World-Wide Standardized Seismographic Network Film Chip Scans
These are the scanned digital images of microfilm copies of paper seismic records from the World-Wide Standardized Seismographic Network (WWSSN). This data set spans from 1962 to 1978 and contains about 3.7 million single-day records, which is about 5% of the entire archive. Overall the data set contains 153 magnitude 6+ earthquakes and 156 nuclear explosions. All scans were done using 400 ppi or greater resolution in TIFF format. The scans contained in this data release are detailed in Alejandro and others (2019). Details of the instrumentation can be found at Peterson, J., and Hutt, C. R. (2014). Data are organized by station and date. It is possible to digitize these data into time series data using digitization software, such as Ishii, M., and H. Ishii (2022). An archive of waveforms digitized from these data is available in Lee (2022). An example of analyzing and determining the quality of these data can be found in: Ringler, A. T., and others (2020).
Methods for collecting these data are detailed in:
Alejandro A. C. B., Hutt, C. R., Ringler, A. T., Moore, S. V., Anthony, R. E., and Wilson, D. C. (2019). The Albuquerque Seismological Lab WWSSN Film Chip Preservation Project, Seismological Research Letters, 90, 1, 401-408, https://doi.org/10.1785/0220180275.
Ishii, M., and H. Ishii (2022). DigitSeis: Software to extract time series from analogue seismograms: Progress in Earth and Planetary Science, 9, 1, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-022-00508-0.
Lee, T. H. (2022). http://seismology.harvard.edu/research/analogue/WWSSNmicrofiche.html.
Peterson, J., and Hutt, C. R. (2014). World-Wide Standardized Seismograph Network: A Data Users Guide: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report, 2014-1218, 74 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20141218.
Ringler, A. T., D. C. Wilson, E. Wolin, T. Storm, and L. Sandoval (2020). Calibration analysis and noise estimates of WWSSN station ALQ (Albuquerque, New Mexico): Seismological Research Letters, 91, 3, 1359-1366, https://doi.org/10.1785/0220190201.
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Complete Metadata
| @type | dcat:Dataset |
|---|---|
| accessLevel | public |
| bureauCode |
[ "010:12" ] |
| contactPoint |
{ "fn": "Adam T. Ringler", "@type": "vcard:Contact", "hasEmail": "mailto:aringler@usgs.gov" } |
| description | These are the scanned digital images of microfilm copies of paper seismic records from the World-Wide Standardized Seismographic Network (WWSSN). This data set spans from 1962 to 1978 and contains about 3.7 million single-day records, which is about 5% of the entire archive. Overall the data set contains 153 magnitude 6+ earthquakes and 156 nuclear explosions. All scans were done using 400 ppi or greater resolution in TIFF format. The scans contained in this data release are detailed in Alejandro and others (2019). Details of the instrumentation can be found at Peterson, J., and Hutt, C. R. (2014). Data are organized by station and date. It is possible to digitize these data into time series data using digitization software, such as Ishii, M., and H. Ishii (2022). An archive of waveforms digitized from these data is available in Lee (2022). An example of analyzing and determining the quality of these data can be found in: Ringler, A. T., and others (2020). Methods for collecting these data are detailed in: Alejandro A. C. B., Hutt, C. R., Ringler, A. T., Moore, S. V., Anthony, R. E., and Wilson, D. C. (2019). The Albuquerque Seismological Lab WWSSN Film Chip Preservation Project, Seismological Research Letters, 90, 1, 401-408, https://doi.org/10.1785/0220180275. Ishii, M., and H. Ishii (2022). DigitSeis: Software to extract time series from analogue seismograms: Progress in Earth and Planetary Science, 9, 1, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-022-00508-0. Lee, T. H. (2022). http://seismology.harvard.edu/research/analogue/WWSSNmicrofiche.html. Peterson, J., and Hutt, C. R. (2014). World-Wide Standardized Seismograph Network: A Data Users Guide: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report, 2014-1218, 74 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20141218. Ringler, A. T., D. C. Wilson, E. Wolin, T. Storm, and L. Sandoval (2020). Calibration analysis and noise estimates of WWSSN station ALQ (Albuquerque, New Mexico): Seismological Research Letters, 91, 3, 1359-1366, https://doi.org/10.1785/0220190201. |
| distribution |
[ { "@type": "dcat:Distribution", "title": "Digital Data", "format": "XML", "accessURL": "https://doi.org/10.5066/P13PHZMA", "mediaType": "application/http", "description": "Landing page for access to the data" }, { "@type": "dcat:Distribution", "title": "Original Metadata", "format": "XML", "mediaType": "text/xml", "description": "The metadata original format", "downloadURL": "https://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/metadata/USGS.671a6f7dd34efed5620f89f0.xml" } ] |
| identifier | http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_671a6f7dd34efed5620f89f0 |
| keyword |
[ "Seismic data", "USGS:671a6f7dd34efed5620f89f0", "earthquake occurrences", "earthquakes", "ground motion", "nuclear explosion", "seismic methods" ] |
| modified | 2025-07-14T00:00:00Z |
| publisher |
{ "name": "U.S. Geological Survey", "@type": "org:Organization" } |
| spatial | -180.0000, -90.0000, 180.0000, 90.0000 |
| theme |
[ "geospatial" ] |
| title | World-Wide Standardized Seismographic Network Film Chip Scans |
