Engineering Strong Motion Database (ESM), version 3.0

Type Data Collection Class type Seismological and infrasonic data (Earth and sea)

Strong-Motion Earthquakes Acceleration Waveforms Engineering Seismology Earthquake Engineering Geology


ESM, the Engineering Strong-Motion Database, provides a set of facilities to search, select, download and analyse ground-motion data and associated metadata. The waveforms contained in ESM are relative to events with magnitude ≥ 4.0, mainly recorded in the European-Mediterranean regions and the Middle-East. ESM is targeted to applied seismologists, earthquake engineers, professional engineers, geologists, and policy makers.

ESM main features are: Access to authoritative strong-motion data and metadata; Manual processing and quality check of waveforms; Periodic upload of waveforms and revision of related metadata; Standardization of waveforms and metadata according to the Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks (FDSN); Data interoperability with other datasets and open-source software (e.g. Obspy); Availability of facilities for engineering seismology and earthquake engineering; Documentation for the User. ESM is fully compatible with the European Integrated Data Archive (EIDA), a distributed data centre established to securely archive seismic waveform data and related metadata, based on international seismological standards. ESM also includes off-line data, available in regional archives, such as the European Strong-Motion Database (ISESD), the ITalian ACcelerometric Archive (ITACA), the Strong Ground Motion Database of Turkey and the HEllenic Accelerogram Database (HEAD).

The philosophy of data collection is described in Luzi et al. (2016) . ESM is developed and maintained by the ESM WG of INGV under the general coordination of the ORFEUS strong-motion management committee,and has been supported by the following Projects: European Plate Observing System (EPOS, GA 676564); Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Research Infrastructure Alliance for Europe (SERA, GA 730900).

Data and Resources

This dataset has no data

Cite as

Mascandola C., Felicetta C., Russo E., Luzi L., Lanzano G., Sgobba S., … ORFEUS Strong-Motion SMC. (2026, February). Engineering Strong Motion Database (ESM), version 3.0. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). https://doi.org/10.13127/esm.3

Available data encoding formats html jpg, jpeg txt ascii qml miniSEED stationxml json, js

Field Value
Version 3.0
Dataset Identifier (DOI) 10.13127/esm.3
Acronym ESM
Other Identifier OthId Identifier: ingv_1177
OthId Organization: INGV
Dataset Themes TECH
Publisher Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Release Date 2026-02
Modification Date 12-03-2026
Geographical Name Organizational Unit Responsible Competence Area
GeoNames URL Not available
Dataset Languages ITA
Temporal Coverage From 01-01-1967
Rights holder Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
ROR 00qps9a02
IPA ingv
Update frequency continuously updated
Version Of Not available
Spatial extent {"type": "MultiPolygon","coordinates": [[[ [-30,70], [60,70], [60,25], [-30,25], [-30,70] ]]]}
Authors MASCANDOLA Claudia
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy
FELICETTA Chiara
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy
RUSSO Emiliano
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy
LUZI Lucia
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy
LANZANO Giovanni
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy
SGOBBA Sara
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy
BRUNELLI Giulio
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy
RAMADAN Fadel
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy
PACOR Francesca
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy
ORFEUS Strong-Motion SMC
Observatories and Research Facilities for European Seismology (ORFEUS), Netherlands
Class type Earthquakes Department
Seismological and infrasonic data (Earth and sea)

Contributing projects

  • NERA - Network of European Research Infrastructures for Earthquake Risk Assessment and Mitigation
    European Commission (EC) - FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES
    [ 2010-11-01 ⇒ 2014-10-31 ]
  • EPOS MUR
    Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca (MUR)
    [ 2011-11-29 ⇒ 2031-12-31 ]
  • SERA - Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Research Infrastructure Alliance for Europe
    European Commission (EC) - H2020-INFRAIA-2016-2017
    [ 2017-05-01 ⇒ 2020-04-30 ]
  • EPOS IP - European Plate Observing System
    European Commission (EC) - H2020-EU.1.4.1.1.
    [ 2015-10-01 ⇒ 2019-09-30 ]
  • Bilateral agreement between INGV-MI-ESM and ORFEUS for EPOS TCS Seismology - ORFEUS MYCA 2024-2028
    Observatories and Research Facilities for European Seismology (ORFEUS)
    [ 2024-01-01 ⇒ 2028-12-31 ]
  • Bilateral agreement between INGV-MI-ESM and ORFEUS for EPOS TCS Seismology - ORFEUS MYCA 2022-2023
    Observatories and Research Facilities for European Seismology (ORFEUS)
    [ 2022-10-07 ⇒ 2024-12-31 ]

Other contributors

  • MASCANDOLA Claudia (Project Manager)
  • FELICETTA Chiara (Data Manager)
  • RUSSO Emiliano (Data Manager)
  • LUZI Lucia (Supervisor)
  • LANZANO Giovanni (Researcher)
  • SGOBBA Sara (Researcher)
  • BRUNELLI Giulio (Researcher)
  • RAMADAN Fadel (Researcher)
  • PACOR Francesca (Supervisor)
  • Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) (Hosting Institution)
  • ORFEUS Strong-Motion SMC (Research Group)

Data schema

Standard FDSN event

Standard FDSN station

Standard other

Previous datasets

  • The dataset is a newer version of
    • Luzi L., Lanzano G., Felicetta C., D’Amico, M. C., Russo E., Sgobba S., … ORFEUS Working Group 5. (2020, July 10). Engineering Strong Motion Database (ESM), version 2.0. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). https://doi.org/10.13127/esm.2
    • Luzi, L., Puglia, R., Russo, E., ORFEUS Working Group 5. (2015, July 31). Engineering Strong Motion Database (ESM), version 1.0 (Version 1.0). Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). https://doi.org/10.13127/ESM