Implementation of FIN-EPOS - a FINnish national initiative of the European Plate Observing System

The European Plate Observation System – EPOS is a single, Pan-European, sustainable and distributed RI. EPOS will be an openaccess RI, aiming to be the principal source of data and tools. EPOS will simplify and speed-up the process of combining geophysical
information. EPOS opens new possibilities for cross-cutting and innovative research in Earth Sciences, their applications in for society
as well as for raw material and energy exploration.
The FIN-EPOS RI consortium is a national initiative of EPOS. The consortium partners (UH, UO, GTK, FMI, FGI, MIKES, CSC) own
and operate Earth science observatories and laboratories in Finland. Each partner collects different types of data with different
geophysical instruments and utilizing different standards for data formatting, archiving and sharing. Although Finnish observatories are
already sending real-time data to European data centers, IT solutions for interoperability of different types of data require certain level
of standardization. It is estimated that each RI needs three person months for setting up metadata files and exchange formats. This will
impose a severe workload on all the NRIs in 2016-2020.
EPOS enters Implementation Phase in June 2015. Temporary governance structure will be set up for EPOS-IP. Finland should be
represented in the boards to oversee its interests during the building phase. Finland is actively taking part in four Working Packages of
EPOS-IP: National harmonization, Governance and Legal, Geomagnetic observations, Anthropogenic Hazard.
The consortium organizations have formed a joint council that will meet twice a year. The council will be assisted by coordinator, who
will prepare meetings and documents, correspond with EPOS-ECO, co-ordinate the metadata cataloging and data formatting
(harmonization), helping in updating the FIN-EPOS webpages and national entry portal. Chair of the council will be the national
representative in the EPOS. Council members may serve as members in TCS/ICS boards. FIN-EPOS will set up national co-ordination
office at Institute of Seismology, University of Helsinki.
This proposal seeks to ensure that FIN-EPOS RIs is fully connected with EPOS-ERIC infrastructure from the start of its activities. Cost
for setting up FI-EPOS office, running the FIN-EPOS consortium, participation in EPOS governance, and additional costs posed by
technical changes in the RI data flow management and setting up national entry portal are applied here.

EPOS is a single, Pan-European, sustainable and distributed RI. EPOS will be an open-access infrastructure, aiming to be the principal
source of data and tools. EPOS will simplify and speed-up the process of combining information from different fields of geophysics.
EPOS opens new possibilities for cross-cutting and innovative research in Earth Sciences and their applications for society as well as
for raw material and energy exploration.
The FIN-EPOS consortium partners (UH, UOULU), GTK, FMI, FGI, MIKES, CSC) own and operate the geophysical and geodetic
observatory and laboratory RIs in Finland. IT solutions for interoperability require certain level of standardization and harmonization.
Each partner is obliged to follow and harmonize their data and metadata accordingly. This will impose a severe workload on all the RIs
during EPOS-IP in 2016-2019. This proposal seeks to ensure that FIN-EPOS RIs are fully connected with EPOS-ERIC infrastructure
from the start of its activities