Monitoring of Local Earthquakes in Haiti Using Low-Cost, Citizen-Hosted Seismometers and Regional Broadband Stations

Abstract

Seismic monitoring in Haiti is currently provided by a mixed network of low-cost Raspberry Shake (RS) seismic stations hosted by citizens, and short-period and broadband stations located mainly in neighboring countries. The level of earthquake detection is constantly improving for a better spatio-temporal distribution of seismicity as the number of RS increases. In this article, we analyze the impact of the quality of the signals recorded by the RS—low-cost seismometers with the smallest magnitude that the network can detect by studying the ambient noise level at these stations. Because the RS stations are installed as part of a citizen-science project, their ambient noise estimated by the power spectral density (PSD) method often shows a high-noise level at frequencies above 1 Hz. In the near field (<50 km), we show that the network detects seismic events of local magnitude on the order of 2.2 with signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) greater than 4. Improving the network detection threshold requires densifying the network with more RS stations in locations that are less noisy, if possible. In spite of these limitations, this mixed network has provided near-field data essential to rapidly understand the mechanism of the mainshock of the 14 August 2021 Mw 7.2 earthquake, to monitor its sequence of aftershocks in near-real time, and to monitor background seismicity in Haiti on a routine basis.