S046-0010
The future strong-motion national seismic networks and earthquake early warning systems in Central America.

Monday, 14 December 2020
Poster
Frédérick Massin1, Mario Aroyo2, Maren Böse1, Esteban J. Chaves3, John F Clinton1, Lepolt Linkimer2, Griselda Marroquin4, Marino Protti5, Roman Racine1, Yara Rossi6, Wilfried Strauch7 and Robin Yani8, (1)ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Swiss Seismological Service (SED), Zurich, Switzerland, (2)Red Sismológica Nacional (RSN: UCR-ICE) y Escuela Centroamericana de Geología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Jose, Costa Rica, (3)Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica, Universidad Nacional (OVSICORI-UNA), Heredia, Costa Rica, (4)Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, San Salvador, El Salvador, (5)Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica, Heredia, Costa Rica, (6)ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Institute of Geodesy and Photogrammetry, Zurich, Switzerland, (7)Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales, Managua, Nicaragua, (8)Instituto Nacional de Sismología, Vulcanología, Meteorología e Hidrología, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Abstract:
Central America is exposed to frequent damaging earthquakes, from tsunamigenic thrust events and on-shore shallow crustal events often near densely urbanized areas, as demonstrated by the 1972 Managua Mw6.2 and 1976 Guatemala Mw7.4 earthquakes.

Local seismic monitoring agencies, in collaboration with the Swiss Seismological Service through funding from Swiss Development and Cooperation have been developing earthquake early warning systems in Central America since 2016. This effort builds on the existing national seismic networks; the long history of regional data sharing and collaboration on scientific and technical issues; and the close coordination with national and regional civil protection agencies. Currently pilot EEW systems based on the Virtual Seismologist and Finder algorithms, operating within SeisComP3, are in operation in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica. The goal is to provide public EEW alerts within, and tailored to, each nation, yet each system uses similar technical solutions, shared expertise and data. In this contribution, we report on improvements and challenges towards EEW readiness over the course of the project to date.

Optimizing data acquisition, metadata quality, and configuration of the EEW algorithms have led to improvements in speed and quality of earthquake parameter estimations. Network upgrades with EEW-ready sensors are on-going, including 70 class A force balance accelerographs within this project. These coordinated deployments are designed to mitigate current issues with velocimeter clipping during large events, datalogger delays, and incomplete network coverage.. We demonstrate the value of the network upgrades for earthquake early warning with real-time processing simulation for maximum magnitude events expected for the Central America subduction zone. We also accentuate the broad value of the network upgrade for seismological monitoring showing changes in the magnitude of completeness in the region

We further highlight current capabilities, challenges, first tests and further plans for providing public EEW alerts across Central America.

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