Testimonies, photostemp
Real Time Information and Earthquake Notification services
Principle | Present contributions | FAQ
Principle
EMSC collects real time parametric data (source parmaters and phase pickings) provided by 65 seismological networks of the Euro-Med region. These data are provided to the EMSC either by email or via QWIDS (Quake Watch Information Distribution System, developped by ISTI). The collected data are automatically archived in a database, made available via an autoDRM, and displayed on the web site. The collected data are automatically merged to produce automatic locations which are sent to several seismological institutes in order to perform quick moment tensors determination.
For potentially destructive earthquakes, the EMSC operates an Earthquake Notification Service in which email/SMS/fax are disseminated to the registered end-users within 20-30 minutes on average after the earthquake occurrence. This service is free and registration is available here.
The real time information services are purely automatic and deals with all events reported by the data contributors while the Earthquake Notification Service is a manual one, where the email/SMS notifications are disseminated by a seismologist on call to the end-users (More than 8,400 on 01/06/2010). The way the real time information services work is described in details in the 2 following documents:
- Report on EMSC Real Time Earthquake Information services in 2009.
- Description of EMSC Real Time Earthquake Information services.
Present contributions
- 65 contributing networks
- Corresponding to 1,782 seismic stations
- More than 15,000 events published per year
| Code | Institute | Country | City |
|---|---|---|---|
| AE | Arizona Broadband Seismic Network, Arizona Geological Survey | USA | |
| AG | Arkansas Seismic Network, Arkansas Geological Survey | USA | |
| AK | Alaska Regional Network, University of Alaska-Fairbanks | USA | |
| AO | Arkansas Seismic Observatory, University of Arkansas at Little Rock | USA | |
| AR | Northern Arizona Network, Arizona Earthquake Information Center | USA | |
| AT | Alaska Tsunami Warning Seismic System, West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center | USA | |
| AV | Alaska Volcano Observatory, USGS - Anchorage, University of Alaska, Geophysical Institute | USA | |
| AZ | ANZA Regional Network, University of California, San Diego - USGS Menlo Park | USA | |
| BEO | Seismological Survey of Serbia | Serbia | Belgrad |
| BER | University of Bergen | Norway | Bergen |
| BGR | Bundesanstalt fur Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, German Regional Seismograph Network | Germany | Hannover |
| BGS | British Geological Survey | United Kingdom | Edinburgh |
| BGSG | British Geological Survey (Global Network) | United Kingdom | Edinburgh |
| BK | Berkeley Digital Seismic Network (BDSN) | USA | |
| BRA | Geophysical Institute, Seismology Division, Slovak Academy of Sciences | Slovakia | Bratislava |
| BUC | National Institute for Earth Physics | Romania | Bucharest |
| CC | Cascade Chain Volcano Monitoring, USGS/Cascade Volcano Observatory | USA | |
| CE | California Strong Motion Instrumentation Program, California Geological Survey - Earthquake Engineering | USA | |
| CG | Coso Microearthquake Network, Geothermal Program Office, US Navy, China Lake | USA | |
| CI | Southern California Seismic Network, California Institute of Technology / USGS - Pasadena | USA | |
| CNRM | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique | Morocco | Rabat |
| CO | South Carolina Seismic Network, University of South Carolina at Columbia | USA | |
| CRAA | Centre de Recherche en Astronomie, Astrophysique et Geophysique | Algeria | Algiers |
| CU | CariUSGS Caribbean Network, USGS, Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory | USA | |
| CWB | Central Weather Bureau | Chinese Taipei | |
| CYP | Geological Survey Department | Cyprus | Nicosia |
| DDA | Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, Earthquake Department | Turkey | Ankara |
| DHMR | National Seismological Observatory Center | Yemen | Dhamar |
| DJI | Observatoire Geophysique d'Arta | Djibouti | Djibouti |
| DSN | Dubai Seismic Network | Dubai | Dubai Municipality |
| EP | UTEP Seismic Network, University of Texas, El Paso | USA | |
| ET | CERI Southern Appalachian Seismic Network, University of Memphis | USA | |
| GFU | Geophysical Institute of the Academy of Sciences | Czech Republic | Prague |
| GFZ | GeoForschungsZentrum (GEOFON) | Germany | Potsdam |
| GII | Geophysical Institute of Israel, Seismology Division | Israel | Tel Aviv |
| GRAL | National Center for Geophysical Research | Lebannon | Beirut |
| GSRC | Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences | Russia | Obninsk |
| GUC | Departamento de Geofisica, Universidad de Chile | Chile | Santiago |
| HSNC | Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Seismological Network of Crete | Greece | Chania |
| HV | Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Network, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory | USA | |
| HW | Hanford Washington Seismic Network, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory | USA | |
| ICC | Instituto Geologic de Catalunya | Spain | Barcelona |
| IE | Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, University of Utah, Network Contact | USA | |
| IGUT | Institute of Geophysics, University of Tehran | Iran | Tehran |
| II | IRIS/IDA Network, University of California, Scripps Institute of Oceanography | USA | |
| IMO | Department of Geophysics, Icelandic Meteorological Office | Iceland | Reykjavik |
| IMP | Instituto Portugues do Mar e da Atmosfera | Portugal | Lisbon |
| INGV | Instituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia | Italy | Roma |
| INMT | Institut National de Meteorologie | Tunisia | Tunis |
| IPEC | Institute of Physics of the Earth | Czech | Brno |
| IRSA | Romanian Institute for Applied Seismology | Romania | Bucharest |
| ISN | Iraqi Meteorological Organisation and Seismology, Seismological Department | Iraq | Baghdad |
| IU | IRIS/USGS Network, USGS Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory | USA | |
| IW | Intermountain West Seismic Network, United States Geological Survey | USA | |
| KAN | Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute | Turkey | Istanbul |
| KY | Kentucky Seismic and Strong Motion Network, Kentucky Geological Survey | USA | |
| LB | Leo Brady Network, Sandia National Laboratory | USA | |
| LD | Lamont-Doherty Cooperative Seismographic Network, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University | USA | |
| LDG | Laboratoire de Detection et de Geophysique | France | Bruyeres-le-Chatel |
| LED | Landsamt fur Geologie, Rohstoffe und Bergbau | Germany | Baden Wuerttemberg |
| LJU | Agencija Republike Slovenije za okolje, Seismological Office | Slovenia | Ljubljana |
| LVV | Carpathian Seismological Department, Ukraine Academy of Science | Ukraine | Lviv |
| MAD | Instituto Geografico Nacional | Spain | Madrid |
| MB | Montana Regional Seismic Network, Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology | USA | |
| MCSM | Ukrainian NDC, Main Center of Special Monitoring | Ukraine | Kiev |
| MOLD | Institute of Geophysics and Geology | Moldova | Chisinau |
| MON | Direction de l'Environnement, de l'Urbanisme et de la Construction | Monaco | Monaco |
| MSO | Montenegro Seismological Observatory | Montenegro | Podgorica |
| NC | USGS Northern California Regional Network, USGS-Menlo Park, California | USA | |
| NE | Northeastern United States Networks, Boston College | USA | |
| NEIC | National Earthquake Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey | USA | Denver |
| NEWS | Norwegian Seismic Array | Norway | Kjeller |
| NM | Cooperative New Madrid Seismic Network, St. Louis University and University of Memphis | USA | |
| NN | Western Great Basin/Eastern Sierra Nevada, University of Nevada, Reno | USA | |
| NNC | Kazakhstan National Data Center | Kazakhstan | Almaty |
| NOA | National Observatory of Athens, Geodynamic Institute | Greece | Athens |
| NOR | Norwegian Seismic Array | Norway | Kjeller |
| NP | United States National Strong-Motion Network, USGS - National Strong-Motion Program | USA | |
| NQ | NetQuakes, USGS Menlo Park, California | USA | |
| NRIA | National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics | Egypt | Cairo |
| NSSC | National Syrian Seismological Centre | Syria | Damas |
| NSSP | National Survey of Seismic Protection | Armenia | Yerevan |
| OCA | GeoAzur, Universite de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, Valbonne, France | France | |
| ODC | ORFEUS Data Center | Netherlands | De Bilt |
| OGS | Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale | Italy | Trieste |
| OH | Ohio Seismic Network, Ohio Geological Survey | USA | |
| OK | Oklahoma Seismic Network, University of Oklahoma | USA | |
| OMAN | Earthquake Monitoring Center of Oman , Sultan Qaboos University | Oman | Muscat |
| PDA | Instituto Portugues do Mar e Atmosfera | Portugal | Azores Delegation |
| PE | Penn State Network, Penn State University | USA | |
| PG | PG and E, Diablo Canyon, Pacific Gas and Electric | USA | |
| PR | Puerto Rico Seismic Network (PRSN) and Puerto Rico Strong Motion Program (PRSMP), University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez | USA | |
| PT | Pacific Tsunami Warning Seismic System, Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, Ewa Beach, Hawaii | USA | |
| RE | US Bureau of Reclamation Seismic Networks, US Bureau of Reclamation, Denver Federal Center | USA | |
| RNS | Reseau National de Surveillance Sismique | France | Strasbourg |
| RSSC | Republican Seismic Survey Center or Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences | Azerbaidjan | Baku |
| SASN | South African Seismological Network | South Africa | Pretoria |
| SC | New Mexico Tech Seismic Network, New Mexico Tech, Socorro, New Mexico | USA | |
| SE | Southeastern Appalachian Cooperative Seismic Network, Virginia Tech, University of Memphis, Tennessee Valley Authority, and University of North Carolina | USA | |
| SED | Swiss Seismological Service | Switzerland | Zurich |
| SF | San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD), Stanford University and USGS Menlo Park, Earthscope Project | USA | |
| SGS | Saudian National Seismological Network | Saudi Arabia | Riyad |
| SIK | Seismological Institute of Kosovo/UNMIK | Kosovo/UNMIK | Pristina |
| SKO | Seismological Observatory | FYROM | Skopje |
| SNSN | Uppsala Seismic Network | Sweden | Uppsala |
| SOF | Geophisical Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences | Bulgaria | Sofia |
| SORS | Republic Hydrometeorological Institute | Bosnia-Herzogovina | Banja Luka |
| SPGM | Departement des Sciences de la Terre | Morocco | Rabat |
| THE | Aristocle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Geophysics | Greece | Thessaloniki |
| THR | International Institute for Earthquake Engineering and Seismology | Iran | Tehran |
| TIF | Seismic Monitoring Centre of Georgia | Georgia | Tbilisi |
| TIR | Institute of Geosciences, Energy, Water and Environment | Albania | Tirana |
| UCC | Royal Observatory of Belgium | Belgium | Brussels |
| UO | University of Oregon Regional Network, University of Oregon | USA | |
| UPSL | University of Patras Seismological Laboratory | Greece | Patras |
| US | US National Seismic Network, ANSS Backbone of the USGS-NEIC and USGS-ASL and Earthscope Project of IRIS | USA | |
| UU | University of Utah Regional Network, University of Utah Seismograph Stations | USA | |
| UW | Pacific Northwest Regional Seismic Network, University of Washington | USA | |
| WAR | Warsaw seismic network | Poland | Warsaw |
| WR | California Division of Water Resources, California Division of Water Resources | USA | |
| WY | Yellowstone Volcano Observatory Seismic Network, University of Utah Seismograph Stations | USA | |
| ZAG | Seismological Survey, University of Zagreb | Croatia | Zagreb |
| ZAMG | ZentralAnstalt fur Meteorologie und Geodynamik | Austria | Vienna |
Frequently Asked Questions (for data contributors)
Which type of data should be sent?
- Parametric data i.e. source parameters (origin time, epicenter coordinates, hypocentral depth, magnitude) and arrival times (station code, phase picking, calibrated amplitude/period).
- Groups of phases (without associated location) can be highly valuable and should be sent too.
- Moment tensors and/or focal mechanisms.
- Field observations after a significant earthquake.
What are the main criteria for data contribution?
- Rapidity is critical to ensure real time characteristic of the information and to allow the rapid dissemination of alert messages (alert messages are generally disseminated within 20-30 minutes of the earthquake occurrence).
- Good station coverage is critical to ensure reliable location. Then, contributions from stations close to the epicentre, and/or which significantly improve the station coverage (e.g. offshore seismicity) are extremely valuable even if only available several hours after the event occurrence.
- In practice, networks with no automatic processing capacities are invited to systematically send their data, as soon as possible. In case of significant (M > 4.0-4.5) and/or felt earthquake, their data can be essential to determine accurate source parameters.
How must a data contributor provide real time data ?
- Via email: sent to a specific email adress.
- or Via QWIDS: the Quake Watch Information Distribution System allows quick, robust and secure data echange. Please contact for more information
- with the following recommandations:
-
- Data message must be sent in ascii (text) format. Not in html or enriched text.
- The data must be included in the body of the message. No .doc, no .xls.
- The data provider can use any text format but its data must then always be formatted in the same format because all the data are processed automatically. Any modification of the format must be notified to EMSC several days before.
- One message must contain the data of only one earthquake.
Is there a magnitude limit for contributions?
- Messages related to events with magnitude lower than 2 are not displayed by the Real Time System (they are however archived in the database). The selection being made automatically at EMSC, contributors should not bother on this aspect.
Is there a time limit to send data contribution?
- The quicker the contribution, the better; nevertheless there is no time limit. In practice, except for most significant earthquakes for which a final revised location may be re-computed 2 to 3 days after the event occurrence, data contributions are more valuable if sent within 24 hours. Indeed, since May 2005, EMSC systematically reviews all Euro-Med events (as far as they are reported by 2 different networks) regardless of their magnitude, on the working day following their occurrences. This manual review has 2 objectives:
- To avoid that inaccurate or erroneous hypocentral solutions resulting from automatic locations tools stay on the web page.
- To define a preliminary bulletin within a few days delay which will be used as an help to compute the Euro-Med Bulletin.
Should the data be automatic or manual?
- Data can be both manual and automatic
- A manual pick automatically replace the automatic one for the same station and same phase, therefore a manual message can be sent by the same network to update a manual one.
Is data redundancy a problem?
- No. Receiving data for the same station from different networks improve reliability of the system in case of technical failure of a contributor. In practice, when available a manual pick replaces the automatic one. If only automatic picks are available, the one with the smallest residual is kept in the real time system, and, for the alert system, the choice is made by the seismologist on duty.
What are the main technical specifications a contributor should follow?
- Define the procedures before sending any parametric data contributions (contact ).
- Keep the same ASCII format (otherwise the parser will fail and the data won't be integrated). No attachment, no .doc, .xls, .html files.
- Systematically send the data to both and . Indeed, IGN (Spain) runs back-up procedures for EMSC and takes over the duty for the alert system in case of technical problem or maintenance activities at EMSC.
- Always send the data from the same identified email accounts (parsers are associated to email specific addresses).
- Ensure that the stations are registered in the International Registry. EMSC can help you on this matter.
What can contributors get?
- All the data EMSC receives are archived immediately in a database and available by autoDRM (in GSE2.0 format). If interested please contact
- The automatic locations (MIX, see Figure 1) are disseminated by email 65 minutes after the earthquake occurrence. The 65 minutes delay ensures the stability of the solution as the vast majority of the data are then available. Nevertheless, these solutions are purely automatic and may be erroneous. If interested please contact
- More generally, if EMSC can provide a useful specific service for its members and/or data contributors, we will be happy to help!
What type of data can be included in a special report?
- All the data which can be of interest for the seismological community and/or the public: tectonic setting, historical seismicity, field report, testimony on the effects or links to your own dedicated pages. Do not hesitate to ask us to open new pages.
- All contributions should be sent to , and .