Journal article

Geophysical tomographic studies traditionally exploit linear, damped least-squares inversion methods. We demonstrate that the resulting models can be locally biased toward lower or higher amplitudes in regions of poor data illumination, potentially causing physical misinterpretations. For example, we show that global model S40RTS is locally biased toward higher amplitudes below isolated receivers where ray paths are quasi vertical, such as on Hawaii. This leads to questions on the apparent lo...