Towards Improving ML Estimates for Local Earthquakes Made by Geoscience Australia’s Earthquake Monitoring System

Here we undertake a statistical analysis of local magnitudes (ML) calculated using the two real-time earthquake monitoring software platforms use by Geoscience Australia (GA) since 2005, Antelope and Seiscomp. We examine a database of just over 10 years duration, during a period in which both systems were in operation and over 4000 earthquakes were located and magnitudes estimated. We examine the consistency of both single-station and network ML estimates of both systems, with a view toward determining guidelines for combining them into a single catalogue, as well as for determining best practice in the for the estimation of local magnitudes for regions of sparse seismic networks. Once this guidance has been developed, it is the intention of GA to re-process magnitudes for all earthquakes using a consistent approach where digital data are available and can be integrated within the currently-used SeisComP system. This paper was presented at the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society 2021 Virtual Conference, Nov 25 – 26.