Rotational ground motions have emerged as an important complementary observable in
seismology, driven by advances in the development of rotational seismometers and independent
six-component measurement systems. The growing availability of these sensors is making it
increasingly possible to measure the complete six-component seismic wavefield generated not
only by earthquakes, but also by ambient and anthropogenic sources, providing new
opportunities to investigate wavefield properties and their interaction with buildings and critical
infrastructure. Sensitive to spatial gradients of the wavefield, rotational measurements carry
information that is fundamentally different from conventional translational measurements. They
therefore offer new opportunities to characterize seismic wavefields, resolve small-scale
subsurface heterogeneities, develop more complete descriptions of earthquake ground motion,
and improve our understanding of how seismic waves couple with infrastructure and contribute
to structural response and damage. Beyond traditional seismology, rotational observations are
increasingly being explored for seismic monitoring, rapid characterization of earthquake effects,
structural health monitoring, and earthquake engineering. Together, these developments open
new possibilities for integrating rotational observations across computational seismology,
geophysics, and engineering.
This interdisciplinary session brings together researchers working on the observation,
instrumentation, modelling, and application of rotational ground motions. We welcome
contributions focused on the development of rotation-measuring instruments and independent
six-component sensors; observations of earthquake- and ambient-noise-induced rotations;
theoretical and numerical modelling of rotational wavefields; full-waveform inversion;
computational seismology; seismic source and wave-propagation studies; near-field and strong
motion observations; seismic monitoring and event characterization; and applications to
structural health monitoring, earthquake engineering, and infrastructure resilience. We
particularly encourage contributions presenting new experiments and field deployments using
emerging rotational sensors, analyses of corresponding datasets, novel computational
approaches, and interdisciplinary applications of rotational ground-motion measurements.