Return to IASPEI Home Page
The science of seismology depends critically on data collected at hundreds of observatories world-wide. These observatories are operated by a variety of agencies, staffed by seismologists and technicians whose training and interests vary widely. They are equipped with hardware and software ranging from very traditional analog technology to highly versatile and sophisticated digital technology. While in industrialized countries the observatory personnel normally have easy access to up-to-date technologies, spare parts, infrastructure, know-how, consultancy and maintenance services, those working in developing countries are often required to do a reliable job with very modest means and without much outside assistance.
To ensure that the data from these observatories can be properly processed and interpreted once it has been acquired and compiled, it is necessary to establish protocols for all aspects of observatory operation which may effect the seismological data itself. In addition, competent guidance is often required in the stages of planning, bidding, procurement, site-selection, and installation of new seismic observatories and networks so that they will later meet basic international standards for data exchange and processing in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The most successful such effort to date has been the Manual of Seismological Observatory Practice. The most recent edition of the Manual of Seismological Observatory Practice was published in 1979 as Report SE-20 of the World Data Center A for Solid Earth Geophysics. It was reprinted in 1982, but has been long out of print. For many years the Manual has been effectively impossible to obtain.
Seismology has undergone a technological revolution since publication of the Manual, driven by cheap computer power, the development of a new generation of seismometers and digital recording systems with very broad bandwidth and high dynamic range, and the discovery of the Internet as a vehicle for rapid, large-scale data exchange. As the seismological community switches from analog to digital technology, many sections of the 1979 Manual are becoming obsolete or irrelevant, and the Manual contains no guidance in many areas which have become of critical importance.
Therefore the Commission on Seismological Observation and Interpretation (formerly, Commission on Practice) of IASPEI initiated in 1996 a project to produce a new edition of the Manual of Seismological Observatory Practice. This project was under the overall guidance of Prof. Dr. Peter Bormann and the new edition was published in 2002.
As a step in the production of a new Manual, the IASPEI Commission on Practice recommended, at the 21st General Assembly of the IUGG ( in Boulder, Colorado, that the 1979 Edition be reproduced electronically, to provide a readily-available reference document for the contributors to the new edition and to other interested persons.
The New Manual of Seismological Observatory Practice (NMSOP or "the Manual") was produced in 2002 under the overall guidance of Prof. Dr. Peter Bormann. It is a continuation and significant expansion of the materials and guidance provided by the earlier Willmore (1979) Manual of Seismological Observatory Practice (MSOP). It can be downloaded for free using the title link above or, if you require printed hard copies, they can be ordered at the GFZ library (30 EUR for two volumes of 1250 pages + shipment cost) via the following link. So far, 1300 copies of NMSOP_1 have been sold or made available via grants, or through the Potsdam training courses, to users in more than 100 countries.
Return to IASPEI Home Page
Last modified:
August 4, 2009
Maintained by: Alice Walker abw@bgs.ac.uk at the British Geological Survey