UNIBRA / DSEBRA -- the German seismological contri-bution to AlpArray

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DSEBRA - the German (Deutsches) Seismological Broadband Array - forms a key part of AlpArray, a ground-breaking European project to achieve major breakthroughs in our understanding of mountain-building processes in the Alps (Activity A). DSEBRA is Germanys big step into the emerging era of large-aperture, high-density and long-term seismological broadband arrays that serve as geo-telescopes for probing the depths of Earths dynamic interior. The detailed images provided by such multi-component research instruments will vastly improve our understanding of both, localized and fast deformation phenomena such as earthquakes and volcanic activity, and large-scale and slow processes such as mantle flow. The new technology has already produced astonishing results in North America (US-ARRAY) and promises to do the same within AlpArray and in further targeted studies in Europe and around the world.DSEBRA is the instrumental heart of this SPP (MB-4D) and is conceived as a single array instrument of 100 mobile, broadband stations which can be deployed either alone or in conjunction with other stations to form even larger arrays. Thus, DSEBRA is the ideal, long-term counterpart to the German instrument pool (GIPP) which is already shared by many researchers in Germany for short-term experiments, usually lasting from weeks to a maximum of one year, and the permanent German Regional Seismic Network (GRSN).The AlpArray Seismic Network will be the densest seismic array ever deployed on the scale of an orogen. It comprises about 600 land-based seismometers spaced at c. 30-40 km that will cover the greater Alpine region. These stations will be augmented by ocean-bottom seismometers in the Ligurian Sea (LOBSTER, Activity B) and dense swaths located at key sites of lithospheric reorganization (Activity C and D). Newly developed seismic imaging methods based on full waveform inversion and inverse scattering can unleash their full potential for imaging when applied to the unprecedented, high-quality data from AlpArray. AlpArray is therefore an ideal platform for testing and further developing these innovative seismological methods. It will also provide new insight into hitherto unanswered questions on the deep structure and active dynamics of mountain belts, including their relationship to surface processes (Research themes 1 and 2).DSEBRA's mission only begins with SPP-2017 (MB-4D) and AlpArray. Afterwards, it will serve as the core instrument for other innovative German initiatives conducted in concert with international, multi-disciplinary projects. These could include long-term deployments in the European-Mediterranean region or participation in follow-up initiatives to the current North-American EARTHSCOPE project such as the "Subduction Zone Observatory". To conclude, DSEBRA will propel Germany to the forefront of international geophysical and geodynamic research.