4.2. Opportunities to strengthen Europe’s competitive position – an example

The application of space-geodesy to monitor surface deformation is a relatively young science in Europe. Two decades ago the WEGENER group (IAG subcommittee) of geophysicists and geodesists used for the first time GPS and Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) to quantify crustal motions in the Mediterranean area. Meanwhile, many institutes in Europe have engaged in one way or another into crustal motion research. An important example is the BIFROST programme of Scandinavia that focuses on strong topography change associated with postglacial rebound. Another important example is the Aegean-Anatolian region where American and European scientists made great first-order contributions to quantify active surface deformations associated with plate motion, intraplate deformation, and the activity of the Anatolian fault systems. At present a very sparse European network (EUREF) of permanent GPS stations contributes to the global IGS network. Its purpose is purely geodetic: to serve as a reference for global and regional measurement campaigns. Apart from the EUCOR-URGENT Project, such campaigns have shown a relative wild growth without significant coherency on the European level. While this growth is continuing (sometimes in concert with commercial applications), the European-scale organisation of crustal dynamics monitoring is at present virtually absent. Recently the WEGENER group has taken the initiative to improve this situation and, comparable to EUROARRAY, has merged with TOPO-EUROPE to create the necessary synergy to achieve common observation, monitoring and process modelling goals.