Long Range Science Plan for Seismology
The National Science Foundation has directed the IRIS Consortium to assist the seismological research community in preparing a Long-Range Science Plan for Seismology (LRSPS) by the end of 2008.
The fundamental LRSPS process will be to explore and document the most exciting directions for seismology on a decadal time frame with the community. The principal product will be a concise and exciting report (with on-line supporting materials) to appeal to a broad range of NSF, Congressional, and wider interests and funding sources. With large-scale leadership changes inevitable in Washington DC this year, we expect this report to be especially valuable for making the case for seismological research at a pivotal time.
At the request of the IRIS Board or Directors, Rick Aster, Don Forsyth, and Barbara Romanowicz gather community input in several ways, including a two-day workshop that was held during September 2008. The openly available record of community includes comments to a web forum posted before and soon after the workshop, presentations at the workshop, a list of workshop participants and several one-page viewpoint summaries.
Thorne Lay, as Science Plan editor, and a writing group are using the community input to articulate a series of key scientific questions and recommendations for future research directions. The writing group intends to make a draft report available for discussion during December 2008, and for their final report to be suitable for use by broad and diverse constituencies ranging from the research community to government agencies. IRIS plans to distribute the report widely as a printed document and through web-publication.