EPOS Framework

EPOS, the European Plate Observing System, is a multidisciplinary, distributed research infrastructure that facilitates the integrated use of data, data products, and facilities from the solid Earth science community in Europe.

The EPOS overarching goal is to establish a comprehensive multidisciplinary research platform for the Earth sciences in Europe. The ground-breaking nature of the EPOS federated approach relies on joining the capacity of delivering high-quality standardized and multi-disciplinary data, the involvement of ICT experts in guaranteeing novel e-science opportunities and the leverage effect of user’s engagement.

The European Commission granted the legal status of European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) to EPOS in 2018. The ERIC legal framework provides EPOS with legal personality and capacity recognised in all EU Member States and with the flexibility to adapt to the specific requirements of each infrastructure. Based in Italy, EPOS ERIC is currently joined by fourteen countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and the United Kingdom, and Switzerland participating as observer. EPOS is also one of the landmark research infrastructures in the ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) established European Roadmap for research infrastructures.

EPOS vision and mission

EPOS vision is to ensure sustainable and universal use and re-use of multidisciplinary solid Earth science data and products fostering state-of-the-art research and innovation.

EPOS mission is to establish and underpin a sustainable and long-term access to solid Earth science data and services integrating diverse European Research Infrastructures under a common federated framework.

EPOS architecture

EPOS is integrating a set of diverse European Earth Science National Research Infrastructures (NRI) into one single intereroperable platform. The architecture for this has three complementary elements :

  • National Research Infrastructures (NRI)
    • represent the underpinning EPOS data providers that will guarantee access to quality-checked data and products
    • are owned and managed at a national level
  • Thematic Core Services (TCS)
    • represents the community-specific integration
    • The ten (10) TCS are: Seismology, Volcano observations, Anthropogenic Hazards, Geo-Energy Test Beds for Low Carbon Energy, Near-Fault Observatories, GNNS Data and Products, Geomagnetic Observations, Satellite Data, Geological Information and Modelling, and Multi-Scale Laboratories
  • Integrated Core Services: central hub (ICS-C) and distributed services (ICS-D)
    • represent the novel e-infrastructure that will allow access to multidisciplinary data, products (including synthetic data from simulations, processing and visualization tools), and services to different stakeholders, including but not limited to the scientific community (i.e., users).

European level EPOS and EPOS ERIC

Nordic EPOS - A FAIR Nordic EPOS Data Hub

The Nordic countries have a long-standing tradition of sharing geo-related data and exchanging ideas and experiences in how to process and analyze such data. Nordic EPOS builts on this tradition and aims to enhance and stimulate the ongoing active Nordic interactions related to Solid Earth Research Infrastructures (RIs) in general and EPOS in particular.

Nordic EPOS - A FAIR Nordic EPOS Data Hub- is a project funded through NordForsk's Nordic Research Infrastructure Hubs (2020-2022). The consortium parties are Nordic geophysical observatories from Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Greenland, Norway and Sweden. Partner organizations operate National Research Infrastructures (NRI) that deliver data to EPOS Thematic Core Services (TCS) and/or are partners in TCS consortiums.

The hub objective is to increase awareness of the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles in the geoscientific community by offering trainings on EPOS data and metadata standards to RI and research personnel specially in Nordic countries. Trained personnel can proceed in opening new EPOS related data sets and they can help other scientists and students in applying the standards to their experimental data sets for publication in international journals.

In addition, the hub aims to increase expertise of the geoscientific community in using multi-disciplinary scientific data set of EPOS in cross-disciplinary research of the Arctic or in the supplying mineral and energy resources of Fennoscandia. Similarly the data sets will be open to other groups studying the Arctic, global change, natural hazards or urbanization.

National EPOS concortiums

Nordic EPOS partners operate and/or are part of National EPOS research infrastructures. From Nordic countries, Denmark, Iceland, and Norway are already part of EPOS ERIC and Finland is on the process to join in as a member. Information on national EPOS related activites can be found via national EPOS websites:
National EPOS logos
  • Finland: FIN-EPOS is the Finnish national node of European EPOS. Finland is on its way to join EPOS ERIC as a member country.
  • Denmark: link to be included. Denmark is a member country in EPOS ERIC.
  • Norway: EPOS-N is Norwegian node of the European EPOS. Norway is a member country in EPOS ERIC.
  • Iceland: link to be included. Iceland is a member country in EPOS ERIC.
  • Sweden: link to be included.

Nordic EPOS Partners

The six Nordic EPOS - A FAIR Nordic Data Hub- consortium partners are Universities of Helsinki and Oulu (Finland), University of Bergen (Norway), Uppsala University (Sweden), Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (Denmark and Greenland) and Icelandic Meteorological Office (Iceland).