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Seismoacoustic Explosive Yield Estimation Using Ground-coupled Airwaves Recorded on a Local Seismic Network

Description: 

Infrasound waves impinging on the Earth’s surface can couple with the ground to create Ground-Coupled Airwaves (GCA), which are frequently observed on seismometers at local distances up to 250 km from a given explosion source. In this study, we explore a method to exploit GCA in estimations of explosive yield at local-scale distances. To develop this method, we evaluate GCA arrivals recorded on seismic sensors from a variety of chemical explosions with known yields, including the Humble Redwood test series: a series of near-surface controlled chemical explosive tests conducted in New Mexico from 2007-2012. We build upon these ground-truth yield data and existing scaling relationships between acoustic propagating waves and their coupling to seismic sensors, including consideration of geologic site conditions at the sensor, to develop reliable scaling relationships between observed GCAs and explosive chemical yield. To supplement yield estimates determined solely by GCAs, we also incorporate seismic arrivals recorded on the same seismic sensors into our technique, noting the varying lithologies that make up the source-receiver paths from event to event. By doing so we account for the fact that some the emplacement conditions of the chemical explosive tests occurred in both alluvium and limestone. Our primary goal in this research is to build a seismoacoustic yield estimation workflow that uses multi-modal seismic and acoustic data obtained from a single seismic sensor.

SNL is managed and operated by NTESS under DOE NNSA contract DE-NA0003525.

Session: Advancements in Forensic Seismology and Explosion Monitoring [Poster]

Type: Poster

Date: 4/17/2025

Presentation Time: 08:00 AM (local time)

Presenting Author: Nora

Student Presenter: No

Invited Presentation: 

Poster Number: 98

Authors