Author name: Stephen Arrowsmith

On the ‘Phase Breadth’ of our seismoacoustic research group

In seismology and acoustics, we often reduce the information in our measured waveforms by focusing on the properties of specific phases (packets of wave energy that travel in certain ways along specific paths). When I worked on my PhD, I focused entirely on the study of teleseismic P, PKP, and PKIKP waves (longitudinal waves that …

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Explosions help probe elusive atmospheric waves

I gave a talk at the Acoustical Society of America meeting in Denver last week on our teams work exploring the use of infrasound to probe the atmosphere. Our paper was selected for a press conference, and a video of my 5-minute summary and short Q&A is posted here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/j1pfpp9zua45kh8/Explosions-Help-Probe-Elusive-Atmospheric-Waves.mp4?dl=0 My wife said I did …

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Big Data Seismology

If it were trained on all the literature on seismology, statistics, and computer science, could an A.I. generate a passable review article titled ‘Big Data Seismology’? I have to admit, this was the question I asked myself when reading about the capability of the latest large language models in a recent New York Times article …

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Reading about Machine Learning in Seismology

I’ve been slow to fully embrace machine learning in my research, but it’s rapidly becoming an important tool for seismological research. Recent papers in seismology, especially on the application of deep neural networks for automating seismic phase identification, picking, and association, have produced some really impressive results. In addition, it’s pretty clear that machine learning …

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Seismic location: When the ellipses don’t work

In my former job, I developed seismic and acoustic data processing algorithms for various government customers. At Sandia, I ended up with a dedicated team of software engineers coding these up and delivering them as software tools for analysts. One thing I was particularly proud of were my global-search probabilistic location algorithms, which could provide …

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COVID-19 has affected seismic noise in Dallas

While most seismometers have been installed to detect earthquakes, they are also very sensitive to ambient vibrations caused by human activity. A series of recent news reports have highlighted the change in background seismic vibrations (seismic ‘noise’) with the various government restrictions on human movement (see this link). Seismic stations in Dallas, many deployed following …

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A reproducability crisis in scientific communication?

A fundamental tenet of science is the ability to reproduce the results of an experiment. With the increasing tendency of scientific research to rely on chains of algorithms embedded in computer code, the way we communicate scientific research may need to be rethought. How we teach students to communicate is an important part of meeting …

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Existential threats to humanity, and the role of Earth Science

My first blog post, and it’s a heavy topic! I’m teaching a class this semester on forensic seismology that explores issues of nuclear arms control. Earth Science plays a key role here, just as it does in the other major existential threat to humanity: Climate change. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists publish the Doomsday …

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