The Infrasound Database of the SMDC Monitoring

Research ProgramJ. Roger Bowman, Gordon Shields,

Michael S. O’Brien and Hans Israelsson

Science Applications International Corporation

The Infrasound Database of the SMDC Monitoring

Research ProgramJ. Roger Bowman, Gordon Shields,

Michael S. O’Brien and Hans Israelsson

Science Applications International Corporation

Presented at the Infrasound Technology WorkshopTokyo, Japan

November 13-16, 2007 Approved for public release; distribution unlimited

 DISCLAIMER

“The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either express or implied, of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command or the

U.S. Government.”

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OutlineOutline

Introduction Events

• Establishing ground truth

• Examples of ground truth

• Documenting ground truth

Signals Waveforms Station metadata Conclusions

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IntroductionIntroduction

What is the Infrasound Database (IDB)?• Source parameters and their uncertainties

• Arrivals (consistent measures of signal features)

• Waveforms

• Metadata

Purpose• Provide sources and signals suitable for research in detection, feature

estimation, location and atmospheric models– in absence of modern recordings of “signal of interest”

Focus• Events with signals similar to “signal of interest”

• Events with well constrained source parameters

• Plus, other events of general interest

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Events in the Infrasound DatabaseEvents in the Infrasound Database

Available on-line at www.rdss.info

278 events as of October, 2007278 events as of October, 2007

Event Type Number Mine Blast 142 Chemical Explosion 30 Volcano 30 Bolide 25 Nuclear Explosion 22 Earthquake 15 Rocket Launch 7 Rocket Re-entry 6 Landslide 1 Total 278

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Adding Events to the IDBAdding Events to the IDB

Discover eventsDiscover events

Compile potential Compile potential ground truthground truth

Establish Establish ground truthground truth

Document Document ground truthground truth

Measure Measure signal featuressignal features

• Media• Web sites• Conference proceedings• Papers• Etc.

• Scour the web• Archive all relevant files

• Assess various sources of “ground truth”

• Quantify uncertainties

• Provenance of source parameters and their uncertainties

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Establishing Ground TruthEstablishing Ground Truth

Process of determining source parameters and their uncertainties• Not all “ground truth” created equal!

Constraints on source location• Experiment reports (for the rare controlled source)• Location of explosion craters or damaged buildings• Location of volcano craters• Location of open-pit mines• Location of optical signal observed by satellite• Epicenter from seismic bulletin• Eye-witness reports in the media• Estimated from infrasound observations (not ground truth)

Constraints on source origin time• Experiment reports• Near-source acoustic or seismic measurements• Origin time from seismic bulletin• Industrial logs (e.g., mine operators)• Eye-witness reports• Estimated from infrasound observations

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Maputo, Mozambique Arms Depot ExplosionsMaputo, Mozambique Arms Depot Explosions

Origin times: 2007-03-22 15:01 ± 8 min2007-03-23 15:33 ± 8 min 2007-03-22 15:48 ± 8 min

Location: 25.866 S, 32.580 E ± 0.6 km

• Derived from infrasound arrival times and a range of plausible group velocities

• Media reports are vague, inconsistent, and inconsistent with infrasound arrival times Google EarthGoogle Earth

label for armorylabel for armoryLine of sight of Line of sight of YouTube videoYouTube video

3 explosions

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Videos of Maputo Arms Depot ExplosionsVideos of Maputo Arms Depot Explosions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plzuWJD1Qow&mode=related&search

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJfhYfJo6Ew&mode=related&search

First video allows determination of position of camera at airport

Second video allows determination of line of sight to armory relative to airport buildings

Camera operator

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St. Petersburg Gas Pipe ExplosionSt. Petersburg Gas Pipe Explosion

Pretty picturePretty picture

Origin time: 2007-07-25 20:02 ± 150 sec 2007-07-25 20:02 ± 150 sec Location: 60.082 N, 30.450 E ± 0.3 km

• From media reports (BBC and Reuters)

• No events in IDC REB or NEIC bulletins

Power plantPower plant

Lines of sightLines of sight

Gas pipelineGas pipeline

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BP Oil Refinery Explosion, Texas, USABP Oil Refinery Explosion, Texas, USA

Pretty picturePretty picture

Origin time: 2005-May-23 19:20 ± 60 sec Location: 29.374 N, 94.939 W ± 0.05 km

• Plant operations log published in Fatal Accident Investigation Report

• No events in IDC REB or NEIC bulletins

Combustible vapor Combustible vapor cloud from CFD cloud from CFD modeling (modeling (Fatal Fatal

Accident Accident Investigation ReportInvestigation Report))

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Augustine Volcanic Eruptions, Alaska, USAAugustine Volcanic Eruptions, Alaska, USA

Pretty picturePretty picture

Origin time: 2006-Jan 13 times ± 2 sec 2006-Jan 13 times ± 2 sec Location: 59.364 N, 153.433 W ± 0.15 km

• Near-source acoustic onset time

Crater location taken Crater location taken from Google Earth from Google Earth

Petersen, T., S. De Angelis, G. Petersen, T., S. De Angelis, G. Tytgat, and S. McNutt, Local Tytgat, and S. McNutt, Local infrasound observations of infrasound observations of large ash explosions at large ash explosions at Augustine Volcano, Alaska, Augustine Volcano, Alaska, during January 11–28, 2006, during January 11–28, 2006, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, , L12303, 2006. L12303, 2006.

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Ghislenghien, Belgium Gas Pipe ExplosionGhislenghien, Belgium Gas Pipe Explosion

Pretty picturePretty picture

Origin time: 2004-Jul-30 06:55:27 ± 2 sec 2004-Jul-30 06:55:27 ± 2 sec Location: 50.67 N, 3.87 E ± 0.05 km

• Seismic P and ground-coupled Rayleigh waves• Correlation of aerial photographs and cultural features in Google Earth

Evers, L. G., L. Ceranna, H. W. Haak, A. Le Pichon, and R. W. Whitaker, A seismoacoustic analysis of the gas-pipeline explosion near Ghislenghien in Belgium, Bull. Seism. Soc. Amer., 97, 417-425, 2007.

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Documenting Ground Truth: Event SummariesDocumenting Ground Truth: Event Summaries

British Crown Copyright 2006/MOD

Example:Buncefield Fuel Depot Explosion, UK, 2005

Largest peace-time explosion in Europe

Infrasound signals observed at seismic stations1 and included in Infrasound Database

1. Green et al., Infrasound Workshop, Fairbanks, Alaska, September, 2006.

Event Summaries standardize the presentation of ground truth information and assessment of its uncertainty.

Hyperlinks provide direct access to primary sources of ground truth

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Documenting Ground Truth: Site SummariesDocumenting Ground Truth: Site Summaries

Site Summaries standardize the presentation of ground truth location and uncertainty for sites of repeated infrasound events.

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Challenges in Establishing Ground TruthChallenges in Establishing Ground Truth

Origin time more difficult than location• Except for controlled explosions

Incomplete reporting • Provenance and uncertainties are often

missing

Language Varying transparency

English version of Russian English version of Russian reportreport

using Google Translation using Google Translation

We welcome your help in establishing and documenting ground truth.

Primary sources are cited in the Infrasound Database.

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Infrasound Signal ArrivalsInfrasound Signal Arrivals

Buncefield, UK Buncefield, UK Oil Depot ExplosionOil Depot Explosion

Most events observed on Most events observed on one or several stationsone or several stations

Most propagation paths Most propagation paths have been sampled one or have been sampled one or

a few timesa few times

Powder River, Powder River, Wyoming MinesWyoming Mines

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Examples of Signal AnalysisExamples of Signal Analysis

Jilin, China petrochemical explosionJilin, China petrochemical explosion13 November 2005 13 November 2005

Buncefield, UK oil depot explosionBuncefield, UK oil depot explosion11 December 2005 11 December 2005

Treated as single arrival Treated as single arrival Treated as multiple arrivalsTreated as multiple arrivals

Slope of back azimuth and Slope of back azimuth and slowness estimated slowness estimated

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Group VelocityGroup Velocity

First arrival for 455 signals

Single mode No clear distinction between

arrivals traveling in stratospheric and thermospheric ducts

Considerable variability of velocity for source-receiver distance < 2000 km

Narrower range for distance >3000 km

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WaveformsWaveforms

Waveform data are available for IDB events for• IMS stations in countries that freely distribute their data or have

approved unlimited distribution

– Australia, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, territories of these countries, and Antarctica

• US research stations (e.g., DLIAR, TXIAR, etc.)

Waveform data are available from the IDC or your country’s NDC for other IMS stations

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Station MetadataStation Metadata

Extensive metadata has been compiled in a standard format for most IMS stations

• Summaries available for: I05AU, I07AU, I08BO, I09BR, I10CA, I13CL, I14CL, I17CI, I18DK, I21FR, I22FR, I24FR, I26DE, I30JP, I31KZ, I32KE, I33MG, I34MN, I35NA, I36NZ, I41PY, I52GB, I53US, I55US, I56US, I57US, I59US

• Insufficient information available for: I02AR, I04AR, I39PW, I44RU, I46RU, I47ZA, I48TN, I49GB, I50GB

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Infrasound database• Has 278 events relevant to research in detection, characterization

and location of infrasound “events of interest”

• Has carefully assessed and documented source parameters and uncertainties

• Is available on-line at www.rdss.info

Cooperation requested• Share references to ground truth in your regions of interest

• Document source parameters in presentations and papers

• Organize and share station metadata for use by the infrasound community

ConclusionsConclusions

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Videos of Infrasound SourcesVideos of Infrasound Sources

Henderson, Nevada rocket fuel factory (PEPCON) explosion (USA)1988 May 4

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJVOUgCm5Jk

Kolding fireworks factory explosion (Denmark)2004 Nov 03

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb8sxJbRakU

Mt. Augustine, Alaska volcanic eruption (USA)2006 January

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK5-o7l7DBA• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTK8sBaef9k

Maputo arms depot explosion (Mozambique)2007 Mar 22

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ2p2pD_XEM

St. Petersberg gas pipeline explosion (Russia)2007 Jul 26

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXeYCBrbDzA&mode=related&search=fire%20explosion