scevent

Associate an Origin to an Event or form a new Event if no match is found. Select the preferred origin, magnitude and focal mechanism.

Description

As a consequence of a real-time system the SeisComP modules creates several origins (results of localization processes) for one earthquake or other seismic events because as time goes by more seismic phases are available. scevent receives these origins and associates the origins to events. It is also possible to import and associate origins from other agencies.

The main tasks of scevent are:

• Create new events or associate origins to existing events.

• Set the ID of events.

• Set the preferred origin from all available origins.

• Set the preferred magnitude from all available magnitudes.

• Set the preferred focal mechanism from all available focal mechanisms.

• Optional: Set the event type of automatic origins by plugins:

  • evrc: Type based on hypocenter,

  • evtype: Type based on comments added to picks, e.g., by scautopick.

Origin Association

scevent associates origins to event objects by searching for the best match of the new (incoming) origin to other origins for existing events:

• Create new SeisComP events for origins which cannot be associated to an existing event object and associate the origin to this new event.

• Associate origins to existing event objects: Origins belonging to the same seismic event shall be associated to the same event object.

Origins can be filtered/ignored based on

• ID of agency which has created the origin: processing.blacklist.agencies, processing.whitelist.agencies (global parameters),

• Hypocenter parameters: eventAssociation.region.rect, eventAssociation.region.minDepth, eventAssociation.region.maxDepth.

Origin match

The new origin is matched to existing origins by comparing differences in epicenter, origin time, and arrivals (associated picks). The new origin is matched to an existing origin which has the highest rank in the following three groups (1, 2, 3):

1. Location and Time (lowest)

   The difference in horizontal location is less than eventAssociation.maximumDistance (degrees) and the difference in origin times is less than eventAssociation.maximumTimeSpan.

2. Picks

   The two origins have more than eventAssociation.minimumMatchingArrivals matching picks. Picks are matched either by ID or by time depending on eventAssociation.maximumMatchingArrivalTimeDiff.

3. Picks and Location and Time (highest)

   This is the best match, for which both the location-and-time and picks criteria above are satisfied.

If more than one origin is found in the highest ranking class, then the first one of them is chosen.

Note

For efficiency events in the cache are scanned first and if no matches are found, the database is scanned for the time window eventAssociation.eventTimeBefore - eventAssociation.eventTimeAfter around the incoming Origin time. The cached events are ordered by eventID and thus in time.

No origin match

If no event with an origin that matches the incoming origin is found, then a new event is formed and the origin is associated to that event. The following criteria are applied to allow the creation of the new event:

• The agency for the origin is not black listed (processing.blacklist.agencies).

• The origin is automatic and it has more than eventAssociation.minimumDefiningPhases arrivals (associated picks).

Association of an origin to an event by matching picks.

Preferred Origin

The preferred origin is set by ranking of all associated origins. The ranking is controlled by eventAssociation.priorities and related configuration parameters.

Preferred Magnitude

The preferred magnitude is set by ranking of the summary magnitude and all network magnitudes of the preferred origin. The ranking is mainly controlled by eventAssociation.magTypes and eventAssociation.minimumMagnitudes and related configuration parameters.

Magnitudes where the evaluation mode is ‘rejected’ are ignored.

Preferred Focal Mechanism

The most recent manual focal mechanism or, if no manual ones are unavailable, the most recent automatic focal mechnisms becomes preferred.

ID of Events

The ID of an event or eventID uniquely identifies an event. The ID is derived from the time of occurrence of the event within a year. As configured by eventIDPattern it typically consists of a prefix configured by eventIDPrefix and a string containing the year and a set of characters or numbers defining the time.

Distributed Event ID Allocation

When several scevent instances process origins in parallel, each instance independently sees origins arriving from its processing pipeline and would, without coordination, pick its own event ID for the same earthquake. Event IDs are derived from origin times with finite resolution of time slots. The length and the number of available time slots are defined by eventIDPattern and eventIDLookupMargin. Due to differences in configuration but also in seismicity, two scevent instances starting from the same origin time can quickly diverge to different event IDs which shall be avoided by distributed allocation of event IDs.

This concept affects two kinds of SeisComP system deployments:

• Redundant systems: Two or more instances run the same configuration for high availability, and must agree on one event ID so that a failover is transparent to downstream consumers.

• Distributed systems: Instances run different configurations with different detection goals or focus (for example a global network alongside a dense regional network, or a fast automatic system alongside a more thorough one). The systems observe

  • the same earthquakes but with slightly different origin parameters due to their differences in configuration. Both systems should still assign a single, globally unique event ID to that earthquake rather than minting a separate ID on each system.

  • different earthquakes within the same time slot. Mutually unique IDs shall be given by the systems.

To achieve this, one instance is designated the main instance and the others act as secondary instances. Each secondary instance asks the main instance, over the REST API, which event ID to use for a new origin; the main instance either returns the ID of an event it has already formed or reserves a fresh ID and keeps it cached for a configurable amount of time. The main instance does not create an event for an incoming secondary-instance request — it only reserves the ID. When the main instance’s own processing later sees a matching local origin, it picks up the cached ID and creates its event with that same ID. The two instances therefore converge on the same event ID without any explicit coordination between their messaging buses.

Two scevent instances synchronizing event IDs. The secondary instance posts each incoming origin to the main instance’s /api/1/try-to-associate?allocate endpoint and uses the returned event ID for its local event creation.

If the main instance cannot be reached, or does not respond in time, the secondary instance falls back to local event ID allocation. This preserves availability at the cost of a possible (and recoverable) ID divergence during the outage.

The behavior is controlled by the parameters in the eventIDSync group:

• eventIDSync.main — URL of the main instance’s REST API. Leave empty on the main instance (or on a standalone instance); set on each secondary instance.

• eventIDSync.mainTimeout — how long a secondary instance waits for the main instance’s response before falling back to local allocation (default: 5 s).

• eventIDSync.cacheRetention — how long the main instance keeps a reserved ID and the associated foreign origin in its in-memory cache so that a matching local origin can reuse it (default: 1800 s).

• eventIDSync.db — optional path to an SQLite database file. When set, the main instance persists every reserved event ID (together with the origin time, origin public ID and the origin/picks as SCML) so that reservations survive a restart and can cover a much larger set than the in-memory cache. Leave empty to keep the in-memory-only behavior.

• eventIDSync.databaseRetention — how long persisted reservations are kept, by origin time. A negative value (the default) keeps them indefinitely; a positive value should be at least as large as eventIDSync.cacheRetention.

When eventIDSync.db is set, a try-to-associate request that does not match an in-memory reservation additionally consults the database. The lookup first tries a direct match on the incoming origin’s public ID (a fast path that immediately reuses the stored event ID), and otherwise loads all stored origins whose time lies between eventAssociation.eventTimeBefore before and eventAssociation.eventTimeAfter after the incoming origin time and compares them by epicenter and shared picks — the same strategy scevent uses against the SeisComP database.

The matching criteria used to decide whether a local origin “is” the same earthquake as a cached foreign origin are the same as those used for ordinary event association: origin time difference within eventAssociation.maximumTimeSpan, epicenter distance within eventAssociation.maximumDistance and, if pick information is available on both sides, at least eventAssociation.minimumMatchingArrivals matching picks.

Roles and configuration

Role	Configuration
Standalone	eventIDSync.main empty, restAPI unset. Local ID allocation only. This is the historical behavior and the default.
Main	eventIDSync.main empty, restAPI set. Allocates IDs locally and additionally serves /api/1/try-to-associate?allocate and /api/1/allocate requests from secondary instances. Read also section REST API.
Secondary	eventIDSync.main set to the main instance’s REST URL. Queries the main instance for each new event and falls back to local allocation on failure. Read also section REST API.

Example deployment

For a two-host redundant deployment with hosts host-a (running the main instance) and host-b (running a secondary instance):

On the main instance:

# /etc/seiscomp/scevent.cfg on 'host-a'
restAPI = 18182
eventIDSync.cacheRetention = 1800

On the secondary instance:

# /etc/seiscomp/scevent.cfg on 'host-b'
eventIDSync.main = http://host-a:18182
eventIDSync.mainTimeout = 5

At startup each instance logs its role; for example, the secondary instance prints:

eventID synchronization: secondary mode, main=http://host-a:18182, main timeout=5s

and the main instance prints:

eventID synchronization: main mode (allocations cached for 1800s)

Journals

scevent can be commanded by journals to do a certain action. Journal entries are being received via the messaging bus to any of the subscribed groups. A journal entry contains an action, a subject (a publicID of an object) and optional parameters. Journals can be interactively sent to the messaging by scsendjournal.

If scevent has handled an action, it will send a reply journal entry with an action formed from the origin action name plus OK or Failed. The parameters of the journal entry contain a possible reason.

The following actions are supported by scevent:

EvGrabOrg(objectID, parameters)

Grabs an origin and associates it to the given event. If the origin is already associated with another event then its reference to this event will be removed.

Parameters:

• objectID – The ID of an existing event

• parameters – The ID of the origin to be grabbed

EvMerge(objectID, parameters)

Merges an event (source) into another event (target). After successful completion the source event will be deleted.

Parameters:

• objectID – The ID of an existing event (target)

• parameters – The ID of an existing event (source)

EvName(objectID, parameters)

Adds or updates the event description with type “earthquake name”.

Parameters:

• objectID – The ID of an existing event

• parameters – An event name

EvFeltReport(objectID, parameters)

Adds or updates the event description with type “felt report”.

Parameters:

• objectID – The ID of an existing event

• parameters – A felt report

EvNewEvent(objectID, parameters)

Creates a new event based on a given origin. The origin must not yet be associated with another event.

On a secondary instance (eventIDSync.main set) the event ID for the new event is obtained from the main instance through its /api/1/allocate endpoint, so that main and secondary instances stay synchronized; on failure the secondary falls back to local allocation.

Parameters:

• objectID – The origin publicID of the origin which will be used to create the new event.

• parameters – Unused

EvOpComment(objectID, parameters)

Adds or updates the event comment text with id “Operator”.

Parameters:

• objectID – The ID of an existing event

• parameters – The comment text

EvPrefFocMecID(objectID, parameters)

Sets the preferred focal mechanism ID of an event. If a focal mechanism ID is passed then it will be fixed as preferred solution for this event and any subsequent focal mechanism associations will not cause a change of the preferred focal mechanism.

If an empty focal mechanism ID is passed then this is considered as “unfix” and scevent will switch back to automatic preferred selection mode.

Parameters:

• objectID – The ID of an existing event

• parameters – The focal mechanism ID which will become preferred or empty.

EvPrefMagType(objectID, parameters)

Set the preferred magnitude of the event matching the requested magnitude type.

Parameters:

• objectID – The ID of an existing event

• parameters – The desired preferred magnitude type

EvPrefMw(objectID, parameters)

Sets the moment magnitude (Mw) of the preferred focal mechanism as preferred magnitude of the event.

Parameters:

• objectID – The ID of an existing event

• parameters – Boolean flag, either “true” or “false”

EvPrefOrgAutomatic(objectID, parameters)

Releases the fixed origin constraint. This call is equal to EvPrefOrgID(eventID, '').

Parameters:

• objectID – The ID of an existing event

• parameters – Unused

EvPrefOrgEvalMode(objectID, parameters)

Sets the preferred origin based on an evaluation mode. The configured priorities are still valid. If an empty evaluation mode is passed then scevent releases this constraint.

Parameters:

• objectID – The ID of an existing event

• parameters – The evaluation mode (“automatic”, “manual”) or empty

EvPrefOrgID(objectID, parameters)

Sets the preferred origin ID of an event. If an origin ID is passed then it will be fixed as preferred solution for this event and any subsequent origin associations will not cause a change of the preferred origin.

If an empty origin ID is passed then this is considered as “unfix” and scevent will switch back to automatic preferred selection mode.

Parameters:

• objectID – The ID of an existing event

• parameters – The origin ID which will become preferred or empty.

EvRefresh(objectID, parameters)

Refreshes the event information. This operation can be useful if the configured fep region files have changed on disc and scevent should update the region information. Changed plugin parameters can be another reason to refresh the event status.

Parameters:

• objectID – The ID of an existing event

• parameters – Unused

EvSplitOrg(objectID, parameters)

Remove an origin reference from an event and create a new event for this origin.

On a secondary instance (eventIDSync.main set) the event ID for the new event is obtained from the main instance through its /api/1/allocate endpoint, so that main and secondary instances stay synchronized; on failure the secondary falls back to local allocation.

Parameters:

• objectID – The ID of an existing event holding a reference to the given origin ID.

• parameters – The ID of the origin to be split

EvType(objectID, parameters)

Sets the event type to the passed value.

Parameters:

• objectID – The ID of an existing event

• parameters – The event type

EvTypeCertainty(objectID, parameters)

Sets the event type certainty to the passed value.

Parameters:

• objectID – The ID of an existing event

• parameters – The event type certainty

REST API

For generating unique event IDs across multiple SeisComP systems (read section Distributed Event ID Allocation) scevent provides a HTTP REST API which may be enabled by defining a bind address under restAPI. The available endpoints are listed below.

try-to-associate

Query the ID of the event a provided origin can be associated to. An event ID is returned if a matching event is found. By default no event is ever created and no event ID is allocated. When the optional query parameter allocate is given and no existing event matches the supplied origin, the receiving scevent instance reserves a new event ID on behalf of the caller; this mode is used internally by secondary instances to obtain an event ID from a main instance.

Request/Response	Description
Location	/api/1/try-to-associate (lookup only) or /api/1/try-to-associate?allocate (lookup and reserve if no match)
HTTP Methods	POST
Request data	SCML containing an EventParameters element with one and only one Origin. Pick objects associated with the origin’s arrivals may be included so that the receiver can match by pick IDs in addition to time and location.
Request header	Content-Type: text/xml (no subtype allowed)
Response data	Event ID string
Response code	200 (matching event found or new event ID reserved in allocate mode), 204 (no matching event found and no reservation made), 400 (invalid input)

The following example demonstrates how to query the event ID for an origin defined in origin.xml using the command-line program curl. The request header Content-Type must be specified. It is assumed that scevent is configured with restAPI = 18182.

curl -v -X POST http://localhost:18182/api/1/try-to-associate -H "Content-Type: text/xml" -d @origin.xml

To additionally let the receiver reserve a new event ID when no existing event matches the supplied origin, append the allocate query parameter:

curl -v -X POST "http://localhost:18182/api/1/try-to-associate?allocate" -H "Content-Type: text/xml" -d @origin.xml

In allocate mode the reserved ID is cached together with the supplied origin for eventIDSync.cacheRetention seconds (and, if eventIDSync.db is set, also stored in the persistent database for eventIDSync.databaseRetention seconds, or indefinitely when that is negative). A local origin processed by the receiving instance which matches the cached or stored foreign origin (same time, distance and optionally matching pick IDs) will then reuse the reserved ID instead of allocating a new one, ensuring that the main instance and the secondary instance converge on the same event ID for the same earthquake.

allocate

Reserve a brand-new, distinct event ID for a provided origin. Unlike try-to-associate, this endpoint never matches the origin against existing events: it always allocates and reserves a fresh event ID, even when the origin would match an event that already exists. It is used internally by a secondary instance when it must form a separate event for an origin that is already associated elsewhere — the EvSplitOrg() (split an origin into its own event) and EvNewEvent() (force a new event) journal commands. In those cases querying try-to-associate would return the ID of the very event the origin already belongs to, which is not what a split or forced new event needs.

Request/Response	Description
Location	/api/1/allocate
HTTP Methods	POST
Request data	SCML containing an EventParameters element with one and only one Origin. Pick objects associated with the origin’s arrivals may be included so that the receiver can match by pick IDs in addition to time and location.
Request header	Content-Type: text/xml (no subtype allowed)
Response data	Event ID string
Response code	200 (new event ID reserved), 204 (no event ID could be allocated), 400 (invalid input)

The following example reserves a new event ID for an origin defined in origin.xml. It is assumed that scevent is configured with restAPI = 18182.

curl -v -X POST http://localhost:18182/api/1/allocate -H "Content-Type: text/xml" -d @origin.xml

The reserved ID is cached (and, if eventIDSync.db is set, persisted) exactly as in the allocate mode of try-to-associate, so a repeated request for the same origin returns the same reserved ID rather than allocating a second one.

Plugins

• EventType

  evtype plugin for scevent

• RegionCheck

  evrc plugin for scevent

Module Configuration

etc/defaults/global.cfg

etc/defaults/scevent.cfg

etc/global.cfg

etc/scevent.cfg

~/.seiscomp/global.cfg

~/.seiscomp/scevent.cfg

scevent inherits global options.

eventIDPrefix

Type: string

Prefix for all Event IDs

eventIDPattern

Default: %p%Y%04c

Type: string

Defines the pattern to generate an event ID.

%p : prefix

%Y : year

%[w]c: alpha character

%[w]C: upper case alpha character

%[w]d: decimal

%[w]x: hexadecimal

%[w]X: upper case hexadecimal

[w] is an optional width parameter.

The time of the event within one year is roughly encoded by the combination of characters or the decimal or hexadecimal value. The year (%Y) must therefore not be dropped from the pattern.

The number of possible event IDs, hence SeisComP events, during one calender year equals the number of possible combinations of [w] characters or the largest number with [w] decimal or hexadecimal places. The length of one time slot for one event ID is determined as:

Length = (1 year) / (number of time slots)

If multiple events occur within one time slot, the next available ID is consumed.

eventIDLookupMargin

Default: -1

Type: int

Configures the number of event ID slots to look back and forth when an event ID is already taken. The default in previous versions was 5. Now -1 means that the margin is determined automatically based on "eventAssociation.eventTimeBefore" and "eventAssociation.eventTimeAfter". According to the configured "eventIDPattern" a fixed time range per slot can be computed and with that width the number of look ahead slots and look back slots can be computed based on the given time ranges for event association.

populateFERegion

Default: false

Type: boolean

If enabled, then the EventDescription with type ‘Flinn-Engdahl region’ will be populated with the Flinn-Engdahl region name. The EventDescription with type ‘region name’ will only be populated with a custom region name if one exists. If the latter does not exist, an existing EventDescription with type ‘region name’ will be removed.

restAPI

Type: host-with-port

Defines the bind address of the REST API of form [address:]port. This API provides the endpoints /api/1/try-to-associate, which allows to query for possible event associations of origin candidates, and /api/1/allocate, which reserves a new, distinct event ID for an origin.

processing.blacklist.eventIDs

Type: list:string

Defines a list of event ID patterns to be blocked. The items of this list are only matched against %c, %C, %d, %x and %X of the eventIDPattern description. Year (%Y) and prefix (%p) are not matched. The match is case-sensitive, so ‘abcd’ would only by blocked in combination with %c. If %C is used, ‘ABCD’ is matched.

Note

eventAssociation.* Criteria defining if Origins are associated to an event and which Origins and magnitudes become preferred.

eventAssociation.minimumDefiningPhases

Default: 10

Type: int

Minimum number of Picks for an Origin that is automatic and cannot be associated with an Event to be allowed to form an new Event.

eventAssociation.minimumScore

Type: double

Minimum score of an automatic Origin to be allowed to form an new Event. This requires an activated score plugin and a score processor. Configure "score" for defining the score processor and the score processor parameters. If minimumScore is defined, "minimumDefiningPhases" has no effect on association as this phase check will be superseded by the score check. It is the task of the score processor to evaluate a proper score for all input Origins.

eventAssociation.ignoreFMDerivedOrigins

Default: true

Type: boolean

Ignore and do not associate Origins derived from CMT/MT inversions.

eventAssociation.eventTimeBefore

Default: 1800

Type: double

Unit: s

Time range before the Origin time of an incoming Origin to search for matching events.

eventAssociation.eventTimeAfter

Default: 1800

Type: double

Unit: s

Time range after the Origin time of an incoming Origin to search for matching events.

eventAssociation.minimumMatchingArrivals

Default: 3

Type: int

Minimum number of matching picks between two Origins to be associated to the same event.

eventAssociation.maximumMatchingArrivalTimeDiff

Default: -1

Type: double

Unit: s

Negative time window: compare only pickIDs to find matching arrivals. A non negative value (including 0) compares pick times regardless of the pickID. Pass: |pick1.time - pick2.time| <= threshold

eventAssociation.compareAllArrivalTimes

Default: true

Type: boolean

This parameter is only used in conjunction with "eventAssociation.maximumMatchingArrivalTimeDiff". If a station has multiple associated arrivals for a particular event, this flag defines if the time distance of a new pick to all arrivals must be within "eventAssociation.maximumMatchingArrivalTimeDiff" or if one matching arrival is enough.

eventAssociation.allowLooseAssociatedArrivals

Default: false

Type: boolean

Allows to match picks that are associated with weight 0.

eventAssociation.maximumTimeSpan

Default: 60

Type: double

Unit: s

Associates an Origin with an existing event if the Origin time differs not more than 60 seconds unless "eventAssociation.minimumMatchingArrivals" matches.

eventAssociation.maximumDistance

Default: 5

Type: double

Unit: degrees

Allowed location difference between an incoming Origin compared with preferred Origins to get associated.

eventAssociation.magTypes

Default: M

Type: list:string

List of magnitude types considered for computing priorities in order to declare the preferred magnitude of an event. Magnitudes not listed have a priority of 0 and are ranked by station count only.

Magnitudes must meet "eventAssociation.minimumMagnitudes" and "eventAssociation.minMwCount" unless "eventAssociation.enableFallbackMagnitude" is true. If listed, Mw-/Mw()-type magnitudes are preferred over all others. Next, the magnitude type with the largest station count wins (default) unless "eventAssociation.magPriorityOverStationCount" is true. If the station count is equal, priority is highest for the magnitude earliest in the list.

If "eventAssociation.magPriorityOverStationCount" is true, highest priority is first given to magnitude types earliest in the list before testing the station count.

Example:

M, mBc, Mw(mB), Mwp, ML, MLv, mb

eventAssociation.minimumMagnitudes

Default: 4

Type: int

Minimum number of station magnitudes required for considering non-Mw or non-Mw() magnitudes, as preferred magnitude.

Also consider "eventAssociation.enableFallbackMagnitude".

eventAssociation.minMwCount

Default: 8

Type: int

Minimum number of station magnitudes required for considering Mw or any derived moment magnitude, Mw(), as preferred magnitude. The moment magnitudes must also meet "eventAssociation.minimumMagnitudes".

Also consider "eventAssociation.enableFallbackMagnitude".

eventAssociation.enableFallbackMagnitude

Default: false

Type: boolean

If true, one magnitude will be preferred even if magnitude criteria ("eventAssociation.minimumMagnitudes", "eventAssociation.minMwCount") are not fulfilled by any magnitude.

eventAssociation.mbOverMwCount

Default: 30

Type: int

Minimum number of station magnitudes which ensures that Mw(mB) will be preferred and not mb.

eventAssociation.mbOverMwValue

Default: 6

Type: double

Average between mb and Mw(mB) which must be exceeded to become Mw(mB) preferred.

eventAssociation.magPriorityOverStationCount

Default: false

Type: boolean

If false, then the station count rules out the magnitude priority which is only taken into account if two magnitudes have the same station count.

If true, then the priority rules out the station count which is only taken into account if two magnitudes have the same priority.

eventAssociation.priorities

Default: AGENCY,STATUS,PHASES_AUTOMATIC,TIME_AUTOMATIC

Type: list:string

Values: '',AGENCY,AUTHOR,MODE,PHASES,PHASES_AUTOMATIC,RMS,RMS_AUTOMATIC,SCORE,STATUS,TIME,TIME_AUTOMATIC

The general priority list to decide if new Origins become preferred.

Tokens are processed in the given order. Each token in the list corresponds to a check that is performed. Each check computes a score of the incoming Origin (s1) and the currently preferred Origin (s2). The origin with the higher score becomes preferred for the event. If s1 equals s2, the next check in the list is performed. Once a check prefers an origin, all subsequent checks are ignored.

Available tokens (checks):

* AGENCY: check based on agency priorities

* AUTHOR: check based on author priorities

* MODE: priority from evaluation mode. Priority values are

0 : unset

1 : automatic

2 : manual, manual over-rules automatic

* STATUS: priority combined from evaluation status and evaluation mode. Priority values are

-100 : status is rejected

-1 : status is reported

0 : status is preliminary or status is unset and mode is automatic

1 : status is confirmed or status is unset and mode is manual

2 : status is reviewed

3 : status is final

* METHOD: priority based on the methods defined in "eventAssociation.methods"

* PHASES: higher phase count = higher priority

* PHASES_AUTOMATIC: only checks phase priorities for incoming automatic Origins. Higher phase count = higher priority.

* RMS: lower RMS = higher priority.

* RMS_AUTOMATIC: only check RMS on incoming automatic Origins. Lower RMS = higher priority.

* TIME: more recent Origins (creationTime) have higher priorities.

* TIME_AUTOMATIC: only check creationTime of incoming automatic Origins. More recent Origins (creationTime) have higher priorities.

* SCORE: priority based on the score according to a configured ScoreProcessor and prefers the Origin/FocalMechanism with the highest score.

Empty priority list replicates the hard-wired default behavior: AGENCY,STATUS,PHASES_AUTOMATIC,TIME_AUTOMATIC

eventAssociation.agencies

Type: list:string

The priority list of agency IDs. When scevent comes to the point to select a preferred Origin based on AGENCY it orders all Origins by its agency priority selecting the best one among the highest priority agency. It also defines the agency priority for custom priority checks.

The parameter is only considered when AGENCY is used in "eventAssociation.priorities".

eventAssociation.authors

Type: list:string

The author priority list. When scevent comes to the point to select a preferred Origin based on AUTHOR it orders all Origins by its author priority and selects then the best one among the highest priority author. It also defines the author priority for custom priority checks.

The parameter is only considered when AUTHOR is used in "eventAssociation.priorities".

eventAssociation.methods

Type: list:string

The method priority list. When the scevent comes to the point to select a preferred Origin based on METHOD it orders all Origins by its methodID priority and selects then the best one among the highest priority method. It also defines the method priority for custom priority checks. A defined method string must match exactly the string in Origin.methodID.

The parameter is only considered when METHODS is used in "eventAssociation.priorities".

eventAssociation.score

Type: string

Defines the ScoreProcessor interface to be used along with priority "SCORE" when defined in "eventAssociation.priorities".

eventAssociation.enablePreferredFMSelection

Default: true

Type: boolean

Enables the selection of the preferred FocalMechanism. If set to false then only explicit commands will have effect on the preferred FocalMechanism selection, namely the EvPrefFocMecID command.

eventAssociation.declareFakeEventForRejectedOrigin

Default: false

Type: boolean

If the preferred Origin has evaluation status ‘rejected’, the Event type will be set to ‘not existing’ unless the Event type has been fixed by an operator or the preferred Origin has been fixed.

eventAssociation.delayTimeSpan

Default: 0

Type: int

Unit: s

The timespan to delay Event creation from new Origins which cannot be associated to an existing Event.

Note

eventAssociation.region.* Region filter for creating events. Use with care! Origins outside may be ignored even if they would become preferred otherwise. Empty value deactivates testing this parameter.

eventAssociation.region.rect

Type: list:double

Region by geographic coordinates. Empty value deactivates testing this parameter.

Format: "South,East,North,West"

eventAssociation.region.minDepth

Type: double

Unit: km

Minimum depth. Empty value deactivates testing this parameter.

eventAssociation.region.maxDepth

Type: double

Unit: km

Maximum depth. Empty value deactivates testing this parameter.

Note

eventAssociation.delayFilter.* Configure an Origin filter to delay Origin for being processed. If more than one filter is given they are combined with AND. The application requires eventAssociation.delayTimeSpan > 0.

eventAssociation.delayFilter.agencyID

Type: string

The agency ID of the Origin to be delayed.

eventAssociation.delayFilter.author

Type: string

The author of the Origin to be delayed.

eventAssociation.delayFilter.evaluationMode

Type: string

Values: automatic,manual

The evaluation mode of the Origin to be delayed.

Note

eventIDSync.* Parameters controlling the synchronization of event IDs between several distributed :program:`scevent` instances deployed for redundancy. One instance is designated the main instance and allocates event IDs on behalf of all the secondary instances; each secondary instance asks the main instance via its REST API before creating a new event so that all instances converge on the same ID for the same earthquake. ** When :confval:`eventIDSync.main` is empty this instance acts as a main instance (or as a standalone instance if no secondary instance ever connects). When set, it acts as a secondary instance. See :ref:`scevent-eventid-sync` in the documentation for the full mechanism, including the /api/1/try-to-associate?allocate endpoint used internally for the handshake and the /api/1/allocate endpoint used for the split-origin and forced new-event commands.

eventIDSync.main

Type: string

URL of the main instance’s REST API, for example "http://event-main.example.org:18182". Leave empty to make this instance a main instance (or a standalone instance). When set, this instance acts as a secondary instance and asks the configured main instance for an event ID before creating a new event. If the main instance cannot be reached within eventIDSync.mainTimeout seconds the secondary instance falls back to local event ID allocation.

The URL may include an explicit path; if no path is given, "/api/1/try-to-associate" is used. Both "http" and "https" schemes are supported.

eventIDSync.mainTimeout

Default: 5

Type: int

Unit: s

Maximum number of seconds a secondary instance waits for the main instance’s response before falling back to local event ID allocation. Only effective when eventIDSync.main is set. Must be greater than zero.

eventIDSync.cacheRetention

Default: 1800

Type: int

Unit: s

Number of seconds a main instance keeps a reserved event ID in its in-memory cache, together with the foreign origin that triggered the reservation. While the entry is cached, a local origin matching that foreign origin is assigned the same event ID instead of allocating a new one. After this time the entry is dropped from the cache and the event ID may be reused by subsequent allocations. Must be greater than zero.

eventIDSync.db

Type: string

Path to an SQLite database file used by a main instance to keep the event IDs it reserves on behalf of secondary instances beyond the lifetime of the in-memory cache. When empty (the default) the reservations live only in memory and are lost when scevent restarts. When set, reservations survive restarts and may cover a much larger origin/event-ID set than the in-memory cache: on a try-to-associate request the main instance looks up the incoming origin both by its public ID (fast path) and by a windowed epicenter/shared-pick comparison over all stored origins around the incoming origin time (bounded by eventAssociation.eventTimeBefore and eventAssociation.eventTimeAfter), mirroring the strategy used against the SeisComP database. Only relevant in main mode (eventIDSync.main empty).

eventIDSync.databaseRetention

Default: -1

Type: int

Unit: s

Number of seconds a reserved event ID is kept in the persistent database given by eventIDSync.db, measured by origin time. Should be at least as large as eventIDSync.cacheRetention; a larger value lets the main instance keep answering secondary-instance requests for older origins after a restart. Rows older than this are pruned at startup and periodically at runtime. A negative value (the default) disables pruning, keeping reservations indefinitely.

EventType extension

evtype plugin for scevent

Note

eventType.* Set the event type based on type comments of picks. Add the plugin “evtype” to the list of plugins in the order of priority to make this feature available.

eventType.setEventType

Default: false

Type: boolean

Allow setting the event type. The type of events which have manual origins will not be changed unless configured explicitely by "overwriteManual".

eventType.overwriteEventType

Default: true

Type: boolean

Allow overwriting existing event types set by other modules.

eventType.overwriteManual

Default: false

Type: boolean

Allow setting the event type if the mode of the preferred origin is manual or if the event type was set manually.

eventType.pickCommentIDs

Default: scrttv:eventTypeHint,deepc:eventTypeHint

Type: list:string

Consider comments of picks which have one of the given values. An empty list disables setting the type.

RegionCheck extension

evrc plugin for scevent

Note

rc.* Test if events lie within or outside geographic regions defined by polygons. Events within a region are flagged as positive, outside as negative. The event type is set accordingly. Add the plugin “evrc” to the plugins parameter in the order of priority to make this feature available. Read the documentation of the RegionCheck for more details.

rc.setEventType

Default: true

Type: boolean

Allow setting the event type. The type of events which have manual origins will not be changed unless configured explicitely by "overwriteManual".

rc.overwriteEventType

Default: true

Type: boolean

Allow overwriting existing event types. Disabling does not allow accounting for changes in source region.

rc.overwriteManual

Default: false

Type: boolean

Allow setting the event type if the mode of the preferred origin is manual or if the event type was set manually.

rc.regions

Default: !reject

Type: list:string

The list of closed polygon names defining regions for flagging event as positive or negative. A polygon name defines a positive region but names with prefix ! (exclamation mark) define negative regions. Evaluation is done in the order of the polygons. The last matching criteria applies and the event type is set accordingly.

Default: If events are not positive or are negative regions the event type is set to "outside of network interest". Default: "!reject", use "accecpt" to overwrite the default.

Examples:

Events are flagged positive within the polygon "germany":

germany

All events are flagged positive but events within the polygon "quarries" are negative:

accept,!quarries

Events within the polygon "germany" are flagged positive but all other events and events within the polygon "quarries" are negaitve:

germany,!quarries

All events are flagged positive but events within the polygon "germany" are negative and all events within the polygon "saxony" are positive:

accept,!germany,saxony

rc.readEventTypeFromBNA

Default: false

Type: boolean

Consider the event type, minDepth and maxDepth values from the polygons defined by GeoJSON or BNA files. Read the documentation of the RegionCheck plugin for the details.

When eventType is defined in the polygons, the value supersedes values of ‘eventTypePositive’ and ‘eventTypeNegative’. If not set, ‘eventTypePositive’ and ‘eventTypeNegative’ are considered.

rc.eventTypePositive

Type: string

New type of an event which is flagged positive. Ignored if ‘readEventTypeFromBNA’ is active and the polygons define eventType.

Empty: Do not set type.

rc.eventTypeNegative

Default: "outside of network interest"

Type: string

New type of an event which is flagged negative. Ignored if ‘readEventTypeFromBNA’ is active and the polygons define eventType.

Empty means default: "outside of network interest"

Command-Line Options

Generic

-h, --help

Show help message.

-V, --version

Show version information.

--config-file file

The alternative module configuration file. When this option is used, the module configuration is only read from the given file and no other configuration stage is considered. Therefore, all configuration including the definition of plugins must be contained in that file or given along with other command-line options such as --plugins.

--plugins arg

Load given plugins.

-D, --daemon

Run as daemon. This means the application will fork itself and doesn’t need to be started with &.

--auto-shutdown arg

Enable/disable self-shutdown because a master module shutdown. This only works when messaging is enabled and the master module sends a shutdown message (enabled with --start-stop-msg for the master module).

--shutdown-master-module arg

Set the name of the master-module used for auto-shutdown. This is the application name of the module actually started. If symlinks are used, then it is the name of the symlinked application.

--shutdown-master-username arg

Set the name of the master-username of the messaging used for auto-shutdown. If "shutdown-master-module" is given as well, this parameter is ignored.

-x, --expiry time

Time span in hours after which objects expire.

-O, --origin-id publicID

Origin ID to be associated. When given no messages are sent. Only the status of the association is written to stdout.

Verbosity

--verbosity arg

Verbosity level [0..4]. 0:quiet, 1:error, 2:warning, 3:info, 4:debug.

-v, --v

Increase verbosity level (may be repeated, e.g., -vv).

-q, --quiet

Quiet mode: no logging output.

--component arg

Limit the logging to a certain component. This option can be given more than once.

-s, --syslog

Use syslog logging backend. The output usually goes to /var/lib/messages.

-l, --lockfile arg

Path to lock file.

--console arg

Send log output to stdout.

--debug

Execute in debug mode. Equivalent to --verbosity=4 --console=1 .

--log-file arg

Use alternative log file.

Messaging

-u, --user arg

Overrides configuration parameter connection.username.

-H, --host arg

Overrides configuration parameter connection.server.

-t, --timeout arg

Overrides configuration parameter connection.timeout.

-g, --primary-group arg

Overrides configuration parameter connection.primaryGroup.

-S, --subscribe-group arg

A group to subscribe to. This option can be given more than once.

--start-stop-msg arg

Default: 0

Set sending of a start and a stop message.

Database

--db-driver-list

List all supported database drivers.

-d, --database arg

The database connection string, format: service://user:pwd@host/database. "service" is the name of the database driver which can be queried with "--db-driver-list".

--config-module arg

The config module to use.

--inventory-db arg

Load the inventory from the given database or file, format: [service://]location .

--db-disable

Do not use the database at all

Input

--ep

Event parameters XML file for offline processing of all contained origins. Use ‘-’ to read from stdin.

--reprocess

Reprocess event parameters ignoring all event and journal objects in input file. Works only in combination with ‘--ep’.

--update-event-id

Update IDs of events if they already exist. Works only in combination with ‘--ep’.

--clear-cache

Send a clear cache message and quit.

--disable-info-log

Do not populate the scevent-processing-info.log file.

Output

-f, --formatted

Use formatted XML output along with ‘--ep’. Otherwise XML is unformatted.