Geology Reports⌕ Search

USGS · ofr02171

User's guide to HYPOINVERSE-2000, a Fortran program to solve for earthquake locations and magnitudes

Abstract

Hypoinverse is a computer program that processes files of seismic station data for an earthquake (like p wave arrival times and seismogram amplitudes and durations) into earthquake locations and magnitudes. It is one of a long line of similar USGS programs including HYPOLAYR (Eaton, 1969), HYPO71 (Lee and Lahr, 1972), and HYPOELLIPSE (Lahr, 1980). If you are new to Hypoinverse, you may want to start by glancing at the section “SOME SIMPLE COMMAND SEQUENCES” to get a feel of some simpler sessions. This document is essentially an advanced user’s guide, and reading it sequentially will probably plow the reader into more detail than he/she needs. Every user must have a crust model, station list and phase data input files, and glancing at these sections is a good place to begin. The program has many options because it has grown over the years to meet the needs of one the largest seismic networks in the world, but small networks with just a few stations do use the program and can ignore most of the options and commands. History and availability. Hypoinverse was originally written for the Eclipse minicomputer in 1978 (Klein, 1978). A revised version for VAX and Pro-350 computers (Klein, 1985) was later expanded to include multiple crustal models and other capabilities (Klein, 1989). This current report documents the expanded Y2000 version and it supercedes the earlier documents. It serves as a detailed user's guide to the current version running on unix and VAX-alpha computers, and to the version supplied with the Earthworm earthquake digitizing system. Fortran-77 source code (Sun and VAX compatible) and copies of this documentation is available via anonymous ftp from computers in Menlo Park. At present, the computer is swave.wr.usgs.gov and the directory is /ftp/pub/outgoing/klein/hyp2000. If you are running Hypoinverse on one of the Menlo Park EHZ or NCSN unix computers, the executable currently is ~klein/hyp2000/hyp2000. New features. The Y2000 version of Hypoinverse includes all of the previous capabilities, but adds Y2000 formats to those defined earlier. In most cases, the new formats add 2 digits to the year field to accommodate the century. Other fields are sometimes rearranged or expanded to accommodate a better field order. The Y2000 formats are invoked with the “200” command. When the Y2000 flag is turned on, all files are read and written in the new format and there is no mixing of format types in a single run. Some formats without a date field, like station files, have not changed. A separate program called 2000CONV has been written to convert old formats to new. Other new features, like expanded station names, calculating amplitude magnitudes from a variety of digital seismometers, station history files, interactive earthquake processing, and locations from CUSP (Caltech USGS Seismic Processing) binary files have been added. General features. Hypoinverse will locate any number of events in an input file, which can be in one of several different formats. Any or all of printout, summary or archive output may be produced. Hypoinverse is driven by user commands. The various commands define input and output files, set adjustable parameters, and solve for locations of a file of earthquake data using the parameters and files currently set. It is both interactive and "batch" in that commands may be executed either from the keyboard or from a file. You execute the commands in a file by typing @filename at the Hypoinverse prompt. Users may either supply parameters on the command line, or omit them and are prompted interactively. The current parameter values are displayed and may be taken as defaults by pressing just the RETURN key after the prompt. This makes the program very easy to use, providing you can remember the names of the commands. Combining commands with and without their required parameters into a command file permits a variety of customized procedures such as automatic input of crustal model and station data, but prompting for a different phase file each time. All commands are 3 letters long and most require one or more parameters or file names. If they appear on a line with a command, character strings such as filenames must be enclosed in apostrophes (single quotes). Appendix 1 gives this and other free-format rules for supplying parameters, which are parsed in Fortran. When several parameters are required following a command, any of them may be omitted by replacing them with null fields (see appendix 1). A null field leaves that parameter unchanged from its current or default value. When you start HYPOINVERSE, default values are in effect for all parameters except file names. Hypoinverse is a complicated program with many features and options. Many of these "advanced" or seldom used features are documented here, but are more detailed than a typical user needs to read about when first starting with the program. I have put some of this material in smaller type so that a first time user can concentrate on the more important information.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Fred W. Klein. 2002. User's guide to HYPOINVERSE-2000, a Fortran program to solve for earthquake locations and magnitudes. https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr02171

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related USGS reports

Special Contributing Area Loading Program user’s manual

Information on the Special Contributing Area Loading Program execution and functions are presented in this user’s manual. An appendix presents a potential improvement for the user to consider. The hydrologic routing simulation method to model flow through multiple reservoirs, or sewer system components, is described. The use of Special Contributing Areas is described to run a successful simulation, which includes user input of hydrologic time series of flow components and the necessary formats. Upon completion of a successful Special Contributing Area Loading Program simulation, the program outputs hydrologic time series and a descriptive text file containing the model results for each defined sub-unit, or Special Contributing Area. The output time series contain flows through, and overflows from, the three reservoirs in the series, and the text file contains input and output path locations.

Open-File Report↗

Estimating aftershock risk for entry into earthquake-damaged buildings

We present a simple method to estimate the risk of experiencing strong shaking from aftershocks during entry into earthquake-damaged buildings. We compute wait times until the probability of strong ground shaking from aftershocks reaches a predefined risk threshold; for example, a 0.4 percent probability of experiencing Modified Mercalli Intensity 7 or greater shaking during the planned building entry. We also develop a relation between aftershock probability and the probability of strong shaking, so that users can reference the U.S. Geological Survey aftershock forecast during an ongoing aftershock sequence to determine if the risk threshold has been met. We apply our method to active continental regions (for example, the Western United States), stable continental regions (for example, the Central and Eastern United States), and subduction zones (for example, Cascadia or Alaska).

Open-File Report↗

End-user needs for remote sensing wetlands of the Prairie Pothole Region of North America

The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America comprises globally important grassland and wetland ecosystems critical for numerous populations of migratory birds. Due to the importance of this region for migratory birds, and particularly waterfowl, and the threats of habitat loss due to intensifying agriculture, there is a mature and diverse system of conservation organizations, agencies, and partnerships that spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually on habitat conservation to support migratory bird populations. Remote sensing can be a powerful tool for observing and evaluating global change at large scales as well as expanding inferences from field studies to the broader landscape with statistical models. However, development and utilization of these tools has lagged behind their demand for several reasons, including concerns over spatial and temporal resolution and accuracy of products; perception of a misalignment with decision-maker needs; technological barriers such as skill sets of conservation professionals, computing resources, data access, and usability. In this report, we summarize the needs of conservation professionals and scientists who use or want to use remote sensing data products to inform science about wetland change and conservation of wetlands in the PPR. We assembled this information through several methods leading up to, during, and following a January 2026 PPR Wetland Remote Sensing Workshop. The workshop included United States and Canadian scientists, conservation professionals, and policy experts. Our goal was to bring together end-users and remote sensing product developers jointly to explore reducing the lag between product development and utilization of products to inform science and conservation. Specifically, we aimed to identify gaps in wetland remote sensing that limit effective monitoring, management, and conservation in the PPR, and to develop a framework that outlines pathways to address these gaps by fostering collaboration, improving communication networks, encouraging discussion, and building on existing and ongoing efforts. This report summarizes our participants’ descriptions of end-user needs and the outcomes of the workshop.

Prairie Pothole region↗