The Southern Ontario Seismic Network

The Southern Ontario Seismic Network (SOSN) is part of the Portable Observatories for Lithospheric Analysis and Research Investigating Seismicity (POLARIS) Consortium. The SOSN is operated by the University of Western Ontario (Department of Earth Sciences) for Ontario Power Generation. It has been in operation since 1991 with the purpose of obtaining information on the seismicity and seismic hazards of a region of Southern Ontario in which a number of nuclear power stations located. Although this region is not as seismically active as other areas of Eastern Canada such as the St. Lawrence Valley, it still has experienced numerous small earthquakes in the past.

Prior to 2001 the SOSN consisted of 11 three-component short period stations operated mainly in the Toronto, Hamilton, Niagara peninsula area of Southern Ontario. The first four stations (WLVO, ACTO, TYNO, and STCO) were installed late in 1991. The next two stations BRCO and PKRO were added in 1996 to improve coverage of ground motion within 20 km of the Bruce and Pickering nuclear power stations. Four remote dial-up stations (RD01, RD02, RD03, and RD04) were added in 1999 to obtain more information on the nature of the cluster of earthquakes in the TYNO-Hamilton-Burlington area. Station (LDN) of the former UWO network was also upgraded that year and added to the SOSN. In 2001 all of the SOSN stations were incorporated into the new Canadian nation wide POLARIS network. The instrumentation at the six stations (BRCO, WLVO, PKRO, ACTO, TYNO, and STCO) was upgraded from three component short period systems to three component broad band systems. The phone lines to these stations were replaced with a satellite communication system with a central hub at the University of Western Ontario. Fourteen additional POLARIS stations (ELGO, HGVO, PTCO, LINO, PECO, DELO, BANO, MPPO, CLPO, PEMO, ALGO, KLBO, CLWO, and TOBO) were also completed and added to the network in 2002 and 2003. When completed POLARIS will have thirty satellite stations in southern Ontario in addition to the four remote dial up stations and LDN. The stations of the SOSN are also being augmented with 2 Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) stations (EFO in the Niagara Peninsula and SADO on the Canadian Shield east of Georgian Bay).

Local Seismic Activity

• A seismicity map of Southern Ontario.
• A list of the events recorded in Southern Ontario (with waveform plots).
• Historical seismicity maps of Southern Ontario.
• Interesting or major teleseismic events recorded by the SOSN (with waveform plots).

Current Seismic Activity

• A short list of recent events recorded by the SOSN.
• The Canadian National Seismograph Network operated by the Geological Survey of Canada has
  • A web site with maps and waveforms of recent Canadian events.
• The National Earthquake Information Service (NEIS) of the U.S. Geological Survey has
  • A web site with maps of recent world events.
• A complete list of sources for seismic data and seismic research information can be found in the document called Surfing the Internet for Earthquake Data by Steve Malone.

More Information About the SOSN

All inquires, comments, and suggestions can be directed to:

R.F. Mereu <r.mereu at uwo.ca>
Bernie Dunn <bdunn at uwo.ca>

Fri Jan 16 11:37:02 EST 2009