EPOS - European Plate Observing System

• Mission & Vision
  • The concept
  • Impact
  • History
• Objectives
  • e-Science
• Architecture
  • e-ICT infrastructure
  • EPOS History
• Community
  • EPOS PP Founding Partners
  • International initiatives
  • National initiatives
  • Events
• Preparatory Phase
  • Overview
  • Governance
  • Partners and Associates
  • Working Packages
  • Working Groups
• Data Products
  • Seismic Networks
  • Laboratories
  • GPS networks
  • Volcano observatories
  • Data Processing and Archives

e-ICT infrastructure

The e-infrastructure requires development of new data standards, and integration of distributed archives, computing facilities and experimental facilities exploiting GRID/HPC technology and advanced portal technologies. An efficient and pragmatic approach must be developed in the preparatory phase of EPOS through efficient interaction between geoscientists, the user community and skilled IT specialists. The range of preferably Web-based tools and services to be developed, includes:

• Web-based portal solutions for data distribution, data mining and data archiving

• Grid-based structures to enhance computing power

• Standardized protocols or protocol services for data exchange and data availability

• Web based services for the integration of new sensors, instruments, observatories or labs into the infrastructure

• Repositories for data assimilation tools, modelling tools and data visualization tools

• Repositories for observational and experimental raw data, pre-processed data products and modelling/simulation data including the respective metadata

The innovative integration strategy is described in the work plan. The EPOS infrastructure is based on existing, discipline-oriented, national data centres and data providers managed by national communities for data archiving and mining. EPOS will work to harmonize these national data centres, promoting data authentication and standardization as well as shared national implementation plans. These national research infrastructures will be integrated during the preparatory phase to form EPOS Data Centres, visible as discipline service providers (seismological data, GPS geodetic data, geological repositories, volcano observatory data, etc...). Each EPOS Data Centre will have its own computational facilities. This will allow the establishment of effective distributed data storage and mining as well as providing essential computational resources that will contribute to high-performance computing facilities and grid initiatives at European level. This will facilitate the subsequent step in the e-infrastructure integration plan, which consists of the establishment of the EPOS Core Services representing the EPOS Data services serving the multiple communities integrated by EPOS.

The EPOS Core Services will provide the top-level service to users including access to multidisciplinary data and metadata, virtual data from modelling and solid Earth simulations, data processing and visualization tools as well as access to high-performance computational facilities. EPOS will enhance data processing and modelling capacity and capability as well as develop new theoretical and numerical tools to harness computational power in a distributed European architecture.

The strategic and logistic work to promote the e-infrastructure implementation plan is coordinated by WP5. The necessary technical work will be designed and coordinated in WP6. WP7 will integrate these activities with the legal, governance and financial plan in order to design the EPOS architecture and to promote the beginning of the operational phase.