Help with NetDC Waveform Request

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How to use the SEED Waveform Query and Request form

The SEED Waveform Query and Request form can be used to:

Determine the availablity or existance of waveform data based on time and SEED station, network, channel, and location information.
Generate a request for the specified data, and submit the request for SEED waveforms to the NCEDC for processing.

By successively changing entries in this form, submitting the request, examining the results, and then returning to the form to update your request, you can narrow in on the exact time period and digital seismograms that are of interest to you.

You can first find out what stations and channels have any digital data for a specified day (or days) by requesing a brief listing, filling out the the start and end times for the request, and the stations and channels you wish to query. When you submit the request, a new document will be generated that contains the results of your search. You can return to the form to generate a detailed listing of available data for selected stations, channels and time period. Once you have determined the appropriate parameters, you can request that the system generate (and then submit) a NetDC request for digital waveform data.

Before submitting a request for digital waveform data, you should first request a listing of available stations and channel for the time period that you are interested in. Once you have determined that the time period is reasonable and that there are suitable digital seismograms, you can then change your request to generate an actual request for the selected data.

Go to the NetDC Request form

What is a NetDC request?

NetDC (Networked Data Centers) is a data request system that allows a user to request seismological information from multiple data centers through a single email form. Information is delivered to the user through email and FTP in a uniform digital or text format. NetDC allows you to request

Inventory information - list of data centers, list of networked serviced by each data center, list of stations, list of channels, and list of waveforms available within a specified time window.
Instrument response in ASCII format for specified data channels and time windows.
Waveform data for specified network, station, channel, location, and time window.

This Web form allows you to query the available waveform data at the NCEDC, and will optionally construct and submit a NetDC request for that data. NetDC requests are submitted by email, and you will notified by email when you request has been processed. Your data will be placed in anonymous ftp on the data center so that you can retrieve it.

This Web form does NOT allow you to construct a NetDC request for data at other data centers. Because the form is implemented with the NCEDC data base, it cannot generate general requests. However, you can manually create your own requests NetDC requests for waveform data on your own computer and email the requests to any of the NetDC data centers. Please refer to the NetDC overview for more information on using NetDC to access multiple data centers.

Go to the NetDC Request form

Can I request real-time (or very recent) data?

At this time, you may not retrieve any preliminary data from the NCEDC that had not gone through the NCEDC quality control procedures. We hope to remove this restriction in the future.

Go to the NetDC Request form

Digital Waveform Data Format

The NCEDC distributes its digital waveform data in SEED format (Standard for the Exchange of Earthquake Data). SEED format files contain not only the waveform data but also contain station and channel information such as location, instrument type, and instrument response. SEED files can easily be converted to other standard formats uses by seismologists (such as SAC, AH, CSS, and miniSEED formats) with the program rdseed, which is available from the IRIS DMC. SEED files are NOT easily converted into readable ASCII format.

Go to the NetDC Request form

Select request type:

There are currently 3 types of requests you make make:

Detailed listing of available data. This option will provide a detailed listing of the start and end time of each contiguous time series that contains data for the specified stations and channels in the requested time interval.
Detailed listing in NetDC format. This option will provide a detailed listing of the start and end time of each contiguous time series that contains data for the specified stations and channels in the requested time interval. However, the start and end times are limited by your request interval, and the output is formatted so that it could be inserted directly into a NetDC email request for digital waveform data.
Create a NetDC request for digital waveforms. This option will create a complete NetDC request for digital waveforms. You will be asked to review the request before submitting it to the data center for processing.

Go to the NetDC Request form

Select time period

Start and End Times

A time period for the request must be defined by entering a start and end time. The date must be fully specified; the time is optional, and defaults to midnight if not specified. Date and time is referenced to UTC.

Date,time parameters can be specified in one of several formats:

yyyy/mm/dd,HH:MM:SS
yyyy.doy,HH:MM:SS
yyyy,doy,HH:MM:SS

where:

yyyy = year (1900-present)
doy = day-of-year (1-366)
mm = month (1-12)
dd = day-of-month(1-31)
HH = hour (0-23)
MM = minute (0-59)
SS = second (0-59.9999)

Output date format:

You can request that dates your brief or detailed listing be displayed in either Year/Month/Day format (eg 1998/06/25) or in Year.day_of_year format (eg 1998.176). If you request data in NetDC format, the date output will be in a format compatible with NetDC requests.

Go to the NetDC Request form

Select SEED Network, Station, Channel, and Location codes

Networks

The Network(s) field is a list of networks for which you querying the availability of data. This list should be a blank-delimited or comma-delimited list of networks, such as:

BK
BK,UL
BK NN BP

You may use this form to request digital waveform data for the following networks:

Minimal wildcard characters are supported (eg the character "?" will match a single character, "*" will match all networks). If no networks are specified, information on ALL networks will be returned.

Stations

The Station(s) field is a list of SEED stations for which you querying the availability of data. This list should be a blank-delimited or comma-delimited list of stations, such as:

BKS,MHC,CMB
HOPS YBH PKD

Please see the station lists for the following networks:

Minimal wildcard characters are supported (eg the character "?" will match a single character, "*" will match all stations). If no stations are specified, information on ALL stations will be returned.

Channels

The Channel(s) field is a list of the SEED channels for which you querying the availability of data for the specified stations. This list should be a comma-delimited or blank-delimited list of channels, such as:

BH?,LH?
HHZ HHN HHE

Please refer to the channel lists available for the following networks:

Minimal wildcard characters are supported (eg the character "?" will match a single character, "*" will match all channels). If no channels are specified, information on ALL channels for the specified stations will be returned.

Locations

The Location(s) field is a list of the SEED locations for which you querying the availability of data for the specified stations. Many networks (including the BK and BP networks) have not used location codes. If a location code is not used, the SEED specification calls for it to be BLANK.

If you want ALL location fields, you may specify "*" or leave the field blank. If you explicitly want only channels with a BLANK location field, specify a dash - to indicate a BLANK locatio field. This list should be a comma-delimited or blank-delimited list of channels, such as:

*
-
- C0
-,C0

Please refer to the location lists available for the following networks:

Minimal wildcard characters are supported (eg the character "?" will match a single character, "*" will match all channels). If no location is specified, information on channels with ALL locations for the specified stations will be returned.

Go to the NetDC Request form

Additional information

In order to create and submit a NetDC request for waveform data, additional information is required.

Full Name

Enter your name in the NAME field. This is needed to identify the request and allows for the grouping of multiple requests submitted by you. Please enter your first and last name so that this field will (hopefully) unique identify you.

Institution

Enter the name of the institution that you belong to. This can be a company name, educational institution or any organization. This assists in establishing contact with you should it be necessary for servicing the request.

Email address

Enter your email address in the Email Address field. You will be contacted by email regarding the status of your request.

Label

The Label is a user-assigned label for the request, which will appear in data files shipped to the user. If a label is not specified, a default value will be assigned.

Phone and fax

Telephone and fax information is optional, but may be helpful if there is a problem with a request.

Merge

The MERGE field requires a YES or NO entry, specifying whether the data products should be combined at the hub data center (i.e. the data center to which the original data request was sent) before shipment to the user or if each data center should send their shipment to the user individually.

In the case of a YES entry, a number of days should be entered which equates to the wait time in days. After that point, the hub data center will ship what it is able to provide and any late shipments will be redirected to the user.

If you want product merging with a two-day time window, specify "YES 2".

If you do NOT want product merging, specify "NO".

Go to the NetDC Request form

Northern California Earthquake Data Center
215 McCone Hall, UC Berkeley
Berkeley CA 94720-4760

www@ncedc.org