Aquifer Monitoring Using Ambient Seismic Noise Recorded With Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) Deployed on Dark Fiber

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dc.citation.articleNumbere2020JB021004en_US
dc.citation.issueNumber4en_US
dc.citation.journalTitleJournal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earthen_US
dc.citation.volumeNumber126en_US
dc.contributor.authorTribaldos, Verónica Rodríguezen_US
dc.contributor.authorAjo-Franklin, Jonathan B.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2021-06-07T20:22:23Zen_US
dc.date.available2021-06-07T20:22:23Zen_US
dc.date.issued2021en_US
dc.description.abstractGroundwater is a critical resource for human activities worldwide, and a vital component of many natural ecosystems. However, the state and dynamics of water-bearing aquifers remain uncertain, mostly due to the paucity of subsurface data at high spatial and temporal resolution. Here, we show that analysis of infrastructure-generated ambient seismic noise acquired on distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) arrays has potential as a tool to track variations in seismic velocities (dv/v) caused by groundwater level fluctuations. We analyze 5 months of ambient noise acquired along an unused, 23 km-long telecommunication fiber-optic cable in the Sacramento Valley, CA, a so-called “dark fiber.' Three array subsections, ∼6 km apart, are processed and the stretching technique is applied to retrieve daily dv/v beneath each location. Near the Sacramento river, dv/v variations in the order of 2%–3% correlate with precipitation events and fluctuations in river stage of ∼1.5 m. In contrast, regions away (2.5 km) from the river do not experience large dv/v variations. These observations reveal short-scale spatial variability in aquifer dynamics captured by this approach. Dispersion analysis and surface wave inversion of noise gathers reveal that seismic velocity perturbations occur at depths of 10–30 m. Rock physics modeling confirms that observed dv/v are linked to pore pressure changes at these depths, caused by groundwater table fluctuations. Our results suggest that DAS combined with ambient noise interferometry provides a means of tracking aquifer dynamics at high spatial and temporal resolutions at local to regional scales, relevant for effective groundwater resource management.en_US
dc.identifier.citationTribaldos, Verónica Rodríguez and Ajo-Franklin, Jonathan B.. "Aquifer Monitoring Using Ambient Seismic Noise Recorded With Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) Deployed on Dark Fiber." <i>Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth,</i> 126, no. 4 (2021) Wiley: https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JB021004.en_US
dc.identifier.digital2020JB021004en_US
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1029/2020JB021004en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/110668en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherWileyen_US
dc.rightsThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.en_US
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en_US
dc.titleAquifer Monitoring Using Ambient Seismic Noise Recorded With Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) Deployed on Dark Fiberen_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.type.dcmiTexten_US
dc.type.publicationpublisher versionen_US
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