Abstract Cooper 9618700 This award supports the US contribution to the Antarctic Seismic Data Library System for Cooperative Research (SDLS), an international agency under the auspices of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and under mandates of the Antarctic Treaty (ATCM Recommendation XVI-16), that is responsible for providing open access worldwide to Antarctic multichannel seismic reflection (MCS) data, including the more than 135,000 km of data collected to date by more than 11 countries, including the U.S. The SDLS was designed by consensus of Antarctic MCS data collectors in April 1991, and was adopted by the Antarctic Treaty in October 1991. The SDLS serves the international community, and now has 12 library branches in 11 countries. MCS data are kept at library branches on CD-ROMs, and each branch, overseen by a senior Antarctic researcher, now has 27 CD-ROMs with over 60,000 km of MCS data. Processed data must be submitted to the SDLS within 4 years of the time of data collection, to be kept in the SDLS until 8 years from time of collection, after which data will be sent to World Data Centers (i.e. National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC)). Since inception of the SDLS, the US Geological Survey (USGS) worked with SCAR to manage the SDLS, and until 1994 provided start-up funding to produce CD-ROMs and establish two U.S. library branches. In 1994, SCAR recommended that funding for SDLS should come from Managers of National Antarctic Programs, to assure that data collected by their country were entered into SDLS in accord with Treaty mandates. The U.S. Polar Research Board recommended that funds to support U.S. participation in SDLS (e.g. 2 current U.S. library branches, data submittal, CD- ROM costs, etc.) be provided by NSF-OPP. In 1994, USGS and Italy's Osservatorio Geofisico Sperimentale (OGS) agreed, pending funding from U.S. and Italian National Antarctic Programs, to jointly operate SDLS through the year 2000. Under thi s agreement, Italy would produce CD-ROMs and USGS would provide general oversight and data distribution to SDLS branches. Individual countries would support their own SDLS branches. This Interagency Agreement provides a mechanism to support U.S. oversight and participation in SDLS, with funding from the U.S. Antarctic Program to USGS, who will provide general oversight for SDLS and will implement U.S. participation in accord with ATCM Recommendation XVI-12 and science recommendations of SCAR.
