A Discussion of Efforts Needed to Extract Key Information From Important Old Seismograms

Date: 4/26/2019

Time: 01:30 PM

Room: Pike

We begin with practical issues arising from analysis of the Tucson Observatory (TUO) Benioff SP seismogram on 1945 July 16, recorded 437 km from the first nuclear explosion, TRINITY, conducted in Southern New Mexico in the atmosphere. It includes clearly-identifiable regional seismic phases, plus arrivals apparently due to ground motion from energy along two different infrasound paths.

We review the challenges in finding such records, and discuss what level of scanning is required for: assessing S/N and for phase identification; for measuring arrival times and maximum amplitudes; for coda studies; and for spectral analysis. We ask: what can be achieved at different levels of scanning quality, and with different digitizing packages; what are the potential audiences, present and future; and what consensus can be developed, to make progress on data rescues?

We note some successful efforts in countries other than the USA, to make archives of analog seismograms amenable to use with modern analytical tools; and we suggest some priorities, such as the need to search for the most important records before they are lost, to scan them with adequate quality, and to develop an information center on activities related to making old records useful once again.

Presenting Author: Paul Richards

Authors