Article,
The seismoacoustic wavefield: A new paradigm in studying geophysical phenomena
Reviews of Geophysics, 48 (4): RG4003+ (Dec 4, 2010)
DOI: 10.1029/2010RG000335
Abstract
The field of seismoacoustics is emerging as an important discipline
in its own right, owing to the value of colocated seismic and infrasound
arrays that sample elastic energy propagating in both the solid Earth
and the atmosphere. The fusion of seismic and infrasonic data provides
unique constraints for studying a broad range of topics including
the source physics of natural and man-made events, interaction of
mechanical waves in Earth's crust and atmosphere, source location
and characterization, and inversion of atmospheric and shallow subsurface
properties. This review article traces the seismoacoustic wavefield
from source to receiver. Beginning at the source, we review the latest
insights into the physics of natural and anthropogenic sources that
have arisen from the analysis of seismoacoustic data. Next, a comparative
review of 3-D models of the atmosphere and solid Earth and the latest
algorithms for modeling the propagation of mechanical waves through
these media provides the framework for a discussion of the seismoacoustic
path. The optimal measurement of seismic and acoustic waves, including
a discussion of instrumentation, as well as of array configurations
and regional networks, is then outlined. Finally, we focus on broad
research applications where the analysis of seismoacoustic data is
starting to yield important new results, such as in the field of
nuclear explosion monitoring. This review is intended to provide
a primer on the field of seismoacoustics for seismologists or acousticians,
while also providing a more general review of what constraints seismoacoustics
can uniquely provide for understanding geophysical phenomena.
