Automatic P-Wave Arrival Detection and Picking with Multiscale Wavelet Analysis for Single-Component Recordings

We have developed an automatic P -wave arrival detection and picking algorithm based on the wavelet transform and Akaike information criteria (AIC) picker. Wavelet coefficients at high resolutions show the fine structure of the time series, and those at low resolutions characterize its coarse features. Primary features such as the P -wave arrival are retained over several resolution scales, whereas secondary features such as scattered arrivals decay quickly at lower resolutions. We apply the discrete wavelet transform to single-component seismograms through a series of sliding time windows. In each window the AIC autopicker is applied to the thresholded absolute wavelet coefficients at different scales, and we compare the consistency of those picks to determine whether a P -wave arrival has been detected in the given time window. The arrival time is then determined using the AIC picker on the time window chosen by the wavelet transform. We test our method on regional earthquake data from the Dead Sea Rift region and local earthquake data from the Parkfield, California region. We find that 81% of picks are within 0.2-sec of the corresponding analyst pick for the Dead Sea dataset, and 93% of picks are within 0.1 sec of the analyst pick for the Parkfield dataset. We attribute the lower percentage of agreement for the Dead Sea dataset to the substantially lower signal-to-noise ratio of those data, and the likelihood that some percentage of the analyst picks are in error.

[1]  Stéphane Mallat,et al.  Singularity detection and processing with wavelets , 1992, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory.

[2]  S. Haykin,et al.  Adaptive Filter Theory , 1986 .

[3]  M. Victor Wickerhauser,et al.  Adapted wavelet analysis from theory to software , 1994 .

[4]  Steve Rogers,et al.  Adaptive Filter Theory , 1996 .

[5]  Ingrid Daubechies,et al.  Ten Lectures on Wavelets , 1992 .

[6]  P. Massart,et al.  From Model Selection to Adaptive Estimation , 1997 .

[7]  Tor A. Ramstad,et al.  Subband seismic data compression: optimization and evaluation , 1996, 1996 IEEE Digital Signal Processing Workshop Proceedings.

[8]  A. Grossmann,et al.  Cycle-octave and related transforms in seismic signal analysis , 1984 .

[9]  Truong Q. Nguyen,et al.  Wavelets and filter banks , 1996 .

[10]  M. Leonard,et al.  Multi-component autoregressive techniques for the analysis of seismograms , 1999 .

[11]  Reinoud Sleeman,et al.  Robust automatic P-phase picking: an on-line implementation in the analysis of broadband seismogram recordings , 1999 .

[12]  Christopher John Young,et al.  A comparison of select trigger algorithms for automated global seismic phase and event detection , 1998, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

[13]  David L. Donoho,et al.  De-noising by soft-thresholding , 1995, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory.

[14]  Farid U. Dowla,et al.  Wavelet transform methods for phase identification in three-component seismograms , 1997, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

[15]  M. Leonard,et al.  Comparison of Manual and Automatic Onset Time Picking , 2000 .

[16]  D. Okaya,et al.  Frequency‐time decomposition of seismic data using wavelet‐based methods , 1995 .

[17]  Wan-Chi Siu,et al.  Denoising by singularity detection , 1999, IEEE Trans. Signal Process..

[18]  H. Akaike,et al.  Information Theory and an Extension of the Maximum Likelihood Principle , 1973 .

[19]  George A. McMechan,et al.  Wave extrapolation in the spatial wavelet domain with application to poststack reverse-time migration , 1998 .

[20]  Kees Wapenaar,et al.  Characterization of Reflectors By Multi-scale Amplitude And Phase Analysis of Seismic Data , 1998 .

[21]  Ileana M. Tibuleac,et al.  An Automatic Method for Determination of Lg Arrival Times Using Wavelet Transforms , 1998 .

[22]  Dimitris Manolakis,et al.  Rapid Joint Detection and Classification with Wavelet Bases via Bayes Theorem , 2000 .

[23]  A. Grossmann,et al.  DECOMPOSITION OF HARDY FUNCTIONS INTO SQUARE INTEGRABLE WAVELETS OF CONSTANT SHAPE , 1984 .

[24]  Peter M. Shearer,et al.  Characterization of global seismograms using an automatic-picking algorithm , 1994, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

[25]  N. Maeda A Method for Reading and Checking Phase Time in Auto-Processing System of Seismic Wave Data , 1985 .

[26]  Stéphane Mallat,et al.  A Theory for Multiresolution Signal Decomposition: The Wavelet Representation , 1989, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell..

[27]  John E. Vidale,et al.  Complex polarization analysis of particle motion , 1986 .