{"id":1877,"date":"2017-01-27T16:09:01","date_gmt":"2017-01-27T16:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tungsten2.gps.caltech.edu\/?page_id=1877"},"modified":"2025-10-20T07:13:46","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T14:13:46","slug":"live-seismogram-feed","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.scsn.org\/index.php\/earthquakes\/live-seismogram-feed\/","title":{"rendered":"Live Seismograms Feed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--\n\n<div style=\"border-style: double; border-width: 5px; padding: 5px; \">\n\n<p style=\"color: red;\"><b>PLEASE NOTE:<\/b> DUE TO PLANNED MAINTENANCE, THE LIVE SEISMOGRAMS FEED WILL BE TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE WEDNESDAY 6\/10\/20 FROM 9:00AM-11:00AM PDT. WE APPRECIATE YOUR PATIENCE.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--!>\nBelow is a real-time feed of data from a selection of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scsn.org\/index.php\/network\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SCSN seismic stations<\/a> located in Southern California. The stations labeled within this window correspond to the locations indicated on the map further below. <strong>Click here to access our new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/live\/riML-S43pJA?si=UqVgiuYqLeeZ_IOv\">SCSN Live Seismic Network Stream<\/a> of all three of our live feeds! This new feed includes our <a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/live\/uLLQ1sh9Yag?feature=share\">Live Seismograms Feed<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/live\/Fsa-swMaGhQ?feature=share\">Live Media Feed<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/live\/DV7fLolE338?feature=share\">Live DAS Feed<\/a>.<\/strong>\n\n<!--<strong><em>Maintenance Scheduled 2\/24\/20-2\/28\/20. Intermittent interruptions likely. Sorry for the inconvenience.<\/em><\/strong>--!>\n\n\n<p><b>NOTE: Earthquake data on this site may be preliminary and subject to change.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uLLQ1sh9Yag?si=3U0uIzxuPZkTOol7\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/br>\n<center><B>For a description of what is represented in this window go to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scsn.org\/index.php\/earthquakes\/live-seismogram-feed\/live-seismograms-feed-what-am-i-seeing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">What am I Seeing<\/a> page.<\/B><\/center>\n<center><B>For a higher resolution feed, select \"720p\" in the bottom right \"Gear\" menu.\nNot recommended for viewing in Internet Explorer.<\/B><\/center>\n<br \/>\n<center>\n\n<div id=\"map_feedstns\"><\/div>\n\n\n<br \/>\n<b>To view 12-hour webicorder displays,\nand from more stations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scsn.org\/index.php\/network\/recent-webicorder-displays\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Click Here<\/a><\/b><\/center>\n\nTechnical Disclaimer: The length of time represented is 10 minutes with a 1 second refresh rate. Seismic data are recorded in Universal Co-ordinated Time (UTC), which is 8 hours ahead of Pacific Time in the winter, Pacific Standard Time (PST), and 7 hours ahead in the summer, Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). Stations are sorted by latitude from north to south. There is a delay of approximately 20 seconds in the feed. The waveforms displayed are broadband (20-40 samples\/second), high gain, vertical component channels using the SEED format channel type BHZ, with a high pass filter of 0.3Hz enabled. This feed is for visual purposes only and cannot be used to locate, identify, or analyze an earthquake with any degree of accuracy. Station selection subject to change as necessary. Graphical coloration is aesthetic and serves no scientific purpose. \n\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/wp-content\/scripts\/feedstns.js\"><\/script>\n\n<center>\n\n<h4>Feed Examples<\/h4>\n\n<\/center>\n\nBelow is a playlist of Live Seismograms Feed recordings. Each recording displays a window of time corresponding to the detection of either a local earthquake above magnitude 3.0 or a teleseismic event from somewhere around the world. Note that the normal background \"noise\" signals are supressed when a legitimate event's energy is detected by the seismometers, leaving just the earthquake's energy visible. More examples will be added as significant events are detected. \n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/videoseries?list=PLlWy4gPCl4ls1Mz2TXT3dZo9B3I1HdNtg\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n <\/br>\n<center><b>Click on the local earthquake below for more information on how to spot different types of events.<\/b><\/center>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scsn.org\/index.php\/education-outreach-2\/understanding-waveforms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-450 size-full\" title=\"Local Earthquake: The energy shown here is from a typical earthquake located within the SCSN boundaries. The distinctive smaller P-wave and larger S-wave detected across numerous seismic stations is typical of local events within Southern California. These are the most common type of event detected by our network, commonly averaging 300 of this type of event each week.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.scsn.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/waves jpeg\/local wave.jpg\" alt=\"The energy shown here is from a typical earthquake located within the SCSN boundaries. The distinctive smaller P-wave and larger S-wave detected across numerous seismic stations is typical of local events within Southern California. These are the most common type of event detected by our network, commonly averaging 300 of this type of event each week.\" width=\"1500\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a>\n<\/br>\n<center>\n\n<h4>Earthquake Processing FAQ<\/h4>\n\n<\/center>\n\n\n<div style=\"border: 2px solid grey; overflow: auto; height: 400px; width: \"100%\";\">\n\n\n<ul>\n\n\n<li><b>How does a seismograph work?<\/b>\nThe ideal seismograph would be anchored in a reference frame that travels with the Earth\u2019s rotation, but does not participate in any of its vibration (maybe that elusive \u201csky hook\u201d?). We could devise a way to record the relative motion between the Earth and the shy hook, giving us an exact record of the ground displacement. Lacking such a stable reference frame, we use instead a pendulum (or, for vertical motion) a heavy mass on springs. The pendulum does not actually stand still as the Earth moves, but it does lag behind the motion, so a recording, called a seismogram, can be produced. There have been many ingenious designs since the late 1800\u2019s, many of the older ones using a mechanical recording stylus or a light beam to record on photographic paper. <a href=\"https:\/\/earthquake.usgs.gov\/contactus\/golden\/neic.php\">NEIC<\/a> has a very interesting section on historical seismographs. The modern \u201cbroadband\u201d seismometers use an electronic feedback loop to keep the pendulum mass stationary, while outputting the voltage necessary to do this.<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<li>The terms \u201cseismograph\u201d and \u201cseismometer\u201d are often used interchangeably, with some tendency to use the latter term for a well-calibrated instrument, or sometimes the pendulum apparatus without the recording system.<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<li>Most \u201chigh magnification\u201d (very sensitive) seismographs output the velocity that the ground is moving, rather than the displacement. Most \u201clow magnification\u201d or \u201cstrong motion\u201d instruments output ground acceleration; hence they are also called accelerometers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<li><b>What information is contained in a seismogram?<\/b>\nThe seismogram (or recording of an earthquake or several earthquakes) duplicates the ground motion at the station in magnified form. Generally, several different pulses of energy, representing different waves traveling through the Earth at different speeds and by different paths, appear for each quake. When an earthquake starts, the sudden shifting of rock along the fault causes two types of \u201cbody waves\u201d, which propagate outward and downward from the hypocenter, starting at the same time. P (primary) waves and S (secondary) waves travel at different, for the most part known, speeds. (Think of throwing a rock into a pond, except instead of one type of wave, there are two.) In addition, \u201csurface waves\u201d may be generated, which travel along the surface of the Earth only. There are two basic types of surface waves: Rayleigh waves and Love waves. For earthquakes that are near the station (within about 120 km), we usually see only one P and one S wave, because the first waves travel a direct path through the crust to the station. At greater distances, however, waves that take multiple different paths, may be visible, such as a P wave that follows the bottom of the crust (called the Moho), followed immediately by one that takes the direct path.<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<li>Earthquakes at great distances from the station (more than 1000 km) are called teleseisms. Teleseisms generally have very complex seismograms: P and S waves can bounce off Earth\u2019s surface or the core-mantle boundary and they may change from P to S or vice versa. We generally use a special chart called \u201ctravel time curves\u201d to tell us when to expect each \u201cphase\u201d or wave, depending on the distance of the teleseism from the station and its depth below the surface.<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<li>We generally measure the onset time of the P and S waves, to help with location (see next question). We also measure the amplitude, or the peak deflection, of at least the largest wave on the record. For some purposes, we measure the period (or how long it takes the wave to go through one cycle).<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<li><b>How does a seismic network locate earthquakes?<\/b>\nThe first step is getting the data from our remote seismographic stations to our offices at Caltech. This process is called \u201ctelemetry\u201d and may include land line paths, radio, microwave, and the Internet. We receive the data streams, usually one measurement every 100 th of a second, very close to real time. A regional seismic network locates an earthquake based on the arrival times of the P waves and S waves at the various stations. The waves arrive at the seismographic stations in order of their distance away from the earthquake\u2019s hypocenter (where the first waves of the earthquake originate), and the time delay between P and S indicates the distance.<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<li>The data streams coming in from the stations are fed into two real-time computers (a primary and a backup), which look for strong increases in amplitude. This process is called \u201cP picking\u201d, because we are looking for P waves (S waves, too). An associator program tries to fit all the \u201cpicks\u201d together to make a rational earthquake location. A magnitude program also looks at the peak amplitudes &amp; tries to assign a magnitude automatically. If the earthquake location &amp; magnitude meet certain consistency requirements, the \u201cevent\u201d is published, on the \u201cRecent Earthquakes\u201d web sites, by e-mail subscription &amp; so forth. Currently, all automatic solutions for earthquakes in the SCSN are reviewed by an seismic analyst (who may or may not be offended if you call him a P picker).<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n\n<li><b>How do we measure the magnitude of an earthquake?<\/b>\nIn the 1930\u2019s, when Charles Richter and Beno Gutenburg first tried to produce a list of all the earthquakes detected (called an earthquake catalog) in Southern California, they were faced with distinguishing in the list which ones were the large ones and which ones were not. They borrowed the concept of stellar magnitude from astronomy and established an arbitrary logarithmic scale based on the amplitude of the seismographic recording. Amplitude in this context is how far the pen swings off the center line during the earthquake. This original \u201clocal magnitude\u201d or ML was and is truly arbitrary: if a quake is 100 km away from a standard Wood-Anderson seismograph and the amplitude is 1 millimeter, the quake is a 3.0. If the amplitude is 10 millimeters, it\u2019s a 4.0, if it\u2019s 100 millimeters, it\u2019s a 5.0 and so forth. They used empirical observations to correct for distance to stations that did not happen to be at 100 km away.<\/li>\n\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/center>\n<center><b>For more information on how we process waveforms visit our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scsn.org\/index.php\/seismologists-tools\/eqprocessing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Earthquake Processing<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scsn.org\/index.php\/education-outreach-2\/seismology-101\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Seismology 101,<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scsn.org\/index.php\/education-outreach-2\/understanding-waveforms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Understanding Waveforms<\/a> pages.<\/b><\/center>\n<center><b>For earthquake related definitions (e.g. What is a p-wave?) and additional information please refer to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usgs.gov\/glossary\/earthquake-hazards-program\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">USGS Earthquake Glossary<\/a><\/b><\/center>\n<center><b>For more general earthquake information and common questions visit our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scsn.org\/index.php\/education-outreach-2\/faq\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">FAQ<\/a> page.<\/b><\/center>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":26,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"responsive\/full-width-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1877","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scsn.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scsn.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scsn.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scsn.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scsn.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1877"}],"version-history":[{"count":170,"href":"https:\/\/www.scsn.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5456,"href":"https:\/\/www.scsn.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1877\/revisions\/5456"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scsn.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scsn.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}