Toward Incorporating DAS into Ground Motion Studies

Xiaofeng Meng, Qiushi Zhai, Albert R. Kottke, James W. Atterholt, Camilo Ignacio Pinilla Ramos, & Yehuda Ben-Zion

Submitted August 30, 2026, SCEC Contribution #15262, 2026 SCEC Annual Meeting Poster #TBD

Applications of Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS)’s in earthquake studies have mostly focused on arrival times. Its potential for improving ground motion quantification has not been rigorously investigated yet. We make several steps towards incorporating DAS into learning ground motions, including amplitude biases evaluation and site response characterization. Our datasets include a DAS array in Ridgecrest, CA cable that recorded aftershocks of the 2019 M7.1 Ridgecrest earthquake, a DAS array in Arcata, CA that recorded several earthquake sequences around the Mendocino Triple Junction, and a DAS array in Imperial Valley, CA.

Our study involves two major components. First, we will take advantage of the strain measurements from DAS and develop a ground strain model (GSM). Buried structures (e.g., pipelines, railways, aqueducts, etc.) are less sensitive to forces imparted by ground acceleration and more sensitive to the strains. However, strainmeters have historically been sparser than inertial seismometers, most seismic hazard analysis of such structures is done approximately with other ground motion intensities (e.g., PGV and PGA). Our preliminary results show that GSM can be developed with DAS data, which can improve our understanding of the seismic performance of ground-strain sensitive structures.

Second, we convert the strain time series from DAS to a velocity time series with a regularized rescaling of the frequency-wavenumber domain. The Fourier Amplitude Spectra (FAS) computed from the velocity time series at different frequencies are compared to results from co-located nodal seismometers. We find consistent and frequency-dependent amplitude biases for DAS recordings. The correlation between site-to-site residuals from DAS and co-located nodal seismometers computed with an empirical GMM is high up to 10 Hz, ranging from 0.65 to 0.8. The preliminary results suggest DAS can be used to characterize site response at very high spatial resolution, but the intensity measurement needs to be calibrated with co-located seismometers.

Key Words
DAS; Ground motions

Citation
Meng, X., Zhai, Q., Kottke, A. R., Atterholt, J. W., Pinilla Ramos, C., & Ben-Zion, Y. (2026, 08). Toward Incorporating DAS into Ground Motion Studies. Poster Presentation at 2026 SCEC Annual Meeting.

Related Projects & Working Groups
Ground Motions (GM)