Incorporated Research Institutions For Seismology Research Articles

Earth Science Computing Conference scheduled

The frontiers of Earth science computing continue to evolve—as does the importance of Earth science in addressing critical national scientific and technological issues, which in part are embodied in the emerging federal High‐Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) and National Information Infrastructure (NII) initiatives.The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) have organized a workshop at the Mesa Lab of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., July 20–22 to plan ambitious and forward‐looking science and facility programs that will take advantage of these very HPCC and NII enterprises.

Continental dynamics research goals set

The need for long‐range scientific research goals in the field of continental dynamics was the impetus behind a report released by DOSECC (Drilling, Observation, and Sampling of the Earth's Continental Crust) Incorporated and the IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) Consortium last fall.The idea for “A National Program for Research in Continental Dynamics” originated in the Workshop on Future Research Direction in Continental Dynamics held in Chandler, Ariz., March 4–7, 1989. The workshop was sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Department of Energy. The report is based on discussions by ten different panels at the workshop, who emphasized a focus on basic research in continental geology with attention to acquiring field data.

Seismic noise on Rarotonga: Surface versus downhole

Seismic noise data are presented from the new Global Seismographic Network station, RAR, on the Island of Rarotonga in the South Pacific. Data from the first new borehole site in the GSN are compared with a surface vault installation. Initial indications from the data show that borehole siting on a small island significantly reduces long‐period (>20 s) horizontal seismic noise levels during the daytime, but little or no improvement is evident at periods shorter than 20 s or on the vertical component.The goal of the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) GSN program is broad, uniform coverage of the Earth with a 128‐station network. To achieve this goal and provide coverage in oceanic areas, many stations will be sited on islands. A major siting consideration for these new stations is whether to build a surface vault or drill a borehole. Neither option is inexpensive. The costs for drilling a cased hole and a borehole sensor are large, but the benefit of a borehole site is that seismic noise is reduced during certain periods when a surface installation may be subject to wind, weather, and thermal effects. This benefit translates into recording greater numbers of smaller earthquakes and higher signal‐to‐noise ratio.

4th Annual IRIS Workshop Held

About 200 scientists gathered at the 4th annual Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) workshop in Santa Fe, N. Mex., April 12–14 and discussed recent research results obtained with the new generation of seismological instruments. The meeting provided a forum for developing new initiatives and disseminating information on how to access the IRIS Data Management Center. Organizers of the scientific program were Douglas Wiens of Washington University in St. Louis and Terry Wallace of the University of Arizona.

Borovoye Geophysical Observatory, Kazakhstan

This is a story of surprises—of a geophysical observatory and a community of scientists who until about a year ago were unknown to scientists in the West, who now have new opportunities for collaboration with expert seismologists in Russia and Kazakhstan.The story began for us in the spring of 1990 at the annual workshop of the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), Seismologists from the Soviet Union attended and told us that they had permission to describe a geophysical observatory at Borovoye, near Kokchetav in Northern Kazakhstan, which had operated digital seismometers since 1966. They said there was a large tape archive and that much of the data were of excellent quality and would probably be made available on request—even the data for nuclear explosions.

Panel drafts position on U.S. science budget

The AGU panel charged with writing the Union position on the U.S. fiscal 1993 budget met at AGU Headquarters on February 27 to draft their statement and hear from representatives of federal science agencies. The panel's position statement is expected to be completed by the end of March, pending approval by the AGU Council.AGU has drafted positions on the U.S. science budget since 1990. This year's panel includes Terry E. Tullis (chair), Brown University; H. Frank Eden, General Electric Astro Space; Thomas E. Pyle, Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc.; Thomas Potemra, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory; David W. Simpson, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology; Steven W. Squyres, Cornell University; and Eric F. Wood, Princeton University.

TERRAscope and CUBE project at Caltech

The TERRAscope project of the California Institute of Technology began in 1988 and now has six very broadband seismic stations (PAS, GSC, PFO, SBC, ISA, and SVD) in southern California (Figure 1). The goal of TERRAscope is to provide high‐quality broadband data needed for significant advances in both regional and global seismology. TERRAscope will replace the old Caltech seismographic network in southern California, which dates back to the 1920s. In many cases, new stations are deployed in cooperation with local institutions. The goal is to encourage involvement of both students and researchers in the operation of the stations and analysis of new data. The station PAS is a joint project between Caltech, the University of Southern California, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS). The station SBC was deployed in cooperation with the University of California at Santa Barbara. The station PFO is operated jointly with the University of California at San Diego, and the station SVD was installed and is operated by the USGS. Except for SVD, all of the stations are equipped with a broadband Streckeisen STS‐1 seismometer and Quanterra data logger with a 24‐bit digitizer and a Kinemetrics FBA‐23 strong‐motion sensor. The station SVD has a Streckeisen STS‐2 seismometer and a Guralp CMG‐5 accelerograph. The project is funded mainly by grants from the L. K. Whittier Foundation and the Arco Foundation. In addition to the automatic dial‐up data retrieving system called Caltech Gopher (adapted from the IRIS Gopher system) has been implemented. The Caltech Gopher receives mail from NEIC for teleseisms and the SCSN with origin time, location, and magnitude for regional events. The Gopher retrieves data from all six TERRAscope stations for these events. The TERRAscope data reside in an FTP anonymous account (seismo.gps.caltech.edu; password: “your e‐mail address”) at the Caltech Seismological Laboratory, and are available to users through Internet. Usually the data are available within 30 minutes after a regional event and several hours after a teleseism. In the near future a new version of the Gopher software will be installed, which will also make some of the Gopher data available directly from the IRIS‐DMC Gopher. When the Data Center of the Southern California Earthquake Center begins full operation in early 1992, it will take over the distribution of earthquake data from southern California, including both TERRAscope Gopher data and continuous data from the tape cartridges. The data will also be available from IRIS‐DMC, and future improvements and changes in data access will be posted on the IRIS‐DMC bulletin board.

New trends in global seismology

In the last few years, IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) has been transformed from a special initiative to a national program for seismological study of the interior of the Earth. Current efforts include the deployment of a global seismographic network (GSN), which will consist of 100 broadband, high dynamic range stations; a program for array studies (PASSCAL) consisting of 1000 digital recording systems and seismometers; and a data management system to support the research community's access to data. In addition, IRIS is pursuing new initiatives such as the US/USSR Joint Seismic Program and the Trans‐Pacific Cable. The third annual IRIS Workshop was held on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, March 11–13, 1991. The workshop was organized by Paul Silver of Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C., and Douglas Wiens of Washington University, St. Louis. More than 100 scientists participated in the meeting.

U.S./U.S.S.R. seismological network developing

In the spirit of glasnost, the first stage of a state‐of‐the‐art seismological network for global research on Earth structure, earthquakes, and seismic monitoring of nuclear testing is now operating in the Soviet Union, thanks to cooperation between several U.S. and Soviet groups and agencies. Digitally recorded seismic data have been generally unavailable from the Soviet Union prior to the new agreement, leaving an essentially uninstrumented hole in the largest continent on Earth. In 1988 the Soviet Academy agreed to a joint research program with the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) and the U.S. Geological Survey that called for the establishment of 20–25 permanent seismic stations and the operation of portable seismic networks in each country. The U.S. State Department approved the incorporation of the seismic program, now called the Eurasian Seismic Studies Program, under Area IX (Earthquake Prediction) of the Bilateral U.S./U.S.S.R. Environmental Protection Agreement. The network is operated by IRIS, a consortium of over 60 American universities, the USGS, and the Institute of Physics of the Earth (IPE) of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Principal project scientists are Jonathan Berger, a geophysicist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and John Filson, a seismologist at USGS.

U.S.‐Soviet seismology research funds switched to air force

Department of Defense funding for seismology research has seen some changes in both amount and administration. While Congress increased the budget of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) by almost $1.4 billion this year, about 13% over last year (as reported October 30 in the Washington Post), it also rescinded DARPA's authority to manage funding of the Soviet Union program of the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS).

Ocean bottom geoscience observatories: Reuse of transoceanic telecommunications cables

One of the most promising areas of international cooperative research in geophysics is broadband seismology. At a recent symposium on this topic (International Symposium on Global Seismology and the POSEIDON (Pacific Orient Seismic Digital Observation Network) Project, University of Tokyo, August 1988) papers were presented by representatives of the United States, Japan, Soviet Union, People's Republic of China, Italy, Federal Republic of Germany, Canada, Netherlands, and Australia. National and international associations of Earth scientists committed to the establishment of a global network of broadband instruments include the U.S. Geological Survey, POSEIDON of Japan; IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) of the U.S.; GEOSCOPE of France; MEDNET (Mediterranean Network) of Rome, Italy, and Geneva, Switzerland, but comprising many Mediterranean countries; ORFEUS (Observatories and Research Facilities for European Seismology), a working group of the European Geophysical Society; and CANDIS (Canadian Digital Seismic Network). An umbrella organization for all these associations is FDSN, the international Federation of Digital Seismological Networks.

Seismology in the United States, 1983–1986

Any seismologist trying even to carry, let alone read, the EOS abstract volumes for recent AGU Meetings knows full well of the substantial growth in seismological research during this reporting period, the four years of 1983 through 1986. Indeed, the number of Seismology Section abstracts has grown from 188 (Fall, 1982) to about 320 (Fall, 1986), to be more or less precise. At a time when research monies seem to be no better than stable (and declining in real terms) and when job opportunities for seismologists seem to have never been worse, at least in the professional lifetimes of most of us, something must be amiss, but certainly this is not the great vitality and diversity in seismological research during the past four years.The current reporting period saw the consortium approach brought to full flower in several fields of seismology, and these include CALCRUST, a consortium of California universities to investigate the crustal structure of the southwestern United States with seismic reflection data; DOSECC (Deep Observation and Sampling of the Earth's Continental Crust), a consortium to drill and make measurements within scientifically dedicated deep holes to sample active processes that make and remake the continents; EDGE, a consortium of university, government, and private industry scientists intent on exploring the oceanic/continental transitions along U.S. continental margins, using seismic and potential field methods; and IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology), whose prospectus includes a major upgrading of the global seismic network, an advanced portable array of 1000 seismic units for a host of active and passive experiments, and a data management center to store and utilize the vast quantities of data forthcoming from the first two activities. Each of these fledglings can trace their basic nature and motivation, if not their specific scientific agendas, to COCORP (Consortium for Continental Reflection Profiling), now a teenager, whose activities were summarized by Phinney and Odom[1983] for the last reporting period and by W. D. Mooney for the current one.

A New U.S.‐U.S.S.R. Seismological Program

On July 9, 1986, a team of researchers from the University of California, San Diego; University of Nevada, Reno; and the University of Colorado, Boulder established the first of three seismic stations to be located in the vicinity of the Soviet nuclear test site in eastern Kazakhstan (KTS) (see cover). Under an agreement reached between the Soviet Academy of Sciences and the Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit U.S. environmental organization, these stations, which are configured to meet the specifications of the proposed new global seismographic network [Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), 1984], will be complemented by three similarly equipped stations to be installed in the vicinity of the U.S. nuclear test site in southern Nevada (NTS). The stations are to be operated cooperatively by Soviet and U.S. personnel (Figure 1).

Eye on IRIS

The pace of activity within the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) has quickened to the point that a regular information link to the entire geophysical community has become desirable. This is the first in a continuing series of brief reports highlighting recent progress and upcoming events within IRIS.

IRIS: A program for the next decade

The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Consortium has produced an ambitious plan for new seismological research facilities to be developed during the coming decade. The plan reflects a broad consensus among seismologists in this country with respect to both the need for improved data and the potential for significant scientific advances that can occur as a result. The three elements of this program are a 100‐station broadband global network utilizing satellite telemetry, a 1000‐station portable network of advanced digital seismographs, and a national center for management and distribution of the data generated by these networks to the research community. The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief overview of the long‐range plan and an update as to the progress made to date.

PASSCAL science planning

The Program for Array Seismic Studies of the Continental Lithosphere (PASSCAL) is one of two major scientific initiatives organized this year under Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS). PASSCAL is a cooperative program open to the whole earth science community. Participation is through PASSCAL committees, which are open to all interested scientists.The Science Planning and Coordination Committee of PASSCAL will hold an experiment planning meeting at the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco. The meeting will be held Tuesday, December 4, 3–5 P.M. in Room 327 of the Convention Center. All interested earth scientists are encouraged to participate in this meeting and to help develop plans for cooperative experiments for studying the continental lithosphere. Experiments that can be realized with existing instrumentation, as well as with the PASSCAL instruments currently under development, are encouraged. Topics to be discussed at the meeting include review of science planning and coordination activities of PASSCAL, review of ongoing lithospheric seismology experiments, discussion of proposed experiments, and general discussion of science plan ning activities.