Automated, Near Real-Time Ground-Motion Processing at the U.S. Geological Survey

Abstract

We describe automated ground-motion processing software named gmprocess that has been developed at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in support of near-real-time earthquake hazard products. Because of the open-source development process, this software has benefitted from the involvement and contributions of a broad community and has been used for a wider range of applications than was initially envisioned. Here, we give an overview and introduction to the software, including how it has leveraged other open-source libraries. We highlight some key features that gmprocess provides, compare response spectra calculated with the automated processing approach of gmprocess to the response spectra provided by the Next Generation Attenuation projects, and summarize projects that have utilized gmprocess. These use-cases demonstrate that this software development effort has been successfully leveraged in earthquake research activities both within and outside the USGS.