Live Seismic Data Via Broadband
System Status...Online
Introduction.
MK 1
The RSAMS project was started in 1994 and is run in conjunction with the RAWS (meteorological station) project . Inspired by a magazine article in 'Everyday Practical Electronics'. The design was experimental but early tests proved a reliable, reasonably priced seismic station could be built. The pendulum sensors described in the article were too large to be practical so alternative methods were developed. The seismic signals from the sensors were amplified and sent on to a digital converter within a PC and software written in 'QBasic' was used to display the traces in drum format .If seismic activity occurred the software would detect the higher level of activity and start recording the data to computer hard disk for later analysis. From this early stage new ideas were experimented with to better the project since a major downfall with this single station in its infancy was the proximity of a nearby busy road leading to false triggers from vehicular activity.
Fortunately I have access to some land on the Brown Clee Hill in South Shropshire. The station was moved to this location and proved ideal.The only false alarms now are from a few stray sheep. The data was still logged to a PC at the site and a radio modem was installed for remote access to the station.This system was in use for around three years and proved very successful.
MkII
Contact was made with the BGS in Edinburgh where a technical person by the name of Dave Stewart was kind enough to explain how their system operated. He sent some literature and contacts for the makers of their equipment. The BGS also donated some instrumentation to help with the project. Now in possession of some very usefull technical information on how a professional station could be constructed the project progressed to the next stage. The information provided aided the construction of the remote and local station for seismic detection. The highlighted links have all the details about the project.
New Edition
The MkII system has been running since around 2001 and has proved very successful. Tremors and quakes from the UK have been recorded and also quakes from Japan, India, Alaska and others.The new systen utilises a professional "Willmore" seismometer (donated by the British Geological Survey) The signals from which are amplified and transmitted via VHF radio telemetry back to my home station.
Some time ago (2003) an identical remote station was built and installed at 'Spaceguard' Knighton Powys. The data from this station is also in realtime via a VHF FM telemetry link.
Access To Seismic Event Files
The links further down this page will take you to the drum format image of the respective stations.These images are updated around every five minutes.
If a seismic event occurs the local station detects the activity and triggers a high resolution recording which is available for download. You will need a copy of Larry Cochrane,s event viewing software "Winquake" to view the files. Also if an event is declared by the system the drum images will show a red trace instead of the usual yellow. They will be red for the duration of the event.
The event files are date/time stamped with the station ident as the suffix eg, 20061020_230224.SPG .From this file you can assess when the event occured ie. year/month/day_hour/minute/second.SPG.
The high resolution event files are available for direct download from my personal seismic server (Seislogger). Click the Seislogger link to login to my server and download the files.
Known Problems
OK, There are a couple of technical abnormalities about this site which I intend to iron out soon. Firstly the Woodbank seismic station is succeptable to temperature change causing the transmitter to drift in frequency when the ground gets near freezing point. This is not an all year round problem but does degrade performance over the winter months. The remedy is to house the transmitter in a larger container with a small thermostatically controlled 30 Watt heater inside.
Problem 2, The seismometer at Neenton (Local) is within 50 metres of a class B road and traffic noise is a problem, There is not alot I can do about this unfortunatly.
Helicorder images from the RSAMS seismic network.
May not always be available due to station upgrade.
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Seismogram of the Market Rasen event received on the Neenton station (click image to enlarge).
This site was last modified on 13-05-2009
Current activity recorded at the Eskdalemuir seismic observatory.
