CNSN

Canadian National Seismograph Network

More information about this network

The first continuously recording photographic seismograph station in North America began operation in September 1897 in Toronto (TNT). By 1939, 11 stations were in operation across Canada. All but Ottawa (OTT) and Halifax (HAL) are now closed. See Stevens (1990) for more information on the history of some stations in Canada.

The modern network is operated by Natural Resources Canada.

Natural Resources Canada

Stations

A single set (rarely more) of LP and SP scans are available for the stations below.

RegionLocationCodeLatitudeLongitudeTimespanComponents
CanadaALEAlert   6
 EDMEdmonton   6
 FBCFrobisher Bay   6
 FFCFlin Flon   6
 FSBFort St. James   6
 GWCGreat Whale River   6
 HALHalifax   6
 LDNLondon   6
 MBCMould Bay   6
 MNTMontreal   6
 MUMMusselwhite Mine   6
 OTTOttawa   6
 PHCPort Hardy   6
 PNTPenticton   6
 RESResolute   6
 SCBScarborough   6
 SCHSchefferville   6
 SESSuffield   6
 SFASt. Ferreol les Neiges   6
 SJNNSt Johns   6
 YKAYellowknife   6

Instrumentation

Recording Medium

Data Availability

35 mm films of seismograms of the CNSN for 1962-1986 were initially sent to the National Earthquake Center in Golden, Colorado. The films are now part of the collection stored at the Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory. Some of these stations were included in the efforts to scan WWSSN records (see WWSSN). Scans will be made available through IRIS DMC.

The Earthquake Research Institute maintains ~1800 rolls of 35 mm films from 23 stations of the Canadian seismograph network between 1982-1989. Some event log sheets are also available (Satake et al., 2020).

Paper records have been maintained for this collection.

Contact

For more information about this collection, please contact: < blank >

References

Satake, K., H. Tsuruoka, S. Murotani, and K. Tsumura (2020). Analog Seismogram Archives at the Earthquake Research Institute, the University of Tokyo, Seismol. Res. Lett. 91, 1384–1393, doi: 10.1785/0220190281.

Stevens, Anne E. (1980) History of some Canadian and adjacent American seismograph stations. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 70 (4): 1381–1393. doi: https://doi.org/10.1785/BSSA0700041381