| Summary: | Scattering and refraction of seismic waves can be exploited with empirical matched field processing of array observations to distinguish sources separated by much less than the classical resolution limit. To describe this effect, we use the term 'superresolution', a term widely used in the optics and signal processing literature to denote systems that break the diffraction limit. We illustrate superresolution with Pn signals recorded by the ARCES array in northern Norway, using them to identify the origins with 98.2% accuracy of 549 explosions conducted by closely-spaced mines in northwest Russia. The mines are observed at 340-410 kilometers range and are separated by as little as 3 kilometers. When viewed from ARCES many are separated by just tenths of a degree in azimuth. This classification performance results from an adaptation to transient seismic signals of techniques developed in underwater acoustics for localization of continuous sound sources. Matched field processing is a potential competitor to frequency-wavenumber and waveform correlation methods currently used for event detection, classification and location. It operates by capturing the spatial structure of wavefields incident from a particular source in a series of narrow frequency bands. In the rich seismic scattering environment, closely-spaced sources far from the observing array nonetheless produce distinct wavefield amplitude and phase patterns across the small array aperture. With observations of repeating events, these patterns can be calibrated over a wide band of frequencies (e.g. 2.5-12.5 Hertz) for use in a power estimation technique similar to frequency-wavenumber analysis. The calibrations enable coherent processing at high frequencies at which wavefields normally are considered incoherent under a plane wave model.
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