Homogeneous estimation of moment magnitude for small-to-moderate magnitude earthquakes located near the border between Japan and Taiwan

A homogeneous estimate of moment magnitude (M) for small-to-moderate-magnitude (SMM) earthquakes is important to assess regional ground-motion attenuation and seismic hazard. Multiple estimates of M for SMM events are often available from regional agencies. These estimates are typically biased compared with the estimates from a global agency due to limited geographic or azimuthal convergence. The M of SMM earthquakes near the border between Japan and Taiwan is available from both the Broadband Array in Taiwan for Seismology and the Full Range Seismograph Network of Japan for M > 3. The M provided by these agencies is compared with that by the Global Centroid Moment Tensor for M > 4:5 to estimate the bias and standard deviation of the values. An optimum data fusion of these Ms is presented to obtain a homogeneous estimation of M for SMM earthquakes (4:5 < M < 5:0) near the border between Japan and Taiwan.