SCEDC FDSN Web Services

# Refined copy. Pristine pre-refine original: _original/caltech-scedc-fdsn-openapi.yml
openapi: 3.1.0
info:
  title: SCEDC FDSN Web Services (Caltech Seismological Laboratory)
  version: '1.1.1'
  summary: >-
    FDSN-standard seismic web services operated by the Southern California Earthquake
    Data Center at the Caltech Seismological Laboratory.
  description: >-
    The Southern California Earthquake Data Center (SCEDC) is operated by the
    Seismological Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, on Caltech's own
    `caltech.edu` domain and Caltech-run infrastructure (service.scedc.caltech.edu
    resolves inside Caltech address space). It implements the International Federation of
    Digital Seismograph Networks (FDSN) web service specification — `fdsnws-event`,
    `fdsnws-station` and `fdsnws-dataselect`. This is genuinely institution-operated
    research infrastructure, not a vendor platform running under Caltech's name.
    This document is DERIVED by API Evangelist from live, unauthenticated probes;
    SCEDC publishes a WADL per service but no OpenAPI. Only operations actually observed
    returning data are described.
  contact:
    name: Southern California Earthquake Data Center, Caltech Seismological Laboratory
    url: https://scedc.caltech.edu/
x-operator: institution
x-operator-rationale: >-
  service.scedc.caltech.edu is under the institution's own registrable domain and
  resolves to Caltech-operated hosts (134.4.54.0/24, Caltech address space). SCEDC is a
  Caltech Seismological Laboratory facility. FDSN is an open community standard the
  institution implements, not a vendor product it rents.
x-provenance:
  generated: '2026-08-19'
  method: derived
  derived-from: live unauthenticated HTTP probes, 2026-08-19
  source:
    - https://service.scedc.caltech.edu/fdsnws/station/1/version
    - https://service.scedc.caltech.edu/fdsnws/event/1/version
    - https://service.scedc.caltech.edu/fdsnws/dataselect/1/version
    - https://service.scedc.caltech.edu/fdsnws/dataselect/1/application.wadl
    - https://service.scedc.caltech.edu/fdsnws/station/1/query?net=CI&sta=PAS&level=station&format=text
    - https://service.scedc.caltech.edu/fdsnws/event/1/query?starttime=2026-08-01&endtime=2026-08-05&minmagnitude=3&format=text
  note: >-
    SCEDC publishes no OpenAPI. This description is API Evangelist's observation of the
    live services and must not be credited to Caltech as a published specification.
    The upstream normative contract is the FDSN web service specification.
x-standards:
  - name: FDSN Web Services
    version: '1.1'
    url: https://www.fdsn.org/webservices/
servers:
  - url: https://service.scedc.caltech.edu/fdsnws
    description: SCEDC production FDSN web services (verified live 2026-08-19)
tags:
  - name: Event
    description: Earthquake event catalog queries (fdsnws-event).
  - name: Station
    description: Station and channel metadata queries (fdsnws-station).
  - name: DataSelect
    description: Time-series waveform retrieval (fdsnws-dataselect).
paths:
  /event/1/version:
    get:
      operationId: getEventServiceVersion
      summary: Service version for fdsnws-event
      description: Verified live 2026-08-19 returning `1.1.1` as text/plain.
      tags: [Event]
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Service version string.
          content:
            text/plain:
              schema: { type: string, examples: ['1.1.1'] }
  /event/1/query:
    get:
      operationId: queryEvents
      summary: Query the earthquake event catalog
      description: >-
        Returns earthquakes matching the supplied time, magnitude and location filters.
        Verified live 2026-08-19 returning real SCEDC catalog rows as text/plain, and
        verified returning HTTP 400 with a structured plain-text error on a bad date.
      tags: [Event]
      parameters:
        - name: starttime
          in: query
          description: ISO-8601 start of the time window.
          schema: { type: string }
        - name: endtime
          in: query
          description: ISO-8601 end of the time window.
          schema: { type: string }
        - name: minmagnitude
          in: query
          description: Minimum event magnitude.
          schema: { type: number }
        - name: maxmagnitude
          in: query
          description: Maximum event magnitude.
          schema: { type: number }
        - name: format
          in: query
          description: Response format. `text` and `xml` (QuakeML) observed.
          schema: { type: string, enum: [text, xml] }
      responses:
        '200':
          description: >-
            Pipe-delimited event rows (format=text) or QuakeML (format=xml). Observed
            columns: EventID, Time, Latitude, Longitude, Depth/km, Author, Catalog, ET,
            GT, MagType, Magnitude, MagAuthor, EventLocationName.
          content:
            text/plain:
              schema: { type: string }
            application/xml:
              schema: { type: string }
        '204':
          description: No events matched the request. Observed on fdsnws-dataselect; FDSN-standard no-data response.
        '400':
          description: >-
            Malformed request. Verified live — returns text/plain carrying the error
            message, the submitted request, a timestamp and the service version.
          content:
            text/plain:
              schema: { type: string }
  /station/1/version:
    get:
      operationId: getStationServiceVersion
      summary: Service version for fdsnws-station
      description: Verified live 2026-08-19 returning `1.1.0` as text/plain.
      tags: [Station]
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Service version string.
          content:
            text/plain:
              schema: { type: string, examples: ['1.1.0'] }
  /station/1/query:
    get:
      operationId: queryStations
      summary: Query station and channel metadata
      description: >-
        Returns network, station and channel inventory. Verified live 2026-08-19
        returning the CI network Pasadena (PAS) station row.
      tags: [Station]
      parameters:
        - name: net
          in: query
          description: Network code, e.g. `CI` (California Integrated Seismic Network, Southern California).
          schema: { type: string }
        - name: sta
          in: query
          description: Station code, e.g. `PAS`.
          schema: { type: string }
        - name: cha
          in: query
          description: Channel code, e.g. `BHZ`.
          schema: { type: string }
        - name: level
          in: query
          description: Level of detail returned.
          schema: { type: string, enum: [network, station, channel, response] }
        - name: format
          in: query
          description: Response format. `text` and `xml` (StationXML) observed.
          schema: { type: string, enum: [text, xml] }
      responses:
        '200':
          description: >-
            Pipe-delimited station rows (format=text) or StationXML (format=xml).
            Observed columns: Network, Station, Latitude, Longitude, Elevation,
            SiteName, StartTime, EndTime.
          content:
            text/plain:
              schema: { type: string }
            application/xml:
              schema: { type: string }
        '204':
          description: No stations matched the request.
        '400':
          description: Malformed request.
          content:
            text/plain:
              schema: { type: string }
  /dataselect/1/version:
    get:
      operationId: getDataSelectServiceVersion
      summary: Service version for fdsnws-dataselect
      description: Verified live 2026-08-19 returning `1.1.0` as text/plain.
      tags: [DataSelect]
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Service version string.
          content:
            text/plain:
              schema: { type: string, examples: ['1.1.0'] }
  /dataselect/1/application.wadl:
    get:
      operationId: getDataSelectWadl
      summary: WADL description of fdsnws-dataselect
      description: >-
        SCEDC's own machine-readable service description. Verified live 2026-08-19
        returning application/xml. This is the only machine-readable contract SCEDC
        itself publishes for the service.
      tags: [DataSelect]
      responses:
        '200':
          description: WADL document.
          content:
            application/xml:
              schema: { type: string }
  /dataselect/1/query:
    get:
      operationId: queryWaveforms
      summary: Retrieve time-series waveform data
      description: >-
        Returns miniSEED waveform data for the requested network, station, channel and
        time window. Verified live 2026-08-19 returning HTTP 204 for a window with no
        available data — the FDSN-standard no-data response.
      tags: [DataSelect]
      parameters:
        - name: net
          in: query
          schema: { type: string }
        - name: sta
          in: query
          schema: { type: string }
        - name: cha
          in: query
          schema: { type: string }
        - name: loc
          in: query
          description: Location code; `--` denotes a blank location code.
          schema: { type: string }
        - name: start
          in: query
          schema: { type: string }
        - name: end
          in: query
          schema: { type: string }
      responses:
        '200':
          description: miniSEED waveform data.
          content:
            application/vnd.fdsn.mseed:
              schema: { type: string, format: binary }
        '204':
          description: No waveform data available for the requested window. Verified live.
        '400':
          description: Malformed request.
          content:
            text/plain:
              schema: { type: string }