Project Details
Projekt
The potential of fiber-optic sensing to improve seismic monitoring in the Istanbul-Marmara region in the light of a M > 7 earthquake
Applicant
Dr. Patricia Martinez-Garzon
Subject Area
Geophysics
Term
since 2025
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 560560027
Over the last decades, various technological and scientific improvements have led to great advances in decreasing the magnitude of completeness and detecting smaller seismic and slow deformation signals, including processes occurring before moderate to large mainshocks. These include the development of borehole seismology, the exploitation of seismo-geodesy, the application of artificial intelligence methods to analyze the data and the design of near-fault observatories. However, after the great improvement of the last few years, we are currently reaching the limit of the improvement that can be achieved on the recording bandwidth of traditional instrumentation. The systematic utilization of Distributed Fiber-Optic Sensing has started to be a game changer to image the sub-surface and monitor deformation at unprecedented resolution with respect to traditional seismic monitoring approaches. In this proposal, we aim at addressing a fundamentally important question: Can fiber-opting sensing be a future strong component of permanent seismic monitoring of hazardous fault segments that are challenging to be monitored with traditional point instrumentation? We focus our project on the Marmara region, NW Türkiye because of (1) the strong need for optimal seismic monitoring solutions in light of an overdue M > 7 near the Istanbul metropolitan region, (2) the marine and urban environments which appeal for non-traditional monitoring technologies, and (3) the availability of high-quality surface and borehole waveform data from the ICDP-GONAF observatory. Here, we aim at recording and analyzing data from fiber-optic sensing systems on existing telecommunication cables offshore underneath the Sea of Marmara and in the megacity of Istanbul, with the purpose of (i) comparing detection thresholds between different types of instrumentation, (ii) imaging blind shallow faults not previously identified within the urban areas, and (iii) monitoring seismic deformation transients preceding local moderate (and large) earthquakes. The project aims to expand and strengthen the infrastructure of the ICDP-GONAF observatory in the Marmara region and holds high potential to illuminate areas that are challenging to address with traditional instrumentation.
DFG Programme
Infrastructure Priority Programmes
