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Array-based convolutional neural networks for automatic earthquake detection and 4D localization
  • Heather Shen,
  • Yang Shen
Heather Shen
University of Rhode Island
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Yang Shen
University of Rhode Island

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Abstract

The growing amounts of seismic data necessitates efficient and effective methods to monitor earthquakes. Current methods are computationally expensive, ineffective under noisy environments, or labor-intensive. We leverage advances in machine learning to propose an improved solution - a convolutional neural network that uses array data to seamlessly detect and localize events. When testing this methodology with events at Hawai‘i, we achieve 99.4% accuracy and predict hypocenter locations within a few kilometers of the U.S. Geological Survey catalog. We demonstrate that training with relocated earthquakes reduces localization errors significantly. We outline several ways to improve the model, including enhanced data augmentation and use of relocated offshore earthquakes recorded by ocean bottom seismometers. Application to continuous records shows that our algorithm detects 6 times as many earthquakes as the published catalog. Due to the enhanced detection sensitivity, localization granularity, and minimal computation costs, our solution is valuable, particularly for real-time earthquake monitoring.