ALBERT

Description: We perform a spectral decomposition of the Fourier amplitude spectra disseminated along with the Engineering Strong Motion (ESM) flat file for Europe and Middle East. We apply a non-parametric inversion schema to isolate source, propagation and site effects, introducing a regionalization for the attenuation model into three domains. The obtained propagation and source components of the model are parametrized in terms of geometrical spreading, quality factor, seismic moment, and corner frequency assuming a ω2 source model. The non-parametric spectral attenuation values show a faster decay for earthquakes in Italy than in the other regions. Once described in terms of geometrical spreading and frequency-dependent quality factor, slopes and breakpoint locations of the piece-wise linear model for the geometrical spreading show regional variations, confirming that the non-parametric models capture the effects of crustal heterogeneities and differences in the anelastic attenuation. Since they are derived in the framework of a single inversion, the source spectra of the largest events which have occurred in Europe in the last decades can be directly compared and the scaling of the extracted source parameters evaluated. The Brune stress drop varies over about 2 orders of magnitude (the 5th, 50th and 95th percentiles of the ∆σ distribution are 0.76, 2.94, and 13.07 MPa, respectively), with large events having larger stress drops. In particular, the 5th, 50th and 95th percentiles for M 〉 5.5 are 2.87, 6.02, and 23.5 MPa, respectively whereas, for M 〈 5.5, the same percentiles are 0.73, 2.84, and 12.43 MPa. If compared to the residual distributions associated to a ground motion prediction equation previously derived using the same Fourier amplitude spectra, the source parameter and the empirical site amplification effects correlate well with the inter-event and inter-station residuals, respectively. Finally, we calibrated both non-parametric and parametric attenuation models for estimating the stress drop from the ratio between Arias intensity and significant duration. The results confirm that computing the Arias stress drop is a suitable approach for complementing the seismic moment with information controlling the source radiation at high frequencies for rapid response applications.

Description: https://esm.mi.ingv.it//flatfile-2018/

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉ABSTRACT〈/div〉The task of downloading comprehensive datasets of event‐based seismic waveforms has been made easier through the development of standardized webservices but is still highly nontrivial because the likelihood of temporary network failures or subtle data errors naturally increases when the amount of requested data is in the order of millions of relatively short segments. This is even more challenging because the typical workflow is not restricted to a single massive download but consists of fetching all possible available input data (e.g., with several repeated download executions) for a processing stage producing any desired user‐defined output. Here, we present stream2segment, a highly customizable Python 2+3 package helping the user in the entire workflow of downloading, inspecting, and processing event‐based seismic data by means of a relational database management system as archiving storage, which has clear performance and usability advantages, and an integrated processing subroutine requiring a configuration file and a single Python function to produce user‐defined output. Stream2segment can also produce diagnostic maps or user‐defined plots, which, unlike existing tools, do not require external software dependencies and are not static images but instead are interactive browser‐based applications ideally suited for data inspection or annotation tasks and subsequent training of classifiers in foreseen supervised machine‐learning applications.Stream2segment has already been used as a data quality tool for datasets within the European Integrated Data Archive and to create a weak‐motion database (in the form of a so‐called flat file) for the stable continental region of Europe in the context of the European Ground Shaking Intensity Model service, in turn an important building block for seismic hazard studies.〈/span〉

Description: Expansion of urban areas in Central Asia increases their exposure to seismic hazard, but at present no earthquake early warning (EEW) systems exist in the region. Such systems, successfully implemented in other regions, aim to provide warning of the order of tens of seconds about impending disasters, enabling the first rapid-response steps to be taken. The feasibility of such systems for Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, has been demonstrated. This study investigates how the use of the spectral content, instead of just ground-motion thresholds, can be used to improve the performance of proposed regional warning systems. We find that using the spectral content of the first few seconds after the P -wave arrival can provide timely warning for events closer to the target city than was possible with the threshold systems. It is further shown that for events less than 60 km from the target, any regional system needs to be complemented with an onsite one to provide a comprehensive EEW system.

Description: In this study we derive a spectral model describing the source, propagation and site characteristics of S waves recorded in central Italy. To this end, we compile and analyse a high-quality data set composed of more than 9000 acceleration and velocity waveforms in the local magnitude ( M l ) range 3.0–5.8 recorded at epicentral distances smaller than 120 km. The data set spans the time period from 2008 January 1 to 2013 May 31, and includes also the 2009 L'Aquila (moment magnitude M w 6.1, M l = 5.8) sequence. This data set is suitable for the application of data-driven approaches to derive the empirical functions for source, attenuation and site terms. Therefore, we apply a non-parametric inversion scheme to the acceleration Fourier spectra of the S waves of 261 earthquakes recorded at 129 stations. In a second step, with the aim of defining spectral models suitable for the implementation in numerical simulation codes, we represent the obtained non-parametric source and propagation terms by fitting standard parametric models. The frequency-dependent attenuation with distance r shows a complex trend that we parametrize in terms of geometrical spreading, anelastic attenuation and high-frequency decay parameter k. The geometrical spreading term is described by a piecewise linear model with crossover distances at 10 and 70 km: in the first segment, the spectral ordinates decay as 〈 tex – mathid = " IM 0001" 〉 r – 1.01 while in the second as 〈 tex – mathid = " IM 0002" 〉 r – 1.68 . Beyond 70 km, the attenuation decreases and the spectral amplitude attenuate as 〈 tex – mathid = " IM 0003" 〉 r – 0.64 . The quality factor Q ( f ) and the high-frequency attenuation parameter k , are 〈 tex – mathid = " IM 0004" 〉 Q ( f ) = 290 f 0.16 and k = 0.012 s, respectively, the latter being applied only for frequencies higher than 10 Hz. The source spectra are well described by 2 models, from which seismic moment and stress drops of 231 earthquakes are estimated. We calibrate a new regional relationship between seismic moment and local magnitude that improves the existing ones and extends the validity range to 3.0–5.8. We find a significant stress drop increase with seismic moment for events with M w larger than 3.75, with so-called scaling parameter  close to 1.5. We also observe that the overall offset of the stress-drop scaling is controlled by earthquake depth. We evaluate the performance of the proposed parametric models through the residual analysis of the Fourier spectra in the frequency range 0.5–25 Hz. The results show that the considered stress-drop scaling with magnitude and depth reduces, on average, the standard deviation by 18 per cent with respect to a constant stress-drop model. The overall quality of fit (standard deviation between 0.20 and 0.27, in the frequency range 1–20 Hz) indicates that the spectral model calibrated in this study can be used to predict ground motion in the L'Aquila region.

Description: In this study we derive a spectral model describing the source, propagation and site characteristics of S waves recorded in central Italy. To this end, we compile and analyse a high-quality data set composed of more than 9000 acceleration and velocity waveforms in the local magnitude ( M l ) range 3.0–5.8 recorded at epicentral distances smaller than 120 km. The data set spans the time period from 2008 January 1 to 2013 May 31, and includes also the 2009 L'Aquila (moment magnitude M w 6.1, M l = 5.8) sequence. This data set is suitable for the application of data-driven approaches to derive the empirical functions for source, attenuation and site terms. Therefore, we apply a non-parametric inversion scheme to the acceleration Fourier spectra of the S waves of 261 earthquakes recorded at 129 stations. In a second step, with the aim of defining spectral models suitable for the implementation in numerical simulation codes, we represent the obtained non-parametric source and propagation terms by fitting standard parametric models. The frequency-dependent attenuation with distance r shows a complex trend that we parametrize in terms of geometrical spreading, anelastic attenuation and high-frequency decay parameter k. The geometrical spreading term is described by a piecewise linear model with crossover distances at 10 and 70 km: in the first segment, the spectral ordinates decay as 〈 tex – mathid = " IM 0001" 〉 r – 1.01 while in the second as 〈 tex – mathid = " IM 0002" 〉 r – 1.68 . Beyond 70 km, the attenuation decreases and the spectral amplitude attenuate as 〈 tex – mathid = " IM 0003" 〉 r – 0.64 . The quality factor Q ( f ) and the high-frequency attenuation parameter k , are 〈 tex – mathid = " IM 0004" 〉 Q ( f ) = 290 f 0.16 and k = 0.012 s, respectively, the latter being applied only for frequencies higher than 10 Hz. The source spectra are well described by 2 models, from which seismic moment and stress drops of 231 earthquakes are estimated. We calibrate a new regional relationship between seismic moment and local magnitude that improves the existing ones and extends the validity range to 3.0–5.8. We find a significant stress drop increase with seismic moment for events with M w larger than 3.75, with so-called scaling parameter  close to 1.5. We also observe that the overall offset of the stress-drop scaling is controlled by earthquake depth. We evaluate the performance of the proposed parametric models through the residual analysis of the Fourier spectra in the frequency range 0.5–25 Hz. The results show that the considered stress-drop scaling with magnitude and depth reduces, on average, the standard deviation by 18 per cent with respect to a constant stress-drop model. The overall quality of fit (standard deviation between 0.20 and 0.27, in the frequency range 1–20 Hz) indicates that the spectral model calibrated in this study can be used to predict ground motion in the L'Aquila region.

Description: The goal of this article is to investigate the possibility of reducing the uncertainty of the ground motion predicted for a specific target area (Po Plain and northeastern Italy), by calibrating a set of ad hoc ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs). The derived GMPEs account for peculiarities that are not generally considered by standard predictive models, such as (1) an attenuation rate dependent on distance ranges and geological domains; (2) enhancement of short-period spectral ordinates, due to the reflection of S waves at the Moho discontinuity; and (3) generation of surface waves inside an alluvial basin. The analyzed strong-motion dataset was compiled by selecting events in the 4.0–6.4 magnitude range, records with distances shorter than 200 km, and focal depths shallower than 30 km; the major contribution comes from the recent 2012 Emilia sequence (first mainshock, 20 May 2012 M w  6.1; second mainshock, 29 May 2015 M w  6.0). The GMPEs are derived for the geometrical mean of horizontal components of peak ground acceleration, peak ground velocity, and 5% damped spectral acceleration in the 0.04–4 s period range. The derived region-specific models led to a reduction of the hazard levels for several intensity measures, with respect to the values obtained by considering the reference Italian attenuation model ( Bindi et al. , 2011 ), as exemplified by the comparison of the hazard curves computed for two specific sites. Online Material: Database of Northern Italy (DBNI) flat-file and tables of northern Italy ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs) (NI15) regression coefficients and variability components for use with Joyner–Boore and hypocentral distances.