Seismographs & Accelerographs

Seismologists from the SRC have been heavily involved in the development of the latest generation of seismographs and accelerographs that are manufactured in Melbourne, Australia by ESS Earth Sciences. Performance and reliability are a fundamental priority for a professional grade seismograph, but real world usability was also high on the list for the Gecko. Who better than a team of experienced field seismologists and data analysts to contribute to this aspect of instrument design?

The latest Gecko firmware can be found here.


The Gecko is supremely simple to use in the field. With its in-built display and keypad it can be completely configured without the need to connect a laptop or use a mobile device – your user interface is always there, ready to go.

Within seconds of applying power, the Gecko is recording data to the removable SD card using industry standard MiniSEED data format with continuous data storage for over a year of data. Gecko by far the easiest to use professional high dynamic range digitiser and recorder available today.

The Gecko is Australian designed and built, and is competitively priced. Download the Gecko data sheet, view the seismic product range at ESS Earth Sciences, or contact us for more information.


 

We also have waterproof versions of the Gecko with built-in sensors. The Blast is our most affordable all-in-one digital 4.5Hz velocity sensor, designed for continuous vibration and peak particle velocity (PPV) monitoring from nearby sources such as construction/demolition equipment. The Force extends sensitivity down to 2Hz for advanced blast monitoring. The SMA has the same form factor but uses internal acceleration sensors for recording strong ground motion from high shock, high amplitude sources, for example when your monitoring point is near a blast source.


 

Our professional range of digital sensors uses high sensitivity velocity and acceleration sensors, all requiring a slightly larger, but still compact, waterproof chassis. The Tremor uses a velocity sensor that can be tuned for general vibration monitoring or optimised for detecting local earthquakes (within a few hundred kilometres).

The SMA-HR uses very low noise acceleration sensors that allow you to detect low amplitude, low frequency signals, which are important for structural monitoring to clearly see the natural frequency and modal response of a building, dam, bridge, or other large structure. The SMA-HR has a maximum clip level of ±2g with 200s to 800Hz response, but for extra range the SMA-XR provides a ±10g clip level and 5s to 1600Hz response.

For regional and global earthquake monitoring research applications we have the Prism in three versions, able to detect short (10s), medium (40s) and long period (120s) signals as well as high frequencies (150Hz, 90Hz and 60Hz respectively), which is the very definition of a “broadband seismograph”.