FAQs
Questions
Data
- What does the M, D, R, or Q character mean in my data file name?
- I downloaded some PASSCAL SEG-Y data. What do I do with it?
- I downloaded data in SAC format. Is the unit of dependent variable in the data mm/sec, or nm/sec, or mm/sec/sec, etc.?
- How do I get data out of a miniSEED volume?
- I see that the instrument response in RESP and SAC file formats is slightly different in the Poles and Zeroes section. In the SAC file, there is an additional "one zero." Is the SAC response file automatically converted by rdseed to displacement? Most instrument responses are reported in velocity, do all SAC responses have one additional zero?
- I received a "no data" message when requesting data from the DMC, but I checked the database and I know that the station was running at the time for which I requested data. What went wrong?
- I only want data from stations that are a certain distance from an event. How do I do that?
- I need to know which stations were recording data during a specific event. How do I do that?
- What is the difference between assembled and customized data?
- How do I get station response information?
- How do I tell what data are available from the DMC?
- How do I request restricted data?
- Why are some data restricted from open access?
- In what format are the data at the DMC stored?
- What type of data is handled by IRIS?
- From what sources does the DMC get its data?
Data Management System
Education and Outreach
- How big must an earthquake be in order to be detected on the other side of the Earth?
- Following a major earthquake, can more large earthquakes be expected?
- Why did the magnitude of a recent major earthquake in the Pacific change from the initial reports?
- How do I get a job in seismology?
- Is the occurrence of earthquakes affected by the eruption of volcanoes?
- In a listing of earthquakes, what do the different letters after the magnitude mean?
- What does the Richter scale tell us about energy released by an earthquake?
General IRIS Questions
GSN
IRIS Supported Software
- Does IRIS have software tutorials?
- I am downloading a file through ftp that has ".tar," ".tar.gz," or ".tgz" in the filename. What does this mean and what do I do with it?
- How do I know if I'm running the latest version of software?
- When I try to run rdseed, I get an error message. What do I do?
