Draft:EarthScope Consortium

EarthScope Consortium is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit geophysical science support organization. EarthScope Consortium operates two of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) major research facilities, the NSF Geodetic Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience (GAGE) and the NSF Seismological Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience (SAGE), which provide geophysical instrumentation, data access, and services to support geoscience research and education.

EarthScope Consortium’s corporate headquarters are located in Washington, D.C., and an instrument facility is located in Socorro, New Mexico.

Background
EarthScope Consortium was formed on January 1, 2023 through the merger of the Incorporated Research Institutions for Sesimsology (IRIS) and UNAVCO. Both founded in 1984, IRIS and UNAVCO supported the U.S. scientific community’s access to data, instrumentation, and educational resources within seismology and geodesy, respectively. Following initial discussions in October 2019 among the IRIS and UNAVCO Boards of Directors, a merger of the two organizations was approved by member representatives of both consortia in late Fall 2020.

The ‘EarthScope Consortium’ name is connected to IRIS and UNAVCO’s previous collaboration in execution and support of the 2003–2018 NSF-funded EarthScope Program, which included operation of the USArray and Plate Boundary Observatory components.

Membership and Governance
EarthScope Consortium has two categories of membership: Voting Members and Associate Members. Voting Members include U.S.-based educational and research institutions with research programs in geodesy, seismology, or related fields. These institutions have a direct role in setting priorities for the consortium.

Associate Members include other educational and research institutions in the U.S. that do not qualify for voting membership, U.S.-based or foreign-based government entities that participate in geodetic or seismological research, and foreign-based educational and research institutions that participate in geodetic or seismological research.

EarthScope Consortium currently has over 175 Voting Members and 220 Associate Members. A Board of Directors elected by Voting Members serves as non-profit governance to EarthScope Consortium, and multiple Advisory Committees provide input on activities.

Services
Data services include:


 * Capturing data from globally distributed networks of seismic, geodetic, and other sensors.
 * Generating derived data products.
 * Archiving those data and products.
 * Distributing those data and products to research, education, and hazard monitoring communities.

Instrumentation services include maintaining geophysical instruments for finite duration research projects (driven by Principal Investigators) and permanent geophysical networks.

Engagement services include support for geoscience and geophysics education, skills training, outreach, and internship programs.

EarthScope Primary Instrument Center
The EarthScope Primary Instrument Center (EPIC) (formerly known as the IRIS PASSCAL Instrument Center) is located in Socorro, New Mexico at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and houses central instrumentation maintenance and engineering activities through the NSF GAGE and NSF SAGE facilities.

EPIC supports geophysical network operations in global and regional scientific networks, including:


 * The Network of the Americas (NOTA)
 * Global Seismographic Network (GSN)
 * Global GNSS Network (GGN)
 * Borehole Strainmeter Network (BSM)
 * The Polar Network Operations funded by the NSF Office of Polar Programs (OPP)

NSF GAGE Facility
EarthScope Consortium is the operator of the NSF’s Geodetic Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience (GAGE), previously operated by UNAVCO since the facility’s creation in 2013. The NSF GAGE Facility has been a certified ISC World Data System Regular Member since 2015. The NSF GAGE Facility funding is designated to support:

The Network of the Americas (NOTA), an international geophysics sensor network of more than 1,200 continuously operating instruments. These instruments include geodetic GPS/GNSS stations and borehole strain, seismic, and tilt instruments. NOTA integrates stations from pre-existing GPS networks, including: Data from this network are used for various fields of Earth science research, hazard monitoring, and precision positioning applications like surveying or agriculture.
 * The Plate Boundary Observatory, which generates geophysical over a range including Alaska, Continental U.S., and Puerto Rico.
 * TLALOCNet (Mexico)
 * COCONet (Caribbean and the neighboring area).
 * Monitoring permanent stations in the NASA Global GNSS Network (GGN), which contributes to the International GNSS Service (IGS) responsible for the International Terrestrial Reference Frame.
 * Instrumentation maintenance and deployment and data access for geodesy research driven by Principal Investigators.
 * Maintenance of some United States Geological Survey (USGS) Volcano Hazards Program GPS/GNSS stations and support of the GPS/GNSS component of the ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system.
 * Education, workforce development, and outreach related to geodesy and geoscience.

NSF SAGE Facility
EarthScope Consortium is the operator of the NSF’s Seismological Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience (SAGE), previously operated by IRIS since the facility’s creation in 2013. The NSF SAGE Facility is certified by the CoreTrustSeal Standards and Certification Board as a trustworthy data repository. The NSF SAGE Facility funding is designated to support:


 * Operation of the Global Seismographic Network (GSN) (jointly with the USGS). The GSN is a globally distributed seismic network of over 150 stations. The NSF SAGE Facility (through Project IDA, International Deployment of Accelerometers) provides for maintenance of approximately one third of the GSN stations. The USGS, via the Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory, operates the remainder of GSN stations. Data from this network are used for earthquake detection and research, imaging of the Earth’s interior, and contribute to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization’s (CTBTO) International Monitoring System.
 * Archiving and distribution of seismological and other geophysical research data and data products.
 * Maintenance and deployment of seismic, magnetotelluric, and other portable instrumentation for Principal Investigator-led research projects.
 * Education, workforce development, and outreach related to seismology and geoscience.