Novel ST-MUSIC-based spectral analysis for detection of ULF geomagnetic signals anomalies associated with seismic events in Mexico

Abstract

Recently, the analysis of ultra-low-frequency (ULF) geomagnetic signals in order to detect seismic anomalies has been reported in several works. Yet, they, although having promising results, present problems for their detection since these anomalies are generally too much weak and embedded in high noise levels. In this work, a short-time multiple signal classification (ST-MUSIC), which is a technique with high-frequency resolution and noise immunity, is proposed for the detection of seismic anomalies in the ULF geomagnetic signals. Besides, the energy (E) of geomagnetic signals processed by ST-MUSIC is also presented as a complementary parameter to measure the fluctuations between seismic activity and seismic calm period. The usefulness and effectiveness of the proposal are demonstrated through the analysis of a synthetic signal and five real signals with earthquakes. The analysed ULF geomagnetic signals have been obtained using a tri-axial fluxgate magnetometer at the Juriquilla station, which is localized in Queretaro, Mexico (geographic coordinates: longitude 100.45° E and latitude 20.70° N). The results obtained show the detection of seismic perturbations before, during, and after the main shock, making the proposal a suitable tool for detecting seismic precursors.