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Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America; June 1987; v. 77; no. 3; p. 972-986
© 1987 Seismological Society of America
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A fast algorithm for two-point seismic ray tracing

JUNHO UM* and CLIFFORD THURBER

DEPARTMENT OF EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCES STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT STONY BROOK, STONY BROOK, NEW YORK 11794

Abstract

A new approximate algorithm for two-point ray tracing is proposed and tested in a variety of laterally heterogeneous velocity models. An initial path estimate is perturbed using a geometric interpretation of the ray equations, and the travel time along the path is minimized in a piecewise fashion. This perturbation is iteratively performed until the travel time converges within a specified limit. Test results show that this algorithm successfully finds the correct travel time within typical observational error much faster than existing three-dimensional ray tracing programs. The method finds an accurate ray path in a fully three-dimensional form even where lateral variations in velocity are severe. Because our algorithm utilizes direct minimization of the travel time instead of solving the ray equations, a simple linear interpolation scheme can be employed to compute velocity as a function of position, providing an added computational advantage.

Footnotes

* Present address: Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Palisades, New York 10964.




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