Optimizing Microseismic Monitoring Networks in Densely Populated Areas

We have developed an optimization algorithm for seismic monitoring networks in urban areas that allows to design and evaluate seismic network geometries for arbitrary geotechnical operation layouts. The algorithm is based on the optimization on the simulated annealing approach proposed by Hardt & Scherbaum (1994) , which aims to minimize the volume of the error ellipsoid of the linearized earthquake location problem (D-criterion). We have extended their algorithm to:

1. calculate traveltimes of seismic body waves using a finite difference ray tracer and the 3-D velocity model
2. calculate seismic body-wave amplitudes at arbitrary stations assuming the Brune source model and using scaling and attenuation relations recently derived for Switzerland, and
3. estimate the noise level at arbitrary locations within Switzerland using a first-order ambient seismic noise model based on 14 land-use classes defined by the EU-project CORINE and open GIS data.

We use the Bayesian Magnitude of Completeness (BMC) method introduced by Mignan et al.(2011) to estimate the expected magnitude of completeness (Mc) level for the optimal network.