Passive seismic imaging with directive ambient noise: application to surface waves and the San Andreas Fault in Parkfield, CA

International audienceThis study deals with surface waves extracted from microseismic noise in the (0.1–0.2 Hz) frequency band with passive seismic-correlation techniques. For directive noise, we explore the concept of passive seismic-noise tomography performed on three-component sensors from a dense seismic network. From the nine-component correlation tensor, a rotation algorithm is introduced that forces each station pair to re-align in the noise direction, a necessary condition to extract unbiased traveltime from passive seismic processing. After rotation is performed, the new correlation tensor exhibits a surface wave tensor from which Rayleigh and Love waves can be separately extracted for tomography inversion. Methodological aspects are presented and illustrated with group-speed maps for Rayleigh and Love waves and ellipticity measurements made on the San Andreas Fault in the Parkfield area, California, USA