SeisDARE (Seismic Data Repository) is the name of the new repository that includes seismic datasets acquired over the last four decades in the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco. These datasets have been compiled and identified in a detailed and systematic way. The features of this new repository, which hosts more than twenty seismic projects, are presented and described in a new article published in the journal Earth System Science Data first-authored by Irene DeFelipe, researcher of GEO3BCN-CSIC.
Seismic data provide, as noted by the authors of the article, "critical information about physical properties and the structure of the lithosphere" with highly appreciated resolution. However, as researchers highlight in the study, the campaigns to acquire this type of data are “expensive” and “logistically complex”.
To make the most of all this information, it is necessary to preserve the data and to ensure access to them. And that is precisely what researchers aimed at designing SeisDARE. "This new repository is aimed at making this data available to the general public and as detailed as possible so that they can be reused by future generations of scientists who, by using new data processing techniques, can extract new information and results in their research" said Irene DeFelipe.
Datasets included in the database are openly accessible online and can be directly downloaded from the repository webpage without registration. The database structure also guarantees the FAIR data management principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. Moreover, each dataset has been included in a database in a statistic referencing database so its impact can be measured. “SeisDARE promotes a more transparent and more accessible science, facilitating access to the data and the publications derived from these datasets".
For now, SeisDARE contains 21 datasets acquired during the last four decades within different geophysical projects carried out in the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco. These projects were carried out by researchers from GEO3BCN-CSIC in collaboration with other national and international research institutions.
The repository provides access to a total of 360Gb of information from different areas of the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco such as the Cantabrian Cordillera, the Betic Cordillera, the Rif, the Atlas, the Iberian Massif, the Atlantic margin, or the south-west peninsula, thanks to the work done on projects such as MARCONI, IBERSEIS, ALCUDIA, RIFSIS, or SIMA.
SesIDARE also hosts seismic data acquired within the COCORP project in Hardeman County (USA). COCORP (Consortium for Continental Reflection Profiling) was one of the first efforts to acquire seismic reflection profiles that worked during the 1970s and 1980s in the acquisition of more than 8000 km of seismic profiling in the USA.
"These datasets are especially useful to geosciences researchers and are extremely valuable for basic and applied Earth sciences, and their preservation and availability constitute an effort that should contribute to move science forward", said Irene DeFelipe who also highlights its possible use as an outreach tool "since data and its derived products can be used in teaching and scientific outreach".
To build this new database and make the data accessible, researchers have worked in close collaboration with the DIGITAL.CSIC institutional repository managing team, which has facilitated the storage infrastructure and has generated the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for each dataset. This identifier "allows data to enter the scientific productivity reference systems, following the CSIC's Open Science mandate", explains DeFelipe.
The authors of the repository created a standard metadata format with a comprehensive description for future users. Each dataset has its corresponding metadata describing the data type, seismic source, the type of geophones used in their acquisition, data format, and processing technique.
Besides, an index card summarizes dataset general information providing a location map, an image of the data as an example, references to published peer-reviewed articles and funding agencies. According to the authors, the underlying idea is that "to treat the data as any scientific publication, making them as relevant as the publication itself".
According to Irene DeFelipe, this work is of dual importance. On the one hand, the repository recovers and preserves old and new data of "high scientific value". On the other hand, the experience acquired during the building process allows, as DeFelipe states, "to establish the foundations for future seismic data management plans that have been or will be acquired. Proper management of the data will encourage and facilitate the publication process towards a more open, transparent and data-driven science”.
The building of this repository has been made within several European projects promoting access to open data, such as EPOS, EOSC, and SERA. "In this work, we present not only the data and its acquisition context information but also the need to follow the open data policies. Besides, with this work, we have established several international collaborations that we are willing to extend in the future'.
Researchers from GEO3BCN-CSIC Juan Alcalde, Mario Ruiz, Ignacio Marzán, Jordi Díaz, José Luís Fernández-Turiel and Ramon Carbonell are also coauthors of the study along with researchers from Uppsala University and the University of Salamanca and technicians from DIGITAL.CSIC institutional repository.
Reference article
DeFelipe I, Alcalde J, Ivandic M, Martí, D, Ruiz, M., Marzán, I.,Díaz, J., Ayarza, P., Palomeras, I., Fernández-Turiel, J.L, Molina, C, Bernal, I., Brown, L., Roberts, R., Carbonell, R. Reassessing the lithosphere: SeisDARE, an open-access seismic data repository. Earth Syst Sci Data. 2021;13(3):1053-1071. doi:10.5194/essd-13-1053-2021