Rapid and Temporary Deployment of Fiber-Optic Arrays to Measure Surface Chemical Explosion Series with Distributed Acoustic Sensing

Abstract Rapid and temporary distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) deployments are crucial for accurately capturing the seismic wavefield following major events, such as earthquakes, or in anticipation of known events of interest, such as chemical explosions. We provide an overview of two DAS campaigns conducted in May and October 2024 to record the seismoacoustic waves generated by two series of surface chemical explosions in New Mexico, United States, involving 1- and 10-ton trinitrotoluene-equivalent charges. In both campaigns, we deployed approximately 2 km of fiber-optic cables in a dry riverbed, about 12 km east of the explosion sites. For the October campaign, seven geophones and two anemometers were collocated with the fiber. We describe the field deployments and present preliminary results from the recorded signals. Specifically, we cross analyze the data recorded in May and October, validate the DAS data with geophone measurements, and highlight the benefits of burying fibers to reduce wind noise and improve signal-to-noise ratios. This study demonstrates the potential of DAS to record the seismoacoustic waves generated by surface chemical explosions of varying sizes at distances of approximately 10 km from the source.