Radio atmospheric Radio atmospheric A radio atmospheric signal or sferic (sometimes also spelled "spheric") is a broadband electromagnetic impulse that occurs as a result of natural atmospheric lightning discharges. Sferics may propagate from their lightning source without major attenuation in the Earth–ionosphere waveguide, and can be received thousands of kilometres from their source. On a time-domain plot, a sferic may appear as a single high-amplitude spike in the time-domain data. On a spectrogram, a sferic appears as a vertical stripe (reflecting its broadband and impulsive nature) that may extend from a few kHz to several tens of kHz, depending on atmospheric conditions.
Surface wave inversion Surface wave inversion Seismic inversion involves the set of methods which seismologists use to infer properties through physical measurements. Surface-wave inversion is the method by which elastic properties, density, and thickness of layers in the subsurface are obtained through analysis of surface-wave dispersion. The entire inversion process requires the gathering of seismic data, the creation of dispersion curves, and finally the inference of subsurface properties. Surface waves are seismic waves that travel at the surface of the earth, along the air/earth boundary. Surface waves are slower than P-waves(compressional waves) and S-waves(transverse waves). Surface waves are classified into two basic types,