Source Specific Station Corrections for Regional Phases at Fennoscandian Stations

— The IASPEI91 global travel-time curves are used as the default for event location at the Prototype International Data Center (PIDC). In order to improve event location, a 1-D Baltic travel-time model was implemented at the PIDC in 1997 for locating events using regional phases from Fennoscandian stations. Where a single model is insufficient for characterizing the regional geology, path-dependent corrections, or Source Specific Station Corrections (SSSCs), are more appropriate for event locations. We have developed SSSCs for regional phases at the Fennoscandian stations by interpolating travel times through different 1-D models. SSSCs for stations NRIS and SPITS are also derived, given the fact that paths from both stations to high latitude events are within the Fennoscandia regionalization as Baltic.¶Validation testing of the SSSCs demonstrates that using SSSCs in event location is superior to not using SSSCs, a nd, in most cases, to using the 1-D model directly when locating events. For a ground-truth data set which includes events in the Baltic Shield with location accuracy better than 2 km, the average improvement in location due to SSSCs is 9 km, and the median coverage ellipse is reduced by 2710 km2 (from 3830 to 1120 km2). These results are similar to those obtained using the 1-D Baltic model. For a CEB (Calibration Event Bulletin) data set which includes events along the North Atlantic oceanic ridge and in central/southern Europe, using SSSCs the ridge events move closer to the ridge axis, and the European events move closer to CEB locations than 1-D Baltic locations. For a constrained JHD (Joint Hypocenter Determination) data set of events in the Novaya Zemlya region, when using SSSCs or the 1-D Baltic model, relative to the JHD locations mislocations are less or similar to those without SSSCs. All coverage ellipses are smaller but sti ll contain the JHD solutions.¶Our SSSCs are strongly dependent on the 1-D regional models and regionalization. Future development in 1-D velocity models and travel-time curves should improve such SSSCs, event locations, and uncertainties. It is hoped that the implementation and demonstration of SSSCs in the PIDC software will encourage these further developments. These SSSCs were implemented at the PIDC for Reviewed Event Bulletin (REB) location in April 1999.