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

地震学联合研究机构(IRIS联合会，www.iris.edu)运营多用户设施，以开发、部署和运行支持现代数字地震仪器和数据管理，为国家和国际地球科学研究和教育服务。IRIS项目由115个成员机构组成的联盟监督和管理，该联盟几乎包括每一所拥有地震学研究项目的美国大学。联盟成员还包括107个外国附属机构和20个教育附属机构。IRIS与国家和国际任务机构合作，包括美国地质勘探局、NOAA、能源部、国防部和全面试验银行条约组织，利用美国国家科学基金的投资，在监测地震、海啸和禁止核试验论文方面满足巨大的社会需求。美国地球科学在地球调查方面的卓越地位？S，内部和地震源在很大程度上取决于由NSF支持并由IRIS管理的数据和仪器设施。IRIS将在该奖项下开展的计划和活动从2009年报告中描述的以社区为基础的远程科学计划中获得智力指导：？认识地球的地震学重大挑战？S动态Systems？(www.iris.edu/hq/files/publications/iris_proposals/doc/seis_plan_final.pdf).地震学提供了丰富的关于地壳、地幔和地核的结构和组成的信息来源，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，继续增强我们对地球的起源、其在地质时间中的演化以及驱动板块动力学、地震、火山活动和地磁场的内力的理解。在地震传感器设计以及数据采集、传输和存储方面的最新进展，大大提高了地球地震成像的分辨率？S内部的分辨率和震源特征。除了支持地球科学的基础研究和发现，IRIS设施还为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，这些项目涉及减轻地震灾害、地下水、能源和矿产勘探。IRIS管理的设施和服务包括：仪器服务-操作和支持全球地震台网的150个永久宽带台站(与美国地质勘探局合作)和大陆岩石圈阵列地震研究计划(PASSCAL)的2000多台便携式仪器，以便在美国和国外的NSF资助的研究项目中进行更密集的部署。数据服务？通过IRIS数据管理中心免费和开放地获取IRIS方案收集的或由许多国家和国际合作伙伴提供的所有数据，并支持软件开发、用户工具、培训服务和数据产品，以促进广泛的数据利用，并鼓励在数据收集和数据管理方面达到高质量标准。教育和公众宣传--创建材料和工具，鼓励各级公众和教育工作者探索地震学数据，提高对地震学和地球科学的认识和理解，同时启发地球物理学的事业。根据2011年开始与美国国家科学基金会签订的新合作协议，IRIS将把其对南极和北极极地研究的长期支持与其其他核心保护区合并；从2013年开始，对其核心项目与地球望远镜的美国阵列组件的相关设施进行综合管理；并继续探索新出现的机会，以支持发展中国家地震多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.