National Seismic Stations transducers and filters

Abstract

The National Seismic Stations (NSS) instruments are being developed for seismic monitoring of regional and teleseismic events. They consist of two 3-component, broadband, borehole seismometers: the KS-36000 and the S-700, which is the backup for the KS-36000. Output is divided into frequency bands to reduce data loss due to saturation. Complete block diagrams of the KS-36000 and S-700 NSS seismometers and filters are presented. Both open-loop and closed-loop steady-state amplitude and phase curves are given. Without band-pass filters (but with shaping filters) the KS-36000 has a flat (i.e., between the -3dB points) velocity sensitivity from 0.03 to 23 Hz. With its shaping filters, the S-700 is flat from 0.2 to 40 Hz. The structure of the three band-pass filters (LP, MP, and SP) is superimposed on these velocity sensitivities. Passbands of the resulting overall velocity sensitivity for the KS-36000 are as follows: LP band = 0.01-0.05 Hz, MP band = 0.02-1.3 Hz, and SP band = 1-10 Hz. Step-function responses and phase and group delays are given for each of the bands. The MP-band step response is oscillatory due to its sharp, high-frequency cutoff, but an MP-band filter with a less abrupt cutoff eliminates the oscillation. To generate typical NSS output seismograms, velocity inputs from four representative seismic events were used: an underground nuclear test (..delta.. approx. = 3.6/sup 0/), a regional earthquake (..delta.. approx. = 20/sup 0/), a local earthquake (..delta.. approx. = 1.5/sup 0/), and a teleseismic earthquake (..delta.. approx. = 123/sup 0/). The velocity inputs for these events were obtained from the LLNL digital seismic network (DSS) around the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The seismograms resulting from each of the bands were satisfactory, although the low-frequency corner of the MP band should be increased in frequency to 0.08 Hz.