Controlled vocabulary for seismic data sets

Description

Seismic data sets contain time series of multiple sensors obtained at particular spatial locations on the Earth’s surface. Their data represents observations of position, velocity, acceleration or other related geophysical variables measured at these locations. These are generally produced by instruments such as seismometers, gyroscopes, GNSS receivers and others.

This concept could be tied to “Resource Types: geospatial data” for the list of station coordinates, or “Resource Types: observational data” inasmuch as the observations are collected as they occur, without manipulating independent variables. (Would that still apply to active seismic data?)
Some terms here have come from an earlier GIPP-derived vocab. Those are shown with ‘[g]’. They may still need coordination with the other terms defined here.
Broader concept: “Resource Types: dataset” or “Schema.org: Dataset”

Released: 2023-02-01 (planned)

Last modified: 2023-05-02

Version: 0.0.4

Namespace URI: http://geofon.gfz-potsdam.de/cv/seisdata/

Creator(s): Peter Evans, Christian Haberland, Susanne Hemmleb, Angelo Strollo …

Contributors: efairs team? GEOFON team, GIPP team members, LIS, DEPAS, others?…

Concepts

Below, terms are shown with their categories. Terms can have mixed case and should be presented with the case shown here, or with initial case (first letter capitalised if not already so, e.g. “Vibroseis”).

Note to editors: Term definitions are not full sentences. They usually do not include the term being defined, should end in a full stop. They may include one or two additional sentences, and may refer to other terms.

Terms

Acceleration (Observable quantity) - The time derivative of velocity; second derivative of displacement with respect to time.
Accelerometers (Instrument type) - Instruments to measure acceleration.
Active seismics (Experiment type) - Experiment that involves controlled source(s) to generate ground motion.
Anthropogenic (Geodynamic context) - Any signal generated or caused by humans or their activities.
Array (Geometry) - A dense collection of instruments located so closely in space that a typical distance between individual instruments is comparable to the wavelength of seismic waves of interest (coherent waveforms), and requiring or allowing for processing as an ensemble.
Barometers (Instrument type) - Instruments for measuring air pressure.
Continental ridge (Geodynamic context) - No definition for ‘Continental ridge’ yet.
Controlled source seismics (Experiment type) - Same as ‘Active_seismics’? [SO ONLY ONE SHOULD BE KEPT - ref:‘Active seismics’ is better as it contrasts to ref:‘Passive seismic’].
DAS (Instrument type) - A distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) system, typically providing many observation locations along the length of a fibre optic cable extended over a large region.
DEPAS (Observatory) - Deutscher Geräte-Pool für amphibische Seismologie (“German instrument pool for amphibian seismology”) is a collection of broadband onshore and offshore seismological instruments operated by AWI and GFZ.
Data format - A file format used to represent data for archiving or exchange.
Data type - A GIPP term for how the data has been processed.
Deployment region - This is a description of the spatial properties of the points on the Earth at which measurements were obtained (e.g. “marine”) without being an actual place e.g. “Barents Sea”. (It is not clear that a schema.org Place with a “somewhat fixed” location is suitable here.) Somehow overlaps with “Geodynamic context”?.
Displacement (Observable quantity) - Change in position of points from their location in a reference configuration, such as at rest or in an unperturbed state.
EIFEL Central Germany (Observatory) - No definition for ‘EIFEL Central Germany’ yet.
Environmental quantities (Observable quantity) - Physical variables of interest beyond traditional seismological measures of ground motion, e.g. temperature, ambient pressure, humidity, wind velocity, magnetic field strength.
Environmental sensors (Instrument type) - Measurements for other non-seismic physical variables e.g. ambient pressure, temperature, humidity, wind velocity, rainfall are available at sensor location(s), and are included in this data set.
Experiment type - GIPP term for type of experiment (GIPP).
GCO Central Asia (Observatory) - No definition for ‘GCO Central Asia’ yet.
GIPP (Observatory) - The Geophysical Instrument Pool Potsdam, a research infrastructure facilty of the GFZ.
GNSS receivers (Instrument type) - Sensors based on use of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) to provide precise positioning information. This does not include using GNSS for timing information.
GONAF (Observatory) - A GFZ-operated deep Geophysical Observatory at the North Anatolian Fault.
Geodynamic context - A type of physical feature defining the locations chosen for placing instruments. May be the target of, or motivate important aspects of, a research study. May also describe experimental scale[???].
Geometry - A property of a network describing its geometrical configuration, which may be related to its scientific purpose.
Geophysics (Geodynamic context) - Geophysics is a field of earth sciences that investigates the solid earth and its physical processes and properties.
Global network (Geometry) - Large-scale deployment, such as across multiple continents, to investigate global seismicity. See ‘Regional network’.
HART (Observatory) - Hazard and Risk Team, a rapid response programme of the GFZ.
Hydrophones (Instrument type) - Microphones used for recording sound underwater.
IPOC (Observatory) - Integrated Plate Boundary Observatory Chile is a European-South American network of institutions and scientists organizing and operating a distributed system of instruments and projects dedicated to the study of earthquakes and deformation at the continental margin of Chile.
ITC (Observatory) - International Training Course.
Induced seimicity (Geodynamic context) - Seismicity that is induced or triggered by anthropogenic processes.
Infrasound (Instrument type) - Detect sound waves below the lower limit of human hearing (ca. 20 Hz).
Infrastructure monitoring (Geodynamic context) - No definition for ‘Infrastructure monitoring’ yet.
Instrument type - (No definition for this category yet).
Large-N (Geometry) - A collection of many hundreds or more of instruments [Possibly: used for ref:‘Passive seismic’ experiments].
Local network (Geometry) - Small aperture seismic network, designed to investigate local (i.e. within the network’s geometry) seismicity.
MESI (Observatory) - The GFZ’s Modular Earth Science Infrastructure.
Mantle plume (Geodynamic context) - Diapir-like intrusion of hot material through the Earth’s mantle.
MiniSEED (Data format) - A data format which is a subset of the SEED standard, commonly used for seismological time series data.
OBS (Instrument type) - Ocean bottom seismometer (OBS), at least one instrument is designed to be located on or under the sea bed. May also be located in other marine features e.g. lakes.
Observable quantity - (No definition for this category yet).
Observation data - GIPP term for what sort of data was collected.
Observatory - An organisation or set of infrastructure involved in gathering observations from a geographical region of the Earth as part of a large coordinated programme of scientific work. This may involve multiple data sets, instruments, sites, institutions, more.
Oceanic ridge (Geodynamic context) - On or near a region where mountain chains rise from the ocean floor [Britannica].
Passive seismic (Experiment type) - Seismic experiment/measurement that uses natural sources (earthquakes, ambient noise).
ice (Geodynamic context) - Instruments located on or under ice features such as ice caps and glaciers, or at high latitude. [REPEATS ‘Ice’ (Deployment region).].
Pressure (Observable quantity) - force per unit area.
line 2D[g] (Geometry) - Data acquisition is carried out along lines (2D survey).
Regional network (Geometry) - Moderate aperture, designed to investigate regional seismicity. See ‘Local network’.
Rotation (Observable quantity) - Observable describing the circular movement of a point (i.e. of the ground) around a central axis (Wikipedia).
SEG-D (Data format) - A digital field tape format standard by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) used to store active seismic data sets.
SEG-Y (Data format) - One of several data format standards developed by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) for storing and exchanging geophysical data (typically active seismic data sets).
Seismic vibration source which generates a controlled source signal sweep with pre-defined frequencies. (Source type) - No definition for ‘Seismic vibration source which generates a controlled source signal (sweep) with pre-defined frequencies.’ yet.
Seismometers (Instrument type) - Instruments for measuring ground motion.
Solid earth (Geodynamic context) - No definition for ‘Solid earth’ yet.
Source type - Active seismic experiments involve observing the responses to one or more controlled source. These are of many different types (GIPP).
Strain (Observable quantity) - geometrical measure of deformation.
Subduction zone (Geodynamic context) - Zone of plate convergence at which an oceanic plate dives beneath another (oceanic or continental) plate. Typically accompanied by a deep sea trench and/or volcanic chain.
TERENO (Observatory) - TERrestrial ENvironmental Observatories are regional observatories in Germany aiming at detecting changes in the geo-, hydro-, bio-, and lower atmosphere as well as the anthroposphere.
Velocity (Observable quantity) - The time derivative of displacement.
Vertical array (Geometry) - A collection of multiple instruments located one above another. See also ‘array’.
area 3D[g] (Geometry) - Data acquisition covers an area on or near the Earth’s surface in order to investigate a volume of the subsurface (3D survey).
airgun[g] (Source type) - Seismic source that generates impulsive signals. Compressed air is injected in water.
amphibious (Deployment region) - At least one instrument is located on land, and at least one located under water. See also ‘marine’.
amphibious[g] (Geodynamic context) - No definition for ‘amphibious[g]’ yet.
array (Deployment region) - A dense collection of instruments located so closely in space that a typical distance between individual instruments is comparable to the wavelength of seismic waves of interest, and requiring processing as an ensemble.
array[g] (Experiment type) - [REMOVE THIS ONE, LEAVING array (Deployment region)?].
controlled source seismic CSS[g] (Experiment type) - [REPLACE WITH Active_seismics].
correlated (Data type) - Correlated vibroseis data. Seismic data after cross-correlation of a sweep signal with the recorded vibroseis trace.
crustal[g] (Geodynamic context) - The crust, the outermost part of the Earth, is the objective of the experiment.
depth converted (Data type) - Seismic data have been converted from the time to the depth domain.
explosion (Source type) - A rapid expansion in volume, such as caused by a chemical reaction, in which large amounts of gas and heat are released; has been used as (controlled) seismic source.
geophone[g] (Instrument type) - Passive sensor to measure ground movement. See also seismometer.
horizonal component[g] (Observation data) - Only horizontal components of the ground motion are available.
ice (Deployment region) - Instrument(s) are located on or under ice features such as ice caps and glaciers.
land-streamer (Instrument type) - Linear array of geophones designed to be towed behind a vehicle.
land[g] (Geodynamic context) - Part of the Earth’s surface not covered by water.
local[g] (Geometry) - No definition for ‘local[g]’ yet.
marine (Deployment region) - All instruments are located under water. See also ‘amphibious’. [SHOULD THERE ALSO BE ‘land (Deployment region)’?].
marine[g] (Geodynamic context) - Part of the Earth’s surface covered by seawater.
migrated (Data type) - Time or depth migrated data. “Seismic migration is the process by which seismic events are geometrically re-located in either space or time to the location the event occurred in the subsurface rather than the location that it was recorded at the surface, thereby creating a more accurate image of the subsurface” (Wikipedia).
natural (Source type) - Ground motion is generated without controlled sources. Natural sources include earthquakes and ambient noise.
near-surface[g] (Geodynamic context) - The objective of the experiment is the shallow subsurface, typically down to a few hundreds of meters.
network[g] (Experiment type) - Observations are made and analyzed at multiple stations (forming a network).
ocean bottom cable[g] (Instrument type) - Linear array of sensors designed to be placed on the seafloor.
permanent[g] (Observation data) - Data comes from permanent networks or stations (not only those deployed temporarily).
raw[g] (Data type) - Raw, unprocessed data.
reflection (Experiment type) - Seismic experiment that uses reflected waves to image the underground.
refraction (Experiment type) - Seismic experiment that uses refracted waves (or over-/critically reflected phases) to image the underground.
regional[g] (Geometry) - No definition for ‘regional[g]’ yet.
reservoir[g] (Geodynamic context) - A limited volume in the subsurface that holds fluids (liquids and gases).
stacked (Data type) - Seismic data that contains traces which have been added together in order to increase the signal-to-noise ratio and image quality.
station[g] (Experiment type) - No definition for ‘station[g]’ yet.
streamer[g] (Instrument type) - Linear array of hydrophones designed to be towed behind a vessel.
strong motion (Instrument type) - For sensors measuring acceleration, location, or position designed to operate during episodes of strong shaking e.g. about 1-2 %g. (Is this the same as Accelerometers?) See a list of strong motion networks at CESMD..
temporary[g] (Observation data) - Data from temporarily deployed networks or stations.
three-component[g] (Observation data) - All three components of the ground motion are available.
uncorrelated (Data type) - Uncorrelated vibroseis data. Seismic data without or before cross-correlation of a sweep signal with the recorded vibroseis trace.
vertical component[g] (Observation data) - Only vertical components of the ground motion are available.
vibroseis (Source type) - No definition for ‘vibroseis’ yet.
volcano (Deployment region) - Instrument(s) are located on or near volcanic features.
weight drop (Source type) - Seismic source which generates an impulse signal by dropping weights.
wide-angle reflection-refraction (Experiment type) - Seismic experiment using over-/critically reflected or refracted phases.

Examples

TBD, could be built from our own tag assignments (hand_keywords.json?)

Additional candidates: