Support vector machines applied to fast determination of the geographical coordinates of earthquakes, The case of El Rosal seismological station, Bogotá Colombia

Abstract

AbstractThe objective of this research was to determine seismic events latitude and longitude using support vector machines (SVMs) and seismic records from “El Rosal” station, which is located 40 kilometers northwest of Bogotá, Colombia. A total of 504 SVMs models were tested to determine latitude and 504 models for longitude, with various combinations of complexity factor and kernel function exponent, applied to earthquakes of 2, 2.5, 3 and 3.5 ML in time windows of 15 , 10 and 5 seconds. The best results showed errors of 40 kilometers for latitude and 30 kilometers for longitude, with respect to the place where the earthquakes were generated. These outcomes might be improved by applying additional descriptors during SVMs training stages, such descriptors can be related to Fourier frequency spectra, predominant period and wavelet transform coefficients.