Public Release of the ISC-GEM Global Instrumental Earthquake Catalogue (1900-2009)

Abstract

The International Seismological Centre Global Earthquake Model (ISC–GEM) Global Instrumental Earthquake Catalogue (1900–2009) is the result of a special effort to substantially extend and improve currently existing global catalogs to serve the requirements of specific user groups who assess and model seismic hazard and risk. The data from the ISC–GEM Catalogue would be used worldwide yet will prove absolutely essential in those regions where a high seismicity level strongly correlates with a high population density (Fig. 1 ). The Catalogue is also expected to have a multidisciplinary use in a wide range of studies such as global seismicity assessment, tectonics, as well as the rapid determination of seismic hazard. Because of the large volume of digitized seismic traveltime and amplitude data generated during this project, we expect the Catalogue to be useful in studies of the inner structure of the Earth as well as in nuclear monitoring research. This global catalog was also designed to serve as a reference to be used for calibration purposes by those compiling regional seismicity catalogs that contain events of much smaller magnitudes. This will guarantee that the catalogs prepared by other teams for different regions will contain comparable earthquake locations and magnitude parameters, especially in border areas. The work on the Catalogue was funded by the GEM Foundation as part of the five Global Hazard Components and is a result of a 27-month-long project. This project was led by the ISC and performed by the team of international experts in accordance with the requirements of the Scientific Board of GEM and following recommendations of the International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth’s Interior (IASPEI ) observers. Further, eight IT, administrative, and technical staff at the ISC worked on this project. Details can be found in the Acknowledgments.Peer Reviewe