Automatic phase pickers: Their present use and future prospects

abstract Automatic phase-picking algorithms are designed to detect a seismic signal on a single trace and to time the arrival of the signal precisely. Because of the requirement for precise timing, a phase-picking algorithm is inherently less sensitive than one designed only to detect the presence of a signal, but still can approach the performance of a skilled analyst. A typical algorithm filters the input data and then generates a function characterizing the seismic time series. This function may be as simple as the absolute value of the series, or it may be quite complex. Event detection is accomplished by comparing the function or its short-term average (STA) with a threshold value (THR), which is commonly some multiple of a long-term average (LTA) of a characteristic function. If the STA exceeds THR, a trigger is declared. If the event passes simple criteria, it is reported. Sensitivity, expected timing error, false-trigger rate, and false-report rate are interrelated measures of performance controlled by choice of the characteristic function and several operating parameters. At present, computational power limits most systems to one-pass, time-domain algorithms. Rapidly advancing semi-conductor technology, however, will make possible much more powerful multi-pass approaches incorporating frequency-domain detection and pseudo-offline timing.