Geophysical observations on our territory have a long history. Regular magnetic observations were started in Prague-Clementinum in 1839 and the first magnetic survey was carried out between 1843 and 1845. Seismic observations were started in Cheb in 1908 and gravimetric observatory came into operation in a deep mine shaft in Příbram in 1910. The geophysical research, including the observations activities, was accelerated during the International Geophysical Year 1957-58 and since then number of station grew continuously up. On the turn of century, the observatories were operated by several research institutes and universities.
In 2009 the institutions responded to the first call for proposals for funding of Large infrastructures for research, experimental development and innovation and established the consortium CzechGeo/EPOS. The national initiative coincided with the activity of European geoscience community towards integration of observations data across countries and geoscience disciplines and establishment of the European Plate Observing System – EPOS. CzechGeo/EPOS was supported by project LM2010008 “CzechGeo/EPOS - Distributed System of Permanent Observatory Measurements and Temporary Monitoring of Geophysical Fields in the Czech Republic – Development and Operation of the National Node of the Pan-European EPOS Project” for the period 2010-2015.
During preparation of the next project LM2015079 in 2015, Czech Geological Survey was invited to join the CzechGeo/EPOS team, as geophysical and geological data available there are important for geoscience research. The financial support was used for operational costs of the infrastructure.
Project CzechGeo/EPOS-Sci (CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_013/0001800) funded by Operational Program Research Development and Education was devoted to the expansion and modernization of the infrastructure and support of five research programs. The project was open on 1st April 2017 and finished on 31st July 2020.
The research infrastructure is recently supported by partner institutions.