EarthScope Data

PBO Data at the IRIS DMC

Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO)

PBO Seismic Data Handling

In the newly approved PBO project baseline, PBO requested funding to take over collection, downloading, and quality checking of seismic data from PBO borehole strainmeter stations, as well as delivering these data to the IRIS DMC for archiving and distribution.

Overview of PBO Data Handling
PBO seismic stations will generate 3 components of data at 100 samples/second. These data will flow from the Q330 installed at each station to a Marmot external buffer installed at each station. The Marmot will run an Antelope ORB that splits the data at the station. One stream will flow to Boulder, via Antelope ORB-to-ORB transfer, and the other will be archived at the station as an on-site buffer, potentially for triggered data. In Boulder, PBO will use the Antelope suite to monitor the seismic network, perform command/control, and the like. Data will flow to the archive at the IRIS DMC for permanent storage.

PBO Strain Data Handling

PBO Borehole Strain & Laser Strain Data at IRIS DMC
Data from borehole and laser strain components of the PBO have been accessible since August 2005. These data are managed as network code PB. One unusual aspect of these data are that they are available in both SEED format, through regular request mechanisms, and the raw datalogger format called “Ice9” for laser strain, and “bottle” format from the Gladwin borehole tensor strain instruments. One reason for this is that strain data require substantial QC and validation, and access to these raw data is important.

Users can see what PBO data are available at:
http://www.iris.edu/SeismiQuery/channel.htm

This table shows typical Network, Location Identifiers and Channel Codes

* = wildcard     Note: other channels are available, consult SeismiQuery for details

PBO SEED Codes and Conventions (download pdf)

PBO data is available through all DMC request mechanisms. A simple way to make small requests is by using NetDC or WebRequest or install JWEED or VASE clients for event based or real time data viewing.

Strainmeter Products

Processed strain data

Two Analysis Centers process all PBO strainmeter data. The Borehole Strainmeter Analysis Center is operated by UNAVCO at the PASSCAL Instrument Center in Socorro, NM, and the Laser Strainmeter Analysis Center is operated by UC San Diego. These centers create cleaned and calibrated strain time series that are stored in XML format at the PBO strainmeter archives.

All PBO borehole strain data , laser strain data, and their associated environmental data are available in a "processed XML" format at 300 second (5 minute) sample interval. All data for one station year are contained in a single XML file. The XML file names contain the SEED station name, the year of the data, and the date and time that the data was created.

Download the most recent data at http://www.iris.washington.edu/pbo/processed/

Raw strain data

The PBO strainmeter network will consist of approximately 100 borehole strainmeter stations and five laser strainmeter stations. As of April 2006, 13 borehole strainmeter stations and one laser strainmeter are operating and providing data. PBO also maintains data flow for one previously installed laser strainmeter.

Data from June 2005 to the present are available from three borehole strainmeter stations and two laser strainmeter stations. Raw data are available in both the native logger format (bottle for the BSM stations and Ice-Nine for the LSM stations) and in standard SEED format. All these data are available from the PBO strainmeter archives at the IRIS Data Management Center.

If you want to download the “raw” data (in tar files), you can access these via this URL, where the two types are referred to as either “bsm” for borehole, or “lsm” for laser strain: http://www.iris.washington.edu/pbo/raw/

For further updates and information related to this growing network, please visit the PBOStrainmeter Data Products pages and Strainmeter Operations pages.