Pre-project related to the ESFRI project EPOS-PPP: European Plate Observatory System-Project Preparatory Phase.

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1 Research Infrastructure - Template for Project description Pre-projects 1 Pre-project related to the ESFRI project EPOS-PPP: European Plate Observatory System-Project Preparatory Phase. 1. Vision and scientific goals European Plate Observatory System (EPOS) ( is an ESFRI project in its preparatory phase. It has been included in the ESFRI Road Map in December 2008 and the Preparatory Phase Project (EC.FP7 INFRA , grant Agreement No ) has started in November The scientific goal for EPOS is to build a long-term research infrastructure in Solid Earth science by integrating the existing national research infrastructures at European level and by integrating different disciplines in Solid Earth science in multidisciplinary observatories. This multidisciplinary and multinational integration will enable earth scientists across Europe and worldwide to combine, model and interpret multidisciplinary datasets at different scales and will make possible innovative approaches for a better understanding of the processes driving tectonic and Earth surface dynamics, controling in particular earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The socio-economic impact of even moderate earthquakes can be large and earthquakes like the 4.1 Ekofisk earthquake in 2001 and the 6.1 Svalbard earthquake of 2008 testify that seismic risk is not negligible in Norway. The synergy resulting from increasing the accessibility and usability of multidisciplinary data from monitoring networks, laboratory experiments and computational simulations is expected to benefit greatly to the forthcoming generation of Earth scientists. To meet the challenges that such an integration implies, e-infrastructure will be developed to facilitate the exchange of data, information, monitoring and modelling tools. In addition, the preproject will conduct a gap analysis to establish which infrastructure is lacking at the present time and work to achieve funding that will ensure the construction of the infrastructure and its long-term operation. EPOS will be linked with other international Earth Observing Systems and promote training of PhD students as well as educational and dissemination programmes and outreach. Norway, represented by the University of Bergen, is a partner in EPOS. The goal of the present pre-project is to enable the seven Norwegian institutions that are part of the Norwegian EPOS consortium to coordinate and prepare the Norwegian participation to EPOS. The Norwegian interests in EPOS are significant. In particular, as Norway forms together with Iceland the northwest border of the European plate, it plays a major role in covering in EPOS data collection in the northern North Atlantic and the Arctic areas. The pre-project aims at making an inventory of existing infrastructure that can be used in the framework of EPOS, make a gap analysis and evaluate the challenges related to the integration of different observatories. All activities in the Arctic will be coordinated with the ESFRI project SIOS (Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System).

2 Research Infrastructure - Template for Project description Pre-projects 2 2. Scientific and technological environment EPOS has at the present time 20 partners from 18 countries and 6 associated members (Figure 1). The main disciplines of the Earth sciences covered at the present time in EPOS are seismology, geodesy, volcanology and geological databases, but the vocation of EPOS is to cover the whole European territory and to include all relevant disciplines. Among the disciplines included in the EPOS workplan, the seismological community is the one that has the longest tradition and the largest experience in data sharing through EMSC(Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Centre) (since 1975) and ORFEUS (Observatories and Research Facilities for European Seismology)(since 1987). The current seismological observatories at European level are organized through ORFEUS that collects and distributes waveform data. Through the EU-project NERIES (Network of Research Infrastructure for European Seismology), to which Norway has contributed significantly, methodologies for data exchange in seismology have been improved and extended. The vision of EPOS is to strengthen this project by a longterm commitment to data collection, distribution and analysis, and extend this collaboration to other communities, in particular the geodetic community and the rock physics labs community. EPOS aims to create a single distributed infrastructure of geophysical monitoring networks, local observatories on specific targets (for ex volcanoes) and experimental laboratories in Europe. As a distributed geographical infrastructure to monitor the state of the tectonic plate, EPOS s success depends on its ability to attract partners that cover geographically the whole of Europe. Norway has a special responsability in that respect, covering the Northwest corner of the plate and controlling one-third of the European continental margin. Norway has a strong activity in the fields of research of EPOS. The seismological data collection and distribution is organized through the Norwegian National Seismological Network. Norway has also an important geodetic network but the data distribution and data distribution policy is not as open in this community as in the seismological one. Norway has also a very strong research activity in rock physics lab with cooperation between the different partners but no systematic effort in integrating the equipment in one pool of instruments. In addition to linking our efforts to European

3 Research Infrastructure - Template for Project description Pre-projects 3 ones, the EPOS project is an excellent opportunity for Norwegian scientists in the field of EPOS to organize themselves and get a better synergy. Contacts have been taken with Nordic partners of EPOS and it has been concluded that formal linkage as well as common meetings of the Nordic EPOS partners will be beneficial.this is planned to be done through NordQuake, financed by Nordisk Ministerråd.. The need for new infrastructure will be a main deliverable of the pre-project. In addition to new infrastructure, a crucial element in EPOS is the integration on the existing infrastructure and the need for development of e-infrastructure to categorize, distribute and visualize the data. 3. Description of the Research Infrastructure The 32 seismological stations of the Norwegian National Seismic Network, operated by the University of Bergen, will be part of the EPOS infrastructure, as well as all the array stations from NORSAR (figure 2). Figure 2: The NNSN stations are shown in red and NORSAR arrays in blue

4 Research Infrastructure - Template for Project description Pre-projects 4 Identification of the GPS stations that can be made available to EPOS will be one outcome of the pre-project. Figure 3 shows the network presently operated by the Norwegian Mapping Authority. Figure 3: Geodetic network operated by the Norwegian Mapping Authority The possiblitity to include gravimeter and magnetometer data will also be sought. The integration of the existing geological databases and of the rock physics laboratories is another crucial aspect of the pre-project. The Norwegian Geological Survey is positive to the integration of their database. The gap analysis will determine which new infrastructure would be desirable and make a priority list of the equipment needed to meet scientific challenges. Both geographical gaps in infrastructue distribution and scientific gaps will be explored. Examples of gaps that have already been identified, although not thoroughly analysed, are the offshore monitoring and monitoring of the Arctic plate boundary, the lack of integration between the seismological data and the GPS data, the lack of adequate e- infrastructure to integrate different kinds of data. 4. Plan for access and use, data and knowledge management Per definition of the EPOS project, the data collected with the infrastructure of EPOS will be made publicly available. For some of the data types, for example GPS measurements and rock physics laboratories, the legal issues related to the open access are to be sorted out during the pre-project. For seismological data, the policy has been for many years to have a very wide access to the data. Still, there are some gaps in this policy in some countries that EPOS will help to fill in. Besides the legal issues, the data distribution requires an efficient way of distributing the data. The NERIES project has already addressed this issue for the seismological community, which data are distributed in Europe by ORFEUS, a member of the EPOS consortium. EPOS will therefore benefit from the experience gained during the 30

5 Research Infrastructure - Template for Project description Pre-projects 5 years of seismological data collection and distribution in Europe. Still the introduction of new data types such as rock physics laboratory measurements or raw GPS data will introduce new challenges that need to be addressed during the pre-project. 5. Impact on research and innovation In addition to an integration with European and even more strongly with Nordic and Baltic partners, the impact on Norwegian research and innovation is expected to come from the integration of infrastructure that are currently not optimally coupled. EPOS will be an open-access infrastructure, ensuring that thousands of researchers from Earth sciences will benefit from its services and maximising the impact of the infrastructure. 6. Partners and scientific institutions The scientific Norwegian consortium for EPOS consits at the present time of the following institutions, listed in alphabetic order: - Christian Michelsen Research (CMR) - Department of Earth Science, Univ of Bergen (Norwegian EPOS-coordinator), - Department of Geosciences, Univ. of Oslo - Geological Survey of Norway (NGU) - NORSAR - Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) - Norwegian Mapping Authority (Statens Kartverk) The coordinator of the national consortium is professor Kuvvet Atakan, Dept of Geosciences, Univ. Bergen. Prof. Atakan has also been elected as co-chair of EPOS. The scientific consortium is composed of the strongest Norwegian institutions that collect and use seismological data, collect GPS data at national scale, collect and use gravimetric data at national scale, collect geological data of national interest and run rock physics laboratories. The Norwegian EPOS Consortium is established based on the Letter of Intent signed by the seven institutions. During the pre-project, new possible members of the consortium will be contacted, partly depending on the result of the gap analysis. At EPOS level, Norway participates in allmost all work packages. In addition, the Univ. of Bergen is responsible on Task 4.5 Involvement of the privat investors and will therefore be particularly involved in fund raising activities towards industrial collaboration.. Norway has been chosen for this task as it has a unique experience in collaboration with industrial partners through the contribution from OLF (Oljeindustriens Landsforening) to the operation of the NNSN (Norsk Nasjonalt Seismisk Nettverk).

6 Research Infrastructure - Template for Project description Pre-projects 6 The deliverables of the preproject will be an inventory of the equipment of the different partners that they commit themselves to put in the EPOS consortium, a gap analysis and preparation of funding applications to fill these gaps. 7. User groups and international cooperation The EPOS infrastructure will contribute to information, dissemination, education and training in a very broad range of the Earth sciences. It will provide universities and young scientists with unrestricted on-line access to an enormous wealth of observational data, laboratory experiments, computational software and facilities in solid Earth sciences. The EPOS infrastructure will also facilitate the development of advanced educational material, i.e. e-learning, as its e-infrastructure will be based on global and open standards. The end-users of the information are public decisionmakers and industry, in particular the oil-industry, where geodynamic processes constitute the fundamental element for hydrocarbon exploration and production as well as for solving the related environmental issues. Interest in EPOS in the Norwegian Earth Sciences community is testified by the fact that all major actors in the field of EPOS are part of the Consortium and are willing to contribute with data, infrastructure or software to the project. In addition to multidisciplinarity, the international dimension is the driving force of the project. In addition to the European dimension, the Nordic countries have demonstated the intention to cooperate strongly within the framework of EPOS. This cooperation will strengthen the influence these countries will have on the priorities and on the decisions taken within EPOS. EPOS is linked to other ESFRI initiatives with strong Norwegian participation such as SIOS, EMSO and Aurora Borealis. In this respect, SIOS is emphasized since EPOS for Norway will also focus on Arctic regions. ORFEUS is a major player in EPOS and EPOS would not be possible without the commitment that this European institution puts into the project. ORFEUS is a nonprofit fundation funded by its corporate members, among which Norway. The Norwegian financial contribution to ORFEUS has been paid from 2004 to 2010 by two dedicated projects funded by the Research Council of Norway. We include in this application the amount of NOK per year to pay this contribution in 2011 and Management plan and localisation The pre-project will be chaired by prof. Valérie Maupin, University of Oslo. She will work in close cooperation with prof. Kuvvet Atakan, University of Bergen, who is the Norwegian respresentative at EPOS. Prof. Atakan is also the vice-chair of EPOS and will in that respect have a large influence on the development of the European project. Each of the seven Norwegian institutions members of the EPOS Consortium have nominated one main contact person. During the pre-project, other institutions that

7 Research Infrastructure - Template for Project description Pre-projects 7 might be interested in EPOS will be identified and contacted. The institutions will be responsible for constructing the list of infrastructure to be put into the EPOS from their own research field. The analysis of how the different components can be integrated will be the responsability of the pre-project manager or the person she has nominated to do that. Prof. Valérie Maupin and prof. Kuvvet Atakan have both extensive experience in project management at national and international levels. 9. Time-schedule and deliverables Time-schedule: 4 meetings of the Norwegian consortium: 1 in 2011, 2 in 2012 and 1 in 2013 for preparing the integration of the infrastructure. These meetings will involve all the Norwegian EPOS participants and will serve to discuss the integration of seismological and geodetical data as well as geological database at national level. A website for public dissemination and to inform our European partners about our activities; part of the website will have restricted access to Consortium members and will be used to share documents. A person will be paid on hour-basis to help maintain the website. Deliverables: A summary of the Norwegian equipment that is part of EPOS. A gap analysis at Norwegian scale in terms in infrastructure and e-infrastructure in the fields of EPOS. A proposal for a coordinated plan for investment. A proposal for actions during the construction phase of EPOS. 10. Budget and funding plan The present budget covers the organisation of meetings of the Norwegian Consortium, participation of Norwegian partners to meetings with Nordic and Baltic partners, the honoraria for 3 participants from the institute sector and the construction of a website. The meetings with Nordic partners will take place in meetings for which the main funding is applied for at the Nordic Research Council (NRC). The budget has been calculated as follows: Website: help on hour-basis (16 hours) Honoraria for NORSAR, CMR and NGI: ,-NOK/institution +25%vat

8 Research Infrastructure - Template for Project description Pre-projects day Norwegian meetings: 3000,- NOK in transport and 1000,- NOK in additional expenses; 14 participants (2/institution); Norwegian contribution to ORFEUS for 2011 and 2012: 2*40.000,-NOK. Budget and funding plan: Website Honoraria for participants from the institute sector 4 meetings of Norwegian Consortium (one day) Norwegian fees to ORFEUS Number of Norwegian Participants 3 14 Cost/participant Cost/meeting Total cost Applied NFR Total: ,