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  • The contribution of submarine optical fiber telecom cables to the monitoring of earthquakes and tsunamis in the NE Atlantic
    Publication . Matias, Luis; Carrilho, Fernando; Sá, Vasco; Omira, Rachid; Niehus, Manfred; Corela, Carlos; Barros, José; Omar, Yasser
    Recent developments in optical fiber cable technology allows the use of existing and future submarine telecommunication cables to provide seismic and sea-level information. In this work we study the impact of three different technologies, 1) SMART, Science Monitoring and Reliable Telecommunications; 2) DAS, Distributed Acoustic Sensing, and; 3) LI, Laser Interferometry, for effective earthquake and tsunami monitoring capabilities on the NE Atlantic. The SW Iberia is the source area of the largest destructive earthquake that struck Europe since the year 1000, the November 1, 1755 event. This earthquake generated also a destructive tsunami affecting the whole basin. This tectonically active area is crossed by the CAM (Continent-Azores-Madeira) submarine cable on a ring configuration. Due to the end of cable lifetime the current cables need to be replaced by 2024 and the technical requirements must be defined in mid-2021. The Azores archipelago is the focus of frequent seismic crizes and occasionally destructive earthquakes. A common feature of these seismic events is that they take place offshore, an area that is difficult to monitor from land-based instruments. In this work we evaluate the contribution of SMART cables to the earthquake monitoring and tsunami early warning system in SW Iberia and show how DAS and LI can improve earthquake monitoring on two active domains of the Azores. For tsunami early warning, we show how the offshore sea-level measurements provide clean offshore tsunami records when compared to coastal observations by tide gauges, which greatly improves the efficiency of the system. For earthquake monitoring, the data processing operational routine is examined using Monte-Carlo simulations. These take into consideration the errors in phase picking and the uncertainty on the 1D velocity model used for earthquake location. Quality of earthquake location is examined using the difference between the true location and the centroid of the computed epicenters and by the overall ellipse of uncertainty obtained from 100 runs. The added value provided by instrumented submarine telecommunication cables to mitigate earthquake and tsunami risk demonstrated in this work will help authorities and the society in general to take the political decisions required for its full implementation worldwide.
  • Imaging exhumed lower continental crust in the distal Jequitinhonha basin, Brazil
    Publication . Loureiro, Afonso; Schnürle, P.; Klingelhoefer, Frauke; Afilhado, Alexandra; Pinheiro, J.; Evain, Mikael; Gallais, F.; Dias, Nuno; Rabineau, Marina; Baltzer, A.; Benabdellouahed, M.; Soares, J.; Fuck, R.; Cupertino, J. A.; Viana, Adriano Roessler; Matias, Luis; Moulin, Maryline; Aslanian, D.; Morvan, L.; Mazé, J. P.; Pierre, D.; Roudaut-Pitel, M.; Rio, I.; Alves, D.; Júnior, P. Barros; Biari, Youssef; Corela, C.; Crozon, J.; Duarte, J. L.; Ducatel, C.; Falcão, C.; Fernagu, P.; Lima, M. Vinicius Aparecido Gomes de; Piver, D. Le; Mokeddem, Z.; Pelleau, P.; Rigoti, C.; Roest, W.; Roudaut, M.
    Twelve combined wide-angle refraction and coincident multi-channel seismic profiles were acquired in the Jequitinhonha-Camamu-Almada, Jacuípe, and Sergipe-Alagoas basins, NE Brazil, during the SALSA experiment in 2014. Profiles SL11 and SL12 image the Jequitinhonha basin, perpendicularly to the coast, with 15 and 11 four-channel ocean-bottom seismometers, respectively. Profile SL10 runs parallel to the coast, crossing profiles SL11 and SL12, imaging the proximal Jequitinhonha and Almada basins with 17 ocean-bottom seismometers. Forward modelling, combined with pre-stack depth migration to increase the horizontal resolution of the velocity models, indicates that sediment thickness varies between 3.3 km and 6.2 km in the distal basin. Crustal thickness at the western edge of the profiles is of around 20 km, with velocity gradients indicating a continental origin. It decreases to less than 5 km in the distal basin, with high seismic velocities and gradients, not compatible with normal oceanic crust nor exhumed upper mantle. Typical oceanic crust is never imaged along these about 200 km-long profiles and we propose that the transitional crust in the Jequitinhonha basin is a made of exhumed lower continental crust.
  • On the source of the 8 May 1939 Azores earthquake - tsunami observations and numerical modelling
    Publication . Reis, Cláudia; Omira, Rachid; Matias, Luis; Baptista, Maria Ana Carvalho Viana
    On 8 May 1939, an earthquake (Ms7.1) occurred near the Azores archipelago, with an epicentre located close to the western end of the Gloria fault. Previous studies present different epicentre locations spreading over a large area, and two different types of focal mechanisms. Given these uncertainties, the interpretation of the seismological information in a complex tectonic environment between the Gloria Fault and the Terceira Ridge is a matter of debate. The event caused a small tsunami recorded in the Azores Islands. In this study, we use the tsunami observations and tsunami numerical modelling to select the earthquake fault rupture that best fits the tsunami observations. We consider the different focal mechanism solutions, perform tsunami numerical modelling, and compute synthetic tsunami waveforms at the tide gauge locations. We find that an earthquake caused by a low-angle dipping fault with dominant strike-slip movement generates a tsunami that reproduces well the record at Ponta Delgada tide gauge. Finally, in areas where earthquakes are rare, the study of ancient earthquakes must use all information available, namely tsunami observations and mareograph data.
  • Ambient seismic noise tomography of SW Iberia integrating seafloor- and land-based data
    Publication . Corela, Carlos; Silveira, Graça; Matias, Luis; Schimmel, Martin; Geissler, Wolfram
    We used ambient seismic noise recorded by 24 Broadband Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBS) deployed in the Gulf of Cadiz during the EC funded NEAREST project and seven broadband land stations located in the South of Portugal to image the sedimentary and crustal structure beneath the Eastern Atlantic and SW Iberia. We computed ambient noise cross-correlations to obtain empirical Green's functions (EGFs) between all station pairs using land seismometers and both OBS sensors, seismometers and hydrophones. Despite the great difference in the recording conditions and local crustal structure between the OBSs and land stations, we could compute EGFs, by applying a linear cross-correlation with running absolute mean average time normalization, followed by a time-frequency phase weighted stack. Dispersion analysis was then applied to the EGFs, between 4 and 20s period. The obtained dispersion curves allowed mapping the lateral variation of Rayleigh-wave group velocities, as a function of period. Finally, dispersion curves extracted from each cell of the 2D group velocity maps were inverted, as a function of depth, to obtain the 3D distribution of the shear-wave velocities. The 3-D shear wave velocity model, computed from joint inversion of OBSs and land stations data allowed to estimate the thickness of sediments and crust and the Moho depth. Despite the gap that exists between the OBSs and land station locations, our model displays a good correlation with the known geological structure. The derived sedimentary layer and crustal thicknesses and the obtained Moho depth are locally in agreement with the models proposed by other studies using near vertical, refraction and wide-angle seismic profiling. We conclude that ambient noise tomography could be a valuable tool to image oceanic domains, and also that it is possible to integrate seafloor- and land-based stations to derive a structure model in the transition domain between continent and ocean.
  • Reply to comment on "Probabilistic Tsunami Hazard in the Northeast Atlantic From Near- and Far-Field Tectonic Sources'' by Fonseca (Pure and Applied Geophysics, 2016)
    Publication . Omira, Rachid; Matias, Luis; Baptista, Maria Ana Carvalho Viana
    The recent events of the Indian Ocean 2004 and the Tohoku-Oki 2011 have brought to the fore the hazardous nature of the tsunami phenomenon. Consequently, understanding and quantifying the tsunami hazard have gained a significant interest from researchers worldwide. Traditionally, deterministic approach, based on the maximum credible event or the worst-case scenario, has been used to assess the tsunami hazard. However, the absence of a single comprehensive way to define this scenario makes the usefulness of the deterministic method limited (Geist and Lynett 2014). Probabilistic tsunami hazard assessment (PTHA), on the other hand, takes into consideration the contribution of multiple tsunamigenic sources to elaborate tsunami hazard maps. PTHA is now widely used in different tsunami-prone areas of the globe (Annaka et al. 2007; Thio et al. 2007; Sørensen et al. 2012; Yadav et al. 2013; Roshan et al. 2016). In the NE Atlantic, many efforts have been conducted in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 to assess hazard posed by tsunamis. They mainly addressed the tsunami hazard through the deterministic approach with a particular focus on the coastal impact from the 1755-like event (Omira et al. 2010, 2011, 2013; Baptista et al. 2011). Alternatively, Omira et al. (2015) and, more recently, Omira et al. (2016) introduced the probabilistic tsunami hazard assessment in the NE Atlantic from sources of tectonic origin. We welcome the comment by Fonseca (2016) as it gives us the opportunity to better discuss the progress in the PTHA in the NE Atlantic. In his comment, Fonseca (2016) focuses on three main points: (1) the communication of the hazard; (2) the conservatism in the hazard analysis; (3) the uncertainty treatment. The reply to the comments raised by Fonseca (2016) will be addressed in the following sections.
  • Insight on the crustal stress state in Faial and Pico Islands (Azores), from analysis of aftershocks of the 1998 earthquake
    Publication . Dias, Nuno; Tellez, Julia; Matias, Luis
    The seismicity in the Azores plateau can be of volcanic or tectonic origin, the latter usually more destructive, especially in the central group of islands. In this study we aimed to obtain crustal stress indicators from seismic data collected in July 1998, following the July 9th M5.8 earthquake that struck near Faial and Pico islands. The maximum horizontal stress (SHmax) azimuth was obtained from two methods. For the seismogenic volume, the SHmax was obtained from single and composite focal mechanisms, whereas the state of stress beneath the seismic network was derived from shear-wave splitting analysis of local earthquakes. The composite focal mechanisms were obtained from a waveform clustering method applied to identify "identical" earthquakes. The seismic anisotropy analysis could be applied to only six stations, the polarization of the first S arrival being stable, and with a secondary perpendicular pulse arriving 0.6-0.24 s later. The focal mechanisms provided a NW-SE SHmax with azimuth range of 96 degrees-114 degrees, and an associated transition of normal-fault to strike-slip dominant regime consistent with the estimated regional field of 110 degrees-120 degrees, and coherent with movement along three fault systems. Inland the SHmax azimuths present greater variability. In Faial, the stations located north of the Caldeira present a stable azimuth of 151 degrees-153 degrees and are consistent with the effect of a NNW-SSE fault system present in the islands, rotating to 50 degrees-77 degrees in the eastern sector of the Pedro Miguel Graben, probably due to a complex interaction of the WSW-ENE dominant fault system with old eroded volcanic complexes that segmented the island into several blocks. In Pico island, the SHmax direction azimuth ranges from 93 degrees to 135 degrees, in a radial pattern around the island's main stratovolcano, overlapping the regional stress field.
  • Accurate ocean bottom seismometer positioning method inspired by multilateration technique
    Publication . Benazzouz, Omar; Pinheiro, Luis; Matias, Luis; Afilhado, Alexandra; Herold, Daniel; Haines, Seth S.
    The positioning of ocean bottom seismometers (OBS) is a key step in the processing flow of OBS data, especially in the case of self popup types of OBS instruments. The use of first arrivals from airgun shots, rather than relying on the acoustic transponders mounted in the OBS, is becoming a trend and generally leads to more accurate positioning due to the statistics from a large number of shots. In this paper, a linearization of the OBS positioning problem via the multilateration technique is discussed. The discussed linear solution solves jointly for the average water layer velocity and the OBS position using only shot locations and first arrival times as input data.
  • The making of the NEAM Tsunami Hazard Model 2018 (NEAMTHM18)
    Publication . Basili, Roberto; Brizuela, Beatriz; Herrero, Andre; Iqbal, Sarfraz; Lorito, Stefano; Maesano, Francesco Emanuele; Murphy, Shane; Perfetti, Paolo; Romano, Fabrizio; Scala, Antonio; SELVA, Jacopo; Taroni, Matteo; Tiberti, Mara Monica; Thio, Hong Kie; Tonini, Roberto; Volpe, Manuela; Glimsdal, Sylfest; Harbitz, Carl Bonnevie; Lovholt, Finn; Baptista, Maria Ana Carvalho Viana; Carrilho, Fernando; Matias, Luis; Omira, Rachid; Babeyko, Andrey; Hoechner, Andreas; Gurbuz, Mucahit; Pekcan, Onur; Yalciner, Ahmet; Canals, Miquel; Lastras, Galderic; Agalos, Apostolos; Papadopoulos, Gerassimos; TRIANTAFYLLOU, IOANNA; Benchekroun, Sabah; Jaouadi, Hedi Agrebi; Ben Ahmed, Samir; Bouallegue, Atef; Hamdi, Hassene; Oueslati, Foued; Amato, Alessandro; ARMIGLIATO, ALBERTO; Behrens, Joern; Davies, Gareth; Di Bucci, Daniela; Dolce, Mauro; Geist, Eric; GONZALEZ-VIDA, J.M.; Gonzalez, Mauricio; Macías, Jorge; Meletti, Carlo; Sozdinler, Ceren Ozer; Pagani, Marco; Parsons, Tom; Polet, Jascha; Power, William; Sorensen, Mathilde; Zaytsev, Andrey
    The NEAM Tsunami Hazard Model 2018 (NEAMTHM18) is a probabilistic hazard model for tsunamis generated by earthquakes. It covers the coastlines of the North-eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and connected seas (NEAM). NEAMTHM18 was designed as a threephase project. The first two phases were dedicated to the model development and hazard calculations, following a formalized decision-making process based on a multiple-expert protocol. The third phase was dedicated to documentation and dissemination. The hazard assessment workflow was structured in Steps and Levels. There are four Steps: Step-1) probabilistic earthquake model; Step-2) tsunami generation and modeling in deep water; Step-3) shoaling and inundation; Step-4) hazard aggregation and uncertainty quantification. Each Step includes a different number of Levels. Level-0 always describes the input data; the other Levels describe the intermediate results needed to proceed from one Step to another. Alternative datasets and models were considered in the implementation. The epistemic hazard uncertainty was quantified through an ensemble modeling technique accounting for alternative models' weights and yielding a distribution of hazard curves represented by the mean and various percentiles. Hazard curves were calculated at 2,343 Points of Interest (P01) distributed at an average spacing of -20 km. Precalculated probability maps for five maximum inundation heights (MIH) and hazard intensity maps for five average return periods (ARP) were produced from hazard curves. In the entire NEAM Region, MIHs of several meters are rare but not impossible. Considering a 2% probability of exceedance in 50 years (ARP approximate to 2,475 years), the POIs with MIH >5 m are fewer than 1% and are all in the Mediterranean on Libya, Egypt, Cyprus, and Greece coasts. In the North-East Atlantic, POIs with MIH >3 m are on the coasts of Mauritania and Gulf of Cadiz. Overall, 30% of the POIs have MIH >1 m. NEAMTHM1 8 results and documentation are available through the TSUMAPS-NEAM project website (http://www.tsumaps-neam.eu/), featuring an interactive web mapper. Although the NEAMTHM1 8 cannot substitute in-depth analyses at local scales, it represents the first action to start local and more detailed hazard and risk assessments and contributes to designing evacuation maps for tsunami early warning.
  • The Portuguese national seismic network: products and services
    Publication . Carrilho, Fernando; Custodio, Susana; Bezzeghoud, Mourad; Oliveira, Carlos; Marreiros, Célia; Vales, Dina; Alves, Paulo; Pena, Areosa; Madureira, Guilherme; Escuer, Maria; Silveira, Graça; Corela, Carlos; Matias, Luis; Silva, Matilde; Veludo, Idalina; Dias, Nuno; Loureiro, Afonso; Borges, J. F.; Caldeira, Bento; Wachilala, Piedade; Fontiela, Joao
    Portugal, located in the southwest region of the Eurasian plate, has been affected by several destructive earthquakes throughout its history, the most well-known being the 1755 Great Lisbon earthquake. The seismicity of the territory, both in the mainland and in the Azores and Madeira islands, has prompted the continuous development of seismic monitoring, from the first known macroseismic inquiry, following the 1755 Great Lisbon earthquake, to the current state-of-the-art seismic network. Once scattered in separate efforts, at present, most seismic stations in Portugal relay its data to a common data center, at Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera, where data are automatically processed for the downstream generation of both manually revised and automatically generated products and services. In this article, we summarize the evolution of the permanent seismic network, its current status, the products and services that are publicly available, a recent effort of rapid deployment of a dense network following a mainshock, and state-of-the-art ocean-bottom seismometer developments.