On Expansion of the Seismic Observation Network in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania

In 2019 and 2021, the seismic observation network of the North Osetia Branch of the Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was expanded in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania. In addition to the existing seismic network, two new digital seismic stations were opened in the Mairamadag and Popov Khutor settlements to increase a sensitivity of the seismic network in the Vladikavkaz seismic source zone. This paper provides the data on location sites chosen for new observation points, specifications of the installed equipment, and estimated noise spectral power of each new station in comparison with the average Peterson global noise curves. In addition, the velocity profiles were constructed for each new station site by the surface wave spectral analysis. The example of a weak earthquake was used to show that the new stations made it possible to record those seismic events in the Vladikavkaz seismic source zone, which would remain unnoticed with the use of the previous network configuration.