NET-VISA from Cradle to Adulthood. A Machine-Learning Tool for Seismo-Acoustic Automatic Association

Abstract

A research concept that was first presented on a poster at a Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) conference in 2009 has resulted in a fully-fledged operational software product named NET-VISA (Network Processing Vertically Integrated Seismic Analysis), which performs the Network Processing step of the automatic processing at the International Data Centre (IDC). It has become one of the tools of the waveform analysts to review and improve the IDC standard automatic third Standard Events List (SEL3) bulletin and produce the Reviewed Events Bulletin (REB), the only global seismo-acoustic bulletin. The basic scientific concepts imbedded into NET-VISA are briefly summarized in this paper but the emphasis is on the process of adopting, developing, adapting, testing, and operationalizing the initial prototype. Extensive off-line testing has shown that one of the expected benefits of NET-VISA was the significant reduction in missed events rate compared to the current Network Processing software, Global Association (GA). NET-VISA also finds some events previously missed by manual review. Starting in July 2017, and as of January 2020, NET-VISA generates an automatic bulletin, called VSEL3, in parallel to SEL3, which is also used by analysts since January 2018. Tracing the origin of the REB events has confirmed the significant reduction in missed events when complementary VSEL3 events are reviewed in addition to the SEL3 events. If sufficient confidence is established, NET-VISA has the potential to replace GA in producing the standard automatic SEL3 bulletin.

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