ALBERT

Description: We introduce a method for mapping the noise-source distribution of microseisms which uses information from the full length of covariograms (cross-correlations). We derive a forward calculation based on the plane-wave assumption in 2-D, to formulate an iterative, linearized inversion of covariogram envelopes in the time domain. The forward calculation involves bandpass filtering of the covariograms. The inversion exploits the well-known feature of noise cross-correlation, that is, an anomaly in the noise field that is oblique to the interstation direction appears as cross-correlation amplitude at a smaller time lag than the in-line, surface wave arrival. Therefore, the inversion extracts more information from the covariograms than that contained at the expected surface wave arrival, and this allows us to work with few stations to find the propagation directions of incoming energy. The inversion is naturally applied to data that retain physical units that are not amplitude normalized in any way. By dividing a network into groups of stations, we can constrain the source location by triangulation. We demonstrate results of the method with synthetic data and one year (2012) of data from the Swedish National Seismic Network and also look at the seasonal variation of source distribution around Scandinavia. After preprocessing and cross-correlation, the stations are divided into five groups of 9–12 stations. We invert the envelopes of each group in eight period ranges between 2 and 25 s. Results show that the noise sources at short periods (less than 12 s) lie predominantly in the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea, and at longer periods the energy appears to have a broader distribution. The strongly anisotropic source distribution in this area is estimated to cause significant biases of velocity measurements compared to the level of heterogeneity in the region. The amplitude of the primary microseisms varies little over the year, but secondary microseisms are much weaker in summer than in winter. Furthermore, the peak period of the secondary microseisms shifts from 5–6 s in winter to 4–5 s during the summer.