European Plate Observing System Research Articles

Data Delivery Indicators in EIDA: Designing a Consistent Metrics System in a Distributed Services Environment

The European Integrated Data Archive (EIDA) is a data service within Observatories and Research Facilities for European Seismology (ORFEUS) which distributes seismological waveform data across, presently, 12 federated data centres, so-called EIDA nodes. EIDA is also integrated into the European Research Infrastructure EPOS (European Plate Observing System). The increasing need of quantifying the scientific impact of such Research Infrastructures at all levels of operations has led EIDA to develop a unified system able to provide global indicators for data delivery across all EIDA nodes. To achieve this goal, EIDA implemented a system where the numbers are collected and aggregated by each EIDA node and ingested in a centralised database, accessible through an online API. The successful implementation of the system stems from carefully identifying the relevant indicators for well-defined groups of users. The implementation combines simplicity and robustness whilst respecting the distributed design of EIDA. The architecture and implementation choices may be of interest to other multi-site data distribution research infrastructures that face the challenge of providing meaningful key performance indicators.

The Built Environment Data platform for experimental test data in earthquake engineering

AbstractExperimental testing of full structural systems and their components is crucial for understanding their response to earthquakes. Since the 1960s, global interest in such testing has grown, supported by numerous national and international funding initiatives. This has resulted in valuable data that has improved understanding of structural behaviour, spurred the development of new mitigation solutions and helped validate numerical models critical for simulation studies. These advancements have enabled engineers to improve building codes and guidelines, and have allowed risk modellers to more accurately assess risk. With advanced computational resources, integrating experimental findings into broader initiatives becomes crucial. This article discusses a recent European initiative, Built Environment Data (BED) (https://builtenvdata.eu/), which currently offers a platform to store and manage data from experimental research, embodied carbon and simulated design services. BED aims to serve the European Plate Observing System (EPOS) distributed research infrastructure as one of its Thematic Core Services (TCSs). This paper focuses on the Experiments service for managing experimental data, compares it to similar global efforts and outlines the specific requirements and system architecture, including the web services and datasets currently offered. The Experiments service is expected to significantly support engineers worldwide by making experimental research and data more findable, accessible, inter‐operable and re‐usable.

Earth Observation Capacity of the National Geoinformation Center of Bulgaria as Part of the Tools for Geo- and Anthropogenic-Hazard Management in EPOS

Exploring the nature of the Earth system and its multi-scale architecture requires an integrated symbiotic approach not only to understand our planet but also to reveal the hazards and footprints of their events on human life. Following the conceptual model of the European Plate Observing System (EPOS) we integrate a variety of research to obtain a multilateral use of geoinformation for scientific and practical purposes. In 2018, we started building a Bulgarian distributed scientific infrastructure called the National Geoinformation Center, aiming to provide data, products, and expertise to predict and prevent natural and anthropogenic risks and disasters, as well as environmental changes. The present paper demonstrates the capabilities of seismological, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), geomagnetic and multi-scale laboratories (MSL) in Bulgaria that participate to the respective thematic core services of EPOS. More than 40 seismological stations register and transmit data in real time through the operational center of the Bulgarian Seismological Network. Data from 18 GNSS stations, part of the National GNSS network, are officially registered in the EPOS GNSS Data Gateway. Data and products are available via the EPOS GNSS Product Portal for interested users. Panagjurishte geomagnetic observatory (PAG) provides real time variations and long-period data series for the Earth’s magnetic field. The Palaeomagnetic Laboratory at the National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography (NIGGG) participates in MSL with its unique facilities for paleo-, archeo- and environmental magnetism studies. Four case studies are presented to illustrate best practices for utilizing the data collected. The analysis of seismicity in a region of a long-time exploited salt deposit is upgraded with GNSS data to reveal the reason for crustal movements in the region. The results show that the majority of the seismic events took place in the upper part of the Earth’s crust at a depth of up to 5 km, where the salt body is buried. The observed significant local deformations of the Earth’s surface are very likely related to the technological process of deposit exploitation. A recent model of the geomagnetic declination over the Bulgarian territory is also presented. It tracks the variation of the regional magnetic field from 2015 to 2020 and adds short-wavelength signals from the secular network observations. Last but not least, the application of a mineral magnetic laboratory analysis along the depth of a Holocene soil profile is demonstrated. Results reveal the soil evolution in response to environmental changes adding a new magnetic proxy parameter for more precise identification and characterization of the soil formation processes.

The EPOS multi-disciplinary Data Portal for integrated access to solid Earth science datasets

The European Plate Observing System (EPOS) is a long-term initiative aimed at integrating research infrastructures for solid Earth science in Europe. EPOS provides a sustainable, multidisciplinary user-oriented platform - the EPOS Data Portal - that facilitates data integration, access, use, and re-use, while adhering to the FAIR principles. The paper describes the key governance, community building, and technical aspects for achieving multidisciplinary data integration through the portal. It also outlines the key portal features for aggregating approximately 250 data sources from more than ten different scientific communities. The main architectural concepts underpinning the portal, namely the rich-metadata, the service-driven data provision, and the usage of semantics, are outlined. The paper discusses the challenges encountered during the creation of the portal, describes the community engagement process, and highlights the benefits to the scientific community and society. Future work includes expanding portal functionalities to include data analysis, processing, and visualization and releasing the portal as an open-source software package.

CRISP: an archive for the site characterization of permanent Italian seismic stations

In this paper we describe an advanced database for the site characterization of seismic stations, named “CRISP—Caratterizzazione della RIsposta sismica dei Siti Permanenti della rete sismica” (http://crisp.ingv.it, quoted with https://doi.org/10.13127/crisp), designed for the Italian National Seismic Network (Rete Sismica Nazionale, RSN, operated by Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia). For each site, CRISP collects easily accessible station information, such as position, type(s) of instrumentation, instrument housing, thematic map(s) and descriptive attributes (e.g., geological characteristics, etc.), seismic analysis of recordings, and available geophysical investigations (shear-wave velocity [VS] profile, non-linear decay curve). The archive also provides key proxy indicators derived from the available data, such as the time-averaged shear-wave velocity of the upper 30 m from the surface (VS30) and site and topographic classes according to the different seismic codes. Standardized procedures have been applied as motivated by the need for a homogenous set of information for all the stations. According to European Plate Observing System infrastructural objectives for the standardization of seismological data, CRISP is integrated into pre-existing INGV instrument infrastructures, shares content with the Italian Accelerometric Archive, and complies map information about the stations, as well as local geology, through web services managed by Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale. The design of the CRISP archive allows the database to be continually updated and expanded whenever new data are available from the scientific community, such as the ones related to new seismic stations, map information, geophysical surveys, and seismological analyses.

Communication strategy and plans for research infrastructures: the EPOS case

Strategic research communication has found an increasing recognition in recent years. Research infrastructures (RIs) are called upon to effectively communicate the scientific research they foster in order to ensure that they attract users and their findings may influence both policy-makers and society at large. Not to mention that many funding bodies are making communication a requirement when it comes to allocating research funds. The current paper reflects on the experience of developing a communication strategy for the European research infrastructure EPOS (European Plate Observing System) and highlights some challenges and best practices to set up and maintain the critical links between people, ideas and information that are vital for the success of every communication plan. The complex nature of the EPOS RI revealed a series of challenges and opportunities that need to be fully embraced if EPOS research findings are to have maximum possible impact and demonstrate their worth for all stakeholders involved. We started with an in-depth analysis of the EPOS mission, vision and value proposition, then moved on to identifying weaknesses and strengths to build on and eventually envisage pathways for improving internal and external communication and further engaging the different EPOS communities and stakeholders.

The EPOS Multi-Scale Laboratories: A FAIR Framework for stimulating Open Science practice across European Earth Sciences Laboratories

The Multi-scale Laboratories (MSL) are a network of European laboratories bringing together the scientific fields of analogue modeling, paleomagnetism, experimental rock and melt physics, geo- chemistry and microscopy. MSL is one of nine (see below) Thematic Core Services (TCS) of the European Plate Observing System (EPOS). The overarching goal of EPOS is to establish a compre- hensive multidisciplinary research platform for the Earth sciences in Europe. It aims at facilitating the integrated use of data, models, and facilities, from both existing and new distributed pan European Research Infrastructures, allowing open access and transparent use of data. The TCS MSL network allows researchers to collaborate with other labs and scientists. By becoming part of the rapidly growing TCS MSL network, new laboratories are offered a platform to showcase their research data output, laboratory equipment and information, and the opportunity to open laboratories to guest researchers through the Transnational Access (TNA) program. The EPOS Multi-scale laboratories offer researchers a fully operational data publication chain tailored to the specific needs of laboratory research, from a bespoke metadata editor, through dedi­ cated, (domain­specific) data repositories, to the MSL Portal showcasing these citable data publica- tions. During this process the data publications are assigned with digital object identidiers (DOI), published with open licenses (e.g. CC BY 4.0) and described with standardized and machine-read- able rich metadata (following the FAIR Principles to make research data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. The TCS MSL is currently working on linking these data publications to the EPOS Central Portal1, the main discovery and access point for European multi-disciplinary data, and on increasing the number of connected data repositories.

A new European service to share GNSS Data and Products

This paper describes the new GNSS data and product services that have been developed within the context of the EPOS (European Plate Observing System) European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), which is part of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures. These services, optimized for Solid Earth research applications, endeavour to harmonise, and standardise Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data collection and processing. They have been implemented by the members of the GNSS Data & Products (EPOS-GNSS), one of the Thematic Core Services (TCS) of EPOS with the active support of national and pan-European infrastructures (in particular the Regional Reference Frame Sub-Commission for Europe (EUREF) of the International Association of Geodesy). The optimized use of data from dozens of diverse European GNSS networks, installed not specifically for geodynamic studies, created additional requirements from an organizational and technical point of view, the solutions for which we describe in this article. The data flows from data suppliers and analysis centers to the various TCS Data & Product Portals are described, as well as their integration into the overall EPOS system. This is made through GLASS (GNSS Linkage Advanced Software System), a dedicated software package developed since 2016, whose architecture and functionalities are detailed here. Time series and other GNSS products computed at the several analysis centers are described as are the quality control steps that are performed. Finally, several user cases are presented that demonstrate how different stakeholders (from data providers to scientists) can benefit from the efforts being carried out by the EPOS- GNSS community.

The integrated multidisciplinary European volcano infrastructure: from the conception to the implementation

Recent decades have highlighted the increasing need to connect and strengthen the volcanology community at European level. Indeed, research in the volcanology field is highly qualified in Europe and the volcano monitoring infrastructures have achieved valuable know-how, becoming the state-of-the-art in the world. However, the lack of common good practices in sciences and technologies, missing standards, as well as a significant fragmentation of the community requires coordination to move forward and guarantee a trans-national harmonisation. The European Plate Observing System (EPOS) represented the first opportunity to initiate this process of coordination by encouraging the creation of a European volcanological scientific infrastructure for data and service sharing. During the preparation and the design of EPOS, the volcanology community identified the objectives and the needs of the community building, the services to be provided and the work plan to implement the infrastructure. To achieve this aim, the contribution from three European projects FUTUREVOLC, MED-SUV and EUROVOLC was essential. This paper presents the main steps performed during the last years for building the community and implementing the infrastructure. This paper also describes the strategic choices and actions taken to realise the infrastructure such as the establishment of the Volcano Observation Thematic Core Service (TCS), whose structure and activity are described.

The Near Fault Observatory community in Europe: a new resource for faulting and hazard studies

The Near Fault Observatories (NFOs) community is one of the European Plate Observing System (EPOS, http://www.epos-eu.org) Thematic Communities, today consisting of six research infrastructures that operate in regions characterised by high seismic hazard originating from different tectonic regimes. Earthquakes respond to complex natural systems whose mechanical properties evolve over time. Thus, in order to understand the multi-scale, physical/chemical processes responsible for the faulting that earthquakes occur on, it is required to consider phenomena that intersect different research fields, i.e., to put in place multidisciplinary monitoring. Hence, NFOs are grounded on modern and multidisciplinary infrastructures, collecting near fault high resolution raw data that allows generation of innovative scientific products. The NFOs usually complement regional backbone networks with a higher density distribution of seismic, geodetic, geochemical and other geophysical sensors, at surface and sometimes below grade. These dense and modern networks of multi-parametric sensors are sited at and around active faults, where moderate to large earthquakes have occurred in the past and are expected in the future. They continuously monitor the underlying Earth instability processes over a broad time interval. Data collected at each NFO results in an exceptionally high degree of knowledge of the geometry and parameters characterizing the local geological faults and their deformation pattern. The novel data produced by the NFO community is aggregated in EPOS and is made available to a diverse set of stakeholders through the NFO Federated Specific Data Gateway (FRIDGE). In the broader domain of the Solid Earth sciences, NFOs meet the growing expectations of the learning and communication sectors by hosting a large variety of scientific information about earthquakes as a natural phenomenon and a societal issue. It represents the EPOS concept and objective of aggregating and harmonising the European research infrastructures capabilities to facilitate broader scientific opportunity. The NFOs are at the cutting edge of network monitoring. They conduct multidisciplinary experiments for testing multi-sensor stations, as well as realise robust and ultra-low latency, transmission systems that can routinely accommodate temporary monitoring densification. The effort to continuously upgrade the technological efficiency of monitoring systems positions the NFO at the centre of marketing opportunities for the European enterprises devoted to new sensor technology. The NFOs constitute ideal test beds for generating expertise on data integration, creating tools for the next generation of multidisciplinary research, routine data analysis and data visualization. In particular focus is often on near-real time tools and triggering alarms at different levels are tested and implemented, strengthening the cooperation with the Agencies for risk management. NFOs have developed innovative operational actions such as the Testing Centre for Earthquake Early Warning and Source Characterisation (CREW) and detailed fast ground shaking and damage characterization. Complementing the recent growth of modern laboratory and computational models, the NFOs can provide interdisciplinary observations of comparable high resolution to describe the behaviour of fault slip over a vast range of spatial and temporal scales and aiding to provide more accurate earthquake hazard characterizations.

EPOS Thematic Core Service Anthropogenic Hazards in the operational phase

The problem of hazards induced by the exploitation of geo-resources focuses growing interest of science, industry, public administration, non-governmental organisations and the general public. Anthropogenic seismicity, i.e. the undesired dynamic rock mass response to geo-resources exploitation, is one of the examples of unwanted by-products of the technological operation of humans. The socio-economic impact of the induced seismicity is very significant. Induced earthquakes can cause material loss, injuries and even fatalities. Restricted access to data constitutes a barrier to assessing and mitigating the associated hazards. To respond to the need of the scientific community the Thematic Core Service Anthropogenic Hazards (TCS AH) has been created within the framework of the European Plate Observing System, a solid earth science European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC). TCS AH is an open consortium of 13 European institutions. TCS AH provides access to a novel e-research infrastructure, the EPISODES Platform (former name: IS-EPOS platform) to foster both research and training on induced seismicity and geo-hazards related to the exploration and exploitation of geo-resources. The EPISODES Platform is connected to international data nodes which offer open access to multidisciplinary datasets, called episodes. Episodes comprise geoscientific and associated data from industrial activity along with a large set of embedded applications for their efficient data processing, analysis and visualization. The EPISODES Platform opens also the possibility to create new applications and combine implemented applications with the user's codes. The team-working features of the EPISODES Platform facilitate collaborative and interdisciplinary scientific research, public understanding of science, citizen science applications, knowledge dissemination, and the teaching of anthropogenic hazards related to geo-resource exploitation. This study presents the current results of the TCS AH research infrastructure integration and also indicates the benefits of their usage for science, education, and innovation.

Integrating geological data in Europe to foster multidisciplinary research

The European Plate Observing System (EPOS, www.epos-eu.org) is a multidisciplinary pan-European research infrastructure for solid Earth science. It integrates a series of domain-specific service hubs (Thematic Core Service, TCS) such as the Geological Information and Modelling, which provides access to data, data products and services on European boreholes, geological maps, mineral occurrences, mines and 3D models. TCS GIM services are hosted by a group of European Geological Surveys and a couple of national research organizations. This paper presents novel data discovery and integration, facilitated using borehole logging information with on-demand web services to produce 3D geological structures. This domain interoperability across EPOS was created for the purpose of research, but it is also highly relevant for the response to societal grand challenges such as natural hazards and climate change. European and international interoperability implementation frameworks are well described and used (e.g., INSPIRE, ISO, OGC, and IUGS/CGI). It can be difficult for data providers to deploy web services that support the full semantic data definition (e.g., OGC Complex Feature) to expose several millions of geological entities through web-enabled data portals as required by pan-European projects. The TCS GIM group implemented and innovatively extended two standardized descriptions, i.e. GeoSciML-Lite and EarthResourceML-Lite, with an important reuse of content from Linked Data Registries. This approach was applied to design and implement the European Borehole Index and associated web services (View-WMS and Discovery-WFS), extended to 3D models, geological maps as well as mineral occurrences and mines. Results presented here apply the Linked Data approach ensuring optimal semantic description and enriching the data graphs, with complex descriptions and contents. In this way, it is now possible to traverse from one Borehole Index instance to linked richer information such as the borehole geological log, groundwater levels, rock sample description, analyses, etc. All this detailed information is served following international interoperability standards (Observations & Measurements, GroundWaterML 2.0, GeoSciML4, amongst others).

National EPOS initiatives and participation to the EPOS integration plan

European Plate Observing System (EPOS) is designed on a three-level architecture. The national research infrastructures (NRIs) constitute the backbone of the EPOS delivery framework, where data are generated, processed, analyzed and archived. These data are then integrated by thematic core services (TCS) and distributed through the centralized integrated core services (ICS). In this architecture, data provision from the NRIs is an essential element for the sustainable operation of the EPOS research infrastructure (RI). National EPOS initiatives in various countries in Europe are developed thanks to the increased awareness of the importance of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) data management in science. As such, out of the 14 countries (13 members and one observer) that constitute the EPOS European Research Infrastructure Consortium (EPOS-ERIC), 11 have dedicated EPOS consortia established and included in the national roadmaps for research infrastructures. Moreover, there are in total 24 countries involved in the EPOS delivery framework where 10 are not yet members of EPOS-ERIC. However, the diversity of regulations and procedures adopted in different countries, hampers the development of dedicated EPOS consortia contributing to sustainability. In this paper, the national EPOS initiatives are discussed in order to emphasize synergies achieved and the shared efforts to build the EPOS RI during its life-cycle (the design, preparation, implementation, and pilot operational phases), tackling the challenge of sustainable operation.

Long-term sustainability of a distributed RI: the EPOS case

The European Plate Observing System (EPOS) is a distributed research infrastructure (RI) with the mission to establish and maintain sustainable and long-term access to solid Earth science data and services by integrating the diverse national research infrastructures under a common federated framework governed by EPOS ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium). This paper presents the EPOS approach to ensure financial viability and to tackle the challenge of long-term sustainability of the RI during its operational phase. The EPOS approach to sustainable operation considers the scientific impact and the promotion of scientific research as the preconditions to achieve long-term sustainability. Enabling scientific excellence implies that high-quality data and services are provided reliably and continuously to establish the RI as the enabler of investigations to solid Earth scientists. The strategic approach and the solutions adopted by EPOS ERIC to address the long-term sustainability of a pan-European distributed RI are discussed in this paper focusing on the governance structure, considered as the qualifying dimension that gathers and connects the financial, legal and technical dimensions. The governance and the financial models are discussed to delineate the legal framework necessary to operate the EPOS RI relying on the implemented technical solutions. A sufficiently stable investment environment is necessary to allow the RI to concentrate on providing high quality services for their user communities. This paper discusses the current actions and challenges to be addressed for achieving this goal.

Data integration and FAIR data management in Solid Earth Science

Integrated use of multidisciplinary data is nowadays a recognized trend in scientific research, in particular in the domain of solid Earth science where the understanding of a physical process is improved and made complete by different types of measurements – for instance, ground acceleration, SAR imaging, crustal deformation – describing a physical phenomenon. FAIR principles are recognized as a means to foster data integration by providing a common set of criteria for building data stewardship systems for Open Science. However, the implementation of FAIR principles raises issues along dimensions like governance and legal beyond, of course, the technical one. In the latter, in particular, the development of FAIR data provision systems is often delegated to Research Infrastructures or data providers, with support in terms of metrics and best practices offered by cluster projects or dedicated initiatives. In the current work, we describe the approach to FAIR data management in the European Plate Observing System (EPOS), a distributed research infrastructure in the solid Earth science domain that includes more than 250 individual research infrastructures across 25 countries in Europe. We focus in particular on the technical aspects, but including also governance, policies and organizational elements, by describing the architecture of the EPOS delivery framework both from the organizational and technical point of view and by outlining the key principles used in the technical design. We describe how a combination of approaches, namely rich metadata and service-based systems design, are required to achieve data integration. We show the system architecture and the basic features of the EPOS data portal, that integrates data from more than 220 services in a FAIR way. The construction of such a portal was driven by the EPOS FAIR data management approach, that by defining a clear roadmap for compliance with the FAIR principles, produced a number of best practices and technical approaches for complying with the FAIR principles. Such a work, that spans over a decade but concentrates the key efforts in the last 5 years with the EPOS Implementation Phase project and the establishment of EPOS-ERIC, was carried out in synergy with other EU initiatives dealing with FAIR data. On the basis of the EPOS experience, future directions are outlined, emphasizing the need to provide i) FAIR reference architectures that can ease data practitioners and engineers from the domain communities to adopt FAIR principles and build FAIR data systems; ii) a FAIR data management framework addressing FAIR through the entire data lifecycle, including reproducibility and provenance; and iii) the extension of the FAIR principles to policies and governance dimensions. .

The EPOS Research Infrastructure: a federated approach to integrate solid Earth science data and services

The European Plate Observing System (EPOS) is a Research Infrastructure (RI) committed to enabling excellent science through the integration, accessibility, use and re-use of solid Earth science data, research products and services, as well as by promoting physical access to research facilities. This article presents and describes the EPOS RI and introduces the contents of its Delivery Framework. In November 2018, EPOS ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium) has been granted by the European Commission and was established to design and implement a long-term plan for the integration of research infrastructures for solid Earth science in Europe. Specifically, the EPOS mission is to create and operate a highly distributed and sustainable research infrastructure to provide coordinated access to harmonized, interoperable and quality-controlled data from diverse solid Earth science disciplines, together with tools for their use in analysis and modelling. EPOS relies on leading-edge e-science solutions and is committed to open access, thus enabling a step towards the change in multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary scientific research in Earth science. The EPOS architecture and its Delivery Framework are discussed in this article to present the contributions to open science and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data management, as well as to emphasize the community building process that supported the design, implementation and construction of the EPOS RI.

Towards the new Thematic Core Service Tsunami within the EPOS Research Infrastructure

Tsunamis constitute a significant hazard for European coastal populations, and the impact of tsunami events worldwide can extend well beyond the coastal regions directly affected. Understanding the complex mechanisms of tsunami generation, propagation, and inundation, as well as managing the tsunami risk, requires multidisciplinary research and infrastructures that cross national boundaries. Recent decades have seen both great advances in tsunami science and consolidation of the European tsunami research community. A recurring theme has been the need for a sustainable platform for coordinated tsunami community activities and a hub for tsunami services. Following about three years of preparation, in July 2021, the European tsunami community attained the status of Candidate Thematic Core Service (cTCS) within the European Plate Observing System (EPOS) Research Infrastructure. Within a transition period of three years, the Tsunami candidate TCS is anticipated to develop into a fully operational EPOS TCS. We here outline the path taken to reach this point, and the envisaged form of the future EPOS TCS Tsunami. Our cTCS is planned to be organised within four thematic pillars: (1) Support to Tsunami Service Providers, (2) Tsunami Data, (3) Numerical Models, and (4) Hazard and Risk Products. We outline how identified needs in tsunami science and tsunami risk mitigation will be addressed within this structure and how participation within EPOS will become an integration point for community development.

Transnational Access to Research Facilities: an EPOS service to promote multi‑domain Solid Earth Sciences in Europe

Transnational access (TNA) allows cross-border, short-term and frequently free-of-charge access to world-class research facilities, to foster collaborations and exchanges of experience. Specifically, TNA aims to encourage open science and innovation and to increase the efficient and effective use of scientific infrastructure. Within EPOS, the European Plate Observing System, the Volcano Observatories and Multi-scale Laboratories communities have offered TNA to their high-quality research facilities through national and European funding. This experience has allowed the definition, design, and testing of procedures and activities needed to provide transnational access inn the EPOS context. In this paper, the EPOS community describes the main objectives for the provision of transnational access in the EPOS framework, based on previous experiences. It includes practical procedures for managing transnational access from a legal, governance, and financial perspective, and proposes logistical and technical solutions to effectively execute transnational access activities. In addition, it provides an outlook on the inclusion of new thematic communities within the TNA framework, and addresses the challenges of providing market-driven access to industry.

Preface to the Special Issue: EPOS a Research Infrastructure in solid Earth: open science and innovation.

This special issue of Annals of Geophysics is dedicated to present and discuss a research infrastructure whose goal is integrating and providing access to solid Earth science data, research products and services as well as promoting physical access to research facilities. This research infrastructure is the European Plate Observing System (EPOS, www.epos-eu.org). The idea of the special issue was matured considering the centrality of research infrastructures in the research process, promoting open science and enabling new forms of research and collaborations by providing solutions to share and distribute data and scientific products. Research infrastructures play a key role in establishing and consolidating interactions between research organizations and academia to govern and manage virtual access to scientific data and physical access to research facilities. Moreover, by providing access to scientific data, products, and information they represent a collaborative framework to foster innovation directly contributing to scientific progress and education in specific scientific domains.

Coordinated and Interoperable Seismological Data and Product Services in Europe: the EPOS Thematic Core Service for Seismology

In this article we describe EPOS Seismology, the Thematic Core Service consortium for the seismology domain within the European Plate Observing System infrastructure. EPOS Seismology was developed alongside the build-up of EPOS during the last decade, in close collaboration between the existing pan-European seismological initiatives ORFEUS (Observatories and Research Facilities for European Seismology), EMSC (Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center) and EFEHR (European Facilities for Earthquake Hazard and Risk) and their respective communities. It provides on one hand a governance framework that allows a well-coordinated interaction of the seismological community services with EPOS and its bodies, and on the other hand it strengthens the coordination among the already existing seismological initiatives with regard to data, products and service provisioning and further development. Within the EPOS Delivery Framework, ORFEUS, EMSC and EFEHR provide a wide range of services that allow open access to a vast amount of seismological data and products, following and implementing the FAIR principles and supporting open science. Services include access to raw seismic waveforms of thousands of stations together with relevant station and data quality information, parametric earthquake information of recent and historical earthquakes together with advanced event-specific products like moment tensors or source models and further ancillary services, and comprehensive seismic hazard and risk information, covering latest European scale models and their underlying data. The services continue to be available on the well-established domain-specific platforms and websites, and are also consecutively integrated with the interoperable central EPOS data infrastructure. EPOS Seismology and its participating organizations provide a consistent framework for the future development of these services and their operation as EPOS services, closely coordinated also with other international seismological initiatives, and is well set to represent the European seismological research infrastructures and their stakeholders within EPOS.