IASPEI GT reference events: bulletin search

This page is used to search the IASPEI Reference Events database to output a full event bulletin in either IASPEI Seismic Format (ISF) or as an XML stream.

This is the standard search page for the IASPEI Ground Truth (GT) reference events bulletin. To complete a search using customised shapes, an interactive search page is available:

Interactive search





Output format:
ISF 2.1 Bulletin ISF 1 Bulletin QuakeML (XML stream)


Choose search region:

Global search

Circular search
Central latitude (-90 to 90): Central longitude (-180 to 180):
Search radius:

Rectangular search
Top latitude (-90 to 90): Bottom latitude (-90 to 90):
Left longitude (-180 to 180): Right longitude (-180 to 180):

Flinn-Engdahl region (only one option needed)
Seismic region number (1 to 50):
Geographic region number (1 to 757):

Select time period:

Start date: Time (HH:MM:SS):
End date: Time (HH:MM:SS):


Optional search parameters:

Min depth (km): Max depth (km): Include events with unknown depths:
Min magnitude: Max magnitude: Include events with unknown magnitudes:
Magnitude type
(use CTRL for multiple types):
Min defining phases: Max defining phases: Include events without defining phases:


Output options:

Only output Prime hypocentres
Output phases
Output magnitudes
Output web links
Output headers
Output comments




About the bulletin search

Use this search to output all available data within the IASPEI Reference Events List. This includes access to the IASPEI GT location and any ISC hypocentre solution, magnitude values, phase data, etc.

Output format

  • ISF Bulletin:

    • The IASPEI Seismic Format (ISF) is a fixed format bulletin. Further information about the format, versions and links to the full documentation can be found on the ISF page.

  • QuakeML:

    • QuakeML is an XML representation of seismological data. Data are output as an XML stream using the QuakeML XML Schema, version 1.1. QuakeML has some significant advantages in readability for computers, due to the availability of XML parsers. This output is not designed for use in a browser and will cause browsers to crash for large queries. For a complete explanation of the schema, please view the documentation on the QuakeML site.

Search region

There are four possible methods for defining a search region (rectangular, circular, global, Flinn-Engdahl region). Leaving fields blank, will automatically default to a global search. To interactively define a search region, using customised shapes, please use the interactive search page. The defined region is used to check only the prime hypocentre - secondary hypocentres within a search region will not influence the results.

Time period

This is the start and end date to search for events. Only the prime (IASPEI) hypocentre will be searched to match events.

Unknown depths

As some events have no determined depth, you may optionally choose to include events with unknown depths in the search. This will return events which match any selected depth constraint you enter as well as events with no depth.

Unknown magnitudes

As some events have no determined magnitude, you may optionally choose to include events with unknown magnitude values in the search. This will return events which match any selected magnitude constraint you enter as well as events with no magnitude value.

Magnitude type

Limit events by magnitude for specific magnitude types. Due to the large number of magnitude types and the various notation used, the selected type will search all magnitudes of that type. E.g. MB will match all body-wave magnitudes: mb, mB, MB, mb1mx, etc.

Defining phases

Defining phases are travel-times, which have been used in the computation of a hypocentre. You may optionally choose to include events where the number of defining phases for the prime hypocentre is unknown. This only applies if you have specified a minimum or maximum number of defining phases.

Only output Prime hypocentres

The Bulletin output for the IASPEI Reference Events provides the ISC solution as a secondary hypocentre for a particular event. You may optionally limit the output to only show the prime (IASPEI) hypocentres.

Output phases

This includes phase data in the output. Phase data includes any arrival-times, amplitudes, station magnitudes, flags for defining phases and travel-time residuals. The size of the output will be significantly increased by outputting phases.

Output magnitudes

This includes network magnitude data in the output.

Output weblinks

This includes any available links for the event such as a link to the full Bulletin output, a link to form a waveform request and links to the ISC Bulletin for a particular event. There are also links for each author to provide full details of the agency.

Output headers

This includes a header information in the output.

Output comments

This outputs all comments for the ISF output.