Agreement Signed on US Russian Cooperation in Observational Seismology and Geodynamics

Signatories to the Agreement: Director of the US Geological Survey, Chip Groat; Director of the National Science Foundation, Rita Colwell; Minister of Science and Technologies, Mikhail Kirpichnikov; and Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nikolai Laverov. Assisting in the signing ceremony are Laura Efros from the Office of Science and Technology Policy and Vladimir Tychtchenko of the Ministry of Science and Technologies.

The twelve Global Seismographic Network stations in Russia add significantly to data for global seismology, providing information from a broad region of Europe and Asia that had previously been closed to western observers. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, there have been numerous changes in the mode of operation of the Russian GSN stations. Largely due to the excellent cooperation between the Geophysical Service in Obninsk, the GSN networks operators (UCSD and ASL) and individual station operators, the Russian stations have continued to work unabated, and in many ways have improved, during the dramatic changes in Russia over the past decade. Internet has been added to most of the stations, providing near real-time access to data. GPS instruments have been added at a number of sites.

One perpetual source of problems has been relations with the Russian customs service. The agreement under which the GSN stations were originally installed in Russian was with the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Import of GSN equipment and supplies was through the Academy and it was relatively easy for all scientific materials to be declared exempt from duties and taxes. Under the new regime, import regulations have changed dramatically and customs control has become much more complex and irregular. As a first step in attempting to re-formalize the GSN project and solve the customs problems, it was clear that a new agreement was required.

Many of the high level agreements for scientific cooperation with Russia are now carried out under the bilateral exchanges coordinated by US Vice-President Gore and the Russian Prime Minister (originally the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission). At the Science and Technology Commission meeting of the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission in January 1996, a Memorandum of Understanding on Observational Seismology was signed that eventually lead to a full Agreement prepared for the Gore-Primakov Commission in March 1999. Although the Kosovo crisis lead to the abrupt cancellation of the full Commission meeting, the Science and Technology Committee did meet and approved the Agreement which was signed on March 24, 1999.

While signatures on a formal document are a significant and important step, the real work of ensuring the long-term, stable operation of the GSN stations in Russia continues to be a challenge. Problems with customs remain, especially in the remote areas of the far eastern regions. The financial situation in Russia has placed serious constraints on the support of their scientific infrastructure. The contributions to international seismology, through the dedicated work of the individuals at each of the Russian stations, is greatly appreciated.