Seismic background noise dramatically decreased as a result of lockdown measures in place for mitigating the spread of COVID-19.

We processed data from ~100 continuous GPS stations to provide new insights into the crustal motion and deformation of central and western Greece. We used the derived velocity field to evaluate two‐dimensional strain and rotation rate tensors, and we mapped the dilatation and maximum shear strain rates. In central Peloponnese and Epirus, we documented a 90° switch in the extension direction, which can be explained on the basis of the plate boundary configuration. Evidence for an extended deformation pattern in central Greece was found. Additionally, we detected two pairs of shear belts, one in Akarnania‐NW Peloponnese and one in North Aegean. We delineated two rotational domains that dominate the present‐day pattern. Moreover, we saw no geodetic evidence for North Anatolian Fault growth toward central Greece. We translated the geodetic strain rates into rates of seismic moment release and compared them with earthquake catalog‐based moment rates. In the central Ionian Sea, the geodetic strain is completely released seismically, which is indicative of a fully coupled seismogenic zone. However, for most of the study area, the geodesy‐based moment rates are at least 2 times higher than the earthquake‐based rates. We attribute this mainly to earthquake catalog representativity over the long‐term situation. However, for the Gulf of Corinth, it is unrealistic to associate the high ratio of geodetic to seismic moment rates only to incompleteness of the earthquake catalog; instead, long‐term aseismic deformation must be an important mechanism accommodating a considerable portion of the strain budget, especially at its western part.

The European Integrated Data Archive (EIDA) is the infrastructure that provides access to the seismic-waveform archives collected by European agencies. This distributed system is managed by Observatories and Research Facilities for European Seismology. EIDA provides seamless access to seismic data from 12 data archives across Europe by means of standard services, exposing data on behalf of hundreds of network operators and research organizations. More than 12,000 stations from permanent and temporary networks equipped with seismometers, accelerometers, pressure sensors, and other sensors are accessible through the EIDA federated services. A growing user base currently counting around 3000 unique users per year has been requesting data and using EIDA services. The EIDA system is designed to scale up to support additional new services, data types, and nodes. Data holdings, services, and user numbers have grown substantially since the establishment of EIDA in 2013. EIDA is currently active in developing suitable data management approaches for new emerging technologies (e.g., distributed acoustic sensing) and challenges related to big datasets. This article reviews the evolution of EIDA, the current data holdings, and service portfolio, and gives an outlook on the current developments and the future envisaged challenges.

Physical laws governing friction on shallow faults in the Earth and spatial heterogeneity of parameters are critical to our understanding of earthquake physics and the assessment of earthquake hazards. Here we use a laboratory-derived fault-friction law and high-quality strong-motion seismic recordings of the 2020 Elazığ earthquake, Turkey, to reveal the complex rupture dynamics. We discover an initial Mw 5.8 rupture stage and explain how cascading behavior of the event, involving at least three episodes, each of M > 6, caused it to evolve into a large earthquake, contrarily to other M5+ events on this part of the East Anatolian Fault. Although the dynamic stress transfer during the rupture did not overcome the strength of the uppermost ~5 kilometers, surface ruptures during future earthquakes cannot be ruled out. We foresee that future, routine dynamic inversions will improve understanding of earthquake rupture parameters, an essential component of modern, physics-based earthquake hazard assessment.

The National Observatory of Athens data center for the European Integrated Data Archive (EIDA@NOA) is the national and regional node that supports International Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks and related webservices for seismic waveform data coming from the southeastern Mediterranean and the Balkans. At present, it serves data from eight permanent broadband and strong-motion networks from Greece and Cyprus, individual stations from the Balkans, temporary networks and aftershock deployments, and earthquake engineering experimental facilities. EIDA@NOA provides open and unlimited access from redundant node end points, intended mainly for research purposes (see Data and Resources). Analysis and quality control of the complete seismic data archive is performed initially by calculating waveform metrics and data availability. Seismic ambient noise metrics are estimated based on power spectral densities, and an assessment of each station’s statistical mode is achieved within each network and across networks. Moreover, the minimum ambient noise level expected for strong-motion installations is defined. Sensor orientation is estimated using surface-wave polarization methods to detect stations with misalignment on particular epochs. A single data center that hosts the complete seismic data archives with their respective metadata from networks covering similar geographical areas allows coordination between network operators and facilitates the adhesion to widely used best practices regarding station installation, data curation, and metadata definition. The overall achievement is harmonization among all contributing networks and a wider usage of all data archives, ultimately strengthening seismological research efforts in the region.

We investigate a seismic crisis that occurred in the western Gulf of Corinth (Greece) between December 2020 and February 2021. This area is the main focus of the Corinth Rift Laboratory (CRL) network, and has been closely monitored with local seismological and geodetic networks for 20 yr. The 2020–2021 seismic crisis evolved in three stages: It started with an $Mw$ 4.6 event near the northern shore of the Gulf, opposite of Aigion, then migrated eastward toward Trizonia Island after an $Mw$ 5.0 event, and eventually culminated with an $Mw$ 5.3 event, $∼3km$ northeast of the Psathopyrgos fault. Aftershocks gradually migrated westward, triggering another cluster near the junction with the Rion–Patras fault. Moment tensor inversion revealed mainly normal faulting; however, some strike‐slip mechanisms also exist, composing a complex tectonic regime in this region dominated by east–west normal faults. We employ seismic and geodetic observations to constrain the geometry and kinematics of the structures that hosted the major events. We discuss possible triggering mechanisms of the second and third stages of the sequence, including fluids migration and aseismic creep, and propose potential implications of the $Mw$ 5.3 mainshock for the seismic hazard of the region.