MiniSEED data is a stripped down version of SEED data which contains waveform data only, no station and channel meta data.

To facilitate use of the miniSEED data available from BUD and WILBER, some tools have been developed which allow data users to create custom dataless SEED files. A dataless SEED file contains only station and channel meta data. An appropriate dataless SEED file is needed in order to use the rdseed program with miniSEED data. The DMC maintains, in our ftp area, dataless SEED files organized by network which include meta data for all valid time spans. But these files are quite large causing rdseed to run slowly, and the organization by network is not ideal for all miniSEED data files.

For users familiar with the BREQ_FAST request format, a BREQ_FAST request can be sent to DATALESS@iris.washington.edu to request a dataless SEED file containing meta data for the requested station/channel/time spans.

For BUD users, the BUD Query Interface now offers the option of requesting a dataless SEED file after data selection has been done that is specific for the data selected. A dataless SEED file for all channels in BUD is available via ftp. View more documentation on this on the BUD start page.