Strong Ground Motion Database System for the Mexican Seismic Network

Abstract:

A web-based system for strong Mexican ground motion records dissemination and archival is presented. More than 50 years of continuous strong ground motion instrumentation and monitoring in Mexico have provided a fundamental resource -several thousands of accelerograms- for better understanding earthquakes and their effects in the region. Lead by the Institute of Engineering (IE) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the engineering strong ground motion monitoring program at IE relies on a continuously growing network, that at present includes more than 100 free-field stations and provides coverage to the seismic zones in the country. Among the stations, approximately 25% send the observed acceleration to a processing center in Mexico City in real-time, and the rest require manual access, remote or in situ, for later processing and cataloguing.

As part of a collaboration agreement between UNAM and the National Center for Disaster Prevention, regarding the construction and operation of a unified seismic network, a web system was developed to allow access to UNAM's engineering strong motion archive and host data from other institutions. The system allows data searches under a relational database schema, following a general structure relying on four databases containing the: 1) free-field stations, 2) epicentral location associated with the strong motion records available, 3) strong motion catalogue, and 4) acceleration files -the core of the system. In order to locate and easily access one or several records of the data bank, the web system presents a variety of parameters that can be involved in a query (seismic event, region boundary, station name or ID, radial distance to source or peak acceleration). This homogeneous platform has been designed to facilitate dissemination and processing of the information worldwide. Each file, in a standard format, contains information regarding the recording instrument, the station, the corresponding earthquake, the record itself, and the numerical data. The standard format used was designed and preserved by many institutions in Mexico.

At this stage, only cataloged accelerograms (M>=5) from IE are integrated. Institutions expected to become part of the unified network of Mexico, will make available data through the platform described in this paper.