IRIS Data Services Sponsors 8th Data Management Workshop in Bogotá, Colombia

A six-day workshop, Managing Data from Seismic Networks, was held in Bogotá, Colombia, July 26-31, for about 35 seismic network operators from 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The workshop was organized by IRIS in cooperation with the International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth’s Interior (IASPEI) and the International Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks (FDSN). The local host in Bogotá was the Universidad Antonio Nariño.

The objective of the workshop was to assist operators of seismic networks in the generation of time series and metadata that describes their seismic stations. The workshop agenda was wide ranging and focused on systems, tools, and techniques for managing seismic networks. Topics included seismic station instrumentation, methods of transmitting real time data, development of station metadata, accessing data from the FDSN data center operated by IRIS, how network data are multi-use, and monitoring the quality of seismological data. 

Workshop attendees were offered the opportunity to participate in a ‘challenge’ in which data from their networks will be shared for a limited period of time. Nearly all of the attendees indicated they would or hoped to participate. These shared data will be processed through the IRIS MUSTANG (Modular Utility for Statistical Knowledge Gathering) system to identify potential quality issues. The data will also be processed by Dr. Göran Ekstrom, chair of the International Federation of Seismograph Networks (FDSN), to estimate other quality assurance attributes, such as correctness of sensor orientation and scaling. The results of the ‘challenge’ will be published with all participants as co-authors.

Following the Data Services workshop, the IRIS International Development Seismology (IDS) committee organized an Advanced Studies Institute (ASI) on earthquake-related data products. The goal of the workshop was to introduce participants to seismic methods to apply to their network data for understanding earthquake sources and Earth structure. Two techniques that have the potential to be integrated into routine operations of a seismic network as well as for research purposes were presented. Dr. Bob Herrmann from St. Louis University taught one track on the estimation of Regional Moment Tensors and Dr. Felix Waldhauser from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory taught a parallel track on using double differencing techniques for multiple event relocation. The ASI focused on scientific questions related to the analysis, careful examination of the results, and interpretation. Nearly all of the Data Management workshop attendees also participated in the ASI workshop.

IRIS Data Services workshops are held every 15 to 18 months in three geographical regions of the world: 1) Latin and America and the Caribbean, 2) Southeast and Central Asia, and 3) Africa and the Middle East. Previous workshops have been held in Palmanova, Italy (2005); São Paulo, Brazil (2006); Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, (2007); Giza, Egypt (2009); Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil (2010); Bangkok, Thailand (2012); and Kuwait City, Kuwait (2013).

The 2014 IRIS Data Services workshop had a total of 43 participants. This group photo
was taken with the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes Mountains as a backdrop.