GLImER: A New Global Database of Teleseismic Receiver Functions for Imaging Earth Structure

Abstract

Teleseismic receiver functions (RFs) provide a simple means to image structure in the Earth’s subsurface. Despite its ease of use, the method has traditionally required considerable user input to ensure that key processing operations run in a stable manner and yield robust results. As a consequence, large‐scale applications to global datasets have been limited. Here, we present preliminary results from a global database of RF data products dedicated to imaging structure in the crust and upper mantle. Earthquake signals recorded at seismic stations worldwide are downloaded, quality controlled, and processed using a range of deconvolution approaches to generate robust RFs. We describe our automated workflow and apply it to the entire data holding of the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, producing 1,300,424 individual radial and transverse Ps RFs computed at 8258 stations. A series of tools designed to visualize the results will be made publicly available on a website. These include a map‐based interface that allows users to inspect RFs at individual stations, and interactive programs that can generate cross sections through 3D volumes of RFs.