Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration ISSN:1229-1064(Print) 2384-051X(Online) 지구물리와 물리탐사

Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) has installed and operated seven seismoacoustic (infrasound) arrays as well as seismic stations in Korea. The seismo-acoustic array, which consists of co-located seismometers and micro-barometers, can observe both seismic and infrasonic signals from distant explosive phenomena. The infrasound is defined as low frequency (< 20 Hz) acoustic waves in atmosphere. In particular, it can be detectable at long distance due to its low energy attenuation during propagation in atmosphere. KIGAM adopted the infrasound technology to discriminate surface explosions from earthquakes only because the surface explosion generally generates infrasound following seismic signal. In addition to surface explosions, these arrays have detected diverse geophysically natural and artificial phenomena, such as infrasound signal from the North Korean nuclear test. This review introduced the state-of-the-art studies and examples of infrasonic signals in and around the Korean Peninsula. In conclusion,infrasound technology would be clearly accepted itself as a new Earth monitoring technology by expanding its detectable regime to lithosphere-Earth surface-atmosphere. In future, an advanced technology, which allows to analyze seismic and infrasonic wave fields together, will enlarge the understanding of geophysical phenomena and be used as a robust analysis method for remote explosive phenomena in the broad infrasound regime.