Automated Estimation of Seismic Shaking Intensity from Instrumental Data in Quasi-Real-time Mode and Its Use in the Operation of the of Seismic Early Warning Service in the Kamchatka Region

Early warning systems are becoming increasingly important in the modern world. These systems combine several components: predictive systems (For example, tsunami warning systems), earthquake early warning systems, emergency message services, and systems of seismic damage monitoring. Information about shaking intensity becomes especially important in the case of a strong earthquake occurrence. These data are necessary for planning emergency rescue operations, but they are difficult to collect in a natural disasters situation because of possible communication problems. Application of data on instrumental seismic intensity may make it possible to solve this problem. Early warning systems predicting seismic intensity distributions just after the occurrence of an earthquake have already been developed in many seismically active regions of the world. Such a system also needs to be implemented in Kamchatka, where the strongest earthquakes can produce extremely high values of strong motion acceleration. As a result of the development of a system for seismological observation in Kamchatka, a unified specialized system for collection, transmission, archiving, and processing of seismic information was created. Seismological observations in Kamchatka were significantly improved with the update of the tsunami warning service in 2006–2011. As a result, a network of strong motion stations is currently operating in Kamchatka and can serve as a basis for creating a quasi-real-time seismic early warning system under the auspices the Kamchatka Branch of the Geophysical Survey, Russian Academy of Sciences (KB GS RAS). It uses data from strong motion stations to estimate the instrumental seismic intensity in quasi-real-time mode and visualizes the results. During the operational period while the service is being intensively used in the framework of the Seismic Early Warning Reports Tsunami Warning Service in the Kamchatka and Sakhalin branches of the GS RAS for real-time warning of interested parties about the shaking intensities at observation points, the technology implemented in this service has proved highly informative. In total, 75 messages on instrumental intensity in various places of Kamchatka krai and the northern Kuril Islands (Paramushir Islands) have been sent since the service was commissioned at the end of 2014. The currently operating version of the service has proved its informativeness and applicability for special departments of the Emergency Situations Ministry. In addition, real-time warning has improved coordination between the departments of KB GS RAS, and the results of this system are being used in a number of basic research projects. Further development of the service is related to the creation of denser instrumental networks to record strong ground motions and the transition to automatic decision-making and message sending.