Search

ORFEUS (Observatories and Research Facilities for European Seismology, orfeus-eu.org) is a non-profit foundation that coordinates and promotes seismology in the Euro-Mediterranean area and beyond, through harmonized collection, archival and distribution of seismic waveform data, metadata, alongside offering services and products managed at national level by more than 60 participating seismological Institutions. ORFEUS is one of the founding members of EPOS Seismology (www.epos-eu.org/tcs/seismology) and a fundamental partner of EC-funded projects. ORFEUS services are largely integrated in the EPOS Data Access Portal (www.ics-c.epos-eu.org). The key goals of ORFEUS (Bylaws, Article I.3: orfeus-eu.org/documents//ORFEUS_Bylaws_September_2022.pdf) are achieved through the development and maintenance of data services targeted to a broad community of seismological data users. ORFEUS comprises: (i) the European Integrated waveform Data Archive (EIDA; orfeus-eu.org/data/eida); (ii) the European Strong-Motion databases (orfeus-eu.org/data/strong); and iii) the recently established group representing the community of European mobile pools, including amphibian instrumentation (orfeus-eu.org/data/mobile). Products and services for computational seismology are also considered for integration in the ORFEUS domain. Currently, ORFEUS services provide access to the waveforms acquired by ~18,000 stations in the Euro-Mediterranean region, including dense temporary experiments (e.g., AlpArray, AdriaArray), with strong emphasis on open, high-quality data. Access to data and products is ensured through state-of-the-art information and communication technologies, with strong emphasis on federated web services, clear policies and licenses, and acknowledging the crucial role played by data providers. Significant efforts are underway, by ORFEUS participating institutions, to enhance the existing services to tackle the challenges posed by the Big Data Era, and to actively encourage interoperability and integration of multidisciplinary datasets in seismological and Earth Science workflows. ORFEUS also implements Community services that include software and travel grants, webinars, workshops and editorial initiatives. ORFEUS data and services are assessed and improved through the technical and scientific feedback of a User Advisory Group, which comprises European Earth scientists with expertise on a broad range of disciplines.