To improve the resolution of large-earthquake rupture imaging, we developed a back-projection method using dense regional seismic arrays. We successfully applied this method to the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake in California (Xie et al., 2021) and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan. Building on this approach, we also developed a tsunami early warning system.
2019 M6.4 Rigecrest Earthquake
To extend the application of the local BP method to more regions, we performed back-projection imaging of magnitude 2–6 earthquakes within a monitoring range of 500 km, achieving a rupture imaging resolution better than 4 km, using 450 km of submarine fiber-optic cables off the coast of Chile.
Global Distribution of Major Submarine Telecommunication Cables
Application of DAS BP to image a Magnitude 6.0 earthquake