HR: 10:20h
AN: ED31E-01    [PDF]
TI: Visualizing seismic wave propagation
AU: * van Keken, P
EM: keken@umich.edu
AF: University of Michigan, Geological Sciences 2534 CC Little Building, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 United States
AU: Tromp, J
EM: jtromp@gps.caltech.edu
AF: California Institute of Technology, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, Pasadena, CA 91125 United States
AU: Komatitsch, D
EM: komatitsch@yahoo.com
AF: California Institute of Technology, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, Pasadena, CA 91125 United States
AU: Venkataraman, S
EM: shalini@evl.uic.edu
AF: University of Illinois at Chicago, Electronic Visualization Lab 851 S. Morgan St. Room 1120 SEO, Chicago, IL 60607 United States
AU: Schwarz, N
EM: schwarz@evl.uic.edu
AF: University of Illinois at Chicago, Electronic Visualization Lab 851 S. Morgan St. Room 1120 SEO, Chicago, IL 60607 United States
AU: Renambot, L
EM: luc@evl.uic.edu
AF: University of Illinois at Chicago, Electronic Visualization Lab 851 S. Morgan St. Room 1120 SEO, Chicago, IL 60607 United States
AU: Leigh, J
EM: spiff@evl.uic.edu
AF: University of Illinois at Chicago, Electronic Visualization Lab 851 S. Morgan St. Room 1120 SEO, Chicago, IL 60607 United States
AB: An accurate understanding of the propagation of seismic waves in the Earth is of fundamental importance for Earth Scientists at any level. Wave propagation is generally difficult to understand due to the spherical geometry and strong compositional layering in the Earth. 3D heterogeneity, anisotropy and attenuation create further complexities. Several tools exists, including those developed by Alan Jones (www.geol.binghamton.edu/faculty/jones/jones.html) or Michael Wysession (epsc.wustl.edu), that help beginning and advanced geoscientists by visualizing wave propagation in the Earth for 1D velocity models. A recently developed spectral element method (SPECFEM3D; Komatitsch et al., Science, 298, 1737, 2002) solves the full wave equation in a 3D spherical Earth which allows the inclusion of more realistic effects such as 3D heterogeneity and anisotropy. Accurate models require high spatial and temporal resolution and the use of this code is therefore restricted to moderately large PC clusters or other parallel platforms. The high resolution presents also difficulties when attempting to visualize the wave propagation since the presence of high frequency information requires high spatial resolution in the visualization. We have developed various approaches to visualizing the realistic wave propagation, using both 2D slices and 3D volumes, at high resolution. The visualization tools will benefit researchers that use SPECFEM3D since it provides mechanisms of quality control, data querying and dissemination, while also allowing to share new computational results with students and the media. We will demonstrate and compare visualizations for a number of historical earthquakes and provide a preliminary report on how students in introductory and advanced geophysics courses appreciated the use of these tools.
UR: http://www.geowall.org/waves
DE: 3230 Numerical solutions
DE: 6605 Education
DE: 7203 Body wave propagation
DE: 7260 Theory and modeling
DE: 7294 Instruments and techniques
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting