An Investigation on the Evaluation of Regional Earthquake Tsunami Monitoring Center (RETMC) Seismic Network and Catalogue

Abstract

Seismicity catalogs are the most important product of seismic network operating centers, especially for the earthquake hazard studies. Understanding the nature of regional catalogues has primary importance in shedding light on statistical parameters of the seismicity behavior of that given region. It is a well-known truth that man made inhomogeneties and artificial facts exist in the catalogs due to the change of infrastructure with time. Precisely determined earthquake parameters are important not only for understanding the seismicity and seismotectonics of a region but also for providing an accurate estimation of seismic hazard and risk parameters. In this study, we present an evaluation of Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute (KOERI) - Regional Earthquake Tsunami Monitoring Center (RETMC) seismicity catalog for the time duration of 2013 – 2017. We mapped the magnitude of completeness, Mc, for Turkey for the RETMC catalog. We compared the results with the Mc values of different local earthquake sequences in the region, by also considering the variations of Mc with time. Results of the study will be a reference guide for researchers who benefit from RETMC-KOERI data.