Converted T phases recorded on Hawaii from polynesian nuclear tests: A preliminary report

E. A. Okal

doi:10.1007/978-3-0348-8270-5_3

Converted T phases recorded on Hawaii from polynesian nuclear tests: A preliminary report

E. A. Okal^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present a preliminary study of T waves from Polynesian nuclear tests at Mururoa, recorded on digital stations of the Hawaii Volcano Observatory network, following their conversion to seismic waves at the southern shore of the Island of Hawaii, and subsequent propagation to the recording stations. We show that seismograms are composed of several packets, which can be interpreted as resulting from T → P and T → S conversions, and which feature distinct spectral characteristics. As the distance from the shoreline to the station increases, the relative importance of the several wave packets changes; a prominent shadow for T → P is found at 8-12 km from the shore. This pattern is affected by the local crustal structure; in a favorable case, propagation in deep, low-attenuation layers resulted in a clear record as far as 76 km from the shoreline. While these results are generally robust, they can be moderately affected by a change of location of the source inside Mururoa Atoll.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	457-474
Number of pages	18
Journal	Pure and Applied Geophysics
Volume	158
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-8270-5_3
State	Published - 2001

Funding

I am grateful to Jacques Talandier for many years of stimulating collaboration in the field of Pacific T waves, and to Paul Okubo for access to the HVO archives. The maps on Figure 1 were drawn using the GMT software by WESSEL and SMITH (1991). I thank Donna Blackman for constructive comments. This research is supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency of the Department of Defense, under Grant DSWA01-98-1-0007.

Keywords

Nuclear tests
Seismic conversions
T phases

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geophysics
Geochemistry and Petrology

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10.1007/978-3-0348-8270-5_3

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title = "Converted T phases recorded on Hawaii from polynesian nuclear tests: A preliminary report",

abstract = "We present a preliminary study of T waves from Polynesian nuclear tests at Mururoa, recorded on digital stations of the Hawaii Volcano Observatory network, following their conversion to seismic waves at the southern shore of the Island of Hawaii, and subsequent propagation to the recording stations. We show that seismograms are composed of several packets, which can be interpreted as resulting from T → P and T → S conversions, and which feature distinct spectral characteristics. As the distance from the shoreline to the station increases, the relative importance of the several wave packets changes; a prominent shadow for T → P is found at 8-12 km from the shore. This pattern is affected by the local crustal structure; in a favorable case, propagation in deep, low-attenuation layers resulted in a clear record as far as 76 km from the shoreline. While these results are generally robust, they can be moderately affected by a change of location of the source inside Mururoa Atoll.",

keywords = "Nuclear tests, Seismic conversions, T phases",

author = "Okal, \{E. A.\}",

note = "Funding Information: I am grateful to Jacques Talandier for many years of stimulating collaboration in the field of Pacific T waves, and to Paul Okubo for access to the HVO archives. The maps on Figure 1 were drawn using the GMT software by WESSEL and SMITH (1991). I thank Donna Blackman for constructive comments. This research is supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency of the Department of Defense, under Grant DSWA01-98-1-0007.",

year = "2001",

doi = "10.1007/978-3-0348-8270-5\_3",

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pages = "457--474",

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AU - Okal, E. A.

N1 - Funding Information: I am grateful to Jacques Talandier for many years of stimulating collaboration in the field of Pacific T waves, and to Paul Okubo for access to the HVO archives. The maps on Figure 1 were drawn using the GMT software by WESSEL and SMITH (1991). I thank Donna Blackman for constructive comments. This research is supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency of the Department of Defense, under Grant DSWA01-98-1-0007.

PY - 2001

Y1 - 2001

N2 - We present a preliminary study of T waves from Polynesian nuclear tests at Mururoa, recorded on digital stations of the Hawaii Volcano Observatory network, following their conversion to seismic waves at the southern shore of the Island of Hawaii, and subsequent propagation to the recording stations. We show that seismograms are composed of several packets, which can be interpreted as resulting from T → P and T → S conversions, and which feature distinct spectral characteristics. As the distance from the shoreline to the station increases, the relative importance of the several wave packets changes; a prominent shadow for T → P is found at 8-12 km from the shore. This pattern is affected by the local crustal structure; in a favorable case, propagation in deep, low-attenuation layers resulted in a clear record as far as 76 km from the shoreline. While these results are generally robust, they can be moderately affected by a change of location of the source inside Mururoa Atoll.

AB - We present a preliminary study of T waves from Polynesian nuclear tests at Mururoa, recorded on digital stations of the Hawaii Volcano Observatory network, following their conversion to seismic waves at the southern shore of the Island of Hawaii, and subsequent propagation to the recording stations. We show that seismograms are composed of several packets, which can be interpreted as resulting from T → P and T → S conversions, and which feature distinct spectral characteristics. As the distance from the shoreline to the station increases, the relative importance of the several wave packets changes; a prominent shadow for T → P is found at 8-12 km from the shore. This pattern is affected by the local crustal structure; in a favorable case, propagation in deep, low-attenuation layers resulted in a clear record as far as 76 km from the shoreline. While these results are generally robust, they can be moderately affected by a change of location of the source inside Mururoa Atoll.

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KW - Seismic conversions

KW - T phases

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Converted T phases recorded on Hawaii from polynesian nuclear tests: A preliminary report

Abstract

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