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                INFORMATION ON ACCESSING STRONG MOTION DATA
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Earthquake strong motion data are useful for a wide array of seismological
and engineering research and applications. Unfortunately, strong motion data
has never been easy to acquire. Data are available from a diverse array of
organizations and services, and knowing where to look in order to retrieve a
particular set of records is, to put it nicely, complicated. This brief
summary is intended to provide information on obtaining strong motion
records online (or in other digital form), contacting data sources,
retrieving ground motion parameters, and accessing products and information
pertaining to strong ground motions.

The advent of the internet has certainly made remote collection of strong
motion data easier; what has not changed is the fact that many organizations
collect strong motion data, and few have direct approaches for providing the
data to other users. Although I am not directly associated with any data
source, I presently receive at least 5 requests per month for strong motion
data, simply because I have gone through the trouble of assembling
collections for individual earthquakes for my own studies. As you can see,
it is to my benefit to provide the information below, and hence, I created
this web page on the subject.

Since space is limited, a more extensive version of this summary can be
found online at http://www-socal.wr.usgs.gov/wald/smdata.html. While the
purpose of this column is to provide information on online resources, for
completeness sake, I include other means for acquiring data and information
since it seems to be lacking elsewhere. Accessing weak motion data is not
addressed here and I apologize in advance for any omissions or inaccuracies.
Please address corrections or updates to me directly (wald@usgs.gov).

I classify strong motion (internet) resources into three categories:

       DATABASES           DATA SOURCES AND/OR          PRODUCTS AND
                                ARCHIVES                INFORMATION
    (true relational   (data collection agencies,   (ground motion maps,
       databases)        or archived single- and     slip models, etc.)
                        multi-agency collections)


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                               ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

 Thanks to all who provided information used on this page. Some portions of
this information were obtained, modified, and updated from NCEER's homepage
under obtaining strong motion records (http://nceer.eng.buffalo.edu).

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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 .
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                       DATA SOURCES AND/OR ARCHIVES
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In this section I list organizations which collect data and/or archive their
own data (and/or others). Records can be obtained directly via on-line
systems, as well as in a variety of formats, including magnetic tapes,
floppy disks, CD-ROM, or hard copy. The format of the archives is likely to
be a simple table with events listed by dates, followed by station lists.
The NGDC CD-ROM collection does have a database to determine availability of
records, more or less an inventory, but does not allow access to the data at
the same time, so I do not categorize it under "DATABASES".

    Worldwide   United  California  Japan  Mexico   Asia  Europe  Others
                States

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WORLDWIDE

 National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC)
NOAA Code E/GC1
325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80303
Contact: Paula Dunbar
Telephone: (303) 497-6084, Fax: (303) 497-6513
email: info@mail.ngdc.noaa.gov
URL: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/hazard/strong.html

     This large scale national archive for United States and Worldwide
     earthquake data, NGDC contains a strong motion archive of over 15,000
     worldwide digitized and processed records dating from 1933 to 1994 and
     is available on a 3 CD-ROM collection. Date sources include USGS, CDMG,
     USC, LDGO, and numerous other agencies. Three types of processed
     records are included on the CDs: uncorrected (raw), corrected
     (filtered), and response spectra.

     To determine the availability of records, a database is available
     online (available at http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/hazard/smcat.html)
     that contains trigger information, station characteristics and peak
     ground motion parameters. However, the data on the CD-ROMs are not
     online at this site.

     Caveats: CDMG data not available after 1987 on the CD-ROMS

UNITED STATES

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Strong Motion Instrumentation Program
(NSMP)
345 Middlefield Road, MS 977
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Contact: Chris Stevens
Phone: (415) 329-4752 , Fax: (415) 329-5163
email: cdstephens@usgs.gov
URL: http://nsmp.wr.usgs.gov

     The USGS provides uncorrected ("Volume 1") data from the National
     Strong-Motion Program for recent (1990-1996) -1986) earthquakes online
     at the NSMP homepage http://nsmp.wr.usgs.gov under "Data Sets". The
     data is from the USGS, Veteran's Affairs, Metropolitan Water District
     of Southern CA, DOE, Army Corps of Engineers, and selected instrumented
     local structures are included. Information about stations, the network
     and more can be found on the NSMP homepage.

     At this same site, the USGS also provides downloadable strong-motion
     (uncorrected "Volume 1") accelerograms of historical earthquakes in
     North and Central America and Hawaii for the years 1933-1986 from a
     number of agencies (including CDMG, USGS, CALTECH). The format is
     compressed ASCII files for either UNIX or DOS platforms. This data is
     also available on a CD-ROM produced by Linda C. Seekins, Gerald Brady,
     Catherine Carpenter, and Nicholas Brown. (USGS Digital Data Series
     DDS-7). Information about the CD-ROM is available at
     http://nsmp.wr.usgs.gov/data_sets/ncae.html To order the CD-ROM, send
     $32.00 to Map Sales, USGS, Box 25286, Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225.

     Also available online is software that will correct and process these
     records at http://nsmp.wr.usgs.gov/bap.html. Off-line, the user's
     manual (USGS Open-File Report #92-296A) costs $4.00 for microfiche,
     $25.25 for hard copy. The software diskettes (USGS Open File Report
     #92-296B) cost $20.00. These reports can be obtained from Open-File
     Reports Section, USGS, Box 25425, Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225. For
     more information, contact Linda Seekins, (415) 329-5661.

Bureau of Land Management

Army Corp of Engineers

CALIFORNIA

California Division of Mines and Geology (CDMG)
Strong Motion Instrumentation Program (CSMIP)
801 K Street, MS - 1335
Sacramento, CA 95814
Temporary Contact: Carl Petersen, cptrsen@consrv.ca.gov
Contact: Robert Darragh
Telephone: (916) 322-3105, Fax: (916) 323-7778
email: bdarragh@consrv.ca.gov
URL: http://www.consrv.ca.gov/csmip

     The CSMIP ftp site is now a direct on-line source for CSMIP strong
     motion data, although CSMIP as always provides processed data for CDMG
     stations on paper, tape, or diskettes. The events available on-line can
     be found in directory pub/dmg/csmip on ftp.consrv.ca.gov by anonymous
     ftp or via the URL above. The WWW page is to be revised soon.

     See also http://www.consrv.ca.gov/dmg/pubs/cmsip.html for obtaining
     CSMIP reports.

Northern California Earthquake Data Center (NCEDC)
University of California Berkeley (UCB)
Seismographic Station
475 McCone Hall #4760
Berkeley, CA 94720-4760
Contact:
Telephone: (510) 642-3977, Fax: (510) 643-5811
email: wwwr@quake.geo.berkeley.edu
URL: http://quake.geo.berkeley.edu/

     Strong motion data from the Berkeley Digital Seismic Network's (BDSN)
     14 broadband stations and strong-motion borehole stations from the
     Northern Hayward Fault Network (HFN) as "well". The Broadband Query and
     Request Form (BREQ_FAST) programs are used to see what data is
     available, and to obtain data in SEED format. SEED formatted data can
     be translated (to SAC, AH) with rdseed, available from Incorporated
     Reseach Institutions in Seismology (IRIS) Data Management Center (DMC),
     but cannot be easily converted to readable ASCII format.

     An account is needed to login and and query the database and retrieve
     waveforms. To request an account, telnet quake.geo.berkeley.edu or see
     information contained on the downloadable users manual at the above
     URL.

Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) DATA CENTER
California Institute of Technology
Seismo Lab 252-21
Pasadena, CA 91125
Contact: Katrin Hafner
Telephone: (818) 395-2106, Fax: (818) 564-0715
email: webmgr@www.scecdc.scec.org
URL: http://www.scecdc.scec.org under Seismic Waveform Data

     Strong motion data from CIT/USGS Southern California Seismic Network
     (SCSN) and TERRAscope stations are archived among other waveform data
     (short-period and broadband). Acceleration data is available in SAC
     format and station lists are also available on-line. An account is
     needed to login, query the database and retrieve waveforms. To request
     an account, telnet scec.gps.caltech.edu or see information contained on
     the downloadable users manual at the above URL.

University of Southern California Earthquake (USC)
Civil Engineering Dept., KAP 216A
Los Angeles, CA 90089-2531
Contact: Maria Todorovska
email: todorovs@mizar.usc.edu

     USC strong motion data for a number of earthquakes in the southern
     California region are available on archives and databases such as SCEC
     SMDB and NGDC. Northridge data is also available by direct ftp to
     ftp://usc.edu/pub/todorovs.

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP)
POWER STATIONS:
Contact: Ron Tognazzini

WATER SITES:
Contact: Craig Davis
Telephone: (213) 367-0855
email: cdavis@dwp.ci.la.ca.us
URL: http://www.ladwp.com?
      Developement of a Web site for data access is underway.

Southern California Edison (SCE)

Pacific Gas and Electric (PGE)

JAPAN

National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention -
Kyoshin Net (KNET), Japan
National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention
3-1, Tennodai
Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken 305, Japan
Telephone: 0298-54-4940
Fax: 0298-54-4941
email: postmaster@knetgk.k-net.bosai.go.jp
URL: http://www.bosai.go.jp (NIED Home Page)
or for direct access to K-Net: http://www.k-net.bosai.go.jp

     The K-NET system provides rapid access to strong motion data from 1000
     new (1995-6) observatories throughout Japan. Data can be in UNIX, DOS,
     or ASCII format, depending on the user's request. Internet users can
     also search the K-NET archives of strong-motion records, site
     information, and maximum acceleration data, and details about the
     Kyoshin Net.

Japan Railway Company (JR)
Conference on Usage of Earthquakes (CUE)
UrEDAS R&D Promotion Department
Railway Technical Research Institute
2-8-38 Hikari-cho Kokubunji-shi Tokyo 185, Japan
Contact: Jun Saita, Secretary (jun@rtri.or.jp)
Telephone: +81 425 74 1202
Fax: +81 425 74 1205
URL: http://www.rtri.or.jp/rd/UrEDAS/CUEmainE.html

Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO)
Office of Civil Engineering and Architecture
3-3-22 Nakanoshima, Kita-ku, Osaka
530-70 Japan
Contact: Mr. Masaki Masumoto, Deputy Director
Telephone: +81 6 441 8821, Fax: +81 6 441 3879

Committee of Earthquake Observation and Research in the Kansai Area (CEORKA)
Geo-Research Institute, Osaka
3-1-23 Nishi-hommachi, Nishi-ku
Osaka, 550, Japan
Contact: Secretariat
Fax: +81 6 536 1739

Building Research Institude (BRI)
Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA)
Kansai Internal Airport Company
Kobe Marine Meteorological Observatory
Ministry of Construction
Osaka Gas Company
Port and Harbor Research Institute (PHRI)

MEXICO

Instituto de Ingenieria (UNAM) and U. Nevada, Reno Seismological Lab -
Guerrero Accelerograph Network Seismology Laboratory, UNR
University of Nevada, Reno
Reno, NV 89557
U.S. Contact: John Anderson
Telephone: (702) 784-4265, Fax: (702) 784-1833
email: jga@seismo.unr.edu
URL: http://www.seismo.unr.edu/ftp/zeng/GUERRERO/guerrero.html

Instituto de Ingenieria
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Ciudad Universitaria
Coyoacan 04510, Mexico
Mexican Contact: Roberto Quaas
Telephone: (525) 622-3413, Fax: (525) 616-1514
email: rqw@pumas.iingen.unam.mx
     A collaborative effort of the Seismological Laboratory, UNR, and the
Instituto de Ingeneria, UNAM, the Guerrero Network consists of 30 digital
strong motion accelerographs in Guerrero, and neighboring states, Mexico.
The Guerrero Strong Motion Network Archive provides acceleration records
from 1985 to 1995.

Mexican Strong Motion Database
Contact: Roberto Quaas
Telephone: (52-5) 606-9486, Fax: (52-5) 606-1608
email: rqw@pumas.iingen.unam.mx
URL: http://www.mexacceldb.unam.mx/db/english.html

RUSSIA

See Strong Motion Data Base (SMDB) of the Center of Geophysical Data Studies
and Telematics Applications ( http://perun.wdcb.rssi.ru/SMDB) under
"DATABASES" on previous web page.

SWITZERLAND

Swiss National Strong Motion Network
Swiss Seismological Service
ETH Hnggerberg, CH-8093 Zrich
tel: +41 (0)1 633 32 43, fax: +41 (0)1 633 10 65
Contact: Patrick Smit
email: smit@seismo.ifg.ethz.ch
URL: http://seismo.ethz.ch:80/networks/strong_motion/strong_motion.html

ITALY

Friuli Strong-Motion Network
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, University of Trieste
email: costa@geosun0.univ.trieste.it
URL: http://www.dst.univ.trieste.it/raf.html

     Caveats: Web page currently under developement

TURKEY

GREAT BRITON

Imperial College London

OTHERS

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                        PRODUCTS AND INFORMATION
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Below are links to strong motion related pages in various categories.
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STRONG GROUND MOTION MAPS

     Trinet (USGS,CDMG,CALTECH) rapid interactive ground motion contour maps
     and focal mechanism following earthquakes in southern California.

          http://www-socal.wr.usgs.gov/pga.html

          USGS, CDMG, and CALTECH ground motion parameters are used to
          generate a rapid (about 3-5 minutes after the event) map and the
          first motion focal mechanism for significant earthquakes in
          southern California (M>4.0). Maps of peak ground ground velocity
          and peak ground acceleration are shown atop high resolution
          topography and the freeway system for geographic reference. The
          maps are image maps: selecting a station brings forth information
          about the station location and peak motion values; selecting the
          epicenter returns the earthquake parameters.

STRONG GROUND MOTION MODELING

     A collection of strong motion maps and finite-fault (slip) source
     models for California earthquakes.

          http://www-socal.wr.usgs.gov/wald/SlipModels/index.html

          USGS Pasadena collection of strong motion maps and strong motion
          slip models. Clickable imagemap to choose earthquake, and then
          maps of strong motion data shown atop topography. Allows visual
          comparison of source geometry and site effects (based on
          topography) verses amplitude of ground motions. Source models are
          then visible, and downloadable in digital form. Rupture movies and
          images when available.

OTHER INFORMATION

NCEER Guide to Obtaining Strong Motion Records

     http://nceer.eng.buffalo.edu/agrams/gromot.html

     National Center for Earthquake Engineering and Research (NCEER) has
     information about obtaining strong motion data, and recommended
     relevant publications

NCEER's Strong Motion Records for Individual Events

     http://nceer.eng.buffalo.edu/agrams/agrams.html

     National Center for Earthquake Engineering and Research (NCEER) has
     chosen records from several important events, particularly in eastern
     North America.

CIT Strong Motion Accelerogram Transfer System
     http://www.eerl.caltech.edu/smarts/smarts.html

     SMARTS enables users to browse, find, view, and plot various
     accelerograms from the Caltech and other databases, and to compute and
     plot Fourier and Response Spectra. Recently introduced Interstory Drift
     Demand Spectrum can also be computed and plotted. The QuickBasic source
     code is provided so that users can easily modify and expand the package
     to fit their specific needs.

ANTICIPATED NETWORKS AND DATA SOURCES

TRINET - Caltech, CDMG, USGS southern California rapid shake maps and data
access.

Taiwan (Central Weather Bureau) rapid strong motion maps and data (perhaps
through IRIS?).