Comparison of MEMS accelerometers and geophones at Spring Coulee, Alberta

Michael S. Hons, Robert R. Stewart

Geophone and MEMS accelerometer data from a field experiment at Spring Coulee, Alberta are compared in the acceleration domain. At receiver stations where coupling and noise are not a problem, measurements from both sensor types are found to be very similar. Several different analyses of signal-to-noise ratio indicate a small advantage for geophones at low and medium frequencies, at later arrival times and longer offsets. Accelerometers appear to have a small advantage at higher frequencies, shorter arrival times and shorter offsets.