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Founded | January 1, 2023 |
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Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
Services | Research, Education |
Website | www.earthscope.org |
EarthScope Consortium is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit geophysical science support organization. [1] [2] EarthScope Consortium operates two of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) major research facilities, the NSF Geodetic Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience (GAGE) and the NSF Seismological Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience (SAGE), [3] [4] which provide geophysical instrumentation, data access, and services to support geoscience research and education. [5]
EarthScope Consortium's corporate headquarters are located in Washington, D.C., and an instrument facility is located in Socorro, New Mexico. [6]
EarthScope Consortium was formed on January 1, 2023 through the merger of the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) and UNAVCO. [7] [8] [9] Both founded in 1984, IRIS and UNAVCO supported the U.S. scientific community's access to data, instrumentation, and educational resources within seismology and geodesy, respectively. [10] [11]
The "EarthScope Consortium" name is connected to IRIS and UNAVCO’s previous collaboration in the 2003–2018 NSF-funded EarthScope Program, which included operation of the USArray and Plate Boundary Observatory components. [12] [13]
EarthScope Consortium has two categories of membership: Voting Members and Associate Members. [14] Voting Members include U.S.-based educational and research institutions with research programs in geodesy, seismology, or related fields. These institutions have a direct role in setting priorities for the consortium.
Associate Members include other educational and research institutions in the U.S. that do not qualify for voting membership, U.S.-based or foreign-based government entities that participate in geodetic or seismological research, and foreign-based educational and research institutions that participate in geodetic or seismological research.
EarthScope Consortium currently has over 175 Voting Members and 220 Associate Members. [15] A Board of Directors elected by Voting Members serves as non-profit governance to EarthScope Consortium, and multiple Advisory Committees provide input on activities. [16]
Data services include: [17]
Instrumentation services include maintaining geophysical instruments for finite duration research projects (driven by Principal Investigators) and permanent geophysical networks. [18]
Engagement services include support for geoscience and geophysics education, skills training, outreach, and internship programs. [19]
The EarthScope Primary Instrument Center (EPIC) (formerly known as the IRIS PASSCAL Instrument Center) [20] is located in Socorro, New Mexico at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and houses central instrumentation maintenance and engineering activities. [21]
EPIC supports geophysical network operations in global and regional scientific networks, including: [22]
EarthScope Consortium is the operator of the NSF's Geodetic Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience (GAGE), previously operated by UNAVCO since the facility's creation in 2013. [22] The NSF GAGE Facility funding is designated to support: [23]
EarthScope Consortium is the operator of the NSF's Seismological Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience (SAGE), previously operated by IRIS since the facility's creation in 2013. [36] The NSF SAGE Facility funding is designated to support: [37]
Geophysics is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists, who usually study geophysics, physics, or one of the Earth sciences at the graduate level, complete investigations across a wide range of scientific disciplines. The term geophysics classically refers to solid earth applications: Earth's shape; its gravitational, magnetic fields, and electromagnetic fields ; its internal structure and composition; its dynamics and their surface expression in plate tectonics, the generation of magmas, volcanism and rock formation. However, modern geophysics organizations and pure scientists use a broader definition that includes the water cycle including snow and ice; fluid dynamics of the oceans and the atmosphere; electricity and magnetism in the ionosphere and magnetosphere and solar-terrestrial physics; and analogous problems associated with the Moon and other planets.
In satellite laser ranging (SLR) a global network of observation stations measures the round trip time of flight of ultrashort pulses of light to satellites equipped with retroreflectors. This provides instantaneous range measurements of millimeter level precision which can be accumulated to provide accurate measurement of orbits and a host of important scientific data. The laser pulse can also be reflected by the surface of a satellite without a retroreflector, which is used for tracking space debris.
The San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) was a research project that began in 2002 aimed at collecting geological data about the San Andreas Fault for the purpose of predicting and analyzing future earthquakes. The site consists of a 2.2 km pilot hole and a 3.2 km main hole. Drilling operations ceased in 2007. Located near the town of Parkfield, California, the project installed geophone sensors and GPS clocks in a borehole that cut directly through the fault. This data, along with samples collected during drilling, helped shed new light on geochemical and mechanical properties around the fault zone.
IRIS was a university research consortium dedicated to exploring the Earth's interior through the collection and distribution of seismographic data. IRIS programs contributed to scholarly research, education, earthquake hazard mitigation, and the verification of a Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. Support for IRIS came from the National Science Foundation, other federal agencies, universities, and private foundations. IRIS supported five major components:
The EarthScope project (2003-2018) was an National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Earth science program using geological and geophysical techniques to explore the structure and evolution of the North American continent and to understand the processes controlling earthquakes and volcanoes. The project had three components: USArray, the Plate Boundary Observatory, and the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth. Organizations associated with the project included UNAVCO, the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), Stanford University, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Several international organizations also contributed to the initiative. EarthScope data are publicly accessible.
USArray was one of the three components of the Earthscope project, the other two components being the Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) and the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD). The components were funded by the National Science Foundation and were constructed, operated, and maintained as a collaborative effort with UNAVCO, the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), and Stanford University, with contributions from several other national and international organizations.
The Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) was the geodetic component of the EarthScope Facility. EarthScope was an Earth science program that explored the 4-dimensional structure of the North American Continent. EarthScope was a 15-year project (2003-2018) funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in conjunction with NASA. PBO construction took place from October 2003 through September 2008. Phase 1 of operations and maintenance concluded in September 2013. Phase 2 of operations ended in September 2018, along with the end of the EarthScope project. In October 2018, PBO was assimilated into a broader Network of the Americas (NOTA), along with networks in Mexico (TLALOCNet) and the Caribbean (COCONet), as part of the NSF's Geodetic Facility for the Advancement of Geosciences (GAGE). GAGE is operated by EarthScope Consortium.
The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the scientific study of Earth and its space environment using geophysical and geodetic techniques. The IUGG is a member of the International Science Council (ISC), which is composed of international scholarly and scientific institutions and national academies of sciences.
The Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin unites the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences with two research units, the Institute for Geophysics and the Bureau of Economic Geology.
UNAVCO was a non-profit university-governed consortium that facilitated geology research and education using geodesy.
Richard C. Aster is an American seismologist and is Professor of Geophysics at Colorado State University.
Kristine Marie Larson is an American academic. She is Emeritus Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research considers the development of algorithms for high-precision Global Positioning System (GPS) data analysis. She was the first to demonstrate that GPS could be used to detect seismic waves. She was awarded the 2015 European Geosciences Union Christiaan Huygens Medal.
Frederik J. Simons is a Flemish Belgian geophysicist. He is a professor at Princeton University in the Department of Geosciences. From 2010 to 2013, Simons was the Dusenbury University Preceptor of Geological & Geophysical Sciences. From 2004 to 2006, he was a lecturer in the Department of Earth Sciences at University College London. Between 2002 and 2004 he was a Harry H. Hess Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Geosciences and a Beck Fellow with the Council on Science and Technology, also at Princeton University.
Thomas A. Herring is a geophysicist, known for developing and applying systems of space geodesy to high-precision geophysical measurements and geodynamic research.
Tonie Marie van Dam is an American geophysicist and geodesist, known for her pioneering research on solid Earth deformations due to loads from atmospheric and hydrologic pressures. She and her collaborators used space geodetic observations and modeling for increased precision in measuring and understanding such loads.
The U.S. National Science Foundation's Geodetic Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience is a geophysical facility for geoscience research and education. It focuses on research of Earth's surface deformation with enhanced temporal and spatial resolution—the field of geodesy. GAGE is one of the two premier geophysical facilities in support of geoscience and geoscience education of the National Science Foundation (NSF). The other geophysical facility is the Seismological Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience.
The U.S. National Science Foundation's Seismological Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience(NSF SAGE) is a distributed, multi-user national facility that provides support for state of-the-art seismic research. It is operated by EarthScope Consortium. Its previous operator was the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), until its merger with UNAVCO to become EarthScope Consortium. NSF SAGE is one of the two premier geophysical facilities in support of geoscience and geoscience education of the National Science Foundation (NSF). The other premiere geophysical facility is NSF GAGE, the Geodetic Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience.
The Polar Earth Observing Network (POLENET) is a global network involving researchers from 24 nations for the geophysical observation of the polar regions of our planet.
Continuously Operating Caribbean GPS Observational Network (COCONet) was a global positioning system (GPS) observation network that spanned across the Caribbean and the neighboring area It was part of UNAVCO (University Navstar Corporation). UNAVCO and IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) Consortium later merged to create EarthScope Consortium in 2023.
The EarthScope Primary Instrument Center is a research center at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology for geophysics research in Earth system science. The facility provides instrumentation and support services for seismology experiments around the world, as well as those for the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy.
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