Seismic Noise: Making Sense from the Unknown

Dear Colleagues,

Since the ground motion recorded by seismic stations is inevitably controlled by a multitude of sources, what we consider as ‘useful information’ (information related to source, underground structure, attenuation, etc.) depends on what we are actually looking for. Commonly, we fight to eliminate as much as possible the ambient noise (stationary) to highlight the signal generated by transient events (earthquakes, explosions). However, in the ambient noise tomography for example, on the contrary the interest is to remove the transient signals and to obtain as ‘pure’ ambient noise as possible. Specific techniques, such as seismic noise correlation technique, H/V spectral ratio, ellipticity analysis, and frequency-wavenumber, proved to be very powerful in turning ambient seismic noise into useful signals (high-resolution shallow structure, site effects, attenuation). They became more and more attractive as seismic networks became denser. In addition, the seismic noise is a low-cost and easy-to-measure signal which is available everywhere and at every time, independent from earthquake activity or active seismic sources. This is of highest interest in areas where the natural seismicity is low or in sensitive areas, such as cities, where it is difficult to use active seismic measurements (explosions, large vibrators). A lot of effort has been undertaken to improve ambient noise data processing procedures in order to extract as much and accurate information as possible from continuous recorded seismograms.

The focus of this Special Issue is to emphasize novel results on the use of multiple computational methods and techniques to provide high-resolution information and to model and interpret seismic noise wave field. Contributions related to multiple aspects, both applicative and theoretical, investigated in various environments and at various scales are encouraged. 

Prof. Dr. Mircea Radulian
Guest Editor

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• seismic noise
• seismic interferometry
• ambient noise tomography
• surface waves
• ambient seismic noise interferometry
• microseisms
• site effects
• signal detection techniques
• H/V spectral ratio
• ellipticity analysis
• passive seismics