Publications

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Seismic data acquisition at the FACT site for the CASPAR project

Chael, Eric P.; Hart, Darren H.; Jones, Kyle R.

Since May 2010, we have been recording continuous seismic data at Sandia's FACT site. The collected signals provide us with a realistic archive for testing algorithms under development for local monitoring of explosive testing. Numerous small explosive tests are routinely conducted around Kirtland AFB by different organizations. Our goal is to identify effective methods for distinguishing these events from normal daily activity on and near the base, such as vehicles, aircraft, and storms. In this report, we describe the recording system, and present some observations of the varying ambient noise conditions at FACT. We present examples of various common, non-explosive, sources. Next we show signals from several small explosions, and discuss their characteristic features.

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TYPE SAND Report YEAR 2012
OSTIDOI

Local magnitudes of small contained explosions

Chael, Eric P.

The relationship between explosive yield and seismic magnitude has been extensively studied for underground nuclear tests larger than about 1 kt. For monitoring smaller tests over local ranges (within 200 km), we need to know whether the available formulas can be extrapolated to much lower yields. Here, we review published information on amplitude decay with distance, and on the seismic magnitudes of industrial blasts and refraction explosions in the western U. S. Next we measure the magnitudes of some similar shots in the northeast. We find that local magnitudes ML of small, contained explosions are reasonably consistent with the magnitude-yield formulas developed for nuclear tests. These results are useful for estimating the detection performance of proposed local seismic networks.

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TYPE SAND Report YEAR 2009
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Predicting the performance of local seismic networks using Matlab and Google Earth

Chael, Eric P.

We have used Matlab and Google Earth to construct a prototype application for modeling the performance of local seismic networks for monitoring small, contained explosions. Published equations based on refraction experiments provide estimates of peak ground velocities as a function of event distance and charge weight. Matlab routines implement these relations to calculate the amplitudes across a network of stations from sources distributed over a geographic grid. The amplitudes are then compared to ambient noise levels at the stations, and scaled to determine the smallest yield that could be detected at each source location by a specified minimum number of stations. We use Google Earth as the primary user interface, both for positioning the stations of a hypothetical local network, and for displaying the resulting detection threshold contours.

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TYPE SAND Report YEAR 2009
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Results 1–25 of 33
Results 1–25 of 33