A Million Seismograms Lost and Found: Current Status of the Canadian Analog Seismogram Collection

Date: 4/26/2019

Time: 06:00 PM

Room: Grand Ballroom

The first seismograph in Canada began operation in 1897. The number of stations gradually grew until the 1960s when a national network was developed, increasing the number of stations from 9 in 1955 to 30 by 1970. Expansion of the network has continued. The transition from an analog to a digital network took place primarily during the 1980s. Despite the loss of many seismograms over the decades, the Canadian analog seismogram collection is estimated to consist of about one million records spanning nearly a century. The location and status of the collection have changed several times, occasionally resulting in confusion over ownership. Pressure to dispose of the collection due to storage space issues waxes and wanes as the perceived value of the collection does. In early 2017, it was discovered that the building housing the collection, which had been slated to close in 2018, had closed in 2014 and no one seemed able to verify whether the collection had been moved or destroyed. Through persistent and tenacious questioning, the seismograms were eventually found safe and sound. They are currently housed in a climate-controlled facility with safeguards against hazards such as fire and flood, all of which will slow but not completely prevent the deterioration of these fragile paper records. Pressure to dispose of the collection has currently ceased but access to the data is complicated. The seismograms, which contain a wealth of underutilized information about earthquakes, explosions and other phenomena, cannot be fully exploited in their analog state. Attempts to microfilm the collection in the 1970s were not greatly successful. Improvements made to scanning hardware and digitizing software in recent years are promising but scanning and digitizing one million seismograms remains a daunting task. Nevertheless, it is a long-term goal and we are exploring avenues to facilitate it and considering our priorities if a concerted digitizing effort can be made.

Presenting Author: Allison L. Bent

Authors