High-Pass Corner-Frequency Selection and Review Tool for Use in Ground-Motion Processing

Abstract Raw seismological waveform data contain noise from the instrument’s surroundings and the instrument itself that can dominate recordings at low and high frequencies. To use these data in ground-motion modeling, the effects of noise on the signals must be reduced and the signals’ usable frequency range identified. We present automated procedures to efficiently reduce low-frequency noise that are implemented in the software package gmprocess. These procedures check for, and as needed remove, low-frequency artifacts in the displacement record using polynomial fits, which can be used in combination with existing signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)-based corner-frequency selection procedures. The automated selections are then efficiently verified and refined using a graphical user interface (GUI) that plots relevant ground-motion time series and spectra and tracks modifications to signal processing parameters. We demonstrate these procedures using recordings from the 2020 M 5.1 Sparta, North Carolina, and the 2013 M 4.7 southern Ontario earthquakes. Data processed with the SNR-only and polynomial criteria for these events contain displacement artifacts in 37% and 23% of processed traces, respectively. Records with remaining artifacts are corrected manually using the GUI. These processing steps illustrate the workflow for efficient data processing with quality control.