Study of Regional Surface Waves and Frequency-dependent Ms:mb Discrimination in the European Arctic

Accurate discrimination of seismic events with a regional network requires detailed knowledge of the propagation characteristics of seismic waves in the region. At present, such propagation characteristics are reasonably well known for P and S waves in the European Arctic, however much work remains to be done regarding surface wave propagation and magnitude estimation. Regional long-period or broadband seismic data in digital form has been available in the European Arctic for only a few years. In order to assess regional surface wave propagation, and in particular to evaluate the Ms:mb discriminant at regional distances, it is therefore necessary to take advantage of the historic analog recordings. The station APA in Apatity forms a unique source of such data, with high-quality long-period seismic recordings of regional earthquakes and nuclear explosions dating back about 30 years. This paper presents initial results from a project to digitize APA surface waves of selected regional events. The recordings for recent years have been compared to a colocated broadband Guralp three-component seismometer in order to verify the response characteristics and the quality of the digitization process. It turns out that the quality of the digitized records is excellent, and can be used over a spectral band ranging from 5 seconds to at least 30 seconds period. We demonstrate the capabilities of the APA surface wave recordings to provide a promising separation of earthquakes and explosions in the European Arctic over a range of frequencies using the Ms:mb discriminant, although we note that additional work is required in regionalization of the propagation paths to take into account the major tectonic features in the region. We also note that the body-wave magnitudes provided by international agencies are not always reliable for events in this region, and must be reassessed in order to make full use of the earthquake-explosion discrimination potential.