Enhancements to the CTBTO Operational Automatic Infrasound Processing System

The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) is exploring methods to enhance the current operational infrasound processing system at the International Data Centre (IDC) for infrasound data recorded by the International Monitoring System (IMS). Several enhancements are under development and are currently being tested. The first enhancement is the incorporation of methods for determining signal amplitude. The following signal amplitudes are being determined for each infrasound detection: peak-to-peak amplitude, root mean squared (RMS) amplitude, and instantaneous amplitude as revealed by the analytic trace via the Hilbert Transform. Initial efforts consider a variety of frequency bands, with the utility in network processing being of primary importance. A second enhancement is the incorporation of station noise characterization in terms of the power spectral density (PSD). This determines the noise field at each station for various times of day and as a function of season. This information is useful in determining network detection capability. Published in the Proceedings of the Monitoring Research Review: Ground-Based Nuclear Explosion Monitoring Technologies (30th) held in Portsmouth, VA on 23-25 Sep 2008, p853-861, 2008. The original document contains color images.