A fast and efficient picking algorithm for earthquake early warning application based on the variance piecewise constant models

An earthquake warning system, or earthquake early warning system, is a system of accelerometers, seismometers, communication, computers, and alarms that is devised for notifying adjoining regions of a substantial earthquake while it is in progress. This is not the same as earthquake prediction, which is currently incapable of producing decisive event warnings. The implementation of efficient and computationally simple picking algorithm is necessary for this purpose, as well as automatic picking of seismic phases for seismic surveillance and routine earthquake location for fast hypocenter determination. In this paper a method for picking based on the detection of signals changes in variance is proposed, taking advantage of a generalized linear model formulation of the investigated problem. An application to simulated data is provided.