Analyses and Application of Ambient Seismic Noise in Sweden Source, Interferometry, Tomography

Abstract: Ambient seismic noise from generation to its application for determination of sub-surface velocity structures is analyzed using continuous data recordings from the Swedish National Seismic Network (SNSN). The fundamental aim of the thesis is to investigate the applicability of precise velocity measurements from ambient noise data. In the ambient noise method, a form of interferometry, the seismic signal is constructed from long-term cross correlation of a random noise field. Anisotropy of the source distribution causes apparent time shifts (velocity bias) in the interferometric signals. The velocity bias can be important for the study area (Sweden) which has relatively small velocity variations. This work explores the entire data path, from investigating the noise-source distribution to a tomographic study of southern Sweden.A new method to invert for the azimuthal source distribution from cross-correlation envelopes is introduced. The method provides quantitative estimates of the azimuthal source distribution which can be used for detailed studies of source generation processes. An advantage of the method is that it uses few stations to constrain azimuthal source distributions. The results show that the source distribution is inhomogeneous, with sources concentrated along the western coast of Norway. This leads to an anisotropic noise field, especially for the secondary microseisms. The primary microseismic energy comes mainly from the northeast.The deduced azimuthal source distributions are used to study the level of expected bias invelocity estimates within the SNSN. The results indicate that the phase-velocity bias is less than 1% for most station pairs but can be larger for small values of the ratio of inter-station distance over wavelength. In addition, the nature of velocity bias due to a heterogeneous source field is investigated in terms of high and finite-frequency regimes.Graphical software for phase-velocity dispersion measurements based on new algorithms is presented and validated with synthetic data and by comparisons to other methods. The software is used for phase-velocity measurements, and deduced azimuthal source distributions are used for velocity-bias correction. Derived phase-velocity dispersion curves are used to construct two-dimensional velocity maps of southern Sweden at different periods based on travel-time tomography. The effect of the bias correction is investigated, and velocity maps are interpreted in comparison to previous geological and geophysical information.