Tools for Digitization of Historic Seismograms

Seismic signal analysis is an important tool for detecting, locating, and identifying nuclear explosions. Originally, seismograms were recorded on paper or film of various sizes, and, sometimes, critical information was transferred to microfilms. Although these data may have been optically scanned for digital storage and review, they are not usable for further analysis in this form. This project will develop technology to improve and automate the recovery of digital seismogram traces from digital images of historic hardcopy records. Phase I will evaluate four software packages that take scanned images of seismograms and convert them to digital seismograms. The effort will include the development of (1) recommendations for tuning the existing software, and (2) new tools and/or techniques that might be used to facilitate easy and reliable quality control. Phase II will initiate the routine digitization of scanned seismogram images from a variety of sources (e.g., Unite States Geological Survey, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology). Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardeeIn addition to the DOE application to the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, such a capability would allow seismologists to evaluate many characteristics of earthquakes in a region. The availability of such data could impact the refinement of seismic building codes in areas where large, yet infrequent, damaging earthquakes have occurred in the past. With minor modifications, the technology could be applied to phenomena recorded by a wide variety of analog chart recorders: electrocardiograms, electroencephalograms, rain gauges, stream-flow gauges, etc