In the eighties, there was one of the first attempts to create a more complete format for data exchange and processing. The initiative came from the need the exchange and store data in Nordic countries and the so called Nordic format was agreed upon among the 5 Nordic countries. The format later became the standard format used in the SEISAN data base and processing system and is now widely used. The format tried to address some of the shortcomings in HYPO71 format by being able to store nearly all parameters used, having space for extensions and useful for both input and output. An example is given in below.
The data is the same as seen in the table. The format starts with a series of header lines with type of line indicated in the last column (80) and the phase lines are following the header lines with no line type indicator. There can be any number of header lines including comment lines. The first line gives among other things, origin time, location and magnitudes, the second line is error estimate, the third line is the name of the corresponding waveform file and the fourth line is the explanation line for the phases (type 7). The abbreviations are: STAT: Station code, SP: component, I: I or E, PHAS. Phase, W: Weight, D: polarity, HRMM SECON: time, CODA: Duration, AMPLIT: Amplitude, PERI: Period, AZIMU: Azimuth at station, VELO: Apparent velocity, SNR: Signal-to-noise ratio, AR: Azimuth residual of location, TRES: Travel time residual, W: Weight in location, DIS: Epicentral distance in km and CAZ: Azimuth from event to station.
For more information read the full Power Point Presentation Data Archival, Exchange and Seismic Data Formats by Bernard Dost, Jan Zednik, J. Havskov, R. Willemann and P. Bormann