SAC Command Reference Manual
Using SAC Commands: A - Z Functional Subprocesses: SPE SSS SAC/IRIS

STATION

SUMMARY

Search for station by region, identifier, channel and date

SYNTAX

STATION {time start end}
    {network ne,tw,or,ks}
    {station stat,ions}
    {location lo,ca,ti,on,00,10,--}
    {channel cha,nne,els,BH?,HHZ,LHE}
    {outfile filename}
    {origin lon lat}
    {id:eventid}
    {radius min_radius max_radius}
    {ph5}
    {region w e s n}
    {level station|channel}
    {epochs on|off}
    {showtimes}
    {verbose}

INPUT

Time:

Set the start and end times. End times can be set relatively. See DATA ACCESS for time formats.
Region west east south north:
 

Set the geographic bounds of the search region
Radial min max:

Set the radius limits of the search region. See ORIGIN and id:eventid
Origin lon lat:

Set the origin (Lon, Lat) for a radial search
catalog:eventid:
 

Set the origin and time from an event's origin time and location. This can be used with a region search.
Network:

Set a collection of networks. Accepts lists and wildcards.
Station:

Set a collection of stations. Accepts lists and wildcards.
Location:

Set a collection of locations. Accepts lists and wildcards.
Channel:

Set a collection of channels. Accepts lists and wildcards.
Level:

Station or Channel, Station level metadata only includes Station location, Channel level metadata includes component orientation and can be used as input to the METADATA command
ph5:

Get additional data from the IRIS PH5 Web service. This option provides access to active-source data sets and their associated stations with high sample rates and time-limited deployments.
Epochs:
  • Off - Combine all stations with the same Network and Station, using the first value encountered
  • On - Treat individual time epochs for stations separately, This will result in multiple stations with the same Network and Station, but with different epochs. This option changes how txt/csv output is written, not XML.
ShowTimes:

Show start and end date-times in the output.
Outfile:

Save the station search into a file. Files ending in .xml are saved as FDSNStationXML documents; those ending in .txt and others are saved as "csv" text. The Epochs option will modify how the output appears.
Verbose:

Watch the details of the search process

DEFAULT VALUES

station epochs off

This command gets everything; you have been warned.

DESCRIPTION

Search a collection of stations meeting a set of criteria.

Searching can be done geographically using a Region or Radial search. For the Radial search the origin location (Lon, Lat) needs to be specified using either the Origin option or from an id:eventid. See EVENT for a discussion of eventid.

Setting the Time for a search can be done using two times, start and end, or using start and a relative offset.

If you want a particular Network or set of Stations, those can be entered directly in list form separated by commas ',' using wildcards and negation, see examples below. Channels are supported just as networks and stations.

Locations are the same as well, but unless you have specific knowledge it is best to ignore the Location option, see examples below.

Specifying id:eventid will set the time of the search and the origin location for a radial search. Timing and origin location information is obtained from online catalogs. Non-existant eventid will return an error. This can be useful for getting stations lists for specific stations.

EXAMPLES

The station database has intriguing station data. Lets see if there are stations on the Moon. The Moon Landing was in 1969 and the network code is XA, one of many temporary networks:

SAC> station net XA time 1969-1 +4y
Net Sta   Lat.     Lon.      Elev.   SiteName
XA  S12    -3.0400  -23.4200    0.00 ALSEP 12, Oceanus Procellarum, Moon
XA  S14    -3.6500  -17.4800    0.00 ALSEP 14, Fra Mauro, Moon
XA  S15    26.0800    3.6600    0.00 ALSEP 15, Hadley Rille, Moon
XA  S16    -8.9700   15.5100    0.00 ALSEP 16, Descartes, Moon

We would like stations close to the 2004 Sumartran M9 Event. First lets get the event id:

SAC> event time 2004-1 +1yr mag 9
Origin              Lat.   Lon.    Depth  Mag.     Agency EventID
2004-12-26T00:58:53   3.29   95.98  30.00 9.10 mw  US/official usgs:official20041226005853450_30

Using that eventid we can search for stations nearby:

SAC> station usgs:official20041226005853450_30 radial 0 5
Net Sta   Lat.     Lon.      Elev.   SiteName
PS  PSI     2.6938   98.9237  987.00 Parapat, Indonesia
SY  GSI     1.3039   97.5755  107.00 GSI synthetic
SY  LHMI    5.2288   96.9472    3.00 LHMI synthetic
SY  PSI     2.6938   98.9237  987.00 PSI synthetic

There are stations that are only contain synthetics, Network SY. Lets get rid of those:

SAC> station usgs:official20041226005853450_30 radial 0 5 net -SY
Net Sta   Lat.     Lon.      Elev.   SiteName
PS  PSI     2.6938   98.9237  987.00 Parapat, Indonesia

Epochs can be confusing as stations are serviced and instruments are changed, new epochs or time ranges are added. For example IU.ANMO has been operating since the mid-1990s and has multiple time periods:

SAC> station net IU sta ANMO epochs on
Net Sta   Lat.     Lon.      Elev.   SiteName
IU  ANMO   34.9459 -106.4572 1850.00 Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
IU  ANMO   34.9459 -106.4572 1850.00 Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
IU  ANMO   34.9502 -106.4602 1839.00 Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
IU  ANMO   34.9459 -106.4572 1820.00 Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
IU  ANMO   34.9459 -106.4572 1820.00 Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
IU  ANMO   34.9459 -106.4572 1820.00 Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA


SAC> station net IU sta ANMO epochs off
Warning: Multiple instances of net.sta, likely mutiple epochs
Net Sta   Lat.     Lon.      Elev.   SiteName
IU  ANMO   34.9459 -106.4572 1850.00 Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

SAC> station net IU sta ANMO epochs on showtimes
Net Sta   Lat.     Lon.      Elev.   TimeOn              TimeOff
IU  ANMO   34.9459 -106.4572 1850.00 1989-08-29T00:00:00 1995-07-14T00:00:00
IU  ANMO   34.9459 -106.4572 1850.00 1995-07-14T00:00:00 2000-10-19T16:00:00
IU  ANMO   34.9502 -106.4602 1839.00 2000-10-19T16:00:00 2002-11-19T21:07:00
IU  ANMO   34.9459 -106.4572 1820.00 2002-11-19T21:07:00 2008-06-30T00:00:00
IU  ANMO   34.9459 -106.4572 1820.00 2008-06-30T00:00:00 2008-06-30T20:00:00
IU  ANMO   34.9459 -106.4572 1820.00 2008-06-30T20:00:00 2599-12-31T23:59:59

(To fit on the page, the last column SiteName is left out. For all of them it is Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.)

PH5 Example: Active-source stations are typically not available through the IRIS Web Service, but can be accessed through the PH5 Web Services. Station 9A.22770 is one of these stations. To access its information, you need to specify the PH5 option to tell SAC to also search within PH5:

SAC> station net 9A station 22770
Error 404 (HTTP): No Content

SAC> station net 9A station 22770  PH5
Net Sta   Lat.     Lon.      Elev.   SiteName
9A  22770 44.4122 -115.4911 1966.30 Deformation and magmatic modification ...

ERROR MESSAGES

LATEST REVISION

Version 102.0
Using SAC Commands: A - Z Functional Subprocesses: SPE SSS SAC/IRIS