Empirical mode decomposition: a new tool for S-wave detection

Seismic signals consist of several typically short energy bursts, waves, exhibiting several patterns in terms of dominant frequency, amplitude and polarisation. Amongst others, a significant wave is the S-wave. To detect such S-waves one can use conventional techniques that are based on physical differences between the several waves appearing in the seismic signal. In this paper we combine a conventional technique with the recently introduced Empirical Mode Decomposition, a non-linear signal analysis tool. By means of two examples a comparison of this new approach is made with both conventional techniques and the wavelet-based approach, which was proposed by the same author in an earlier paper.