Pacific Northwest Seismic Network

PNSN.org Rebuild

A new look and feel for PNSN.org

Welcome to the new PNSN.org! 

PNSN.org has been largely unchanged since 2014, when we modernized the front end and moved from our on-premises servers to Amazon Web Services (AWS). At that time, we redid the appearance and the infrastructure, but the core functionality of the site remained the same. The site had been showing its age for a while now and was long overdue for a complete overhaul. Over the past two years, we’ve been working to rebuild the entire site from the ground up, both recreating existing features and adding exciting new ones. While the web team handled the technical side, the outreach team revisited and updated all of the content. We always knew rebuilding the site was going to be a large endeavor, but it certainly exceeded our expectations.

The purpose of PNSN.org is to accurately and quickly communicate information about earthquakes we have detected in Washington and Oregon. Our goal is for the site to be a hub of information that is useful to our audience both before and after an earthquake. During the rebuilding process, we focused on creating a site that was faster, more accessible, and filled with new information. Additionally, we worked to ensure it is easy to maintain, enjoyable to develop new features for, and built on reliable infrastructure.

So, what’s new? There’s a lot to cover, but we’ll highlight some features now and will show off more in the coming weeks on our blog and social media. 

  1. Events - We redid the process for adding event data to the site - earthquakes now appear on the site 1-2 minutes faster than before, less than a second after being processed and added into our system. Event pages now have more interactive maps - you can even see what the event waveform looked like at our many seismic stations around the Pacific Northwest. Event Page for Orcas Island

  2. Stations - We’ve added pages for each of our seismic stations, where we’ll be adding photos and station information. Each page also has its own QuickShake view and lists the most recent events detected using data from that station. Station Page for UW RCM

  3. Seismograms - We’ve replaced static images with interactive seismograms, allowing you to rescale, click to view details, and even view data further back than 6 months.

  4. Event Groups - We built a new way to view information about a group of associated earthquakes, such as the swarm at Mt. Rainier this past summer. Event Group for 2025 Mount Rainier Swarm

Even before the new site was released, it already gave us opportunities to participate in some interesting activities. Our preview version of the site was used for our work with the Seattle Mariners this past October during the playoffs! We created a new experimental seismogram feature that allowed us to quickly create live seismograms for each of the home playoff games for fans to see their seismic activity in real-time. This interactive seismograms page is what all of our stations will now display. We’ve also been including images and figures created with the new site on posts about some of the interesting events from the past year, such as the Orcas Island Earthquake in March and the Mount Rainier Swarm in July. 

There are some smaller features from the old site that we have not fully replicated yet, but we expect to be rolling them out soon. If you find there are features that you are missing, please let us know so we can make sure we’re prioritizing the features the public uses the most.

To give feedback, you can use our website feedback Google form. Your feedback is invaluable in helping us improve and making your experience even better. If you notice anything that could be clearer, easier to use, or have any bugs to report, please let us know. Every comment counts, and your input will directly shape the way PNSN.org evolves.

Thank you to Gavin Bullock and Nathan Briley for all your help building the site. Thank you to Natalie Chow and Rubi Trujillo for your designs. Thank you to the External Engagement Team for your work on the site content. Finally, a big shoutout to Jon Connolly, who built the original PNSN.org that has served us well for so many years!