The Potential of Analogue Seismograms for Science and Education

Date: 4/26/2019

Time: 10:45 AM

Room: Pike

In contrast to about 40 years of digital data collection, analogue recording of seismograms occurred for nearly 100 years. The duration of seismic data availability is thus increased more than twofold if the analogue data can be accessed. This longer time span provides unique opportunities to study unusual events and time-dependent phenomena that are too gradual to be constrained by the 40-year digital data availability. This presentation reviews some of the research questions that can be asked using analogue data, and the potential for engaging the public in building the required database.

With advances in our understanding of data and computational resources, our use of seismograms has moved from limited segments of earthquake recordings to continuous waveforms of ground motion. These approaches allow us to investigate non-traditional targets such as subsurface changes, glacial calving events, and tracking storm systems. The vast majority of analogue recordings are dominated by these types of signal, portions that were once considered noise. However, the analyses of these data are built upon a fundamental stipulation that the input are digital time series. In order to utilize the analogue seismograms, they must be converted to the digital format.

The analogue recordings of non-earthquake seismograms are easiest to digitize from the perspectives of trace crossings and associations. These are the types of recordings that citizen scientists can, with some training, digitize using the DigitSeis software. To explore the potential of such a citizen science project, we have been working with nearly 200 students from 14 high schools in Japan. The students learn to use the DigitSeis software with an example image, and once their analysis have been reviewed and passed, they move on to digitize images that have never been digitized. The project produces digital data for seismologists to use, but is also a great opportunity to engage students in science and research at an early stage.

Presenting Author: Miaki Ishii

Authors