The foundations
TTThe oldest center established by the Government in 1975 according to a CNRS recommendation, the Center for Geophysical Research is both an observatory and a research laboratory continuing the studies initiated in 1920 in the Levantine region by the Observatory of Ksara. Because Lebanon lays in an earthquake prone region, its main activity is seismic monitoring.
Accordingly, supplementing this task, the Center provides to the public and the authorities, almost in real time, the objective data needed to evaluate the exposure of the country when an earth tremor is felt. Moreover, vested by a natural feeling of responsibility as we deal around the clock with extreme events, our team is deeply involved in all actions aiming at raising the awareness and preparedness of our fellow citizens by promoting risk culture either among the youth in schools, or in official fora.
The governmental decision prescribes to conduct all geophysical studies that may help alleviate the impact of seismic hazards in the Lebanese tectonic environment, quoting for that purpose the monitoring of the geomagnetic and gravity fields and the state of the active faults using crustal deformation surveying techniques. Additionally, the governmental decision stipulates that the Center has to pursue geophysical investigations that may help in understanding better the available natural and mineral resources.
Maintaining databases
This broad range of activities, for the most part seismic monitoring, yields huge data collection on various media and in various formats. Because geological time scales are much longer than a researcher’s life, due to the strategic value of geophysical data, maintaining databases is essential, but also is a time and space consuming, tedious and evolving task. The upcoming generation of geophysicists will make great usage of such extended time series of observed data. Thus the Center is also the repository of the Ksara original recordings as well as its own old ones, maintaining them along with the modern digital data in order to be available in a continuous stream of geophysical information.
Global partnership
Monitoring Earth physical state is a global discipline. Considering Lebanon's geographical small extents and its specific position along the African-Arabian plate boundary, we also need to integrate data from the rest of the world in our work. In particular, obtaining foreign observatories data is critical for seismological studies. This is achieved by publishing a monthly seismological bulletin which is freely distributed, by contributing to the EMSC and the ISC (both since 1956) or by participating to the USGS-UNESCO RELEMR seminars.
The foundations
TTThe oldest center established by the Government in 1975 according to a CNRS recommendation, the Center for Geophysical Research is both an observatory and a research laboratory continuing the studies initiated in 1920 in the Levantine region by the Observatory of Ksara. Because Lebanon lays in an earthquake prone region, its main activity is seismic monitoring.
Accordingly, supplementing this task, the Center provides to the public and the authorities, almost in real time, the objective data needed to evaluate the exposure of the country when an earth tremor is felt. Moreover, vested by a natural feeling of responsibility as we deal around the clock with extreme events, our team is deeply involved in all actions aiming at raising the awareness and preparedness of our fellow citizens by promoting risk culture either among the youth in schools, or in official fora.
The governmental decision prescribes to conduct all geophysical studies that may help alleviate the impact of seismic hazards in the Lebanese tectonic environment, quoting for that purpose the monitoring of the geomagnetic and gravity fields and the state of the active faults using crustal deformation surveying techniques. Additionally, the governmental decision stipulates that the Center has to pursue geophysical investigations that may help in understanding better the available natural and mineral resources.