Introduction to hvsrpy

About hvsrpy

hvsrpy is an open-source Python package for performing horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) processing of microtremor and earthquake recordings. hvsrpy was developed by Joseph P. Vantassel with contributions from Dana M. Brannon under the supervision of Professor Brady R. Cox at The University of Texas at Austin. hvsrpy continues to be developed and maintained by Joseph P. Vantassel and his research group at Virginia Tech.

Citation

If you use hvsrpy in your research or consulting, we ask you please cite the following:

Vantassel, J.P. (2025). “hvsrpy: An Open-Source Python Package for Microtremor and Earthquake Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratio Processing”. Seismological Research Letters. 96 (4): 2671-2682, https://doi.org/10.1785/0220240395

Vantassel, J.P. (2020). jpvantassel/hvsrpy: latest (Concept). Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3666956

Note

For software, version specific citations should be preferred to concept citations. To generate a version specific citation for hvsrpy, use the citation tool on the hvsrpy archive.

References to Implemented Work

hvsrpy implements the work of many others. We strongly encourage users to cite original work alongside hvsrpy. The references below provide background on the calculations performed by hvsrpy. We ask you please cite them appropriately.

Cox, B. R., Cheng, T., Vantassel, J. P., and Manuel, L. (2020). “A statistical representation and frequency-domain window-rejection algorithm for single-station HVSR measurements. Geophysical Journal International, 221(3), 2170-2183. https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggaa119

Cheng, T., Cox, B. R., Vantassel, J. P., and Manuel, L. (2020). “A statistical approach to account for azimuthal variability in single-station HVSR measurements.” Geophysical Journal International, 223(2), 1040-1053. https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggaa342

Cheng, T., Hallal, M. M., Vantassel, J. P., and Cox, B. R., (2021). “Estimating Unbiased Statistics for Fundamental Site Frequency Using Spatially Distributed HVSR Measurements and Voronoi Tessellation. J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 147, 04021068. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0002551

SESAME. (2004). Guidelines for the Implementation of the H/V Spectral Ratio Technique on Ambient Vibrations Measurements, Processing, and Interpretation. European Commission - Research General Directorate, 62, European Commission - Research General Directorate.

Welch, P., (1967). The use of fast Fourier transform for the estimation of power spectra: a method based on time averaging over short, modified periodograms. IEEE Transactions on audio and electroacoustics, 15(2), pp.70-73.