Probability, Networks and Algorithms Probability, Networks and Algorithms Empirical mode decomposition: a new tool for S-wave detection

CWI's research has a theme-oriented structure and is grouped into four clusters. Listed below are the names of the clusters and in parentheses their acronyms. 1. INTRODUCTION A feature of a seismic earthquake signal is that it is built up by several different seismic waves, characterizing the type of signal. In this paper we are only interested in two of these waves, namely the primary wave (P-wave) and the secondary or shear wave (S-wave). The P-wave is the first wave (in time) that reaches the earth's surface when traveling from the epicenter of an earthquake towards a seismic station where it is recorded. In particular, we revisit the classical problem of detecting automatically the S-wave (its onset time, i.e., its first appearance in the seismogram), once the moment in time at which the P-wave arrives at the earth's surface (P-wave onset time) is known [2, 3, 9]. An accurate estimate of these arrival times is important for determining the type and location of the seismic event.