[Poster] Face to Phase: Probabilistic Estimates of Monitoring Completeness of Seismic Networks

D. Schorlemmer and J. Woessner

Face to Phase: Probabilistic Estimates of Monitoring Completeness of Seismic Networks

SCEC Annual Meeting 2006, Palm springs, USA.

SCEC Proceedings, Vol. 16, 159, 2006.

Abstract

The monitoring completeness of seismic networks varies in space and time. It strongly depends on station distribution and recording quality per station. We introduce a new method to estimate the capabilities of seismic networks to spatially and temporally monitor completeness based on phase data.

We derive probability distributions in the magnitude and distance space for each station. From these, we compute either completeness maps for a particular probability level or probability maps for the detectability of events with a particular magnitude.

This approach has several advantages over alternative ways in completeness estimates: Contrary to estimating completeness based on the Gutenberg-Richter distribution, our approach does not assume any event-size distribution and is based solely on empirical data. Because the method does not rely on earthquake samples, no averaging over space and time occurs. It also offers the possibility of estimating the completeness in low-seismicity areas where methods based on parametric earthquake catalogs fail due to sparse data. Additionally, the probability distributions per station allow to analyze single station performances, intrinsically including site effects.

We present our first case study from southern California and compare them with estimated completeness levels of other methods. Because the only ingredients to the probabilistic estimates of monitoring completeness are the phase data and a station list, this approach is easy to adopt to other seismic networks. We envision this method to become a viable additional tool for the design and management of seismic networks from local to global scales.

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