1.
U.S. Geological Survey
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The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its resources. The organization has four science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology. The USGS is a research organization with no regulatory responsibility. The USGS is a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior, the USGS employs approximately 8,670 people and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. The USGS also has major offices near Lakewood, Colorado, at the Denver Federal Center, the current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is science for a changing world. The agencys previous slogan, adopted on the occasion of its anniversary, was Earth Science in the Public Service. Prompted by a report from the National Academy of Sciences, the USGS was created, by a last-minute amendment and it was charged with the classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain. This task was driven by the need to inventory the vast lands added to the United States by the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the legislation also provided that the Hayden, Powell, and Wheeler surveys be discontinued as of June 30,1879. Clarence King, the first director of USGS, assembled the new organization from disparate regional survey agencies, after a short tenure, King was succeeded in the directors chair by John Wesley Powell. Administratively, it is divided into a Headquarters unit and six Regional Units, Other specific programs include, Earthquake Hazards Program monitors earthquake activity worldwide. The National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines detects the location, the USGS also runs or supports several regional monitoring networks in the United States under the umbrella of the Advanced National Seismic System. The USGS informs authorities, emergency responders, the media, and it also maintains long-term archives of earthquake data for scientific and engineering research. It also conducts and supports research on long-term seismic hazards, USGS has released the UCERF California earthquake forecast. The USGS National Geomagnetism Program monitors the magnetic field at magnetic observatories and distributes magnetometer data in real time, the USGS operates the streamgaging network for the United States, with over 7400 streamgages. Real-time streamflow data are available online, since 1962, the Astrogeology Research Program has been involved in global, lunar, and planetary exploration and mapping. USGS operates a number of related programs, notably the National Streamflow Information Program. USGS Water data is available from their National Water Information System database
2.
California Geological Survey
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The California Geological Survey, previously known as the California Division of Mines and Geology, is the California state geologic agency. As might be expected for a state that owed its existence to the rush of 1849. In 1851, one year after California was admitted to the United States, Trask, a medical practitioner and active member of the California Academy of Sciences, as Honorary State Geologist. In 1853 the Legislature passed a joint resolution asking him for information about the state. He submitted a report On the Geology of the Sierra Nevada, about two months later, the Legislature created the first California Geological Survey headed by Trask, who retained the title of State Geologist. Within a few years the mining of gold began to decline. These changes, coupled with publication of reports by Trask, created a clamor for a state geological survey. In 1860 the Legislature passed an act creating the Office of State Geologist, the act named Josiah D. Whitney to fill the office. A Yale graduate, Whitney had worked on surveys in the east. The act directed Whitney to make an accurate and complete survey of the state. Whitney chose William Henry Brewer as chief botanist to lead the field party. Brewer then added Clarence King, James Gardiner, topographer Charles F. Hoffmann and it was one of the most ambitious geological surveys ever attempted and yielded a vast amount of information about California that was hitherto unknown and unpublished. Among the natural features of California they were the first to describe Kings Canyon, the original California Geological Survey influenced the future of surveying and spurred the creation of the United States Geological Survey. Funding for the work was limited and the last field work was done in 1870 by Hoffmann. In 1874 the Survey was officially ended due to hostility between then Governor of California Newton Booth and Whitney, in 1880 the State Mining Bureau was established by the Legislature. The establishment of the Bureau was an action in response to the need for information on the occurrence, mining. Its focus was on Californias mining industry and the Governor appointed the State Mineralogist, in 1891, the Bureau published the first geologic map of the state showing eight stratigraphic units in color, along with numerous blank areas where information was lacking. The second colored geologic map of the state, published in 1916, in 1927 the Bureau became the Division of Mines within the Department of Natural Resources
3.
Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
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The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is a volcano observatory located at Uwekahuna Bluff on the rim of Kīlauea Caldera on the Island of Hawaiʻi. The observatory monitors four active Hawaiian volcanoes, Kīlauea, Mauna Loa, Hualālai, because Kīlauea and Mauna Loa are significantly more active than Hualālai and Haleakalā, much of the observatorys research is concentrated on the former two mountains. The observatory has a reputation as a leader in the study of active volcanism. Due to the relatively non-explosive nature of Hawaiian volcanic eruptions, scientists can study on-going eruptions in proximity without being in extreme danger, located at the main site is the public Thomas A. Jaggar Museum. Besides the oral history of Ancient Hawaiians, several early explorers left records of observations, rev. William Ellis kept a journal of his 1823 missionary tour, and Titus Coan documented eruptions through 1881. Scientists often debated the accuracy of these descriptions, the Hawaiian Volcano Research Association was formed by local businessmen for its support. George Lycurgus, who owned the Volcano House at the edge of the caldera, proposed a site adjacent to his hotel. In 1911 and 1912, small cabins were built on the floor of the next to the main active vent of Halemaʻumaʻu. MIT added $25,000 in support in 1912 from the estate of Edward, the first instruments were housed in a cellar next to the Volcano House called the Whitney Laboratory of Seismology. Inmates from a prison camp had excavated through 5.5 feet of volcanic ash. Massive reinforced concrete walls supported a building built on top of the structure. Professor Fusakichi Omori of Japan, now best known for his study of aftershocks and this seismograph vault is state historic site 10-52-5506, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 24,1974 as site 74000292. From 1912 until 1919, the observatory was run by Jaggar personally, many important events were recorded, although as pioneers, the team often ran into major problems. For example, in 1913 an earthquake opened a crack in a wall, the windows meant to admit natural light caused the vault to heat up in the intense tropical sun. The opening of the park in 1916 brought more visitors to bother the scientists. The prison that had supplied laborers was replaced by the Kīlauea Military Camp, in 1919, Jaggar convinced the National Weather Service to take over operations at the observatory. In 1924, the observatory was taken over by the United States Geological Survey, when the Volcano House hotel burned to the ground in 1940, the old building was torn down. George Lycurgus convinced friends in Washington D. C. to build a larger building farther back from the cliff, by 1942, the Volcano Observatory and Naturalist Building was designated number 41 on the park inventory
4.
International Seismological Centre
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1900–1912 J. Milne 1912–1917 H. H. Turner 1918–1931 H. H. Turner 1931–1939 H. Plaskett 1939–1952 Sir Harold Jeffreys 1952–1960 R. Stoneley 1960–1963 P. L. Willmore 1964–1970 P. L. Willmore 1970–1977 E. P. Willeman 2004–2007 A. Shapira 2008–present D. A. Storchak The main scientific goal of the Centre is the compilation of earthquake information. Since 1957 the manipulation of the volume of data has been mainly carried out by computer. Up until then ISS locations were determined manually with the help of a large globe, the ISC now uses a network of workstations accessing a relational database of nearly 50 Gbytes of online data. The analysis of the data is undertaken in monthly batches. During analysis the computer program first groups origin estimates from different agencies, in a typical month more than 200,000 station readings are analysed leading to an average of 10,000 events per month being identified, of which some 4,000 require manual review. Misassociations and other discrepancies are rectified and the remaining unassociated readings are searched for new events, the total number of events listed each month is several times greater than those obtained by any other worldwide location service and results from ISCs goal to provide a fully comprehensive list. This global instrumental earthquake catalogue, covering events for the period 1900–2009, was released in 2013 by the International Seismological Centre, the catalogue was prepared at the request of the GEM Foundation. Epicentral locations and hypocentral depths were recalculated from original travel time using a consistent velocity model. Sources Official website International Seismological Centre Bulletin – IRIS Consortium
5.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
6.
International Standard Serial Number
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An International Standard Serial Number is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title, ISSN are used in ordering, cataloging, interlibrary loans, and other practices in connection with serial literature. The ISSN system was first drafted as an International Organization for Standardization international standard in 1971, ISO subcommittee TC 46/SC9 is responsible for maintaining the standard. When a serial with the content is published in more than one media type. For example, many serials are published both in print and electronic media, the ISSN system refers to these types as print ISSN and electronic ISSN, respectively. The format of the ISSN is an eight digit code, divided by a hyphen into two four-digit numbers, as an integer number, it can be represented by the first seven digits. The last code digit, which may be 0-9 or an X, is a check digit. Formally, the form of the ISSN code can be expressed as follows, NNNN-NNNC where N is in the set, a digit character. The ISSN of the journal Hearing Research, for example, is 0378-5955, where the final 5 is the check digit, for calculations, an upper case X in the check digit position indicates a check digit of 10. To confirm the check digit, calculate the sum of all eight digits of the ISSN multiplied by its position in the number, the modulus 11 of the sum must be 0. There is an online ISSN checker that can validate an ISSN, ISSN codes are assigned by a network of ISSN National Centres, usually located at national libraries and coordinated by the ISSN International Centre based in Paris. The International Centre is an organization created in 1974 through an agreement between UNESCO and the French government. The International Centre maintains a database of all ISSNs assigned worldwide, at the end of 2016, the ISSN Register contained records for 1,943,572 items. ISSN and ISBN codes are similar in concept, where ISBNs are assigned to individual books, an ISBN might be assigned for particular issues of a serial, in addition to the ISSN code for the serial as a whole. An ISSN, unlike the ISBN code, is an identifier associated with a serial title. For this reason a new ISSN is assigned to a serial each time it undergoes a major title change, separate ISSNs are needed for serials in different media. Thus, the print and electronic versions of a serial need separate ISSNs. Also, a CD-ROM version and a web version of a serial require different ISSNs since two different media are involved, however, the same ISSN can be used for different file formats of the same online serial
