The Canadian National Seismograph Network: Upgrade and Status

The Canadian National Seismograph Network (CNSN) operated by Natural Resources Canada consists of approximately 200 stations. Data from this network are used to produce the national earthquake catalog, to provide alerts in the aftermath of an earthquake, to develop the national seismic hazard maps, and for research within Canada and internationally. A significant upgrade to the instrumentation and infrastructure of the CNSN, which began in 2014, is nearing completion. The newly refurbished network is uniform in terms of instrumentation with the remaining single-component short-period stations converted to three-component broadband stations and consistent sampling rates across the network. Strong-motion instruments are now collocated with weak-motion instruments at many sites in all regions of Canada, and there is also a significant increase in the number of stand-alone strong-motion sites. Improvements in telecommunications were aimed at improving reliability and decreasing latency. All upgraded stations undergo a series of quality checks before the data are approved for dissemination. Data from the CNSN are freely available to the seismological community and the general public.