An integrated e-infrastructure to better tackle Solid Earth Grand Challenges

Abstract

EPOS: the European Plate Observing System, is a long-term plan to facilitate integrated use of data, data products, data services and facilities which have been generated, acquired designed, supported etc. by and within the EU research institution (including research centers, labs, universities, etc). It was developed within ESFRI and the aim is to provide an integrated and simple path to reach the broad variety of Earth related scientific data, services, data products and facilites which are currently distributed within EU. It is the way to integrate distributed research infrastructures focused on solid Earth Science in Europe.

It should will bring together Earth scientists, national research infrastructures, ICT (Information & Communication Technology) experts, decision makers, and public to develop new concepts and tools for accurate, durable, and sustainable answers to societal questions concerning geo-hazards, geo-resources and those geodynamic phenomena relevant to the environment and human welfare. It is the fully integrated framework to study a continuously changing planet. The vision is that the integration of the existing national and trans-national research infrastructures will increase access and use of the multidisciplinary data recorded by the solid Earth monitoring networks, acquired in laboratory experiments and/or produced by computational simulations.

The establishment of EPOS should foster worldwide interoperability in the Earth sciences and services to a broad community of users. The overall mission is to integrate the diverse, advanced, leading edge European Research Infrastructures for solid Earth science, and build on new e-science opportunities to monitor and understand the dynamic and complex solid-Earth System. EPOS will identify existing gaps and promote implementation plans with environmental, marine and space science to help solve the grand challenges facing the Earth and its inhabitants.