Improving signal-to-noise ratios of ambient noise cross-correlation
functions using local attributes
Abstract
For seismographic stations with short acquisition duration, the
signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of ambient noise cross-correlation
functions (CCFs) are typically low, preventing us from accurately
measuring surface wave dispersion curves or waveform characteristics. In
addition, with low-quality CCFs, it is difficult to monitor temporal
variations of subsurface physical states or extract relatively weak
signals such as body waves. In this study, we propose to use local
attributes to improve the SNRs of ambient noise CCFs, which allows us to
enhance the quality of CCFs for stations with limited acquisition
duration. Two local attributes: local cross-correlation and local
similarity, are used in this study. The local cross-correlation allows
us to extend the dimensionality of daily CCFs with computational costs
similar to global cross-correlation. Taking advantage of this extended
dimensionality, the local similarity is then used to measure
non-stationary similarity between the extended daily CCFs with a
reference stacking trace, which enables us to design better stacking
weights to enhance coherent features and attenuate incoherent background
noises. Ambient noise recorded by several broadband stations from the
USArray in North Texas and Oklahoma, the Superior Province Rifting
EarthScope Experiment in Minnesota and Wisconsin and a high-frequency
nodal array deployed in the San Bernardino basin are used to demonstrate
the performance of the proposed approach for improving the SNR of CCFs.