# Presentation: 404814

## Instrumentation, Recording systems

- Data transmission & Archiving

## Topics covered: 

- Types of seismic instruments
- Other equipment needed
- How sensors are installed
- Data transmission (telemetry)
- Data archiving (storage)

## Seismometer: 

- An instrument to record seismic waves (vibrations caused by earthquakes or explosions)

## A simple seismometer

**Notes:**
A very simple, cheap educational instrument – shows many of the features of the professional instruments: a pendulum mechanism, with the boom moving up and down, with the spring restoring the boom position after movement; damping using oil; magnet and coil means boom movement induces a current, recording the movement. The current goes to an amplifier and then an analogue-digital converter and is recorded on a computer.

## A large seismometer – 1200kg, 2m

**Notes:**
Seismometer from Germany made ~1910, similar principles to the AS-1, but records on paper and uses a very large mass. This allows it to record long period waves and reduces the Brownian noise in the mass.

## Today’s seismometers use electromagnetic feedback to hold the mass still.  This allows seismometers to be made more compact and sensitive.

**Notes:**
The induced current from the motion in the mass is fed back into a second induction coil to oppose the motion and hold the mass still – force feedback. 
Force feedback has two benefits – 1) the response is linear, whereas the pendulum is non-linear. 2) only a small mass is needed, allowing more compact, lighter and more mobile instruments.

## An observatory- class seismometer

**Notes:**
A modern instrument in an GSN observatory. Such stations want good contact with the bedrock and stable temperature. The three sensors are under a cover to shield them from EM fields and under glass bell jars to help maintain a stable temperature.

## A seismometer placed in a borehole.

**Notes:**
the GSN also uses borehole seismometers where mines or tunnels are not available – burying reduces the daily temperature variation and the stresses and strains this causes. All 3 components are in one package and buried to about 100m depth. 

## High frequency seismometers

- Guralp CMG-3T

- Teledyne GS-13

- Streckeisen STS-2

**Notes:**
The instruments on the previous  2 slides do not capture the high frequency waves very well, therefore we normally deploy a high-frequency instrument as well as the broadband one.

## Our eyes see only part of the light from the Sun.

**Notes:**
This problem is analogous to the way our eyes only sample a small portion of the EM spectrum. With the seismology we want to capture as much information – therefore as many wavelengths – as possible. 

## Short period sensors do not record long period signals

**Notes:**
Example showing the different response to the same earthquake for a broadband and short period instrument.

## An “insensitive” (strong motion) seismometer: good for recording violent shaking

- Kinemetrics FBA-23

**Notes:**
Strong motion instruments are not as sensitive, but are much more robust. They can record strong, very local earthquakes, with strong ground shaking, when other instruments saturate.

## Why more than one kind of seismometer is used

**Notes:**
The response of different instruments to different frequencies and accelerations. 
The red line is quietest sites in the world. The increase in noise at very long periods is due to changes in temperature, pressure, etc.
The grey boxes are for the old WWSSN instruments – short period sensor were used for the body waves and long period sensor were used to detect the surface waves. 
A Mag9.5 earthquake would only be recorded by a STS-1 at 30 degrees or greater distance.

## Other equipment needed: 

- Clock to time the data

**Notes:**
Need very accurate timing for the arrivals so normally use GPS clock – accurate to 1msec 

## Other equipment needed: 

- Clock to time the data
- “DAS” to convert electric current to numbers for a computer to process

**Notes:**
DAS (Digital Acquisition System) or datalogger = converts the electric current into a signal for the computer.

## IDA MK8 DAS

- Another popular model

**Notes:**
Two example of DASs The various connector are used to link up the sensors, power, GPS, data offload cable

## Vault of an observatory

**Notes:**
Partially uncovered sensors – the 3 STS-1 have their glass bell jars removed for the photo and the east component has also had it’s EM radiation cover removed to show the sensor. Note the strong motion and high-frequency instruments also deployed.

## Vault of a regional seismic station

**Notes:**
Example of a mid-term (months < a couple of years) deployment for a regional station. Simpler construction, buried conduit with large volume of concrete in the base. The site is probably too noisy to get any value from the STS-1 type instrument, so only deploy the high frequency STS-2 or CMG-3T type. This is a US Earthscope station, the black boxes contain the DAS and other electrical equipment

## Other kinds of equipment needed: 

- Clock to time the data
- “DAS” to convert electric current to numbers for a computer to process
- A source of electric power

## Power for an observatory:

- Thermoelectricity

**Notes:**
Normally use mains power if there is a reliable local supply, but observatory stations are often deployed away from people (to be quieter). Solar power is the normal alternative but if other sources are available (e.g. thermoelectricity) they may be used. 

Use solar cells to charge a battery that runs the station, so that power is constant day and night. 

## A regional station:

**Notes:**
Example of deploying a regional seismic station. On the lower image, you can see the solar panel and GPS antenna deployed on a pole. The cable to the sensor is buried to protect it from animals, the lid of the vault is chained and locked to protect it from humans.

## Where is a good place to put a seismometer?

- Far from human-generated noise (roads and machinery)
- Far from the ocean
- On solid (competent) rock
- In a temperature-stable environment

**Notes:**
Repetitive machinery such as a generator can cause seismic noise. Changes in temperature affect the mechanical properties of the instrument, causing noise.

## Recording Room

- Seismometer Borehole

- uplink circuit
- wire or radio

**Notes:**
Help control temperature and noise by separating recording system from the sensors (no need to disturb the sensors when visiting the station)

## Recording room: 

**Notes:**
Recording rooms of the Pallekele Station in Sri Lanka and the Diego Garcia station (with a blue Pete Davis). The upper part is a computer to connect to the internet, used for data telemetry. The lower part is the control for the power input (need 48V DC for a GSN station) and back-up battery/UPS.

## Seismic vault under construction in Madagascar:

**Seismic vault under construction in Madagascar:**

**Notes:**
Left = Digging a huge vault to find granite bedrock in Madagascar. Right = after construction was completed with the vault covered over.

## Seismic vault under construction in Madagascar:

**Notes:**
Inside the vault. A pier is built to put the instruments on – the gap around the pier helps to isolate the sensor from the rest of the building.

## Vault of an observatory

**Notes:**
The deployed sensors.

## Slide 28

**Notes:**
Sensors now covered in thermal insulation.

## Pallekele, Sri Lanka

- When a vault or tunnel is not available, a seismometer can be placed in a borehole to reduce noise.

**Notes:**
Drilling the borehole in Sri Lanka

## At PALK, the wellhead and recording room are very close.

**Notes:**
The completed Pallekele station

## The wellhead cover protects the electronics against damage.

**Notes:**
Here you can see the top of the two boreholes (one for the broadband and one for the Guralp higher-frequency instrument) and the DAS, along with the various cables for power, GPS, etc

## Another important subject...

- the DAS

## The DAS converts electrical current from the seismometer into numbers to be processed by the computer.The electrical current from the seismometer is continuous, but the DAS produces numbers only at set intervals of time, the digitization rate.  The DAS bundles these numbers into a packet called a data record.

## The DAS converts electrical current into numbers.

**Notes:**
The line = the current generated by the sensor, the dots = the digitized signal generated from the DAS

## How the DAS bundles the data depends upon the computer programs running inside the DAS.Some DASs produce a record containing data for a fixed period of time.  Other DASs produce a record of a fixed size.  In this case, the period of time contained varies from record to record because the data are compressed.

**Notes:**
Example of fixed time windows are 6 sec and 12 sec. 

## compression

- We “compress” 20 numbers into 3 (a, b, c):

**Notes:**
If the seismogram is a simple quadratic function then 20 pts could be compressed to 3 numbers defining the function – quadratics aren’t used in seismology, but the principal is the same.

## Data Telemetry

- Type of circuit to carry the data
- Format of the data
- The computer application(s) to manage the data transmission

- To transmit data, the following must be considered:

**Notes:**
One of the challenges at the moment is the different formats that data are recorded in. Fortunately, IRIS introduced a standard for GSN stations in the 1980s. But other networks use different formats, so it is necessary to know the format to be able to use the data.

## Types of circuits

- local area network (LAN)
- leased  telephone lines
- VSATs
- local Internet service provider (ISP)

- Mbarara, Uganda

**Notes:**
Methods of transmitting the data from the station to the central data store. VSAT (satellite transmission) is the newest method. telephone lines and local ISP often combined.

## IRIS/IDA Telemetry Topology

**Notes:**
Transmission methods from GSN stations.

## Data records are passed from computer to computer using data telemetry methods.  Data centers may pass data to computers from other organizations.  By sharing data, both organizations obtain more information.

- Data formats:

**Notes:**
One of the big advances in the last few years is the ability to share data in near real time over the internet. But there is not a standard format for data that is used by all networks and so reading data from a number of networks in not a trivial problem.

## Data center software is quite complex.  Several packages exist, including this commercial one.

**Notes:**
Antelope is an example of the software used in data centers. One of the advantages of this software is that it can read in data from most major instrument manufacturers and networks, removing one of the problems faced by network managers / data users. It also does much of the routine data possessing, such as calculating location.

## Networks integrating IRIS/IDA Data

**Notes:**
Various uses for GSN data around the world. The data is made freely available, with no limitation on is use.

## Data archiving:	On-site recording media 

- DAT tape
- CD-R

**Notes:**
Data is recorded on site as well as telemetered. The GSN originally used DAT magnetic tapes, but now uses CD-Rs

## In San Diego, comprehensive data analysis

**Notes:**
For the GSN, data is checked in San Diego and instruments/sites are repaired as needed.

## Data are then sent to the IRIS Data Management Center in Seattle, USA where they are available to anyone who requests copies.  For more information, see http://www.iris.edu.

**Notes:**
Data are archived in the US at the IRIS data center.