International Development Seismology Committee

Modern seismology and seismological instrumentation are driven by basic research challenges as well as imperatives for earthquake hazard and risk reduction, exploration for natural resources, and monitoring nuclear explosions. Decades of investment in seismological infrastructure, including the Global Seismographic Network, numerous national and international regional networks, IRIS PASSCAL, and the IRIS DMS has provided seismologists in academics, government, and industry with unprecedented views of earth structure and seismogenesis.

Extending the observational capabilities required to meet the research needs of the seismological community and translating this science to benefit society presents opportunities and challenges for IRIS. It requires new thinking, an expanded mode of operation, and coordinated and sustained international collaborations. IRIS has been international since its inception, and a near doubling of the number of IRIS Foreign Affiliates over the past four years testifies to the existence of the opportunities. Nevertheless, a focused effort developing the partnerships, technical infrastructure, and human capacity required to build, operate, and maintain permanent seismic networks in low- and middle-income countries has the potential to substantially advance IRIS's core mission.
One of IRIS's exploratory steps in this area was a initiative to make long-term instrument loans to selected networks outside of the US. With special effort by IRIS's PASSCAL Instrument Center, the loans were intended to
  • Advance partnerships and encourage IRIS Affiliates to adopt standards and policies that support free and open data exchange.
  • Advance Earth sciences in regions that would benefit from the introduction of digital broadband instrumentation.
  • Foster capacity building by making loans to institutions with a technical capability to operate instruments independently and an intention to educate students.
Successful uses of the loaned instruments in Argentina, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, and Kyrgyzstan are described in the IRIS Newsletter, Year 2007 issue 1.
In 2008, the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering and Division of Earth Sciences jointly funded IRIS to convene a workshop on transitioning networks of earthquake monitoring stations in developing countries into fully sustainable networks of advanced seismic observatories. Held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in February that year, the workshop brought together key members of the IRIS community in the US and in Southeast Asia, South America, and Middle America to build strategies for transitioning networks of earthquake monitoring stations in developing countries into fully sustainable networks of advanced geophysical observatories. The Workshop Report summary recommendations are that
  • Geophysicists must be "densified" through more education and training.
  • New instruments are needed, but must be coupled to effective capacity building.
  • Software and instruments must be adapted for local requirements.
  • Regional data centers and confidence building measures are needed to move towards open data.

To guide growth in these efforts, in November 2008 the IRIS Board of Directors created a International Development Seismology Committee (IDSC), and charged the Committee to develop partnerships and collaborations that build infrastructure and human capacity in low- and middle-income countries for seismological and related research, education and training, hazard mitigation, and resource exploration. In addition, IRIS has hired a Director of International Development Seismology at its headquarters in Washington, DC, to develop activities and secure funding to support sustainable technical infrastructure and develop human capacity in low- and middle-income countries for seismological and related research, education and training, hazard mitigation, and resource exploration.