Analysis of Broadband Seismic Recordings of Landslide Using Empirical Green's Function

Abstract The 2010 Mount Meager landslide generated strong seismic waves. We used seismic signals generated by a smaller landslide that occurred within 2 min of the end of the main landslide as the empirical Green's function (EGF) with which to obtain landslide dynamics from high‐frequency signals. We then obtained the apparent force‐time function of the landslide based on the EGF by inverting the higher‐frequency seismic signals. The apparent force‐time function shows that the source material of the main landslide came from four collapses and that the second collapse involved multiple small collapses. We also used the EGF to simulate the vertical seismogram recorded at one station and found that the synthesized seismogram fits the response of the bulk mobilization of the sliding materials remarkably well. Our study demonstrates that the use of the EGF can significantly broaden quantitative insights into landslide dynamics.