Magnitude estimation using initial P‐wave amplitude and its spatial distribution in earthquake early warning in Taiwan

Abstract

We collected the strong‐motion accelerograms from thirteen crustal earthquakes in Taiwan recorded by the Taiwan Strong Motion Instrumentation Program (TSMIP) stations to find the empirical relationship between the areas of high initial P ‐wave displacement and the corresponding earthquake magnitudes. We found that the logarithm of the area has a linear relation to the corresponding earthquake magnitude in M w for study earthquakes with magnitudes between 5.4 and 6.5. We propose that this relationship might be able to rapidly define earthquake magnitude without knowing the earthquake location in regions with sufficient seismic station coverage and might have practical application in earthquake early warning (EEW) and rapid reporting systems.