Exchange of digital seismological waveform data in Europe: status as illustrated by data collection for the 1992 Roermond earthquake, the Netherlands

Abstract

The 1992 Roermond earthquake (location 51.16°N, 5.95°E; ML = 5.8) provides a good opportunity to evaluate the current status of exchange of digital waveform data in Europe. For this purpose data are collected from broadband and short-period seismograph stations. It is the intention to publish these data on CD-ROM. The data set is evaluated on data quality, accessibility and spatial coverage of the recording stations. In order to compare signals from different stations attention has been given to the instrumentation. Evaluation shows that in contrast to broadband networks, short-period networks in north-west Europe are not prepared for an event of this magnitude. It is recommended to increase the limited dynamic range of most digital stations and to evaluate the effectiveness of the currently used bandwidth. Finally, an organized common access to the data set, as is realized for the broad-band data, is recommended for regional, short-period networks.