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                                 DATABASES
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There are only a few relational databases for obtaining strong motion time
histories and parameters. Below I give a brief synopsis of each along with a
few caveats.
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Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC)
Strong Motion Data Base (SMDB)
Institute for Crustal Studies, University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-1100
Contact: Alla Tumarkin
Telephone: (805) 893-8446, Fax: (805) 893-8649
email: alla@crustal.ucsb.edu
URL: http://quake.crustal.ucsb.edu/scec/smdb

     The SCEC Strong motion database (SMDB) at U. C. Santa Barbara is a true
     relational database, and provides access to both parametric and
     time-series data for earthquakes in southern California (1933-present).
     The SMDB now has both an X GUI and WWW interface. Time series and
     station maps can be viewed remotely and can be downloaded in SAC or
     ASCII format with the X version or in ASCII format with the WWW
     version. The WWW interface is in the final stages of development.

     The database allows parametric relations, with event, station,
     accelerogram (and parameters), and information objects interconnected,
     so peak values, station information, etc., can be easily searched and
     the results downloaded. Data sources include CDMG, USGS, USC, and SCEC.

     Also available on-line at the SMDB (
     ftp://sadovsky.crustal.ucsb.edu/sm_data) are downloadable files from
     the NOAA CD-ROMS mentioned above.

     Caveats: Data primarily only for southern California earthqakes. Does
     not include SCE, TERRASCOPE, LADWP data for important earthquakes
     (Landers and Northridge, for example). Trigger times are not preserved
     in SAC formated files.

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Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO)
National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (NCEER) Earthquake
Strong Motion Database Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia
University
Route 9 West
Palisades, NY 10964
Contact: Noel Barstow
Telephone: (914) 365-8477, Fax: (914) 365-8150
email: barstow@ldeo.columbia.edu
URL: http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/nceer/nceer.html

     Both parametric and waveform data can be accessed and downloaded
     on-line using strongmo, an interactive menu-driven program, via the
     internet or in dial-up mode. The database contains primarily free-field
     U.S. and world strong motion records (up to 1994, pre-Northridge) from
     the joint L-DEO/NCEER/USGS strong motion digital network as well as
     USGS, CDMG, and archives from the National Geophysical Data Center
     (NGDC) and a host of other groups. Data from the L-DEO/NCEER/USGS
     network is available from 1988-1994, and on-line data sets include
     Alaskan earthquake since 1960, and a number of eastern U.S. earthquakes
     in the 1970's and 1980's.

     To use strongmo it is necessary to obtain NCEER Report 90-0024, A
     User's Guide to Strongmo: Version 1.0 of NCEER's Strong Motion Data
     Access Tool for PCs and Terminals. It can be obtained either on-line
     (from above URL) or to order contact NCEER Publications, 105 Red Jacket
     Quadrangle, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14261,
     telephone: (716) 645-3391; fax: (716) 645-3399; email:
     nceer@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu. Cost of manual is $10.

     Caveats: Terminal and dial-up interfaces; the World Wide Web interface
     is currently under developement.

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Center of Geophysical Data Studies and Telematics Applications (CGDS)
Strong Motion Data Base (SMDB)
Joint Institute of Physics of the Earth (JIPE) Russian Academy of Sciences
Contact: Alexander Mikoyan
email: mik@wdcb.rssi.ru
URL: http://perun.wdcb.rssi.ru/SMDB

     The database is part of the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre
     (EMSC). In 1996, the CGDS developed client/server model of the SMDB
     with new World Wide Web interface and in 1997, scanned photo-images of
     the historical strong motions records were included in the SMDB. Strong
     motion recordings of important earthquakes in Asia including the Gazli,
     Spitak, Tanshang earthquakes are among the collection.

     The SMDB includes parametric information on time histories in the
     database (seismic events, stations, recording instruments, and
     waveforms), digital waveforms, and scanned photo-images (bitmap files)
     of the historical strong motion records.

     Caveats: I could not view the scanned images of records on the WWW.

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This page is <URL:http://www-socal.wr.usgs.gov/smdata/dababases.html/>
Created David Wald (U.S.G.S)
Maintained by David Wald (wald@usgs.gov)
Last modified 4.16.97 (djw)
General Disclaimer .