In previous ground-motion models, the range of applicability of the empirical ground-motion models was based on the range covered by the available empirical data set; however, in hazard studies, the ground motion must be computed for all relevant earthquakes, so the limits on the range of applicability were often ignored. To address this issue, the Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) project required the developers of the models to extrapolate their models such that they are applicable to all crustal earthquakes relevant for seismic hazard analyses in California.
