Building the infrastructure for solid Earth scienceto support a safe and sustainableEuropean society

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Creates novel e-infrastructure and integrated core services

Improves geo-hazard assessment,risk mitigation, and sustainablemanagement of georesources

Fosters scientific, technologicaland ICT innovation

Guarantees open access tomultidisciplinary Research Infrastructures

Integrates national and transnationalresearch infrastructuresfor solid Earth science

seamless access topan-European dataand services

cross-disciplinary andtransnational research

a multidisciplinarycommunity of users

successfully addressing global Grand Challenges in Earth science

a safe andprosperous society

EPOS Goals

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EPOS will enable cross-disciplinaryresearch andpromote thedevelopment of new researchconcepts and tools

EPOS will provideaccurate, lastingand sustainableanswers to societalquestions

EPOS will empowerresearchersto address geo-hazards andgeo-resourceschallenges,safeguardingour environmentand the welfare of our societies

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The EPOS enterprise will facilitate theintegration and use of solid Earth science

data, data products, services and facilities,based on distributed national researchinfrastructures across Europe. EPOS will develop a holistic, sustainable,multidisciplinary research platform thatprovides coordinated access to harmonizedand quality controlled data from diverse Earthscience disciplines, together with tools fortheir use in analysis and modelling. This integrated platform will demandsignificant coordination between – amongothers – disciplinary (thematic) communities,

national research infrastructures and thepolicies and initiatives they drive,geoscientists and information technologists.Earth science serves society directly byensuring a sustainable supply of resources– energy, water, raw materials – and themeans of protection from the effects of geo-hazards. A complex web of interconnectedphysical and chemical processes controlearthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, andfloods, and drive tectonics and Earth surfacedynamics. Unravelling them requiresaccessible harmonized data and new tools tofoster innovative cross-disciplinary research.

What is EPOS?The European Plate Observing System (EPOS) is a planned research infrastructure for European solid Earth science, integrating existingresearch infrastructures to enable innovative multidisciplinary research, recently prioritised by the European Strategy Forum on ResearchInfrastructures (ESFRI) for implementation. By improving access to data and data products, EPOS will transform the European researchlandscape, driving discovery and developing solutions to the geo-hazards and geo-resources challenges facing European society.

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The complex Earth system demands integratedsolutions. EPOS will make data products moreaccessible. By combining satellite and in-situ Earthobservations we can model surface deformationsand tectonic processes causing earthquakes. EPOS will harmonize data and metadata andensure that new data products are accessible toboth researchers and users across wider society.

In the middle of the twentieth century, newtechnology to observe the Earth spread

across the world. The data that resulted fromthis technological innovation, on earthquakelocations, seafloor magnetism and volcanicactivity, for example, led to a new theory ofthe Earth, plate tectonics. Plate tectonicschanged the way Earth scientists viewed theplanet and led to a flowering of research thatcontinues to this day, with considerableadvances within disciplines such as geodesy,seismology, volcanology and geochemistry.

These advances, in turn, revealed thecomplexity of Earth systems, whichresearchers are now addressing in multi-disciplinary projects examining the origin ofplanet Earth, its magnetic field, compositionand structure, and the evolution of Eurasia.Earth scientists know that it is important toconsider both surface deformation and flowsdeep in the Earth’s interior – and theirinteractions – in order to understand ourplanet. Global change highlights the impacton human society of long-term changes at the

Earth’s surface. The volume of data andbreadth of physical, chemical and biologicalprocesses involved demand new integratedapproaches to collaboration. Considerable advances in informationtechnology now make an integratedapproach possible, easing access to theavalanche of data and products availableacross Earth science and related fields.Accessible datasets will bring novel cross-fertilization of ideas and leads to innovativeresearch that is the key to future success.

Driving science

EPOS will link research communities,including IT, through an efficient, multidisciplinary research platform

EPOS will provide new ways to accessdata, quality assured metadata andtools for analysis

EPOS will promote the development of new data products and services

We can maintain and enhance the standard of living across Europe if we understand how our planet works. EPOS will accelerate this process, promotingeffective use of data and the development of new ideas and new tools to test them. EPOS will drive innovation for science, adding value to existing nationalresearch investment.

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Geo-hazards can be global problems

In 2010, small volcanic eruptions at Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland,disrupted air travel worldwide, at an estimated cost of €1300million. Understanding the circumstances that made thiseruption so costly is involving not only researchers across diversedisciplines, but also civil authorities, aviation authorities, industry,and public all around Europe. The Eyjafjallajökull activity revealedour vulnerability and lack of scientific coordination acrossfrontiers, making it clear that geo-hazards can affectenvironment and human welfare at regional to global scale.Hence, solutions need to be found at the same scale.Tackling the complexity of geo-processes demands a diversity ofcompetences, technologies, data and tools that must beharmonised and coordinated. EPOS is facing this challenge byimproving interoperable, multidisciplinary access to data, dataproducts, and tools (including facilities). Then, advanced ITmethodologies and solutions will make datasets widely availablefrom raw data, through data products, to integrated dataproducts arising from complex analyses or wide communityinvolvement, such as hazard maps suitable for variousstakeholders such as civil authorities and the public.

Prosperity demands raw materials, energy and water. We need newsources of energy, including geothermal energy and we need mineralsto support new technology. Finding valuable new deposits demandsintegrated laboratory and survey work, and new exploration models.

Supporting societySociety needs resources to support home life, industry and business and it needs security in the face of natural hazards. Earth scienceunderpins both these areas and EPOS will facilitate research innovation to support European society, now and in future.

Safety in the face of natural hazards isessential for society. Earth science explores

the driving forces behind Europe’s geo-hazards, such as earthquakes, volcanoes,landslides and floods. Earth scientists usenatural and experimental data to model howgeo-hazards arise and evolve. For example,combining data from volcanic structure,geochemical analysis, seismology and satellitegeodesy allows researchers to track volcanicactivity, giving societies at risk from eruptionsa clearer idea of their potential exposure.Europe experiences rare but highly damagingevents, including catastrophic volcaniceruptions and earthquakes. Combining asound physical understanding of naturalhazards with the means to monitor and predicttheir occurrence will mitigate their effects, as

well as increasing public awareness,managing risks and decreasing deaths. The secure and sustainable supply of naturalresources – energy, water and raw materials –underpins strong economic growth. Successfulsocieties depend on the science base to assessthe genesis, extent and conservation of naturalresources, in order to exploit them anddiscover new sources without detriment to ourenvironment. Europe is experiencingincreasing demand for resources, especiallyenergy; whilst it has coal, oil and gas, andsuccessful multinational companies thatexploit them, there is also significant potentialfor unconventional sources such as shale gas.Developing energy resources and managingwaste, safely and responsibly, will requiremultidisciplinary data and information.

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6 The next generation

The study and understanding of the solidEarth are necessarily multidisciplinary,

requiring data produced with varied formatsand advanced techniques. National research infrastructures andcommunities within disciplines will providethe foundations for this transnational andcross-disciplinary research infrastructure.Within this framework, the next generationof researchers must learn not only specialistskills, but also how to use multidisciplinarydata and collaborate. This is one of the key challenges for Earthand environmental sciences. EPOS willcontribute to this challenge by simplifying

and streamlining access to multidisciplinarydata, products and services for solid Earthsciences. Easy-to-find data and dataproducts as well as tools for visualization,processing and analysis provide the bestway to sustain the integrated approach toresearch and drive the science forward,expanding the range of feasible research.In order to build on this progress, the nextgeneration of scientists must also be trainedto develop data intensive applications andmodelling. New opportunities provided by e-science innovation will be essential forfuture research progress. An integratedresearch infrastructure as a platform for

discovery will facilitate collaborationsbetween Earth and Information Technologyscientists in particular. The perspectivesguaranteed by this federated approach toscience have global relevance and impactbeyond the scientific communities involved.Once the integrated services to be deliveredby EPOS are fully operational, this newinfrastructure will also enhance access toresearch outcomes. By linking data topublications, the infrastructure will providebetter data traceability; by creating newdata products, it will encourage scientists toshare their research in ways that bring newapplications for society.

Integrated infrastructure for Earth science across Europe will bring scientific advances. Researchers will find new efficient ways ofworking and, in turn, will train the next generation of scientists to develop innovative models and methods to benefit society, inways that are yet to be explored.

EPOS will train the next generation ofscientists in new ways of facingchallenges

EPOS will improve the capability ofsociety to understand scientificachievements and their use

EPOS will increase the resilience ofsociety to natural hazard by facilitatingpreparedness and awareness

Identifying potential downstream users.EPOS is developing and using a propercommunication strategy to attract and interactdiverse stakeholders. Dissemination channelssuch as the EPOS web site, newsletter, trainingcourses, workshops, meetings, conferencesand promotional materials will promote theenterprise and stimulate user feedback.

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How will EPOS work?EPOS is integrating the diverse, but advanced, research infrastructures that exist for solid Earth Science in Europe; the programme will developimplementation plans and use new e-science opportunities to monitor and understand the dynamic and complex solid Earth system.

Technical structure

National Research Infrastructures (NRI); EPOS hasas its foundations the existing NRI for solid Earthscience across Europe. NRI generate data andinformation and manage the operation andmaintenance of instrumentation in each country.National organisations will continue to own andmanage the NRI and their data. Thematic Core Services (TCS); they constitute thecommunity-specific integration within EPOS. TCSbring together data and data products from NRImaking them available to transnational thematiccommunities. Moreover, the TCS will provide accessto new data products and services to the usercommunity. Integrated Core Services (ICS); they will provideaccess to multidisciplinary data, data products andsimulations, and processing and visualization tools.The ICS will be composed of the ICS central hub anddistributed computational resources. The interfacebetween TCS and ICS is the compatibility layer,organizing communication and exchange ofinformation. EPOS relies on open access principles.

EPOS Timeline. The EPOS Preparatory Phaseended October 31st , 2014. In the next step, theImplementation Phase, the EPOS-ERIC will beestablished, TCS implemented and ICS built.In 2019, EPOS will be operational...

The EPOS architecture takes into accounttechnical, governance, legal and financial

issues and must make it possible for theenterprise to work as a single, but distributed,sustainable research infrastructure. The European Research InfrastructureConsortium (ERIC) has been chosen by theBoard of Governmental Representatives as thelegal model for EPOS and used in designingthe Governance Model. This includes aGeneral Assembly of members and anExecutive Director, supported by aCoordination Office. A Services CoordinationBoard representing the Thematic CoreServices and the Integrated Core Services (seefigure, right) will inform and assist theExecutive Director in formulating andexecuting the EPOS work programme. Thedesign of the Statutes is in progress. The funding model as it has been designedwill support the sustainable construction andoperation of the whole EPOS enterprise. Themodel includes complementary fundingsources for each of the key EPOS elements.The Executive and Coordination Office (ECO)is the EPOS Headquarter and the legal seat ofthe distributed infrastructure governing theconstruction and operation of the IntegratedCore Services and coordinating theimplementation of the Thematic CoreServices; the technical structure is describedin detail by the figure on the right.

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www.epos-eu.org/ contacts: epos@ingv.it - epos.secretariat@ingv.it ride database: www.epos-eu.org/ride

towards implementation

phase

4939 Seismic Stations

464 Tb Seismic Data

23 Countries Involved

138 Institutions

250 National Research Infrastructures

2272 GPS Receivers

118 Laboratories

828 Instruments