Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Relationships Between Earthquake Ground Motions And Modified Mercalli Intensity, Andrea Sweny

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

With widespread Internet use, web-based earthquake reports are a valuable source of felt intensitydata with broad geographical coverage. Paired with ground motion data, Internet surveys like theUSGS Did You Feel It? (DYFI) website can be used to derive relationships between ground motionparameters and Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI). These are particularly important for regionswith sparse seismographic coverage where the quality and density of intensity data may be superiorto ground motion data. MMI-ground motion relationships are also needed to infer ground motionsof historical earthquakes.

Using well-documented earthquakes in across North America, we analyze correlations betweenfelt intensity and ground motions, including peak ground …