Imperial Valley Dark Fiber Project (IVDF): Brawley EQ Cluster Catalog and DAS Event Dataset
The Imperial Valley Dark Fiber (IVDF) project deployed a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) interrogator on a pre-existing dark fiber cable running ~28 km
between Calipatria and Imperial, California, passing through the Brawley Geothermal Field and surrounding Brawley Seismic Zone in Southern California. DAS measurements provided a dense array of ~6,900 virtual sensors along the cable with a mean channel spacing of approximately 4 m (described in Ajo-Franklin et al., 2022, linked below).
This dataset contains waveform recordings of 16 local seismic events from a ~3-hour swarm-like sequence that occurred on May 14, 2021, in the Brawley Seismic Zone. Six events were identified in the Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN) catalog; the remaining ten were detected using the DAS array. All 16 events are located on a strike-slip fault (strike ~222 deg., dip ~80deg.) within a compact rupture zone of ~0.5 km diameter at depths of approximately 8.9-9.4 km, with local magnitudes ranging from ML 0.78 to 2.03. Hypocenters were determined on the fault plane by cross-correlation of DAS channel waveforms, referenced to event 14 (ML 1.22). The accompanying README provides general data informaiton, as well as naming and content descriptions of each file. Event origin times, locations, and magnitudes are provided in the accompanying catalog file (catalog_DASreloc_222-80_20210514.csv).
Citation Formats
TY - DATA
AB - The Imperial Valley Dark Fiber (IVDF) project deployed a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) interrogator on a pre-existing dark fiber cable running ~28 km
between Calipatria and Imperial, California, passing through the Brawley Geothermal Field and surrounding Brawley Seismic Zone in Southern California. DAS measurements provided a dense array of ~6,900 virtual sensors along the cable with a mean channel spacing of approximately 4 m (described in Ajo-Franklin et al., 2022, linked below).
This dataset contains waveform recordings of 16 local seismic events from a ~3-hour swarm-like sequence that occurred on May 14, 2021, in the Brawley Seismic Zone. Six events were identified in the Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN) catalog; the remaining ten were detected using the DAS array. All 16 events are located on a strike-slip fault (strike ~222 deg., dip ~80deg.) within a compact rupture zone of ~0.5 km diameter at depths of approximately 8.9-9.4 km, with local magnitudes ranging from ML 0.78 to 2.03. Hypocenters were determined on the fault plane by cross-correlation of DAS channel waveforms, referenced to event 14 (ML 1.22). The accompanying README provides general data informaiton, as well as naming and content descriptions of each file. Event origin times, locations, and magnitudes are provided in the accompanying catalog file (catalog_DASreloc_222-80_20210514.csv).
AU - Ajo-Franklin, Jonathan
A2 - Nayak, Avinash
A3 - Han, Sangwoo
A4 - Kim, YoungHee
A5 - Dobson, Patrick
A6 - Rodriguez Tribaldos, Veronica
DB - Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI)
DP - Open EI | National Laboratory of the Rockies
DO -
KW - geothermal
KW - energy
KW - DAS
KW - Distributed Acoustic Sensing
KW - Fiber Optic Sensing
KW - Brawley Seismic Zone
KW - Salton Sea
KW - Imperial Valley
KW - Brawley Field
KW - Earthquake
KW - Seismicity
KW - event catalog
KW - HDF5
KW - Southern California Seismic Network
KW - SCSN
KW - waveform recordings
KW - swarm
KW - raw data
KW - processed data
KW - geophysics
LA - English
DA - 2026/04/08
PY - 2026
PB - Rice University
T1 - Imperial Valley Dark Fiber Project (IVDF): Brawley EQ Cluster Catalog and DAS Event Dataset
UR - https://data.openei.org/submissions/8658
ER -
Ajo-Franklin, Jonathan, et al. Imperial Valley Dark Fiber Project (IVDF): Brawley EQ Cluster Catalog and DAS Event Dataset. Rice University, 8 April, 2026, GDR. https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/1829.
Ajo-Franklin, J., Nayak, A., Han, S., Kim, Y., Dobson, P., & Rodriguez Tribaldos, V. (2026). Imperial Valley Dark Fiber Project (IVDF): Brawley EQ Cluster Catalog and DAS Event Dataset. [Data set]. GDR. Rice University. https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/1829
Ajo-Franklin, Jonathan, Avinash Nayak, Sangwoo Han, YoungHee Kim, Patrick Dobson, and Veronica Rodriguez Tribaldos. Imperial Valley Dark Fiber Project (IVDF): Brawley EQ Cluster Catalog and DAS Event Dataset. Rice University, April, 8, 2026. Distributed by GDR. https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/1829
@misc{OEDI_Dataset_8658,
title = {Imperial Valley Dark Fiber Project (IVDF): Brawley EQ Cluster Catalog and DAS Event Dataset},
author = {Ajo-Franklin, Jonathan and Nayak, Avinash and Han, Sangwoo and Kim, YoungHee and Dobson, Patrick and Rodriguez Tribaldos, Veronica},
abstractNote = {The Imperial Valley Dark Fiber (IVDF) project deployed a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) interrogator on a pre-existing dark fiber cable running ~28 km
between Calipatria and Imperial, California, passing through the Brawley Geothermal Field and surrounding Brawley Seismic Zone in Southern California. DAS measurements provided a dense array of ~6,900 virtual sensors along the cable with a mean channel spacing of approximately 4 m (described in Ajo-Franklin et al., 2022, linked below).
This dataset contains waveform recordings of 16 local seismic events from a ~3-hour swarm-like sequence that occurred on May 14, 2021, in the Brawley Seismic Zone. Six events were identified in the Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN) catalog; the remaining ten were detected using the DAS array. All 16 events are located on a strike-slip fault (strike ~222 deg., dip ~80deg.) within a compact rupture zone of ~0.5 km diameter at depths of approximately 8.9-9.4 km, with local magnitudes ranging from ML 0.78 to 2.03. Hypocenters were determined on the fault plane by cross-correlation of DAS channel waveforms, referenced to event 14 (ML 1.22). The accompanying README provides general data informaiton, as well as naming and content descriptions of each file. Event origin times, locations, and magnitudes are provided in the accompanying catalog file (catalog_DASreloc_222-80_20210514.csv).
},
url = {https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/1829},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {GDR, Rice University, https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/1829},
note = {Accessed: 2026-06-04}
}
Details
Data from Apr 8, 2026
Last updated Apr 12, 2026
Submitted Apr 8, 2026
Organization
Rice University
Contact
Jonathan Ajo-Franklin
510.735.4350
Authors
Original Source
https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/1829Research Areas
Keywords
geothermal, energy, DAS, Distributed Acoustic Sensing, Fiber Optic Sensing, Brawley Seismic Zone, Salton Sea, Imperial Valley, Brawley Field, Earthquake, Seismicity, event catalog, HDF5, Southern California Seismic Network, SCSN, waveform recordings, swarm, raw data, processed data, geophysicsDOE Project Details
Project Name Using Dark Fiber and Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) to Map and Monitor Geothermal Resources at the Basin Scale
Project Lead Alexandra Prisjatschew
Project Number EE0035524

