by the analysts of the Italian Seismic Bulletin (Bollettino Sismico Italiano, BSI). The results are published on the web, these are available to both the scientific community and the general public. The INGV surveillance includes a pre-operational tsunami alert service since INGV is one of the Tsunami Service providers of the North-eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Tsunami warning System (NEAMTWS).

scholarly journals Infrasound array criteria for automatic detection and front velocity estimation of snow avalanches: towards a real-time early-warning system

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 2709-2737 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Marchetti ◽  
M. Ripepe ◽  
G. Ulivieri ◽  
A. Kogelnig
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Doppler Radar ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Velocity Estimation ◽  
Apparent Velocity ◽  
Snow Avalanches ◽  
Small Aperture ◽  
Back Azimuth ◽  
Threshold Criteria

Abstract. Avalanche risk management is strongly related to the ability to identify and timely report the occurrence of snow avalanches. Infrasound has been applied to avalanche research and monitoring for the last 20 years but it never turned into an operational tool for the ambiguity to identify clear signals related to avalanches. We present here a new method based on the analysis of infrasound signals recorded by a small aperture array in Ischgl (Austria), which overcome now this limit. The method is based on array derived wave parameters, such as back-azimuth and apparent velocity. The method defines threshold criteria for automatic avalanche identification considering avalanches as a moving source of infrasound. We validate efficiency of the automatic infrasound detection with continuous observations with Doppler Radar and we show how dynamics parameters such as the velocity of a snow avalanche in any given path around the array can be efficiently derived. Our results indicate that a proper infrasound array analysis allows a robust, real-time, remote detection of snow avalanches that could thus contribute significantly to avalanche forecast and risk management.

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