Noise is all around us, all the time. Vibrations in the earth are much the same. Natural and anthropogenic (or man-made) vibrations are a constant source of noise that is recorded on seismic sensors around the world. We can take some action to quiet the noise, but as populations spread and infrastructure rises, it becomes harder to find quiet places to “listen” for earthquakes. This is even more difficult when monitoring in urban areas.

So what can be done to remove the noise, but keep the “good signal”? Ezgi Karasozen and Mike West have developed a method to remove persistent cultural noise (frequent, repetitive man-made vibrations) from seismic sensor recordings to help show earthquake data more clearly without altering the earthquake signal. Like everything else in life, removing too much noise (i.e. overdoing it) is not good, because the earthquake signal can get lost. The goal is to remove as little as possible when there is “good signal” to capture as much of the earthquake as possible.