| The Kyrgyz Seismic Network (KNET) will become the scientific cornerstone of a new International Geodynamics Research Center. The ten-station broadband telemetered network was installed following the 1988 earthquake in Armenia when the Soviet Union requested IRIS to help evaluate areas of high earthquake hazard. The network was jointly developed under IRIS's Joint Seismic Program by the University of California, San Diego, the Kyrgyz Institute of Seismology, and the Russian Institute of High Temperature Physics. In 1997 the Department of State and the Agency for International Development asked the US Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) to administer an assistance package for Kyrgyzstan that includes support for the Kyrgyz Seismic Network. Plans for the Center include annual cost-shares by the Kyrgyz and Russian governments. The shared facility will also be available to visiting researchers from other countries. Over the past six years KNET has recorded over 20,000 local, regional and teleseismic events. The data have been used by researchers at many IRIS and non-IRIS members who have produced a reference list of 25 publications and 11 currently in the review process. KNET data have been used for detailed studies of the 1992 Suusamyr Mw 7.2 earthquake, local and regional studies of tomography and attenuation, as well as receiver functions and shear wave splitting studies. In the future, KNET will provide essential information for local and regional studies such as for the NSF Continental Dynamics project of the Tien Shan region and for global studies of Earth's deep interior. All KNET data are delivered to the IRIS DMC and are immediately available. | 
Ten-stationed broadband telemetered network installed under the JSP program around Bishkek, the earthquake prone capitol of Kyrgyzstan. Yuri Trapeznikov, Institute for High Temperature Physics; Asker Turdukulovich, Kyrgyz Institute of Seismology; Tynymbek Ormonbekov, Kyrgyz Government Committee for Science and Technologies; Angus Simmons, U.S. Embassy, Bishkek; Gerson Sher, US Civilian Research and Development Foundation. (Photo: US Civilian Research and Development Foundation) |
