Sin-Mei Wu

PhD, Geophysics

University of Utah

News: I will be a postdoctoral fellow at Swiss Seismological Service (SED) at ETH Zurich starting June 2021.

Welcome to my website! I am Sin-Mei Wu, a postdoctoral scholar in the Seismic Imaging Group and the Seismograph Stations at the University of Utah, USA. I am a geophysicist, seismologist, basketball and ski enthusiast. I obtained my Bachelor degree in 2012 from National Central University (Taiwan) and my Master degree in 2014 from National Taiwan University (Taiwan), both are in Geoscience.

My main research interest is exploring nature using seismic interferometry and array data. Through the research projects conducted at the University of Utah, I am fascinated by how much further details we can learn about Geysers and Volcanoes from the advanced data collection and the methodology development, including (but not limited to) ambient noise imaging, seismic source location (polarization + back projection), and coda wave interferometry. Beyond the static characteristics of the systems, I dedicate to the spatiotemporal patterns (4D) to understand the evolution, or the dynamics of the natural systems.

In addition, beyond the shallow Earth, I am also interested in understanding the formation and the evolution of Earth's Inner Core, such as what are the spatial patterns of the core nowadays and how/why the core evolved to the current status. I study these questions primarily via core phases of seismic signals and I look forward to learning more after combining the knowledge beyond Seismology.

Research Interests

  1. Dynamics of hydrothermal and volcanic systems (via 4D imaging, static formation, and prediction)

  2. Interferometric methodology development (seismic and acoustic)

  3. High-resolution seismic imaging (top 1 km)

  4. Seismic location & back projection (earthquake, volcanic/non-volcanic tremor, microseism, tropical cyclone, etc)

  5. Seismic monitoring (ground water, magmatic activity, anthropogenic activity, earthquake, etc)

  6. Planetary interior (Earth and Mars)

Awards

  • University of Utah The Stokes-Eardley Fellowship – Grant $10,000 Fall 2020

  • University of Utah Department of Geology and Geophysics Outstanding PhD Student award 2019–2020

  • University of Utah Graduate Research Fellowship – Grant $18,700 2019–2020

  • The David S. and Inga M. Chapman Fund scholarship – Grant $1,042 2019

  • Cooperative Institute for Dynamic Earth Research (CIDER) summer program 2019

  • Seismological Society of America Annual Meeting Travel Grant 2018

  • IRIS US Array Data Processing and Analysis Short Course – recipient 2016

  • IRIS Workshop: Emerging Fields and Technologies in Seismology – scholarship recipient. 2016

Research Projects

The first section summaries the studies on naturally eruptive systems (geysers and volcanoes) using our own nodal data. The interested/studied areas are confined within the top 100 m–1 km of Earth's crust. The second section focuses on deeper, larger scale structure of Earth – inner core. The interested scale length is within 10 km but is situated thousands of kilometers beneath the surface.

Check out the research page and my Google Scholar for more details!

Naturally Eruptive Systems

Old Faithful Geyser

  • Shear wave velocity structure

  • Deep and large reservoir

  • Geologic-controlled formation

  • Bubble event migration

  • Deep and narrow conduit

  • Recharge evolution


Steamboat Geyser

  • Steamboat and Cistern

  • Hydrological connection

  • Plumbing architecture

  • Distinct recharge evolution

  • Underground interaction


Kilauea Volcano

  • Seismic velocity monitoring

  • Kilauea summit collapse

  • Magma surge

  • Magmatic pressurization

  • Crustal weakening


Earth Interior

Inner Core

  • Small-scale heterogeneity of the uppermost inner core

  • Array processing around the globe