Seismological Facilities for the Advancement of Geoscience and EarthScope

Earthscope Consortium Inc., Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

The IRIS Consortium (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) provides, via the "Seismological Facilities for the Advancement of Geoscience and EarthScope" (SAGE), a suite of community-governed, multi-user facilities for instrumentation and data management that support research and education in seismology and the Earth sciences. The facilities include a high-performance network of more than 150 permanent stations providing data for global studies of earthquakes and deep Earth structure; a mobile array of more than 400 seismometers and atmospheric sensors completing a traverse of the conterminous United States and deploying to Alaska; and more than 4000 portable instruments (including magnetotelluric systems) are available for short-and long-term loan to university-based researchers for detailed studies as part of NSF-funded field programs. Future observing needs are being addressed via systematic engineering efforts. Data from all of these observational systems, along with extensive collections of seismic data contributed by other organizations, are freely and openly available through the IRIS Data Management Center. Data collected and distributed through IRIS facilities form the observational basis for most of the fundamental studies in seismology carried out by researchers at US universities and in many organizations worldwide. The stability and high quality of the permanent observatories capture both the short-term details of faulting during the seconds to minutes of rupture in major earthquakes as well as decadal-scale changes in global earthquake activity. Data from permanent, mobile, and portable arrays are used to resolve features in Earth structure over scales that range from the whole Earth, to lithosphere, to regional basins, to fault zones. These data provide fundamental information on Earth structure and processes that, in combination with other geoscience disciplines, contribute to enhanced understanding of how the active Earth evolves and deforms. As a part of EarthScope, these observations contribute to multidisciplinary studies that focus on the structure and dynamics of North America and contribute to unraveling the history of deformation of the continent. The IRIS program in Education and Public Outreach directly links the public and schools with the activities of an academic research community by demonstrating how basic seismological observations are made and used in Earth science investigations. Through a variety of activities that extend from the provision of classroom and web resources, to museum displays, public lectures, and internships, IRIS encourages students to engage in scientific inquiry and appreciate the importance of the Earth sciences in their lives. In addition to supporting fundamental research, the seismological resources provided by IRIS serve dual use by contributing directly to societal needs through reporting of global earthquake activity and applications in monitoring nuclear test ban treaties. Scientific and technical outreach by IRIS and its members as part of their international activities also provides assistance and guidance in the development and implementation of earthquake monitoring networks and hazard assessment, especially in developing countries.