SeisComP
Overview
ISTI SeisComP Laboratory
SeisComP is released under the AGPL license. SeisComP is a registered trademark of Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. ISTI has been developing new modules and modifying existing modules for the open-source components of SeisComP since 2014.
Modules
ISTI created the following modules for SeisComP version 3; if you’re interested in supporting upgrading this software to the latest version of SeisComP, contact us.
+ Moment Tensor
istiMT: This module automatically computes a moment tensor given an earthquake of a sufficient magnitude (the exact value is configurable, but the default is to calculate the moment tensor given a 7.5 Mw magnitude). This module utilizes pre-computed Green’s functions from the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC). It uses either the “WPhase” method or the NEIC’s method for computing the focal mechanism based on the P-wave. In addition to the primary QuakeML focal mechanism message, the data and intermediary results are saved and packaged in an HDF5 file.
+ Array Processing
istiAP: This module calculates a rupture length and propagation estimate using a sliding-window FK-analysis method. This computation, like istiMT, relies on a magnitude threshold to kick off computation (which is also set to a default of 7.5). A back-azimuth and apparent velocity are found for each window, which is then back-projected onto the original hypocenter to determine how the rupture progresses over time. The standard QuakeML message format does not suppport the result, and so instead, an “event” object is created, notifying the end-user that the computation has been completed and results are packaged and made available in the HDF5 format. Results are highly dependent on array geometry, so proper configuration of an array suitable for examining an earthquake at a teleseismic distance is a prerequisite to attain meaningful results.
+ Finite Fault Solution
istiFFS: – This module computes a finite fault solution that discretizes the rupture area to provide more insight into the earthquake characteristics. The module relies on having access to the information provided by the focal mechanism to set the initial parameters and also requires access to the Green’s functions that istiMT uses. The resulting computation is not part of the QuakeML standard, so once again, users are notified of results via an “event” placeholder object, and the actual results are stored and accessible in an HDF5 file.
+ Wave Magnitude
istiWM: This serves to calculate specific magnitudes (the mantle magnitude ‘Mm’, an “energy” magnitude ‘Me’, another version of the surface wave magnitude ‘Ms’, and a discriminating ration known as “theta”. These magnitudes are calculations based on slower traveling waves but give a more accurate idea of the earthquake characteristics, particularly concerning tsunamigenic earthquakes.
While SeisComP has a very nice interface for adding new magnitude types, ISTI could not use the standard processing workflow, which requires amplitude measurements to be made apart from the magnitude processing module. In our case, the products needed by the end user required direct access to the data streams, which is only available to scautopick/scamp in the standard workflow.
The istiWM (for “wave magnitude”) workflow sees the module trigger calculations for origin calculations, as happens with the standard magnitude processor “scmag,” but then istiWM proceeds to lookup the time window of interest around the arrivals, calculating the magnitude and sending off the resulting QuakeML formatted product along with an auxiliary data file stored in the HDF5 format.
Module Updates
ISTI has updated the following core modules:
+ scevent
scevent: A function was added to find the nearest cities to an earthquake and report that information in the “event description.”. This function was modeled after an existing method that provided the region the earthquake is in and draws from the same table of information in which the regional description is located.
+ scautopick
scautopick: Methods were added to roughly approximate pick polarity and wave first motion and pass that information along with the computed results.
+ scautoloc
scautoloc: ISTI modified the original association routine to deal with user-defined picks outside of the normal toolset provided by the standard GUIs. Specifically, logic was created to ensure the system could effectively “blacklist” picks from being further incorporated in automatic locations and to ensure that a “dis-association” could be forced that prevented picks from being automatically associated with a particular event. ISTI also incorporated a QC method for “winnowing” out bad picks. While SeisComP already provides QC methods that incorporate azimuthal gap, standard error, and other metrics, this change allows looking at these metrics and attempting to attain a better solution by omitting picks before re-submitting to get a new location. Up to three picks may be omitted from the final solution; picks to be removed are determined via a naive “n squared” search over the set. This behavior was identified as requiring a large amount of system resources and may be turned “on” or “off” in the configuration.
Consulting from ISTI
ISTI is available as a consultant to build custom SeisComP modules for you or help deploy any of our modules to your environment.
Downloads
Information on the SeisComP User License Agreement may be found here.
NEIC‘s Green’s Functions: Seiscomp Greens
Module Downloads: SC Public Extensions
Extension Build Readme: Building ISTI Modules
SCConfig Module Configuration Files: SCConfig Files tar.gz
Cite the software package as follows:
Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences and gempa GmbH (2008). The SeisComP seismological software package GFZ Data Services.