IRIS Brings Seismology to Capitol Hill

David Applegate, Director of Government Affairs for the American Geological Institute, discusses recordings from the Northridge earthquake at the Coalition for National Science Funding exhibition on Capitol Hill.

Members of Congress and their staff created earthquakes, saw a playback of the 1994 Northridge event, and learned about global seismology at an exhibition and reception on Capitol Hill organized by the Coalition for National Science Funding. The exhibition featured projects supported by the National Science Foundation and demonstrated to Congress how such projects meet the nation's research and education goals.

At the invitation of the American Geological Institute and the American Geophysical Union, IRIS set up a seismology display that was developed with the US Geological Survey. Members of Congress appreciated the strong cooperation between IRIS and the US Geological Survey. They were impressed also with the multiple uses of the IRIS facilities serving not only scientific research, but also earthquake hazards, nuclear monitoring, and education. Other exhibits included "The Virtual Earth System" by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and "Measuring the Earth with Quasars" by the American Astronomical Society.

Following the exhibition, Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., Chairman of the Science Committee, issued a statement commenting "I am among those constantly amazed by the variety and depth of NSF-sponsored projects, some of which are on display today.... While other federal science agencies may have bigger budgets, I doubt if any has a bigger impact than the National Science Foundation (NSF) on the scientific enterprise."

At the AGU/AGI/IRIS exhibit, most of the questions were about earthquake hazards and the frequency of earthquakes in various parts of the world. Such questions were no doubt partly due to the timeliness of the exhibit following the recent passage of the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Authorization Act of 1999. The bill authorizes a total of $469.6 million over five years for the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP), and includes funding for the Advanced National Seismic System. Although the authorization passed strongly, the tight budget climate may make it difficult for the funds to be actually appropriated this year.

The Consortium of Organizations for Strong Motion Observation Systems (COSMOS)

Bruce A. Bolt, President, COSMOS

An agreement has been reached to form a public benefit nonprofit corporation entitled, "Consortium of Organizations for StrongMotion Observation Systems." (COSMOS) The decision was taken based on a Charter agreement between the California Strong Motion Instrumentation Program, the US Geological Survey, the US Bureau of Reclamation, and the US Army Corps of Engineers. The sponsoring organization is the US Committee for the Advancement of Strong Motion Programs (CASMP) funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The purposes of the Corporation as defined by the COSMOS Charter are as follows:

  1. Develop policies and foster innovative ideas for the urgent improvement in the strongmotion measurement and their applications;
  2. Promote the advancement of strongmotion measurement in densely urbanized areas and other locations of special significance to society likely to be struck by future earthquakes;
  3. Encourage and assist the rapid, convenient, and effective distribution of strong-motion data according to COSMOS standards;
  4. Strengthen, expand, and support strongmotion programs;
  5. Serve as a consortium through which programs and institutions can work to solve mutual problems with instruments, data and its dissemination, and data utilization; and
  6. Advance systematic user influence on data acquisition and data dissemination processes.

For more information see website:
www.cosmos-eq.org/default.html