Applying Compression Distance Metrics to Seismic Data in Support of Global Nuclear Explosion Monitoring

Abstract:

The analysis of seismic data for evidence of possible nuclear explosion testing is a critical global security mission that relies heavily on human expertise to identify and mark seismic signals embedded in background noise. To assist analysts in making these determinations, we adapted a compression distance metric called Sliding Information Distance (SLID) to the seismic analysis domain. Specifically, we progress a sliding window along a seismic waveform and approximate the information distance between the two halves of the window; high values, or peaks, in the SLID metric are used to identify the most likely arrival times for signals from seismic events. We assessed the accuracy of the SLID output by comparing it to both the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and the judgments of expert seismic analysts. Our results indicate that SLID is an effective algorithm for identifying arrival times. In addition, providing seismic analysts with a visualization of the SLID output provides them with useful information that facilitates more efficient analysis of seismic waveforms.

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