Seismology Down Under - Developing Engineering Ground-Motion Databases in Regions of Low Seismicity and Sparse Monitoring Networks

<div>Australia is a continent that is characterised by low seismicity and low seismic hazard relative to many other regions globally.&nbsp;Because of the continent’s perceived low seismic hazard, together with its large expanses and low population exposure, permanent seismic monitoring networks are very sparse.&nbsp;This means that when moderate-to-large magnitude earthquakes occur, they are poorly recorded within distances of engineering significance. Nevertheless, the continent has experienced several moderate-to-large magnitude earthquakes that have been well recorded by modern digital seismic networks and temporary arrays.&nbsp;</div><div>This paper describes the compilation of a digital strong- and weak-motion dataset recorded from earthquakes that have occurred in the Australian continental crust. Data are extracted from continuous waveforms recorded by the Australian National Seismograph Network (ANSN), from temporary aftershock deployments, and both private and university networks.&nbsp;Considerable effort has been placed on recovering as much legacy data from significant earthquakes and aftershock sequences as possible.&nbsp;This has led to challenges associated with data recorded using inconsistent formats and sampling rates.&nbsp;Furthermore, accurate station metadata over time remains a key challenge.&nbsp;Where possible, metadata errors have been systematically identified and corrected.</div><div>The high-quality data acquired from recent Australian earthquakes now have significant utility to enable more informed choices for the use of ground-motion models for future hazard assessments and will support future empirical and simulated ground-motion studies for the nation, and other stable continental regions more broadly. Underpinning this is the need for a database of uniformly-processed ground motion records from Australian earthquakes coupled with site characterisation information through which recorded data may be referenced and assessed. Presented at the 2024 18th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Milan, Italy