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Determining the Feasibility of DAS for Urban Earthquake Monitoring in Athens, Greece

Description: 

As the global network of telecommunication fibers rapidly expands, we often hear of the increasing potential to apply DAS and other fiber-optic seismology methods over large distances, and in novel and challenging environments. Many of these fibers are installed within urban environments, and it has been demonstrated that these can be useful for seismic event detection and shallow subsurface modeling. However, there remains a disconnect between DAS deployments and traditional long-term/permanent seismic networks. In particular, we are interested in exploring whether the incorporation of DAS into seismic networks for regional earthquake detection and monitoring may prove to be beneficial, and assessing the costs and benefits of such a long-term deployment.

To do this, we analyze a dataset collected in Athens, Greece from September – October 2021. Data were collected over 24 km of in-situ fiber owned by the OTE Group (one of the largest telecommunication companies in Greece). This study area is chosen due to the significant seismic risk in Athens; due to its proximity to many active fault systems, dense urban population, and a large number of older buildings and structures. We develop a rapid event-detection workflow, based on standard seismic tools such as STA/LTA, while also utilizing the high spatial density of DAS to improve the detection rate for small events. We are able to detect several hundred local seismic events, down to local magnitude 0.55. Given the urban location of our study, we also apply careful processing to address the challenges of detecting and isolating seismic events within noisy urban DAS data. For suitable events, we estimate event locations using the DAS data. Finally, we test the event detection and localization capabilities of DAS, both in comparison to, and in conjunction with the existing regional network operated by NOA (National Observatory of Athens).

Session: Network Seismology: Recent Developments, Challenges and Lessons Learned - II

Type: Oral

Date: 5/1/2024

Presentation Time: 05:15 PM (local time)

Presenting Author: Krystyna

Student Presenter: Yes

Invited Presentation: 

Authors