Seismic Data available from the IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) Consortium

The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) is a
consortium of United States Universities that have research programs
in seismology. The purpose of IRIS is to develop and operate the
infrastructure needed for the acquisition and distribution of high
quality seismic data.

IRIS was formed in 1984 by twenty-six universities to serve a national
focus for the development, deployment, and support of modern digital
seismic instrumentation. Today, membership in this nonprofit
consortium numbers over 91 institutions , and IRIS supports the
research needs of earth scientists in the U.S. and around the
world. IRIS consists of four management programs:
- The Data Management System (DMS),
"http://www.iris.washington.edu/HTM/dms.htm"
- The Global Seismographic Network (GSN),
"http://www.iris.washington.edu/GSN/"
- The Program for Array Seismic Studies of the Continental
Lithosphere,
(PASSCAL), "http://www.passcal.nmt.edu/iris/passcal/passcal.htm"
- Education & Outreach Program,
"http://www.iris.washington.edu/EandO/"

The IRIS DMS presently consists of seven components or "nodes". These
nodes work together to insure the smooth flow of GSN data from the
stations to the seismological research community.

The IRIS Global Seismographic Network (GSN) is one of the four major
components of the IRIS Consortium. The goal of the GSN is to deploy
128 permanent seismic recording stations uniformly over the earth's
surface. The GSN provides funding to two network operators:
- IRIS/ASL Network Operations Center
Albuquerque, New Mexico, operated by the United States Geological
Survey; and
- IRIS/IDA Network Operations Center
La Jolla, California, operated by personnel from Scripps
Institution of Oceanography.

PASSCAL is one of two major instrumentation programs of IRIS (the
other being the Global Seismic Network or GSN). PASSCAL operates a
pool of over 400 portable seismic instruments to record active source
reflection data, active source refraction data or natural source
recordings of earthquakes (see Instrumentation for more details). The
instrumentation is currently housed and supported by an instrument
center at New Mexico Tech, Socorro, New Mexico. PASSCAL Instruments
and support are available to the academic research community according
to the rules and policies set by the IRIS Executive Committee. All
data from PASSCAL supported experiments are
made available through the IRIS DMC in Seattle, Washington.

The IRIS Education & Outreach (E&O) program, in collaboration with the
seismological and educational communities, develops and implements
IRIS programs designed to enhance seismology and Earth Science
education in K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and in adult
education. Our goal is to foster within the next generation of
research scholars, educators, policy-makers, business leaders and
benefactors an appreciation for and an understanding of seismology and
related study of the Earth.