The sensitivity and dynamic range of inertial seismographs

Broadband seismology and noise under the ocean

“…These processes are ignored in modeling the detection threshold for the P wave. One rule is to compare arrival amplitudes to noise in one-third octave bands with the expectation that this is the practical limit for narrowband filters [Melton, 1976 where p = 2800 kg/m 3 and ot = 6700 m/s are the density and P wave velocity at the source, RE is the radius of the Earth, #(A) represents the geometrical spreading, R0, is the effective radiation pattern of the P wave train, and C describes the free surface effect or, in this paper, the transmission coefficient at the seafloor. For our purposes, we take C = 1.7 to allow for a single reflection at the seafloor.…”

Theory and Observations - Instrumentation for Global and Regional Seismology

“…A number of parametric models of ambient seismic noise have been constructed over the past 50 years (Agnew and Berger, 1978;Berger et al, 2004;Brune and Oliver, 1959;Fix, 1972;Melton, 1976;Murphy and Savino, 1975;Peterson, 1980Peterson, , 1993Peterson and Tilgner, 1985;Wielandt and Streckeisen, 1982). All models are based on a collection of observations and hence limited by instrumentation of the era and represent minimum noise levels in observed spectra.…”

“…The SRO (Melton, 1976;Peterson et al, 1976) program using the Geotech KS36000 and the GRF array (Harjes and Seidl, 1978) using the newly developed Streckeisen STS-1 (Wielandt and Streckeisen, 1982) provided the first significant volumes of high-quality digital data from broadband EFFB sensors. The SRO (Melton, 1976;Peterson et al, 1976) program using the Geotech KS36000 and the GRF array (Harjes and Seidl, 1978) using the newly developed Streckeisen STS-1 (Wielandt and Streckeisen, 1982) provided the first significant volumes of high-quality digital data from broadband EFFB sensors.…”

Earthquake seismograph development: A modern history—Part 1

“…[1972], and Fix [1972 were not avail able. These data were reviewed and collated by Melton [1976], and it is interesting to reexamine the choice of a 10kg seismometer mass with the long-period galvanometer, in light of the later information.…”

“…Consider Figure 13, which is reproduced from Melton [1976], and examine the region which shows curve maxima from 12 to 18 s. This curve should be interpreted simply as picturing a high probability that nearly sinusoidal micro seisms will appear in this band, and by the same token they reduce the probability of earthquake wave detection in this same band. As we cannot validly reduce any statistical value of average energy to some specific value of energy at a single frequency, we must choose a bandwidth for con version purposes.…”