Geophysical Centre Quetta

Geophysics Division of Pakistan Meteorological Department , Located at Geophysical Centre Quetta consists of Seismic / Geomagnetism / Ozone / Solar Radiation / HRPT (High Resolution Picture Transmission) and Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) Stations.


SEISMOLOGY

 

 

Seismological observatory was established at Geophysical Centre Quetta in 1954. This centre is headquarter of siesmological network of Pakistan. Following observatories are established at present:-

Station

Code

Geo-Graphical Co-Ordinates

Elevation in Meters

Establishment

Foundation

Recording Mode

Lat °N

Lon °E

Quetta

QUE

30°18.8'

66°95.0'

1721

Jan-1954

Cretaceous Lime Stone

Heat Sensitive Paper

Peshawar

PSH

33°93.7'

71°43.4'

456

Jan-1976

Metamorphic Rock

Heat Sensitive Paper

Saidpur (Islamabad)

SAD

33°74.2'

73°06.3'

838

Oct-1988

Loose Gravel

Ink Pen

Lahore

LAH

31°55.0'

74°33.3'

210

Jan-1952

Alluvium

Ink Pen

Karachi

KAR

24°93.8'

67°14.3'

34

Jan-1966

Alluvium

Ink Pen

Khuzdar

---

27°08.0'

66°06.0'

1225.5

---

Alluvium

Ink Pen

Quetta and Peshawar have world wide instruments. Recording is analog and time is in GMT. Seismological Bulletin is being prepared which includes diffrent phases, epicentre, magnitude, Focal depth, epicentral distance,origin time, intensity and location of region. Detection of underground Nuclear Explosion is also being carried out. A press release is also issued soon after the occurance of felt Earthquakes and other reportable earthquakes. Seismic data is provided to the Constructors/builders etc and students of Universities for research purposes.

TOP


 

GEOMAGNETISM

 

Geomagnetic network consists of Geomagnetic Observatories at Geophysical Centre Quetta and Gilgit, which were established in 1953 and 1964 respectively to cater geomagnetic data requirements.
 
 
 

Location

Geophysical Co-ordinates

Geomagnetic Co-ordinates

Altitude
(meters)

Instruments for continuous recording

Absolute Instruments

Lat °N

Lon °E

Lat °N

Lon °E

Quetta

30°11.2'

66°57.0'

21°36'

139°42'

1737

Ruska Variograph

i. Quartz Horizontal Magnetometer.
ii. Balance Zero Magnetometer.
iii. Unimagproton Megnetometer

Gilgit

35°55.6'

74°17.8'

260°12'

147°30'

1494

Askania Gv-3 Variograph

i. Quartz Horizontal Magnetometer.
ii. Balance Zero Magnetometer.

Geomagnetic data:- Geomagnetic data prepared on monthly / quartrly / Annual basis is being supplied to World Data Centres at USA, Russian Fedration, UK, Denmark & Japan. Data is also being Supplied to National and international agencies on exchage basis.

TOP


 

ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS STATION

 

 

 

Ozone:-
It consists of one ozone layer monitoring Station Quetta  at Geophysical Center Quetta (Station # 11). Dobson Spectrophotometer No.43 & 100 are used for continuous observations. Bi-monthly data after compiliation is beeing supplied 'WODC' Atmospheric environmental Services Canada. 

Solar Radiation:-
Solar Radiation observatories network is also established, which is as followed:-

Station

Latitude °N

Longitude °E

Elevation (meters)

Established

Type of Instrument

Islamabad

33°43'

73°06'

547

1985

Cambridge Recorder

Lahore

31°33'

74°20'

214

1967

Cambridge Recorder

Karachi

24°54'

67°08'

22

1957

Cambridge Recorder

Multan

30°12'

71°26'

123

1957

Cambridge Recorder

Quetta

30°11'

66°57'

1721

1961

Cambridge Recorder

Solar radiation data cansists of :-

  1. Monthly total and average Solar Radiation of each Observatory.
  2. Monthly total of bright Sun Shine hours data of each Observatory.

TOP


 

HIGH RESOLUTION PICTURE TRANSMISSION (HRPT)

 

Satellite receiving Station is installed at Geophysical Centre Quetta with the help of UNDP. Opening Ceremony was held on 15th July 1998. This system consists of four compnents.

      1. Dish
      2. Satellite Receiver
      3. Preprocessor
      4. Workstation / Server

There are three Weather Satellites namely NOAA-12, NOAA-14 and NOAA-15; which are revolving in the polar orbits. The satellite completes their single orbit between 90 to 110 minutes. Different pictures received from the satellites are updated daily on the net aproximately after 12 hours, from which we can analyse the weather system approaching Pakistan. We can also analyse clouds height , temperture, rainfall & vegetation index etc.

TOP


 

GLOBAL ATMOSPHERIC WATCH (GAW)

Global Atmospheric Watch Station (GAW) was established in 1992. This is the Ist Station of its kind in South Asia. The purpose of this station is to detect the background air pollutation. There are three bifferent systems working in the system.

  1. Automatic Weather Station, which give us at the spot information about all weather parameters.
  2. Ozone analyser is used to check the ozone value at the surface of the station.
  3. Aethalometer is used to check the carbon soots in the atmosphere.

TOP