Seismic Stations

Station Codes

Station codes define specific characteristics of the instruments at a seismic station. The initial number indicates how many components the instrument measures (1 = just up-down; 3 = up-down, east-west, north-south), and the following letters indicate the instrument type (sp = short period, bb = broadband, sm = strong motion).
E.g., 1sp = one component short period, 3bb3sm = one seismometer with 3 broadband components and 3 strong motion components.

These three character codes use the SEED channel naming convention. The first character is a code for the sampling rate, the second character is a code for the instrument type (e.g. broadband or strong motion), and the third character is a code for the directional component of the channel.

SCNL Codes

S - Station Code
C - Channel Code
N - Network Code
L - Location Code

Station Code

Station code are the 3-5 character short-hand name of a station. Station codes are generally assigned based on the name of the location or site-host, and are unique.

See How Stations Are Named below for more information on how these codes are created.

Channel Code

Describes the sampling rate, instrument type, and orientation (See Channel Codes above).

Network Code

A two-character short-hand for the station operator/owner.

Location Code

A two-character short-hand used to differentiate similar/identical instruments co-located at the same station. "--" generally means "none".

How Stations Are Named

Stations installed by the PNSN are typically named for:

their locality (e.g., Buck Mountain, OR → BUCK)
the site-host (e.g., Finn Hill Elementary School → station FINN)
interesting history of the locality (Oakville, WA → BLOB)
Sites adopted by the PNSN may bear more-utilitarian names (e.g., Newberry borehole number 21 → NN21). Station naming practices vary across seismic network operators, whereas station codes adhere to strict formatting requirements (see SCNL codes explanation).