For seismic data transmission by radio-telemetry networks, we
consider the topography within the entire network when designing suitable links. The topography in the vicinity of a potential
site was considered. Extremely steep mountain slopes or deep
valleys may influence the seismic waveforms and signal amplitudes. Mountain peaks are usually much more susceptible to
wind-generated seismic noise and, perhaps, lightning strikes.
Therefore, sites with moderately changing topography are more
suitable. The ASTER (Advanced Space-borne Thermal Emission and
Reflection Radiometer), Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM,
Akl, 2005) was used in this study. The Spatial Analyst extension of
the ArcGIS software (ESRI, 2009) was used to analyze the GDEM
with a 30 m resolution in the study area. The classified topographic elevation map (Fig. 4a) shows that the highest mountains and deepest valleys were categorized as a low-suitability class, the second-highest and second-lowest elevation values were considered as another class; and so on until reaching the moderately
changing topography, which was considered as the most suitable
class for installing seismic stations.