Microproduct Data GuideIntermediate

EMSC Seismic Portal Events

Preliminary EMSC earthquake event records through the FDSN service for seismic discovery and comparison with other official event feeds.

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At a Glance

Difficulty
Intermediate — some data preparation helps
Size
Tiny · ≤0.01 GB
Formats
GeoJSON, CSV
Access
API
API Key
Not Required
Provider
European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre
Updates
Near Real Time
Last Verified
Sep 28, 2026
Source Type
Nonprofit Source
Data Terms
FDSN event service data are CC BY 4.0 with source attribution.
  • Python Syntax Checked

From Source to Product Signal

Test a Product Idea in Four Steps

The EMSC FDSN event endpoint returns recent earthquakes as GeoJSON. Start with only two events to inspect the event time, magnitude, and revision time. Preliminary events can be corrected; they do not replace local intensity products or establish comprehensive warning coverage.

1

Check the Setup

  • Python 3.10 or newer
  • An internet connection
  • The requests Python package
2

Access the Data

  1. 1.Read the FDSN event service documentation and its CC BY licence statement.
  2. 2.Request a bounded recent event sample in JSON format.
  3. 3.Preserve event identifiers and last-update time when comparing revisions.
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3

Run the Python Example

Install the packages, then run the notebook cell.

python -m pip install requests

import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://www.seismicportal.eu/fdsnws/event/1/query",
    params={"format": "json", "limit": 2}, timeout=30,
)
response.raise_for_status()
for event in response.json()["features"]:
    details = event["properties"]
    print(event["id"], details["time"], details["mag"],
          details["lastupdate"])
4

Test a Useful Signal

Compare Two Recent Earthquake Reports

Test a bounded seismic-event fallback without treating it as an intensity forecast.

  1. 01Keep each event ID, source agency, event time, and last-update time.
  2. 02Compare locations and magnitudes with the primary USGS feed when available.
  3. 03Explain preliminary corrections and EMSC attribution requirements.

Related Datasets

Dataset Details

European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre is a nonprofit source. Last verified 2026-09-28. Temporal coverage: current and historical event catalogue.

Geography

Global

Formats

GeoJSONCSV

Provider

European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre

Data Terms

FDSN event service data are CC BY 4.0 with source attribution.

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