0201264, Archuleta, U. California-Santa Barbara "COSMOS Virtual Data Center" This action supports the continued development of the COSMOS Virtual Strong-motion Data Center (COSMOS VDC), an unrestricted, Web-based, interactive strong ground motion data resource for the practicing earthquake engineering, emergency response, research, and other earthquake professional communities. The major goal of the Virtual Data Center (VDC) is to expand and significantly improve the accessibility and the use of all strong-motion records collected by the ever-growing number of US and international organizations. The VDC operates under the direction of The Consortium of Organizations for Strong-Motion Observation Systems (COSMOS, www.cosmos-eq.org), a public-interest nonprofit corporation for earthquake safety. Its mission is to expand and modernize significantly the acquisition and application of strong-motion data in order to increase public safety from earthquakes. The COSMOS structure enables the VDC to respond to both the organizations that collect the data and the users of the data (academic and professional), and ensures that the VDC evolves so that it remains responsive to the community of engineers, scientists and other users of strong-motion data.
This action will advance the capability of the COSMOS VDC by further developing the proven concept of a virtual data center and its important role in coordinating the access and dissemination of strong-motion data. It will: 1) advance Web-based interfaces with the Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) data management system; 2) advance methods for augmenting the existing VDC metadata database; 3) advance Web-based methods to facilitate efficient query and retrieval of a variety of event, station, and processed time history information; 4) develop Web-based methods for dissemination of information according to user selectable format, processing and visualization; 5) facilitate development of COSMOS standards for data formats and processing; 6) advance Web-based interfaces with other databases to enhance the metadata on earthquakes, recording site characteristics, and other relevant information for the VDC; 7) enhance Web-based interfaces and links for replication sites; and 8) advance Web-based interfaces with geotechnical databases.
The VDC provides a very cost-effective way to leverage the data processing and management resources of all of the participating agencies and organizations. It continually develops, updates, and maintains a sophisticated parameter metadata environment in a state-of-the-art relational database. This approach provides a major step forward in improving accessibility of the data to the research, practicing, and emergency response communities for purposes of earthquake hazard mitigation.
