Data Services Newsletter

Volume 18 : No 1 : Spring 2016

IRIS Board Approves New Data Policies for IRIS

One of the major successes for IRIS has been its ability to provide resources to manage and curate data from non-NSF funded networks. However as the era of Big Data from Seismic Networks approaches, IRIS needs to be sure that it has the resources to manage the hundreds of terabytes of new data that may soon be generated.

As part of an External Review, that took place 3-1/2 years ago, the need to establish clear policies and agreements that govern data contributions to IRIS became clear. In response to this IRIS Data Services has developed several practices and policies that govern the interactions between data contributors and the IRIS Data Services. All of the policies can be found here

The Data Provider Agreement (DPA) has been developed that establishes expectations between Network contributors and the IRIS DMC. This brief document identifies what the obligations of the network are and in turn identifies the obligations of IRIS Data Services will be in response to the network’s contribution.

More recently the IRIS Board of Directors approved two new Data Acceptance Policies (DAP)

DAP for Large Data Temporary Deployments (LDTD) The LDTD policy that governs data from Temporary Deployments that may generate large data volumes. This policy identifies a threshold at which the IRIS DMC will need new resources to manage the data set. Some requests the DMC has received would require an expenditure of more than $250,000 just to acquire the storage space needed and so it is probably clear to everyone why there is a need for such a policy. It can be found at the link above. This policy is reviewed annually by the DSSC at the spring DSSC meeting.

DAP for Seismological Data from Permanent Networks. This policy determines procedures governing acceptance of data from permanent seismic networks by the IRIS DMC. Key features of the policy include

  • For networks currently providing data, the DMC will continue to accept data of a similar type at no extra cost
  • For contributions of 5 terabytes per year or less, the DMC will accept the data
  • For contributions expected to exceed the 5-terabyte limit per year, the DSSC will be consulted to determine if the data will be accepted and what preconditions, if any, are required.
  • The policy will also be reviewed at spring meetings of the DSSC.

Redistribution of IRIS Data. The IRIS DMC encourages the redistribution of IRIS data to other interested parties without restriction. However, it is required for any such redistribution to be documented according to the Redistribution of IRIS Data guidelines provided on the page referred to above.

As these policies may be modified from time to time and new policies may come into effect we encourage contributors to the IRIS DMC to consult these pages on a regular basis.

by Tim Ahern (IRIS Data Management Center)

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