ALBERT

Description: The correct orientation of seismic sensors is critical for studies such as full moment tensor inversion, receiver function analysis, and shear‐wave splitting. Therefore, the orientation of horizontal components needs to be checked and verified systematically. This study relies on two different waveform‐based approaches, to assess the sensor orientations of the broadband network of the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute (KOERI). The network is an important backbone for seismological research in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and provides a comprehensive seismic data set for the North Anatolian fault. In recent years, this region became a worldwide field laboratory for continental transform faults. A systematic survey of the sensor orientations of the entire network, as presented here, facilitates related seismic studies. We apply two independent orientation tests, based on the polarization of P waves and Rayleigh waves to 123 broadband seismic stations, covering a period of 15 yr (2004–2018). For 114 stations, we obtain stable results with both methods. Approximately, 80% of the results agree with each other within 10°. Both methods indicate that about 40% of the stations are misoriented by more than 10°. Among these, 20 stations are misoriented by more than 20°. We observe temporal changes of sensor orientation that coincide with maintenance work or instrument replacement. We provide time‐dependent sensor misorientation correction values for the KOERI network in the supplemental material.