Twelve seismic stations that record earthquakes have been modernized to state-of-the-art status and will be officially added to the Russian National Seismographic Network, and a number of other seismic stations will be updated throughout the vast territory of the Russian Federation under the same agreement signed by U.S. Geological Survey Acting Director Tom Casadevall with cooperators in Russia and the U.S.
" U.S. cooperation with Russia in earthquake hazards studies dates back to the 1970s. The present agreement builds on that relationship by emphasizing collaborative science and establishing standards for data sharing between Russian and American scientists," said Casadevall.
The upgraded seismic stations will bring the Russian National Seismographic Network in accord with technical standards of the Global Seismographic Network (GSN). The GSN is installed and maintained by the USGS and the Incorporated Research Institutes for Seismology (IRIS), a U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) supported university consortium. Operated in partnership with government and research organizations around the world, the GSN is designed to obtain high quality digital earthquake data that can be readily transmitted from seismic stations via satellites and the Internet to computers accessed by data users worldwide.
Russian participation in gathering seismic data is crucial to improved understanding of seismicity, earthquake hazards, and Earth structure, Casadevall noted. Russia, geographically the largest country in the world, stretches across ten time zones and encompasses more than ten percent of the Earth's land.
Signatories to the agreement include the Ministry of Science and Technology Policy of the Russian Federation, the Russian Academy of Sciences, NSF, and USGS. USGS and IRIS will provide equipment and supplies for the upgraded stations. Russia will provide personnel to maintain the stations.
As the nation's largest water, earth and biological science and civilian mapping agency, the USGS works in cooperation with more than 2000 organizations across the country to provide reliable, impartial, scientific information to resource managers, planners, and other customers. This information is gathered in every state by USGS scientists to minimize the loss of life and property from natural disasters, to contribute to the conservation and the sound economic and physical development of the nation's natural resources, and to enhance the quality of life by monitoring water, biological, energy, and mineral resources.
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