A better automatic body-wave picker with broad applicability

Abstract

For robust earthquake analysis, we need efficient and reliable automatic body-wave recognition methods. To do this, we combine the advantages of standard methods in an innovative and generalized approach. Using the component energy correlation method, we demonstrate the mathematical and practical advantages of the correlation operator and apply this operator to the S¯T/L¯T and R¯P/L¯P methods. We also implement multi-scale versions of these methods to reduce the dependence on user-defined time-scale parameters. We compare our results systematically to different methods, propose an optimal approach and demonstrate its reliability.