Station quality evaluation and selection
In modern seismology, weak and strong motion sensors are often co-located to record low-magnitude events and strong earthquakes simultaneously. Moreover, conventional station networks may be enhanced by seismic arrays for low-magnitude monitoring or signal discrimination. Some network stations may be located near industrial plants or exposed to other noise sources of seasonal or diurnal variations.
Such situations result in seismic monitoring with varying or inhomogeneous conditions. In order to keep the network performance constant and at a high level, noisy station should be temporarily disabled or enabled when being quiet again. Biasing due to dense arrays can be avoided by selecting just one or a few array stations added to the network. When those stations become unavailable they can be exchanged against alternative array elements. Such dynamic re-configuration can be realized in real time by processing station quality parameters which carry information about data delays and latencies, noise, spikes or gaps and many more.
scqceval automatically and dynamically re-configures a seismic network in order to optimize the performance. The module considers the station quality parameters and customized station lists. When the station quality control parameters exceed or enter configured intervals, stations are disabled or enabled automatically. Alternative stations configured by configuration are then enabled or disabled. In this way networks can maintain their desired performance while keeping the station density at a required level.
scqceval is of particular relevance in regions with highly inhomogeneous station distribution where conventional networks, arrays or weak motion and strong motion instruments are combined.
Documentationscqceval has been demonstrated, promoted and discussed with scientists and the SeisComP community at international science conferences, e.g.: