NORSAR, which presently is affiliated with the Research Council of Norway, was established in 1968, and is expected to be established as an independent foundation as of July 1, 1999. NORSAR conducts research, development and consulting within various fields of seismology and applied geophysics, including seismological verification. NORSAR is today one of the world's largest seismological observatories, with more than 30 years of experience with advanced seismological processing and data analysis techniques.
NORSAR has been a main contributor to the technology presently being implemented at the International Data Centre (IDC) in Vienna for verification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). NORSAR scientists were instrumental in developing the concept of regional seismic arrays in the 1980's, a technology which today is constituting a backbone in the International Monitoring System (IMS) consisting of 170 seismic stations being prepared for data transmission to the IDC.
The basis for these efforts has been the establishment and operation by NORSAR of a number of seismic arrays in Norway and at Svalbard, and in addition NORSAR has participated in establishing and operating several arrays in other countries, including Russia, Finland, Germany and Sweden, still receiving data in real-time from all of these installations.
The NORSAR staff consists of scientists (c.a.15) and software engineers
(c.a.15) which are actively participating in research projects within array
seismology, seismological verification, seismotectonics and earthquake
hazard, and seismic exploration techniques.