Study of Magnitudes, Seismicity and Earthquake Detectability Using a Global Network

Abstract

Based on 10 years of observations reported in the International Seismological Center bulletins (1971-1980), m sub b magnitudes for about 70000 earthquakes have been recomputed using a maximum-likelihood estimation technique. Reporting from a network of 115 globally distributed stations were used in these calculations. Comparison to conventional m sub b estimates show that the network magnitude bias problem is quite significant at low and intermediate magnitudes. Recurrence statistics based on the revised m sub b estimates give b-values consistent with those obtained worldwide of m sub b > or = 4.0 averages about 7500 annually. The teleseismic detection capability of the network (requiring at least four detecting stations) has been estimated based on recurrence statistics. The estimated 90 per cent incremental m sub b threshold ranges from 3.9-4.5 in the northern hemisphere, and from 4.2-4.8 in the southern hemisphere. This is consistent with results obtained by the 'Networth' approach.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1984
Accession Number
ADA173446

Entities

People

  • Frode Ringdal

Organizations

  • Leidos

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Databases
  • Department Of Defense
  • Detection
  • Earthquakes
  • Explosions
  • Grids
  • Hemispheres
  • Latitude
  • Longitude
  • Maximum Likelihood Estimation
  • Nets
  • Northern Hemisphere
  • Northwest Territories
  • Observation
  • Probability
  • South America
  • Statistics

Readers

  • Adaptive Control and Estimation with Uncertainty in Dynamic Systems.
  • Seismology