National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, D. James Baker, Administrator
National Geophysical Data Center, Michael S. Loughridge, Director
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UNITED
STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, William M. Daley, Secretary
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, D. James Baker, Administrator National Geophysical Data Center, Michael S. Loughridge, Director |
While every effort has been made to ensure that these data are accurate and reliable within the limits of the current state of the art, NOAA cannot assume liability for any damages caused by any inaccuracies in the data or as a result of the failure of the data to function on a particular system. NOAA makes no warranty, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty.
The user must be cautious when using these data and computer programs. None of the data represented here are perfect. As in many complex scientific endeavors, errors can be expected
In this documentation for the Geologic Hazards Photos, trademarked commercial products and companies are named. Mention of a commercial company or product does not imply endorsement by NOAA or the Department of Commerce. Use for publicity or advertising purposes of information from this publication concerning proprietary products or the tests of such products is not authorized.
Throughout the publication, rather than put a trademark symbol in every occurrence of a trademarked name, we state that we are using the names only in an editorial fashion with no intention of infringement of the trademark.
For more information about this product or other products available from NGDC, please contact us at:
Photographs of geologic hazards represent a unique form of data that capture the transience of Earth's periodic upheavals. The images taken of damage caused by these events are a permanent record that would otherwise have been erased forever by cleanup and reconstruction projects. Photographs serve as a reminder that such events can-and probably will-recur, and that we should be prepared to handle their consequences.
Photo images from the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), originally distributed as sets of twenty 35-mm slides, have been popular since they were introduced in 1982. The images have been used in analyses of geologic hazards, educational programs, and illustrations for publications. In 1993, we published our first photo CD compilation, which included all our slide sets up to that date. The 1997 release is a continuation of this program.
We view this as an evolving product. Your suggestions for future improvements are welcomed.
Susan J. McLean
Patricia Lockridge
Stewart Racey
National Geophysical Data Center
September 1997
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Many individuals from the public and private sector have donated images to the NGDC photo archives. It is impossible to cite all contributors; often those who provide data to us have many sources included within their individual collections. Each contributor has played an important role in the study of hazards and their mitigation.
We are particularly grateful to the U.S. Geological Survey, whose
scientists have provided many of the photographic images and descriptions
on these CDs. Other contributing institutions include:
Government Contributors (U.S.):
Overview
The 1997 Geologic Hazards Photos compact disc set is an update to the 1993 release, which included 22 sets of thematic images in digital form. The current release contains all of the images from the 1993 edition, plus an additional 16 new sets and completely revised software.
The CDs are presented in three volumes. Volume 1 presents general earthquake topics and Volume 2 contains images from earthquake events. Volume 3 contains images of landslides, tsunami damage, and volcanic events and features.
The three volumes contain about 1,141 megabytes of data and information compiled from many different sources. The images are stored on the CDs in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9660 format.
Data Preparation
The original data for this project were contributed as 35-mm slides or Kodak Photo CD format. All slides were converted to Kodak Photo CD format and then recorded as:
General Notes
If you previously had the 1993 release, you may wish to upgrade your images and software with the current release. All slide sets from the 1993 edition have been re-scanned for consistency. In many cases, this has resulted in improved color and image density. In addition, the GeoVu access and display software has newly added features.
Please note that the quality of the image displays are strongly dependent on your computer system. And, although GeoVu accesses GIF images for its on-screen display, the TIF images have the highest resolution. TIF images are recommended for any publication purposes.
Handle the CDs carefully to avoid damage. Dust, scratches, ink, paint, and fingerprints may obscure some of the data. Given careful handling, one can expect at least a 10 year lifetime for a data disc.
Getting Started
GeoVu software is provided on each CD for access and display of the
image files and their captions. GeoVu will operate on PCs running Microsoft
Windows 3.x or Windows 95, and on Macintosh, UNIX Sun, and UNIX Silicon
Graphics computers. Instructions for installing and running GeoVu on the
different platforms are found in the installation files on the CD-ROM in
subdirectories pc, mac,
unix_sun, and unix_sgi
within software\geovu.
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The three CDs contain similar directory structures. There are three main directories: DOCUMENT, SOFTWARE, and IMAGES.
Document Directory
The DOCUMENT directory contains this document in several different
digital formats.
Software Directory
The SOFTWARE directory contains the GeoVu and FreeForm software.
Each of the platform subdirectories contains software and installation
instructions specific for that platform.
Additional documentation for GeoVu can also be found in the SOFTWARE\GEOVU\DOCUMNT directory. Brief instructions for downloading future upgrades of GeoVu from NGDC's File Transfer Protocol (FTP) site and installing the software are in GVQUICK. The GeoVu User's Manual is in GVHELP. Several versions of each file are available-Microsoft Word (files with .DOC extensions) for PCs, Adobe Portable Document Files (.PDF), Postscript files (.PS), and text files (.TXT).
Photographs are contained in the IMAGES directory. Each thematic image set is represented by a 6-digit number containing a TIF, JPG, and GIF version of the images. TIF and JPG images are 24-bit, and GIF images are 8-bit.
Individual photos are sequentially numbered from 01-20. The hyperlinks following access the jpg images and captions. The captions are also automatically accessed when using GeoVu. The 6-digit representations are defined as follows:
Volume 1: Earthquakes-General Topics
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) collects, manages, and disseminates scientific data that result from environmental investigations. The National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), one of the several data management centers of NOAA, is responsible for data activities in the fields of solid earth geophysics, marine geology and geophysics, paleoclimatology, and solar-terrestrial physics.
NGDC goals are to support science by acquiring and archiving data, processing and formatting data into standard sets, developing useful data products, and distributing data to the user community. Customers include the general public, data managers, and scientists in private industry, academia, and federal and state governments.
The Solid Earth Geophysics Division of NGDC supports many scientific and engineering endeavors in the fields of gravity, topography, seismology (including earthquake seismology, engineering seismology, and tsunami), ecosystems, geomagnetism (Earth-surface, airborne, and satellite data), geothermics, and geochemistry. Some of the services include:
Many employees at the National Geophysical Data Center were involved in the preparation of the Geologic Hazards Photos compact disc set and the related access software:
Project authorization: Allen M. Hittelman
Project management: Susan J. McLean
Slide set preparation: Patricia A. Lockridge, Stewart D. Racey
CD-ROM preparation: Stewart D. Racey
GeoVu software: Deborah Sinay, Ray E. Habermann
Documentation: Patricia Lockridge, Stewart Racey, Susan McLean, Joy
Ikelman
For more information about this product or others available from NGDC, please contact us at: