Locating the Nordstream explosions using polarization analysis

Authors

  • Simon C. Stähler Institute of geophysics, ETH Zürich
  • Géraldine Zenhäusern Institute of geophysics, ETH Zürich
  • John Clinton Swiss Seismological Service, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
  • Domenico Giardini Institute of geophysics, ETH Zürich

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26443/seismica.v1i1.253

Abstract

The seismic events that preceded the leaks in the Nordstream natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea have been interpreted as explosions on the seabed. We use a polarization-based location method initially developed for marsquakes to locate the source region without the need for a subsurface velocity model. We show that the 2 largest seismic events can be unambiguously attributed to the methane plumes observed on the sea surface. The two largest events can be located with this method, using 4 and 5 stations located around the source, with the uncertainties in elliptical bounds of 30 x 30 km and 10 x 60 km, respectively. We can further show that both events emitted seismic energy for at least ten minutes after the initial explosion, indicative of resonances in the water column or the depressurizing pipeline.

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Published

2022-11-05

How to Cite

Stähler, S. C., Zenhäusern, G., Clinton, J., & Giardini, D. (2022). Locating the Nordstream explosions using polarization analysis. Seismica, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.26443/seismica.v1i1.253

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