In 2006, The Pennsylvania State University, in collaboration with the Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey within the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), began constructing a network of seismic stations to record seismicity in the state. Between 2006 and 2013, the network grew to a total of 10 seismic stations spread across the state providing near real time, open access seismic data for use by government agencies, academic institutions, industry, and the public. In late 2015, an expansion of the network to 30 seismic stations began with funding from the DCNR and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Construction of the 30 station network was completed in August 2016. This website provides information about the stations, how to access the data, and seismic event information obtained from the network.
The seismic stations were located to provide fairly even data coverage across the Commonwealth by taking advantage of other permanent seismic stations in Pennsylvania and neighboring states operated by other organizations. In total, 43 seismic stations now provide near real time open-access data in Pennsylvania, and there are an additional 28 stations in neighboring states that can also be used to help monitor seismicity within Pennsylvania. The full complement of stations is shown on the station page.
Seismic stations in the Pennsylvania State Seismic Network are equipped with broadband seismometers (Guralp CMG-3T or Nanometrics Compact Trillium models), RefTek data loggers, and a GPS clock. Data from the stations are telemetered using the internet. The stations are located at Pennsylvania state parks, Penn State campuses, the University of Pittsburgh, and the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
More information about the PASEIS network and seismicity catalog can be found in the documents available below. The slides are from a talk presented to the Geophysical Society of Pittsburgh in 2017, and summarize the seismicity in Pennsylvania, the development of the seismic network and PASEIS data collection and processing. The poster summarizes the results from a 2013-2015 seismicity study of Pennsylvania and includes some information about the construction of the PASEIS network. The poster was presented at the 2017 Shale Network workshop. The uncertainty report provides information about the horizontal uncertainties in the PASEIS event locations along with information about the magnitude of completeness of the PASEIS catalog from 2016 to 2020.