Towards back-projection earthquake rupture imaging with ocean bottom distributed acoustic sensing

Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) along seafloor fiber optic cables offers high-density, wide-aperture, real-time seismic data near subduction earthquakes, at a lower cost than conventional cabled ocean bottom seismic networks. It is thus a very promising approach to develop offshore observatories for hazard monitoring and mitigation and for fundamental research on earthquake processes. Here, we introduce a method for earthquake rupture imaging by back-projection of DAS data, taking full advantage of the data characteristics to achieve high resolution and accuracy. To develop and test the method, we use DAS data recorded along submarine telecom cables in Chile. The approach includes pre-processing steps, such as spatial integration and sediment time corrections, that greatly improve the back-projection performance. Our analysis of recordings of small earthquakes that can be considered as point sources demonstrate high accuracy in localizing seismic sources, with a resolution ranging from 2 to 5 km within a ‘high-resolution and high-robustness zone’ around the cable. We demonstrate the ability of the method to image large ruptures by applying it to simulated waveforms of a magnitude 7 earthquake, constructed by superposition of multiple empirical Green’s functions. We find that strong coda waves do not compromise the precise detection and location of sub-sources. Our method could enhance early warning systems and offer high-resolution observations crucial for studying fault mechanics. Information & Authors Information Version history Peer review timeline Published Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth Version of Record19 Aug 2025Published Copyright This work is licensed under a Non Exclusive No Reuse License.

Authors Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 317views 190downloads Citations Download citation Yuqing Xie, Jean-Paul Ampuero, Martijn van den Ende1, et al. Towards back-projection earthquake rupture imaging with ocean bottom distributed acoustic sensing. Authorea. 24 March 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.174283901.11961751/v1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.174283901.11961751/v1 If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download. For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu.