A case study of seismograph self-noise test from Trillium 120QA seismometer and Reftek 130 data logger

Abstract

Abstract Seismograph self-noise has become a de facto standard for instrument comparisons and their performance assessment and is considered as one of the most vital parameters for instrument comparison. For self-noise testing of modern force-balance feedback broadband seismometers, several factors have been thoroughly discussed and thought to be attributable to the self-noise estimate, including the data selection criteria, sensor alignment correction, timing error, correlation analysis method, and computational parameter selection during the computational process. This study focuses on some other factors, such as local site conditions, temperature insulating methods, and data logger self-noise interferences, with an aim to differentiate the self-noise contribution of these sources and their dependencies on time and frequency. A series of experiments were conducted at the Beijing National Earth Observatory using a Trillium 120QA seismometer and Reftek-130 data acquisition system at three different locations ranging from the ordinary equipment warehouse to global seismographic network level cave with a hard-rock base. Results show that noise-free site is necessary for the self-noise test in a frequency band greater than approximately 0.1 Hz. However, for a frequency band less than 0.1 Hz, the insulation method and installation procedures are far more important, although the influence of the site location cannot be neglected fully. A suitable preamp should be selected in the data logger configurations to ensure that the low-noise amplitude of the sensor signal is above the digitizer noise level.