Active Seismic Sources Committee Charge
Charge of the Advisory Committee on EPIC Active Seismic Sources
The Incorporated Research Institutes for Seismology (EarthScope) currently provides seismic recording instruments to the academic and government seismology research community. Although much of the community’s seismology research is carried out in a “passive” mode of operation, in which researchers are recording seismic signals from natural or ambient seismic sources, a subset of the EarthScope community relies on “active” seismic sources in which the researchers generate seismic signals using a variety of mechanical and chemical sources.
EarthScope is currently not involved in providing seismic sources to the research community in any meaningful way; the seismic sources are generally rented or purchased by the researchers for use with the EPIC recording equipment, or are provided by U.S government or international collaborators. This can seriously circumscribe the activities of U.S. researchers engaged in active source seismology. The EarthScope EPIC Standing Committee would like an Advisory Committee to determine whether and to what extent EarthScope should provide “active” seismic sources to the research community.
The committee is charged with advising the EPIC Standing Committee, the EarthScope President and the EarthScope Board of Directors on the need for active seismic sources to support research in crustal/lithospheric structure and related investigations.
In particular, the committee should report on whether EPIC should provide seismic sources to the EarthScope community, what seismic sources if any should be supported by EPIC, what potential capital and operating costs are involved, and what the role of EPIC personnel will be in providing those sources.
The committee is requested to submit a draft report to the EPIC Standing Committee by the fall 2009 meeting.
In fulfilling its charge, the committee should consider the potential benefits to the EarthScope community, the potential risks and liabilities to the EarthScope organization and its member institutions, the availability of seismic sources in the open market, and the specific role that EPIC personnel should have in maintaining and operating seismic sources. The committee should seek input from the greater EarthScope community, and others, to understand the benefits, risks and costs involved in providing seismic sources.
The committee should consider whether researchers currently outside of the EarthScope community will become part of the community if seismic sources are supported by EPIC.
The committee should recommend several potential models for EPIC support of seismic sources, with each scenario outlining the specific seismic sources and the level of staff involvement in the permitting, operation and maintenance of these sources, as well as the cost of acquiring and maintaining these sources. These potential models should clearly spell out the relationship and responsibilities of the non-EarthScope Principal Investigators and EPIC personnel.
The committee should also estimate the amount of EPIC staff time and monetary costs that will need to be devoted to permitting, maintaining and operating seismic sources in support of the EarthScope community. Such estimates need to be made for several potential levels of EPIC involvement for different combinations of seismic sources, as recommended in the preceding scenarios.
Finally, the committee should consider whether there are potential seismic sources that are not currently used in standard geophysical research that might be developed or utilized by EarthScope to broaden the scope and capabilities of the research seismology community.
