Jimmy Atterholt
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atterholt.bsky.social
Jimmy Atterholt
@atterholt.bsky.social
Seismologist 🌎 Caltech Seismo Lab PhD 🌎 Earthquakes and Structure 🌎 Puppies and Hot Beverages
Pinned
New paper in Science! We used a fiber-optic array to tackle the tricky problem of imaging an offshore earthquake (2024 M7 Mendocino Fault EQ). In the process, we learned new things about supershear transitions and how fiber arrays could help with EEW. Read more here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Jimmy Atterholt
New paper in Science! We used a fiber-optic array to tackle the tricky problem of imaging an offshore earthquake (2024 M7 Mendocino Fault EQ). In the process, we learned new things about supershear transitions and how fiber arrays could help with EEW. Read more here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
September 26, 2025 at 4:33 PM
New paper in Science! We used a fiber-optic array to tackle the tricky problem of imaging an offshore earthquake (2024 M7 Mendocino Fault EQ). In the process, we learned new things about supershear transitions and how fiber arrays could help with EEW. Read more here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
September 26, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Wonderful popular science article on using buried fibers to do interesting science. There’s also a nice description of my work at Caltech imaging the SoCal Moho and of what we’re trying to do at the USGS with a fiber in southern Cascadia. Worth a read!
The expansive network of fiber optic cables carrying the internet is increasingly being used to measure seismic waves constantly vibrating through Earth's interior. For @newscientist.com this week, I explored how 'distributed acoustic sensing' on these fibers is changing our view underground.🧪
How buried cables are revealing Earth’s interior in incredible detail
The globe is criss-crossed by unused fibre-optic cables. Now, researchers are using them to defend against earthquakes and produce an unprecedented map of the underground world
www.newscientist.com
May 23, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Jimmy Atterholt
New paper in AGU Advances! We constrained models of dike opening in the recent Icelandic eruptions through observations of dv/v on DAS.

Thank you to the many co-authors who made it possible, especially my advisor Zhongwen Zhan.

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
Constraining Dike Opening Models With Seismic Velocity Changes Associated With the 2023–2024 Eruption Sequence on the Reykjanes Peninsula
Subsurface deformation associated with the 2023–2024 eruption sequence on the Reykjanes Peninsula produces a pronounced dv/v signal The observed dv/v signal is inverted for a model of dike-openin...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
February 20, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Reposted by Jimmy Atterholt
New paper out! Last chapter of my PhD. We made a long-term seismicity and MT catalog for Ridgecrest using a state-of-the-art workflow. We then used the catalog to make new insights on the stress evolution throughout the sequence using point process theory. Check it out here: doi.org/10.1093/gji/...
January 21, 2025 at 7:25 PM
New paper out! Last chapter of my PhD. We made a long-term seismicity and MT catalog for Ridgecrest using a state-of-the-art workflow. We then used the catalog to make new insights on the stress evolution throughout the sequence using point process theory. Check it out here: doi.org/10.1093/gji/...
January 21, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Nice overview of our recent paper for Caltech news:
New Technique to Look Deep Within Tectonic Plates
New technology makes it possible and affordable to image Earth’s crust–mantle boundary at very high resolution.
www.caltech.edu
December 3, 2024 at 12:21 AM
Reposted by Jimmy Atterholt
DAS meets the Moho! New paper in Science Advances w/ Zhongwen Zhan. We developed a method for finding Moho reflections in DAS data. One event can yield 10s of km of fine-scale Moho depth measurements. We applied it to dozens of SoCal events and learned a lot about the Garlock, Coso, and more.
Fine-scale Southern California Moho structure uncovered with distributed acoustic sensing
The Moho reflected phase measured by DAS shows abrupt crustal thickness changes across the Garlock Fault and Coso Volcanic Field.
doi.org
November 27, 2024 at 7:34 PM
DAS meets the Moho! New paper in Science Advances w/ Zhongwen Zhan. We developed a method for finding Moho reflections in DAS data. One event can yield 10s of km of fine-scale Moho depth measurements. We applied it to dozens of SoCal events and learned a lot about the Garlock, Coso, and more.
Fine-scale Southern California Moho structure uncovered with distributed acoustic sensing
The Moho reflected phase measured by DAS shows abrupt crustal thickness changes across the Garlock Fault and Coso Volcanic Field.
doi.org
November 27, 2024 at 7:34 PM
So glad there are people in this world willing to port old compiled codes to python. Often thankless but super impactful work.
November 27, 2024 at 5:01 PM
First post is a plug for our new paper on the Cascadia SZ led by Hao Guo. We carefully relocated events in the Gorda slab and computed their source parameters. Our results suggest lower effective stress in the slab crust and, by extension, the megathrust! Check it out here: doi.org/10.1785/0220...
November 20, 2024 at 1:38 PM