Seismic tomography is a geophysical technique used to image the Earth's interior by analyzing the propagation of seismic waves generated by earthquakes or artificial sources. It is akin to the medical imaging technique of CT (computed tomography), where cross-sectional images of the body are created. In seismic tomography, seismologists collect data from various seismic stations that detect waves produced by seismic events. These waves can be divided into two main types: primary waves (P-waves) and secondary waves (S-waves).
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Seismic tomography infers a spatial model of elastic-wave propagation from many source-receiver observations. Uneven illumination, finite wavelength, parameter tradeoffs and regularization limit its resolution. A seismic-velocity image is not directly an image of temperature or flow velocity.