Regional Estimates of Radiated Energy for Crustal Japanese Earthquakes

Date: 4/25/2019

Time: 02:00 PM

Room: Cascade I

We calculate the radiated energy for 29 crustal earthquakes in Japan with 5.6 ≤ M_w ≤ 7.0 using the regional method of Gutenberg and Richter (1942). The goal is to establish the accuracy of the procedure with respect to azimuthal variations in radiation pattern, propagation and site effects, and other factors not considered by Gutenberg and Richter. Empirical attenuation factors are determined to correct for the missing energy as a function of distance. We compare energy estimates between surface and borehole stations, and find that the surface stations overestimate the energy by about a factor of 2, with significantly larger scatter across stations. To further evaluate the accuracy of the method, synthetic seismograms are generated for the exact station distribution and moment tensor of each earthquake, and the energy estimated from the seismograms is compared with analytical estimates.

Presenting Author: Zachary E. Ross

Authors