Special Session: Environmental Seismology: Glaciers, Rivers, Landslides and Beyond
Type: Oral
Day: 5/15/2018
Time: 4:30 PM
Room: Hibiscus B
Abstract
Aquifers are vital groundwater reservoirs for domestic, agricultural, and industrial activities worldwide. Tracking their state with high temporal and spatial resolution is critical for water resource management, yet rarely achieved from a single data set. Here, we show that groundwater level varitions can be mapped at basin-scale using perturbations in seismic velocity, dv/v. We recover daily changes in dv/v in the San Gabriel Valley, California, from cross-correlation of the ambient seismic field for the years 2000 - 2017. dv/v recovers the multi-year depletions and rapid recharge that mark the drought-wet cycles in southern California. dv/v correlates spatially with vertical surface displacements and deformation measured from local GPS stations. These results suggest that velocity change measurements have the potential to improve established monitoring efforts of aquifers.
Author(s):
Clements T. H. Harvard University
Denolle M. A. Harvard University
Tracking Groundwater Levels Using the Ambient Seismic Field
Category
Environmental Seismology: Glaciers, Rivers, Landslides and Beyond