NonLinLoc Software Package Control File

Overview

The various NonLinLoc programs all use the same control file syntax and share some "generic" control statements. The control statements for all the NonLinLoc programs for a project (a study with common "generic" control statements) may be combined into one file without conflicts. The basic control file statement syntax consists of a control keyword followed by one or more parameters on a single line (except when a newline is explicitely required). KEYWORD parameter1 parameter2 ... The keyword must begin in the first column and is always in upper case. Keywords and parameters must be separated by one or more spaces or tabs. A required newline in a parameter list is indicated by [newline]. Blank lines and lines with # in the first column are ignored. Use # in the first column for comments and to "comment out" a statement. View a sample control file for the NonLinLoc programs.

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Definitions

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Statement Priority


required - must be present in control file to run the coressponding program

optional - optional in control file

repeatable - may be present multiple times in control file

ignored - may be present but is not used by program under certain conditions

Datatypes


integer decimal integer ( i.e. 0, 5, 285)

float - decimal floating point number (i.e. 1.0, 3.68, -4.5, 5.4e6)

chars - sequence of characters without spaces (i.e. NO_SAVE, abcdef, /data/bigevent.dat)

string - sequence of characters which is read until the end of line, spaces are allowed (i.e. The biggest earthquake sequence in history)

choice - selection from a fixed list of items (i.e. SAVE NO_SAVE)

Miscellaneous


default: - indicates default values for parameters when an optional control statement is not present in the control file

min: max: - indicates minimum and maximum allowed values for parameters

VERY_LARGE_DOUBLE - a large floating point value (typically 1.0e+30)

Generic Control Statements

The generic control file statements may be used by one or more of the programs in the NonLinLoc package. The statements TRANS and MAPLINE and their parameters must be the same for all programs runs for a given location project.

INCLUDE - CONTROL - TRANS - MAPLINE - MAPTRANS - MAPGRID - [Top] - [NonLinLoc Home]

INCLUDE - Include

optional, repeatable

Syntax 1: INCLUDE includeFile

Inserts text from another file at current positon in control file.

   includeFile (string) path and name of file to include

Notes:
   1. This statement is implemented only for NonLinLoc programs Vel2Grid, Grid2Time, Time2EQ and NLLoc.
   2. The included text must contain only valid NonLinLoc control statements, blank lines or comment lines, but may not have another INCLUDE statement.

CONTROL - Control

required, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: CONTROL messageFlag randomNumberSeed

Sets various general program control parameters.

   messageFlag (integer, min:0, default:1) sets the verbosity level for messages printed to the terminal ( 0 = error messages only, 1 = 0 + higher-level warning and progress messages, 2 = 1 + lower-level warning and progress messages + information messages, ...)

   randomNumberSeed (integer) integer seed value for generating random number sequences (used by program NLLoc to generate Metropolis samples and by program Time2EQ to generate noisy time picks)

TRANS - Geographic Transformation

required, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: TRANS GLOBAL

Syntax 2: TRANS SIMPLE latOrig longOrig rotAngle

Syntax 3: TRANS LAMBERT refEllipsoid latOrig longOrig firstStdParal secondStdParal rotAngle

Sets geographic to working coordinates transformation parameters. The GLOBAL option sets spherical regional/teleseismic mode, with no geographic transformation - most position values are input and used directly as latitude and longitude in degrees. The SIMPLE and LAMBERT options make transformations of geographic coordinates into a cartesian rectangular system.

   latOrig (float, min:-90.0, max:90.0) latitude in decimal degrees of the rectangular coordinates origin

   longOrig (float, min:-180.0, max:180.0) longitude in decimal degrees of the rectangular coordinates origin

   rotAngle (float, min:-360.0, max:360.0) rotation angle of geographic north in degrees clockwise relative to the rectangular coordinates system Y-axis

   refEllipsoid (choice: WGS-84 GRS-80 WGS-72 Australian Krasovsky International Hayford-1909 Clarke-1880 Clarke-1866 Airy Bessel Hayford-1830 Sphere) reference ellipsoid name

   latOrig (float, min:-90.0, max:90.0) latitude in decimal degrees of the rectangular coordinates origin

   longOrig (float, min:-180.0, max:180.0) longitude in decimal degrees of the rectangular coordinates origin

   firstStdParal secondStdParal (float, min:-90.0, max:90.0) first and second standard parallels (meridians) in decimal degrees

   rotAngle (float, min:-360.0, max:360.0) rotation angle of geographic north in degrees clockwise relative to the rectangular coordinates system Y-axis

Notes:
   1. rotAngle = 0 gives North along the positive Y-axis, rotAngle = -30 gives North along the axis 30 deg counterclockwise from the positive Y-axis of the rotated, rectangular system.
   2. The LAMBERT transformation is adapted from the source code of the GMT plotting package .
   3. The GLOBAL mode uses a "spherical earth", longitude,latitude,depth coordinate system (positive X = East, positive Y = North, positive Z = down). Longitude and latitude units are degrees, depth is in kilometers, most input/output distance quantities are expressed in geographic ( longitude,latitude,depth) coordinates, most, but not all, horizontal distances are in degrees.

MAPLINE - Geographic Maplines

optional, repeatable

Syntax 1: MAPLINE formatType name red green blue lineStyle

Specifies a file and drawing parameters for geographic line data.

   formatType (choice: GMT_LATLON GMT_LONLAT XY_LONLAT GMT_LONLATDEPTH GMT_LONLATELEV_M GMT_GRD) line file format or GMT grd file format

   name (string) full path and file name

   red green blue (float, min:0.0, max:1.0) red, green and blue intensities (0.0-1.0) (not implemented)

   lineStyle (choice: SOLID DASHED DOTTED DASHDOT) line style (not implemented)

Notes:
   1. All formats except GMT_GRD specify 2D or 3D line files. Use GMT_GRD to specify GMT grd files, these will be plotted as a background image with a green-greyscale by default. If a GMT cpt file exists with the same path and name as the GMT grd file, but ending with ".cpt", it will be used to determine the color scale.
   2. A GMT grid (GMT_GRD) cannot be used with a rotated coordinate system.

MAPTRANS - Geographic Transformation for Grid2GMT plot output

optional, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: MAPTRANS SIMPLE latOrig longOrig rotAngle

Syntax 2: MAPTRANS LAMBERT refEllipsoid latOrig longOrig firstStdParal secondStdParal rotAngle

Sets geographic to rectangular transformation parameters.

   latOrig (float, min:-90.0, max:90.0) latitude in decimal degrees of the rectangular coordinates origin

   longOrig (float, min:-180.0, max:180.0) longitude in decimal degrees of the rectangular coordinates origin

   rotAngle (float, min:-360.0, max:360.0) rotation angle of geographic north in degrees clockwise relative to the rectangular coordinates system Y-axis

   refEllipsoid (choice: WGS-84 GRS-80 WGS-72 Australian Krasovsky International Hayford-1909 Clarke-1880 Clarke-1866 Airy Bessel Hayford-1830 Sphere) reference ellipsoid name

   latOrig (float, min:-90.0, max:90.0) latitude in decimal degrees of the rectangular coordinates origin

   longOrig (float, min:-180.0, max:180.0) longitude in decimal degrees of the rectangular coordinates origin

   firstStdParal secondStdParal (float, min:-90.0, max:90.0) first and second standard parallels (meridians) in decimal degrees

   rotAngle (float, min:-360.0, max:360.0) rotation angle of geographic north in degrees clockwise relative to the rectangular coordinates system Y-axis

Notes:
   1. rotAngle = 0 gives North along the positive Y-axis, rotAngle = -30 gives North along the axis 30 deg counterclockwise from the positive Y-axis of the rotated, rectangular system.
   2. The LAMBERT transformation is adapted from the source code of the GMT plotting package .
   3. MAPTRANS specifies the transformation for Grid2GMT output to GMT plotting. MAPTRANS superseeds any other TRANS statement in the control file.

MAPGRID - Grid Description for Grid2GMT plot output

optional, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: MAPGRID xNum yNum zNum xOrig yOrig zOrig dx dy dz gridType

Specifies the size and type of the 3D velocity grid.

   xNum yNum zNum (integer, min:2) number of grid nodes in the x, y and z directions

   xOrig yOrig zOrig (float) x, y and z location of the grid origin in km relative to the geographic origin.

   dx dy dz (float) grid node spacing in kilometers along the x, y and z axes

   gridType (choice: XXX) grid type (ignored).

Notes:
   1. The 3D grid dimensions are in kilometers with Z positive down (left-handed coordinate system).
   2. The grid is dx*(xNum-1) km long in the x direction, and similarly for y and z.
   3. MAPGRID specifies the plot region for GRid2GMT output to GMT plotting. MAPGRID superseeds any other xxxGRID statements in the control file.

Vel2Grid Program

VGOUT - VGTYPE - VGGRID - LAYER - 2DTO3DTRANS - VERTEX - EDGE - POLYGON2 - [Top] - [NonLinLoc Home]

VGOUT - Output File Root Name

required, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: VGOUT fileRoot

Specifies the directory path and file root name (no extension) for the output velocity grid.

   fileRoot (string) full or relative path and file root name (no extension) for output

Notes:
   1. The 3D velocity grid ouput files have names of the form:

fileRoot.waveType .mod . FileExtension

VGTYPE - Wave Type

required, repeatable

Syntax 1: VGTYPE waveType

Specifies the physical wave type for a velocity grid.

   waveType (choice: P S) wave type

VGGRID - Grid Description

required, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: VGGRID xNum yNum zNum xOrig yOrig zOrig dx dy dz gridType

Specifies the size and type of the 3D velocity grid.

   xNum yNum zNum (integer, min:2) number of grid nodes in the x, y and z directions

   xOrig yOrig zOrig (float) x, y and z location of the grid origin in km relative to the geographic origin.

   dx dy dz (float) grid node spacing in kilometers along the x, y and z axes

   gridType (choice: VELOCITY VELOCITY_METERS SLOWNESS VEL2 SLOW2 SLOW_2_METERS SLOW_LEN) physical quantity to store on grid ( VELOCITY = km/s, VELOCITY_METERS = m/s, SLOWNESS = s/km, VEL2 = vel**2, SLOW2 = (s/km)**2, SLOW_2_METERS = slow**2 ((s/m)**2), SLOW_LEN = slow*dx (sec)).

Notes:
   1. The 3D grid dimensions are in kilometers with Z positive down (left-handed coordinate system).
   2. The grid is dx*(xNum-1) km long in the x direction, and similarly for y and z.

LAYER - Velocity Model - Layer

optional, repeatable

Syntax 1: LAYER depth VpTop VpGrad VsTop VsGrad rhoTop rhoGrad

Specifies a constant or gradient velocity layer.

   depth (float) depth to top of layer (use negative values for layers above z=0)

   VpTop VsTop rhoTop (float) P velocity, and S velocity in km/s and density in kg/m**3 at the top of the layer.

   VpGrad VsGrad rhoGrad (float) Linear P velocity and S velocity gradients in km/s/km and density gradient in kg/m**3/km increasing directly downwards from the top of the layer.

Notes:
   1. Multiple layers must be specified in order of increasing depth of top of layer.
   2. The layer with the deepest top extends implicitly to infinite depth.

2DTO3DTRANS - Velocity Model - 2D model to 3D model transformation

optional, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: 2DTO3DTRANS xOrig yOrig rotation

   xOrig yOrig (float) x and y coordinates in kilometers of the center of rotation in the 3D model.

   rotation (float, min:-360.0, max:360.0) rotation angle in degreees COUNTERCLOCKWISE.

Notes:
   1. The 2D to 3D transformation is applied after the general geographic transformation specified by the Generic control statement TRANS .
   2. With rotation =0 the 2D model section will be parallel to the x direction in the 3D model, and the 2D model will be extended along the y direction in the 3D model.

VERTEX - Velocity Model - Vertex

optional, repeatable

Syntax 1: VERTEX id_num zloc xloc yloc

Specifies a vertex in 2D or 3D space.

   id_num (integer) vertex identification number (must be unique)

   zloc xloc yloc (float) z (positive DOWN), x and y location in kilometers of vertex ( yloc ignored for 2D models)

Notes:
   1. A single vertex may be used in the definitions of multiple edges (see EDGE).

EDGE - Velocity Model - Edge

optional, repeatable

Syntax 1: EDGE id_num vertex1 vertex2

   id_num (integer) edge identification number (must be unique)

POLYGON2 - Velocity Model - 2D polygon

optional, repeatable

Syntax 1: POLYGON2 id_num n_edges depth Vp_top Vp_grad Vs_top Vs_grad p_top p_grad [NEW_LINE] edge1, edge2, ...

   id_num (integer) polygon identification number (must be unique)

   n_edges (integer, min:0) the number of edges defining this polygon

   depth (float) reference depth for velocity and density (use negative values for depths above z=0)

   VpTop VsTop rhoTop (float) P velocity, and S velocity in km/s and density in kg/m**3 at the reference depth ( depth ).

   VpGrad VsGrad rhoGrad (float) Linear P velocity and S velocity gradients in km/s/km and density gradient in kg/m**3/km increasing directly downwards from the reference depth ( depth ).

   edge1, edge2, ... (integer) new line containing list of edge indexes defining this polygon

Notes:
   1. A 2D polygon may share edges with other 2D polygons.
   2. The reference depth ( depth ) may be above, within, or below the polygon.

Grid2Time Program

GTFILES - GTMODE - GTSRCE - GT_PLFD - [Top] - [NonLinLoc Home]

GTFILES - Input and Output File Root Name

required, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: GTFILES ttimeFileRoot outputFileRoot waveType iSwapBytesOnInput

Specifies the directory path and file root name (no extension), and the wave type identifier for the input velocity grid and output time grids.

   ttimeFileRoot (string) full or relative path and file root name (no extension) for input velocity grid (generated by program Vel2Grid)

   outputFileRoot (string) full or relative path and file root name (no extension) for output travel-time and take-off angle grids

   waveType (choice: P S) wave type

   iSwapBytesOnInput (integer, min:0, max:1, default:0) flag to indicate if hi and low bytes of input velocity grid file should be swapped

Notes:
   1. The ttimeFileRoot and outputFileRoot are appended with . waveType
   2. The 3D time grid ouput files have names of the form:

outputFileRoot.waveType . label . gridType . FileExtension

GTMODE - Program Modes

required, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: GTMODE gridMode angleMode

Specifies several program run modes.

   gridMode (choice: GRID3D GRID2D) grid type ( GRID3D for a 3D, Nx*Ny*Nz grid or GRID2D for a 2D, 2*Ny*Nz grid)

   angleMode (choice: ANGLES_YES ANGLES_NO) sets if take-off angles are calculated and an angles grid is output ( ANGLES_YES for angles calulcation or ANGLES_NO for no angles calculation)

GTSRCE - Source Description

required, repeatable

Syntax 1: GTSRCE label XYZ xSrce ySrce zSrce elev

Syntax 2: GTSRCE label LATLON latSrce longSrce zSrce elev

Syntax 3: GTSRCE label LATLONDM latDegSrce latMinSrce latDir longDegSrce longMinSrce longDir zSrce elev

Syntax 4: GTSRCE label LATLONDS latDegSrce latMinSrce latSecSrce latDir longDegSrce longMinSrce longSecSrce longDir zSrce elev

Specifies a source location. One time grid and one angles grid (if requested) will be generated for each source. Four formats are supported: XYZ (rectangular grid coordinates), LATLON (decimal degrees for latitude/longitude), LATLONDM (degrees + decimal minutes for latitude/longitude) and LATLONDS (degrees + minutes + decimal seconds for latitude/longitude).

   label (string) source label ( i.e. a station code: ABC )

   xSrce ySrce (float) x and y grid positions relative to geographic origin in kilometers for source

   zSrce (float) z grid position (depth, positive DOWN) in kilometers for source

   elev (float) elevation above z grid position (positive UP) in kilometers for source

   latSrce (float, min:-90.0, max:90.0) latitude in decimal degrees for source (pos = North)

   longSrce (float, min:-180.0, max:180.0) longitude in decimal degrees for source (pos = East)

   latDegSrce latMinSrce latSecSrce (float) latitude degrees, minutes and seconds for source

   longDegSrce longMinSrce longSecSrce (float) longitude degrees, minutes and seconds for source

   latDir (choice: N S) geographic direction

   longDir (choice: W E) geographic direction

GT_PLFD - Podvin and Lecomte Finite Difference

required, non-repeatable, for Podvin and Lecomte finite difference, must not be present otherwise

Syntax 1: GT_PLFD hs_eps_init message_flag

Selects Podvin and Lecomte finite difference method and specifies method parameters.

   hs_eps_init (float, min:0.0) fraction (typically 1.0E-3) defining the tolerated model inhomogeneity for exact initialization. A tolerance larger than 0.01 will potentially create errors larger than those involved by the F.D. scheme without any exact initialization.

   message_flag (integer, min:0, max:2) Message flag (0:silent, 1:few messages, 2:verbose) A negative value inhibits "clever" initialization.

Notes:
   1. See Podvin and Lecomte finite difference source code and Podvin and Lecomte, 1991 for more information.

Time2EQ Program

EQFILES - EQEVENT - EQSTA - EQSRCE - EQMECH - EQMODE - EQQUAL2ERR - EQVPVS - [Top] - [NonLinLoc Home]

EQFILES - Input and Output File Root Name

required, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: EQFILES ttimeFileRoot outputFileName

Specifies the directory path and file root name (no extension) for the input time grids, and the path and filename for the output phase/observation file.

   ttimeFileRoot (string) full or relative path and file root name (no extension) for input time grids (generated by program Grid2Time)

   outputFileName (string) full or relative path and name for output phase/observation file

Notes:
   1. The ttimeFileRoot should not include the standardized phase code ( i.e. P or S ).

EQEVENT - Hypocenter parameters

optional, repeatable

Syntax 1: EQEVENT label xEvent yEvent zEvent originSeconds

   label (string) event identification label

   xEvent yEvent zEvent (float) x, y and z grid coordinates of hypocenter

   originSeconds (float) origin time in seconds

Notes:
   1. The the origin time originSeconds is added to the travel-time read from the time grid to get the synthetic phase time.

EQSTA - Station List

required, repeatable

Syntax 1: EQSTA label phase errorType error errorReportType errorReport probActive

Specifies a station, phase and timing error to use to generate a synthetic phase reading.

   label (string) station label ( i.e. a station code: ABC )

   phase (string) phase type ( i.e. P or S )

   errorType (choice: GAU BOX FIX NONE) calculated random timing error type ( GAU for normal deviate with zero mean and variance = error , or BOX for boxcar deviate with zero mean and width = 2 * error , or FIX for time error/static = error , or NONE for time error/static = 0.0 )

   error (float) error magnitude in seconds

   errorReportType (choice: GAU) timing error type to write to output phase/observation file Err field (The current version of NLLoc recognizes only GAU )

   errorReport (float) error magnitude in seconds to write to output phase/observation file ErrMag field.

   probActive (float, default:1.0) Probability (0-1) that a time for this station/phase should be created.

Notes:
   1. The label and phase when concatenated to the ttimeFileRoot (i.e. ttimeFileRoot.label.phase ) should correspond to the path and root name of an existing, travel-time grid file.
   2. The error is calculated stochastically and added to the travel-time. Use error = 0.0 to obtain exact synthetic travel-times.

EQSRCE - Source Description

optional, repeatable

Syntax 1: EQSRCE label XYZ xSrce ySrce zSrce elev

Syntax 2: EQSRCE label LATLON latSrce longSrce zSrce elev

Syntax 3: EQSRCE label LATLONDM latDegSrce latMinSrce latDir longDegSrce longMinSrce longDir zSrce elev

Syntax 4: EQSRCE label LATLONDS latDegSrce latMinSrce latSecSrce latDir longDegSrce longMinSrce longSecSrce longDir zSrce elev

Specifies a source location. Four formats are supported: XYZ (rectangular grid coordinates), LATLON (decimal degrees for latitude/longitude), LATLONDM (degrees + decimal minutes for latitude/longitude) and LATLONDS (degrees + minutes + decimal seconds for latitude/longitude).

   label (string) source label ( i.e. a station code: ABC )

   xSrce ySrce (float) x and y grid positions relative to geographic origin in kilometers for source

   zSrce (float) z grid position (depth, positive DOWN) in kilometers for source

   elev (float) elevation above z grid position (positive UP) in kilometers for source

   latSrce (float) latitude in decimal degrees for source (pos = North)

   longSrce (float) longitude in decimal degrees for source (pos = East)

   latDegSrce latMinSrce latSecSrce (float) latitude degrees, minutes and seconds for source

   longDegSrce longMinSrce longSecSrce (float) longitude degrees, minutes and seconds for source

   latDir (choice: N S) geographic direction

   longDir (choice: W E) geographic direction

EQMECH - Event mechanism description

optional, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: EQMECH mechType strike dip rake

Specifies the mechanism parameters for synthetic first motion calculations.

   mechType (choice: DOUBLE ISO NONE, default:NONE) source mechanism type ( DOUBLE for double couple, or ISO for isotropic/explosion, or NONE for no first motion calculation)

   strike (float, min:0.0, max:360.0) strike of fault plane in degrees (0,360) clockwise from North in the Geographic reference frame (any rotAngle specified in the generic control statement GTSRCE will be added to strike ).

   dip (float, min:0.0, max:90.0) dip of the fault plane in degrees (0,90) down from the horizontal.

   rake (float, min:-180.0, max:180.0) angle in degrees (-180,180) on the fault plane between the strike direction and the slip direction.

Notes:
   1. The the origin time originSeconds is added to the travel-time read from the time grid to get the synthetic phase time.

EQMODE - Select Mode: sta->source or source->station

optional, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: EQMODE mode

Selects calculation of times from single source to multiple stations, or from multiple sources to single station. The phase labels in the output phase/observation file are set to the station labels or to the source labels, depending on the mode.

   mode (choice: SRCE_TO_STA STA_TO_SRCE, default:SRCE_TO_STA) SRCE_TO_STA for single sources to multiple stations or STA_TO_SRCE for single station to multiple sources.

EQQUAL2ERR - Quality to Error Mapping

required, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: EQQUAL2ERR Err0 ... ... ... ...

Specifies the mapping of error to phase pick quality for output of phase/observations in HYPO71 file format (which does not include time uncertainties) ( i.e. time uncertainties in seconds ( i.e. 0.01 or 0.5 ) to quality 0,1,2,3 or 4 ).

   Err0 ... ErrN (float, min:0.0) one time uncertainty value for each quality level that may be output to the phase/observation file. Synthetic errors less than or equal to the first value Err0 are output with quality 0 , less than or equal to the second are output with 1 , etc.

EQVPVS - P Velocity to S Velocity Ratio

optional, non-repeatable (ver 2.0)

Syntax 1: EQVPVS VpVsRatio

Specifies the P velocity to S velocity ratio to calculate S phase travel times.

   VpVsRatio (float) P velocity to S velocity ratio. If VpVsRatio > 0.0 then only P phase travel times grids are read and VpVsRatio is used to calculate S phase travel times. If VpVsRatio < 0.0 then S phase travel times grids are used.

NLLoc Program

LOCSIG - LOCCOM - LOCSRCE - LOCFILES - LOCHYPOUT - LOCSEARCH - LOCMETH - LOCGAU - LOCPHASEID - LOCQUAL2ERR - LOCGRID - LOCPHSTAT - LOCANGLES - LOCMAG - LOCCMP - LOCALIAS - LOCEXCLUDE - LOCDELAY - [Top] - [NonLinLoc Home]

LOCSIG - Signature text

optional, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: LOCSIG signature

Identification of an individual, institiution or other entity - written in some output files.

   signature (line) signature text

LOCCOM - Comment text

optional, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: LOCCOM comment

Comment about location run - written in some output files.

   comment (line) comment text

LOCSRCE - Source Description

optional, repeatable (ver 3.0)

Syntax 1: LOCSRCE ...

Duplicate of statement GTSRCE - Source Description. Allows specification of a station location when using "DEFAULT" travel time grids during TRANS GLOBAL mode location. (If for a given station there is no travel time file containing the station's code in its file name, and there is a LOCSRCE entry for this station code, then NLLoc will look for a travel time file containing "DEFAULT" as station code in its file name to use for this station. The phase code in the travel time file names must match that for the station's phase reading.)

LOCFILES - Input and Output File Root Name

required, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: LOCFILES obsFiles obsFileType ttimeFileRoot outputFileRoot iSwapBytes

Specifies the directory path and filename for the phase/observation files, and the file root names (no extension) for the input time grids and the output files.

   obsFiles (string) full or relative path and name for phase/observations files, mulitple files may be specified with standard UNIX "wild-card" characters ( * and ? )

   obsFileType (choice: NLLOC_OBS HYPO71 HYPOELLIPSE NEIC CSEM_ALERT SIMULPS HYPOCENTER HYPODD SEISAN NORDIC NCSN_Y2K_5 NCEDC_UCB ETH_LOC RENASS_WWW RENASS_DEP INGV_BOLL INGV_BOLL_LOCAL INGV_ARCH) format type for phase/observations files (see Phase File Formats)

   ttimeFileRoot (string) full or relative path and file root name (no extension) for input time grids (generated by program Grid2Time, edu.sc.seis.TauP.TauP_Table_NLL, or other software.

   outputFileRoot (string) full or relative path and file root name (no extension) for output files

   iSwapBytes (integer, min:0, max:1, default:0) flag to indicate if hi and low bytes of input time grid files should be swapped. Allows reading of travel time grids from different computer architecture platforms during TRANS GLOBAL mode location.

LOCHYPOUT - Output File Types

optional, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: LOCHYPOUT fileType1 ... ... ... ... ...

Specifies the filetypes to be used for output.

   fileType1 ... fileTypeN (choice: SAVE_NLLOC_ALL SAVE_NLLOC_SUM SAVE_HYPOELL_ALL SAVE_HYPOELL_SUM SAVE_HYPO71_ALL SAVE_HYPO71_SUM SAVE_HYPOINV_SUM, default:SAVE_NLLOC_ALL SAVE_HYPOINV_SUM) File format types to be output: SAVE_NLLOC_ALL = save summary and event files of type NLLoc Hypocenter-Phase file , Phase Statistics file , Scatter file and Confidence Level file SAVE_NLLOC_SUM = save summary file only of type NLLoc Hypocenter-Phase file , Phase Statistics file , Scatter file and Confidence Level file SAVE_HYPOELL_ALL = save summary and event files of type Quasi-HYPOELLIPSE file SAVE_HYPOELL_SUM = save summary file only of type Quasi-HYPOELLIPSE file SAVE_HYPO71_ALL = save summary and event files of type HYPO71 Hypocenter/Station file SAVE_HYPO71_SUM = save summary file only of type HYPO71 Hypocenter/Station file SAVE_HYPOINV_SUM = save summary file only of type HypoInverse Archive file )

Notes:
   1. The HypoInverse Archive format serves as input to the program FPFIT (Reasenberg et al. , 1985) for grid-search determination of focal mechanism solutions.

LOCSEARCH - Search Type

required, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: LOCSEARCH GRID numSamplesDraw

Syntax 2: LOCSEARCH MET numSamples numLearn numEquil numBeginSave numSkip stepInit stepMin stepFact probMin

Syntax 3: LOCSEARCH OCT initNumCells_x initNumCells_y initNumCells_z minNodeSize maxNumNodes numScatter

Specifies the search type and search parameters. The possible search types are GRID (grid search), MET (Metropolis), and OCT (Octtree).

   numSamplesDraw (integer) specifies the number of scatter samples to draw from each saved PDF grid ( i.e. grid with gridType = PROB_DENSITY and saveFlag = SAVE ) No samples are drawn if saveFlag < 0.

   numSamples (integer, min:0) total number of accepted samples to obtain

   numLearn (integer, min:0) number of accepted samples for learning stage of search

   numEquil (integer, min:0) number of accepted samples for equilibration stage of search

   numBeginSave (integer, min:0) number of accepted samples after which to begin saving stage of search, denotes end of equilibration stage

   numSkip (integer, min:1) number of accepted samples to skip between saves ( numSkip = 1 saves every accepted sample)

   stepInit (float) initial step size in km for the learning stage ( stepInit < 0.0 gives automatic step size selection. If the search takes too long, the initial step size may be too large; this may be the case if the search region is very large relative to the volume of the high confidence region for the locations.)

   stepMin (float, min:0.0) minimum step size allowed during any search stage (This parameter should not be critical, set it to a low value.)

   stepFact (float, min:0.0) step factor for scaling step size during equilibration stage (Try a value of 8.0 to start.)

   probMin (float) minimum value of the maximum probability (likelihood) that must be found by the end of learning stage, if this value is not reached the search is aborted (This parameters allows the filtering of locations outside of the search grid and locations with large residuals.)

   initNumCells_x initNumCells_y initNumCells_z (integer) initial number of octtree cells in the x, y, and z directions

   minNodeSize (float) smallest octtree node side length to process, the octree search is terminated after a node with a side smaller than this lenght is generated

   maxNumNodes (integer) total number of nodes to process

   numScatter (integer) the number of scatter samples to draw from the octtree results

Notes:
   1. See NLLoc Program Oct-Tree Algorithm , Grid-Search Algorithm and Metropolis Sampling Algorithm for more information.
   2. Samples are saved to a binary, event Scatter file (see Scatter file formats ). For the grid-search, because the samples are drawn stochastically, the number of samples actually obtained my differ slightly from the requested number.
   3. If a large number of samples are saved, the spatial density of samples will be proportional to the PDF.
   4. The scatter samples are useful for plotting the PDF as a transparent "cloud" and for relatively compact disk storage of the PDF.

LOCMETH - Location Method

required, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: LOCMETH method maxDistStaGrid minNumberPhases maxNumberPhases minNumberSphases VpVsRatio maxNum3DGridMemory

Specifies the location method (algorithm) and method parameters.

   method (choice: GAU_ANALYTIC EDT) location method/algorithm ( GAU_ANALYTIC = the inversion approach of Tarantola and Valette (1982) with L2-RMS likelihood function. EDT = Equal Differential Time likelihood function cast into the inversion approach of Tarantola and Valette (1982))

   maxDistStaGrid (float) maximum distance in km between a station and the center of the initial search grid; phases from stations beyond this distance will not be used for event location

   minNumberPhases (integer) minimum number of phases that must be accepted before event will be located

   maxNumberPhases (integer) maximum number of accepted phases that will be used for event location; only the first maxNumberPhases read from the phase/observations file are used for location

   minNumberSphases (integer) minimum number of S phases that must be accepted before event will be located

   VpVsRatio (float) P velocity to S velocity ratio. If VpVsRatio > 0.0 then only P phase travel times grids are read and VpVsRatio is used to calculate S phase travel times. If VpVsRatio < 0.0 then S phase travel times grids are used.

   maxNum3DGridMemory (integer) maximum number of 3D travel time grids to attempt to read into memory for Metropolis-Gibbs search. This helps to avoid time-consuming memory swapping that occurs if the total size of grids read exceeds the real memory of the computer. 3D grids not in memory are read directly from disk. If maxNum3DGridMemory < 0 then NLLoc attempts to read all grids into memory.

Notes:
   1. See NLLoc Program Inversion Approach for more information on the GAU_ANALYTIC method.
   2. See NLLoc Program EDT likelihood function for more information on the EDT method.
   3. Phases that are not used for location are written to output files and are used for calculating average residuals.

LOCGAU - Gaussian Model Errors

required, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: LOCGAU SigmaTime CorrLen

Specifies parameters for Gaussian modelisation-error covariances Covariance ij between stations i and j using the relation ( Tarantola and Valette, 1982 ):

Covariance ij = SigmaTime 2 exp(-0.5(Dist 2 ij )/ CorrLen 2 )

LOCPHASEID - Phase Identifier Mapping

optional, repeatable

Syntax 1: LOCPHASEID stdPhase phaseCode1 ... ... ... ... ...

Specifies the mapping of phase codes in the phase/observation file ( i.e. pg or Sn ) to standardized phase codes ( i.e. P or S ).

   stdPhase (string) standardized phase code (used to generate time-grid file names)

   phaseCode1 ... phaseCodeN (string) one or more phase codes that may be present in a phase/observation file that should be mapped to the stdPhase .

Notes:
   1. In the current version of NLLoc, it is assumed for some processing (such as the calculation of average P and S station residuals) that the standardized phase codes are P and S . Thus it is important to use these codes, if possible.
   2. A phase/observation file code will be used unchanged if no LOCPHASEID statement is specified, or the code is not present in any LOCPHASEID statement.

LOCQUAL2ERR - Quality to Error Mapping

required, non-repeatable, for phase/observation file formats that do not include time uncertainties ; ignored, non-repeatable, otherwise

Syntax 1: LOCQUAL2ERR Err0 ... ... ... ...

Specifies the mapping of phase pick qualities phase/observation file ( i.e. 0,1,2,3 or 4 ) to time uncertainties in seconds ( i.e. 0.01 or 0.5 ).

   Err0 ... ErrN (float, min:0.0) one time uncertainty value for each quality level that may be used in a phase/observation file. The first value Err0 is assigned to picks with quality 0 , the second to picks with quality 1 , etc.

Notes:
   1. NLLoc requires Gaussian timing error estimates in seconds for the data (phase picks), the LOCQUAL2ERR statement allows a conversion of commonly used integer quality codes to float time values.
   2. Use a large, positive value ( i.e. 99999.9 ) to indicate a phase pick that should have zero weight (infinite uncertainty).

LOCGRID - Search Grid Description

required, repeatable

Syntax 1: LOCGRID xNum yNum zNum xOrig yOrig zOrig dx dy dz gridType saveFlag

Specifies the size and other parameters of an initial or nested 3D search grid. The order of LOCGRID statements is critical (see Notes).

   xNum yNum zNum (integer, min:2) number of grid nodes in the x, y and z directions

   xOrig yOrig zOrig (float) x, y and z location of the grid origin in km relative to the geographic origin. Use a large, negative value ( i.e. -1.0e30 ) to indicate automatic positioning of grid along corressponding direction (valid for nested grids only, may not be used for initial grid).

   dx dy dz (float) grid node spacing in kilometers along the x, y and z axes

   gridType (choice: MISFIT PROB_DENSITY) statistical quantity to calculate on grid

   saveFlag (choice: SAVE NO_SAVE) specifies if the results of the search over this grid should be saved to disk

Notes:
   1. The order of LOCGRID statements is critical: the first LOCGRID is the initial search grid which may not have automatic positionig along any axes. The succeeding LOCGRID statements may specify automatic positioning along one or more axes ( xOrig, yOrig, zOrig = -1.0e30 ), but must all be sized ( i.e. dx*(xNum-1) , etc.) so that they can be fully contained within the preceeding grid. The NLLoc program will attempt to translate a nested grid that intersects a boundary of the initial grid so that it is contained inside of the initial grid; if this is not possible the location will be terminated prematurely.
   2. With automatic positioning ( xOrig, yOrig, zOrig = -1.0e30 ), a grid is shifted in x/y/z so that it is centered on the minimum misfit hypocenter x/y/z of the preceeding grid.
   3. Each search over a grid with gridType = PROB_DENSITY is time consuming and should generally only be used for a nested grid on which the full PDF is required and will be saved to disk. Use gridType = MISFIT for the initial grid, for larger nested grids, and for smaller nested grids in maximum-likelihood hypocenter searches ( i.e. where the PDF is not if interest).
   4. The 3D grid dimensions are in kilometers with Z positive down (left-handed coordinate system).
   5. The grid is dx*(xNum-1) km long in the x direction, and similarly for y and z.

LOCPHSTAT - Phase Statistics parameters

optional, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: LOCPHSTAT RMS_Max NRdgs_Min Gap_Max P_ResidualMax S_ResidualMax

Specifies selection criteria for phase residuals to be included in calculation of average P and S station residuals. The average residuals are saved to a summary, phase statistics file (see Phase Statistics file formats ).

   RMS_Max (float, default:VERY_LARGE_DOUBLE) the maximum allowed hypocenter RMS in seconds

   NRdgs_Min (integer, default:-1) the minimum allowed hypocenter number of readings

   Gap_Max (float, default:VERY_LARGE_DOUBLE) the maximum allowed hypocenter gap in degrees

   P_ResidualMax S_ResidualMax (float, default:VERY_LARGE_DOUBLE) the maximum allowed residual in seconds for a P or S phase

Notes:
   1. Because the maximum residual cutoff is abrupt, it should be chosen and used with care.
   2. In the current version of NLLoc, it is assumed in the calculation of average P and S station residuals that the standardized phase codes are P and S . Thus it is important to use these codes, if possible.

LOCANGLES - Take-off Angles parameters

optional, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: LOCANGLES angleMode qualtiyMin

Specifies whether to determine take-off angles for the maximum likelihood hypocenter and sets minimum quality cutoff for saving angles and corresponding phases to the HypoInverse Archive file .

   angleMode (choice: ANGLES_YES ANGLES_NO, default:ANGLES_YES) sets if take-off angles are read from angles grid files and output to locations files. ( ANGLES_YES for angles determination or ANGLES_NO for no angles determination)

   qualtiyMin (integer, default:5) sets the minimum quality (see Take-Off Angles Algorithm ) for writing take-off angles and corresponding phase to the HypoInverse Archive file . ( 0 to 10 )

LOCMAG - Magnitude Calculation Method

optional, non-repeatable

Syntax 1: LOCMAG ML_HB f n K Ro Mo

Syntax 2: LOCMAG MD_FMAG c1 c2 c3 c4 c5

Specifies the magnitude calculation type and parameters. The possible magnitude types are:


ML_HB (Local (Richter) magnitudeM_LfromHutton and Boore (1987)),

M_L = log(A f) +nlog(r/100) +K(r-100) + 3.0 +S,

MD = C₁ + C₂log(Fc) + C₃r + C₄z + C₅[log(Fc))²,

LOCCMP - Magnitude Calculation Component

optional, repeatable

Syntax 1: LOCCMP label inst comp ampFactor sta_corr_ml_hb sta_corr_fd_fmag

   label (string) station label ( i.e. a station code: ABC )

   inst (string) instrument identification ( i.e. SP, BRB, VBB ) If inst begins with *, then arrival is taken as having no absolute timing (can currently only be used with EDT likelihood function)

   comp (string) component identification ( i.e. Z, N, E, H )

   ampFactor (float, min:0.0) amplitude factor, amplitude read from phase file is multiplied by ampFactor to obtain the amplitude used for magnitude calculation.

   sta_corr_ml_hb (float) ML_HB station correction, from Hutton and Boore (1987)

   sta_corr_fd_fmag (float) FD_FMAG station correction, from Lahr, J.C., (1989) HYPOELLIPSE

Notes:
   1. Component specific paramaters are applied to all phase observations with matching label, instrument and component. Use ? or * to disable matching of label, instrument or component.

LOCALIAS - Station Code Alias

optional, repeatable

Syntax 1: LOCALIAS code alias yearStart monthStart dayStart yearEnd monthEnd dayEnd

Specifies (1) an alias (mapping) of station codes, and (2) start and end dates of validity of the alias. Allows (1) station codes that vary over time or in different pick files to be homogenized to match codes in time grid files, and (2) allows selection of station data by time.

   code (string) station code (or station name or source label) as read from the phase/observation files, or from the result of another alias evaluation

   alias (string) new station code which will replace code if the relevant phase pick time falls within the start and end dates of validity of the alias

   yearStart monthStart dayStart (integer) year (including century), month and day of start date of validity of the alias ( 0 0 0 = no start date)

   yearEnd monthEnd dayEnd (integer) year (including century), month and day of end date of validity of the alias ( 9999 99 99 = no end date)

Notes:
   1. In NLLoc, the alias evaluation is applied recursively, regardless of the order of the LOCALIAS statements. Thus, when selecting and specifying alias names, beware of infinite recursion.
   2. A trailing underscore "_" in an alias will only be used for time grid identification, not for output. This allows, for example, a station name ABC to be aliases to the name ABC_ to enforce certain dates of validity for the station, this requires that the time grids generated by Grid2Time use the station code ABC_ ; in all NLLoc output, the code ABC will be used.

LOCEXCLUDE - Exclude Observations

optional, repeatable (ver 2.0)

Syntax 1: LOCEXCLUDE name phase

   name (string) station label ( i.e. a station code: ABC ) identifier after application of any alias

   phase (string) phase code beofore mapping by LOCPHASEID ( P , S , PN , etc).

Notes:
   1. Excluded station/phase observations are weighted to 0 and so will not be used for location. The residual is calculated for these observations and they are written to output files, if a travel time is available.

LOCDELAY - Phase Time Delays

optional, repeatable

Syntax 1: LOCDELAY code phase numReadings delay

Specifies P and S delays (station corrections) to be subtracted from observed P and S times.

   code (string) station code (after all alias evaluations)

   phase (string) phase type ( P or S )

   numReadings (integer) number of residuals used to calculate mean residual/delay (not used by NLLoc, included for compatibility with the format of a summary, phase statistics file)

   delay (float) delay in seconds, subtracted from observed time

Notes:
   1. The body of a summary, phase statistics file (see Phase Statistics file formats ) can be used directly as a set of LOCDELAY statements. Thus the average phase residuals from a run of NLLoc can be used as the station corrections for later runs of NLLoc.