Promoting Waveform Seismology in Europe and Beyond: ORFEUS Community Data Services and Products

Abstract

ORFEUS was founded in 1986 as the international non-profit organisation to coordinate and promote waveform seismology, in particular the collection and exchange of digital seismological waveform data, at a time when these started to became available in large amounts, together with information technologies for exchange and access. ORFEUS initially was closely linked to national broadband seismology initiatives in Europe. With the inception of the European Integrated waveform Data Archive EIDA in 2013, the originally centralized ORFEUS Data Center (ODC) became part of a federated infrastructure that comprises more than a dozen data centers collaborating in the greater European region. ORFEUS today provides free and open access to data from more than 16,000 permanent and temporary seismic stations, contributed by more than 60 seismological institutions and observatories from more than 30 countries. In addition to waveform data and related metadata and station information, ORFEUS provides services for waveform-derived products like strong-motion information and peak-motion parameters. Efforts are ongoing to integrate in ORFEUS the community of European mobile instrument pools, including also amphibian instrumentation. Products and services for computational seismologists are also possible candidates for assimilation in the ORFEUS framework.