Seismic Station Installations and Their Impact on the Recorded Signals and Derived Quantities

Abstract The role of local geology in controlling ground motion has long been acknowledged. Consequently, increasing attention is paid to the assessment of the geophysical properties of the soils at the seismic stations, which impact the station recordings and a series of related quantities, particularly those referring to seismic hazard estimates. Not the same level of attention is commonly dedicated to the seismic station installation, to the point that it is generally believed that housings and shelters containing seismic instruments are of no interest, because they can only affect frequencies well above the engineering range of interest. Using examples from seismometric and accelerometric stations, we describe the (1) housing, (2) foundation, and (3) pillar effects on the seismic records. We propose a simple working scheme to identify the existence of potential installation-related issues and to assess the frequency fidelity range of response of a seismic station to ground motion. Our scheme is developed mostly on ambient noise recordings and, thus, surface waves. The hope is that, besides the parameters that start to be routinely introduced in the seismic archives (VS30, soil classes, etc.), the assessment of the maximum reliable frequency, under which no soil–structure interaction is expected, also becomes a mandatory information. In our experience, for some installation sites, the maximum reliable frequency can even be less than a very few hertz.