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miniSEED Format

Description​

miniSEED is a compact binary format for continuous seismological time-series (waveforms). IterableData reads files with ObsPy and yields one record per trace. It is read-only, experimental, and registered under the geophysical extra. Aliases: miniseed.

File Extensions​

  • .mseed — miniSEED
  • .miniseed — alias

Implementation Details​

Reading​

  • Uses obspy.read(..., format="MSEED")
  • Prefers a filename; stream/codec input is buffered to bytes then parsed
  • Each row: station, channel, starttime, sampling_rate, data (sample list), plus optional network, location
  • Loads all traces into memory before iteration (is_streaming() is False)

Writing​

Writing is not supported (WriteNotSupportedError).

Key Features​

  • Trace-oriented rows: one waveform segment per record
  • ObsPy backed: standard seismology stack
  • Sample arrays as Python lists

Usage​

from iterable import open_iterable

with open_iterable("event.mseed") as source:
    for tr in source:
        print(tr["station"], tr["channel"], tr["starttime"], len(tr["data"]))

Parameters​

No format-specific iterableargs.

Installation​

pip install 'iterabledata[geophysical]'

Requires obspy (included in the geophysical extra).

Limitations​

  1. Read-only
  2. Memory: all traces (including sample arrays) loaded up front
  3. Experimental maturity
  4. Requires obspy
  5. Large continuous archives may be memory-heavy

Error Handling​

  • ImportError: missing obspy — install iterabledata[geophysical]
  • WriteNotSupportedError: write mode or write() / write_bulk()
  • ReadError: no filename, stream, or codec provided
  • I/O / ObsPy errors: corrupt miniSEED or missing files
  • SEG-Y — seismic traces
  • GRIB2 — meteorological messages
  • NetCDF — array-oriented scientific data