Presentation
The Research Support Unit UAR 830 is the support structure for the French National Observation Services (Services nationaux d'observation – SNO) of the Strasbourg School and Observatory of Earth Sciences (École et observatoire des sciences de la Terre – Eost) certified by the French National Institute for the Sciences of the Universe (Institut national des sciences de l'Univers – Insu).
It is also the unit that manages a set of platforms and shared scientific resources made available to the SNOs and research teams, particularly from the Strasbourg Institute of Earth and Environment (Institut Terre et environnement de Strasbourg – ITES), instrumental platforms in seismology and Earth observation, data centres, and a soil and surface formation analysis laboratory.
It manages shared resources with ITES, including the mechanical workshop, IT resources, a library and a fleet of vehicles. The unit has 22 permanent staff, 11 of whom are engineers, technicians and administrative staff (ITA) and 11 are engineers and technical research and training staff (ITRF), as well as 2 to 5 contract staff (fixed-term contracts). There are no researchers or teacher-researchers assigned to the unit.
The main objective is to ensure the smooth running of the SNOs, platforms and shared services by maintaining the ITA-ITRF workforce and by updating equipment where necessary (IT and network resources, machine tools in the mechanical workshop, vehicles, measuring instruments, etc.).
Eost ensures that the seismology, mineralogy and palaeontology collections and museums operate and are open to the public, along with the Office for Scientific Culture and Mediation – Jardin des Sciences.
Research topics
The SNOs are grouped into 5 themes, in line with the organisation of the sections of the French National Council of Astronomers and Physicists (Conseil national des astronomes et physiciens – CNAP):
- Inner Earth - Seismology
- Inner Earth - Geodesy and Gravimetry
- Inner Earth - French Multidisciplinary Observatory of Slope Instabilities (Observatoire multidisciplinaire des instabilités de versants – OMIV)
- Inner Earth - Magnetism
- Continental Surfaces and Interfaces: Hydrogeochemical Observatory of the Environment (Observatoire hydrogéochimique de l'environnement – OHGE), part of the Ozcar French critical zone research infrastructure
Eost hosts 2 Interdisciplinary Thematic Institutes (ITIs):
Major events and works
The most striking fact is Eost's major role in the permanent broadband network being developed on a national scale. Eost is involved in setting up the EPOS-France research infrastructure, which manages the coordination and dissemination of observation data in seismology, magnetism, gravimetry and geodesy.
The development of Transdisciplinary Thematic Action on Seismicity (Action transverse thématique sismicité – ATTS) is particularly noteworthy. The aim is to coordinate all French work on seismicity within a single structure with the goal of increasing the efficiency of the work carried out and raising its profile. In particular, the aim is to produce and distribute products based on data from the networks, focusing on knowledge of French seismicity and the corresponding risks.
The information portal on seismicity in France is managed by Eost.
Eost is involved in the Data-Terra research infrastructure, and in the Solid Earth (FormaTerre) and Continental Surfaces (Theia) hubs. Eost hosts a node of the Gaia-Data computing and data distribution backbone, at the University of Strasbourg's Datacenter.