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Yield estimation of small explosions at local distances represents a challenge for the nuclear explosion monitoring community. We have examined the feasibility of using short‐period surface‐wave magnitudes, called !Graphic1 , to estimate explosion yields at local distances ( . We have also incorporated multiple excitation corrections for !Graphic3 based on the near‐source seismic velocities, which greatly affect the source‐region amplitudes for !Graphic4 . It is important to note that in the formula the excitation is estimated from the measured !Graphic5 group velocity. We have also derived a new Butterworth filter cutout definition for filtering !Graphic6 near 1 s period at distances between 2 and 100 km. We used the new formula to estimate !Graphic7 for 39 small (37≤ Y ≤12,270 kg TNT equivalent) and shallow ( for chemical explosions with Y (assuming factor of 2 equivalence between chemical and nuclear) to nuclear explosions detonated at the Degelen and Shagan, Kazakhstan, test sites. The estimated yields based on !Graphic10 magnitudes were often within 20% of the true yield and had smaller F factor than the estimated yields for United States chemical explosions. Online Material: Tables of event information and !Graphic11 estimates. 1: /embed/inline-graphic-1.gif 2: /embed/inline-graphic-2.gif 3: /embed/inline-graphic-3.gif 4: /embed/inline-graphic-4.gif 5: /embed/inline-graphic-5.gif 6: /embed/inline-graphic-6.gif 7: /embed/inline-graphic-7.gif 8: /embed/inline-graphic-8.gif 9: /embed/inline-graphic-9.gif 10: /embed/inline-graphic-10.gif 11: /embed/inline-graphic-11.gif
Bonner et al. (Mon,) studied this question.