Facilitating New Discoveries in Seismology and Exploring the Earth: The Next Decade

地震学联合研究机构（IRIS Consortium,www.iris.edu）运营多用户设施，用于开发、部署和操作支持现代数字地震仪器和数据管理，以服务于国内和国际的地球科学研究和教育。IRIS项目由115个成员机构组成的联盟进行监督和管理，这些机构几乎包括了美国所有拥有地震学研究项目的大学。联盟成员包括107个外国分支机构和20个教育分支机构。IRIS与包括美国地质勘探局、美国国家海洋和大气管理局、美国能源部、国防部和全面禁止核试验条约组织在内的国家和国际任务机构合作，利用国家科学基金会的投资，在监测地震、海啸和禁止核试验条约方面满足重要的社会需求。美国地球科学在地球研究方面的卓越成就？美国的内部震源在很大程度上依赖于由国家科学基金支持和IRIS管理的数据和仪器设备。IRIS在该奖项下开展的项目和活动的智力指导来自2009年报告中描述的以社区为基础的长期科学计划：？了解地球的地震学大挑战？s Dynamic Systems?（www.iris.edu/hq/files/publications/iris_proposals/doc/seis_plan_final.pdf）。地震学为地壳、地幔和地核的结构和组成提供了丰富的信息来源，当与IRIS致力于的越来越多的跨学科研究中的其他类型的数据相结合时，将继续增强我们对地球起源的理解，它在地质时期的演变，以及驱动板块动力学、地震、火山活动和地磁场的内力。地震传感器设计以及数据采集、传输和存储方面的最新发展，极大地提高了地球地震成像的分辨率。S震源内部及特征。除了支持地球科学的基础研究和发现外，iris设施还为与地震减灾、地下水、能源和矿产勘探有关的具有广泛社会影响的项目提供必要的数据、资源和教育材料。“综合资讯系统”管理的设施及服务包括：？仪器服务-操作和支持全球地震网的150个永久宽频站（与美国地质勘探局合作）和大陆大气层阵列地震研究计划（PASSCAL）的2000多台便携式仪器池，用于美国和国外nsf资助的研究项目的密集部署。数据服务？通过IRIS数据管理中心免费开放访问由IRIS项目收集或由众多国家和国际合作伙伴提供的所有数据，同时支持软件开发，用户工具，培训服务和数据产品，以促进广泛的数据利用并鼓励高质量的数据收集和数据管理标准。教育和公众推广-制作资料和工具，鼓励公众和各级教育工作者探索地震数据，提高对地震学和地球科学的认识和理解，同时激励地球物理学的职业发展。根据与NSF于2011年开始的新合作协议，IRIS将把其长期以来对南极和北极极地研究的支持与其他核心服务合并；从2013年开始，将其核心项目与EarthScope的USArray组件的相关设施进行综合管理；继续探索新的机会，支持发展中国家地震易发地区的研究和减灾工作。

The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (the IRIS Consortium,www.iris.edu) operates multi-user facilities for the development, deployment, and operationalsupport of modern digital seismic instrumentation and data management to serve national andinternational research and education in the Earth sciences. IRIS programs are overseen andgoverned by a Consortium of 115 Member Institutions, comprising virtually every US universitywith research programs in seismology. Consortium membership also includes 107 ForeignAffiliates and 20 Educational Affiliates. IRIS collaborates with national and internationalmission agencies, including the USGS, NOAA, DOE, DOD and the Comprehensive Test BanTreaty Organization, to leverage NSF investments to serve significant societal needs in themonitoring of earthquakes, tsunamis and nuclear test ban treaties.The preeminence of US Earth science in investigations of the Earth?s interior andearthquake sources rests in large part on the data and instrumentation facilities supported by NSFand managed by IRIS. The programs and activities to be carried out by IRIS under this awardtake their intellectual direction from a community-based long-range science plan described in the2009 report: ?Seismological Grand Challenges in Understanding Earth?s Dynamic Systems?(www.iris.edu/hq/files/publications/iris_proposals/doc/seis_plan_final.pdf). Seismology providesa rich source of information on the structure and composition of Earth's crust, mantle, and corethat, when coupled with other types of data in the growing number of interdisciplinary studies towhich IRIS is committed, continues to enhance our understanding the origin of the planet, itsevolution through geologic time, as well as the internal forces driving plate dynamics,earthquakes, volcanism, and the geomagnetic field. Recent developments in seismic sensor design,and the acquisition, transmission and storage of data have resulted in dramatic improvements inthe resolving power of seismic imaging of Earth?s interior and characterization of the earthquakesource. In addition to supporting basic research and discovery in the Earth sciences, the IRISfacilities also contribute essential data, resources and educational materials to programs withbroad societal impact related to earthquake hazard mitigation, groundwater, energy and mineralexploration.The facilities and services managed by IRIS include:? Instrumentation Services - operation and support for the 150 permanent broadbandstations of the Global Seismographic Network (in collaboration with the USGS) and a pool ofmore than 2000 portable instruments of the Program for Array Seismic Studies of the ContinentalLithosphere (PASSCAL) for denser deployments in NSF-funded research projects both in the USand abroad.? Data Services ? free and open access through the IRIS Data Management Center to alldata collected by IRIS programs or contributed by numerous national and international partners,along with support for software development, user tools, training services and data products tofacilitate broad data utilization and encourage high quality standards in data collection and datamanagement.? Education and Public Outreach - creating materials and tools to encourage the publicand educators at all levels to explore seismological data and advance awareness andunderstanding of seismology & Earth science, while inspiring careers in geophysics.Under the new Cooperative Agreement with NSF starting in 2011, IRIS will merge itslong-standing support for Polar studies in both the Antarctic and Arctic with its other coreservices; move towards integrated management, starting in 2013, of its core programs with therelated facilities of the USArray component of EarthScope; and continue to explore emergingopportunities to support research and hazard mitigation efforts in earthquake prone areas of thedeveloping world.