Identifying and correcting timing errors at seismic stations in and around Iran

A fundamental component of seismic research is the use of phase arrival times, which are central to event location, Earth model development, and phase identification, as well as derived products. Hence, the accuracy of arrival times is crucial. However, errors in the timing of seismic waveforms and the arrival times based on them may go unidentified by the end user, particularly when seismic data are shared between different organizations. Here, we present a method used to analyze travel‐time residuals for stations in and around Iran to identify time periods that are likely to contain station timing problems. For the 14 stations with the strongest evidence of timing errors lasting one month or longer, timing corrections are proposed to address the problematic time periods. Two additional stations are identified with incorrect locations in the International Registry of Seismograph Stations, and one is found to have erroneously reported arrival times in 2011.

[1]  George E. Randall,et al.  Passcal instrument performance during the Tibetan Plateau Passive Seismic Experiment , 1993, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

[2]  Steven J. Gibbons,et al.  On the Identification and Documentation of Timing Errors: An Example at the KBS Station, Spitsbergen , 2006 .

[3]  Christoph Sens-Schönfelder,et al.  Synchronizing seismic networks with ambient noise , 2008 .

[4]  Keiiti Aki,et al.  Site amplification of coda waves from local earthquakes in central California , 1986 .

[5]  William Scott Phillips,et al.  Relative Constraints on Correction Surfaces for More Effective use of Low-Order Ground Truth , 2003 .

[6]  Clifford H. Thurber,et al.  Development and Applications of Double-difference Seismic Tomography , 2006 .

[7]  Roel Snieder,et al.  Bias in reported seismic arrival times deduced from the ISC Bulletin , 1999 .

[8]  Tzay-Chyn Shin,et al.  An examination of telemetry delay in the central weather bureau seismic network , 2012 .

[9]  Christoph Sens-Schönfelder,et al.  Passive image interferometry and seasonal variations of seismic velocities at Merapi Volcano, Indonesia , 2006 .

[10]  R. A. Soomro,et al.  Identification of response and timing issues at permanent European broadband stations from automated data analysis , 2013 .

[11]  Walter H. F. Smith,et al.  New, improved version of generic mapping tools released , 1998 .

[12]  Klaus Stammler,et al.  Detection and Elimination of Time Synchronization Problems for the GERESS Array by Correlating Microseismic Noise , 2003 .

[13]  Clifford H. Thurber,et al.  Double-Difference Tomography: The Method and Its Application to the Hayward Fault, California , 2003 .