Seismic Waveform Analysis of Underground Nuclear Explosions

• Main Authors: Butler, R, Ruff, L J, Hart, R S, Mellman, G R
• Other Authors: SIERRA GEOPHYSICS INC ARCADIA CA
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1979
• Subjects: Seismology; *NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS; *SEISMIC WAVES; AMPLITUDE; ARCTIC OCEAN ISLANDS; ATTENUATION; AZIMUTH; BIAS; DISCRIMINATION; EARTHQUAKES; INVERSION; JAPAN; NORTH AMERICA; PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS; SEISMIC DATA; SEISMOLOGICAL STATIONS; SOURCES; SOUTH AMERICA; TIME DOMAIN; TRANSPARENCE; UNDERGROUND EXPLOSIONS; UNITED STATES; USSR; WAVE ANALYZERS; WAVEFORMS; PRIMARY WAVES; SHORT PERIOD SEISMIC WAVES; CONTINENTS; NOVAYA ZEMLYA; SEMIPALATINSK; PE62701E; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Novaya Zemlya
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA079615; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA079615

The present research program represents an application of the methods of time domain seismology to the observed short period P-waves from underground explosions. The goals were to obtain better estimates of the variation of short period seismic attenuation across the continental United States, evaluate the influence of different source regions on teleseismic P-wave amplitudes and waveforms, quantify the concepts of station/receiver transparency, and develop the initial states of a waveform inversion technique for both source discrimination and source description applications. A significant portion of the work performed on the first and second parts of this task was reported in the Sierra Geophysics Quarterly Technical Reports SGI-R-79-001 and SGI-R-79-004. That research is summarized and some additional work and insights into the implications of the results are included. The last section contains discussions of station transparencies and progress report on waveform inversion techniques.