ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates the theory and practice of surface wave data acquisition. The measurement is an experimental process involving the generation of surface waves and the observation of their effects in the medium to investigate. The final aim is the estimation of the wave propagation parameters, which are then used for subsurface characterization. In most applications, the focus is on the wave velocity and its dependence on frequency (see also Chapter 4). The attenuation of surface waves and its dependence on frequency is of interest for the estimation of the material damping (see also Chapter 5). In some applications, the polarization (i.e., the ratio between different components of the particle motion) is also analyzed.
