EarthScope Consortium formed from the merger of IRIS and UNAVCO, which began discussions in 2019 focused on how both organizations could collectively work together to further advance geophysics. The process of this merger was documented on the Joining Forces website.

From 2003 and 2018, IRIS and UNAVCO collaborated as part of the EarthScope community project, an NSF-funded program that deployed thousands of geophysical instruments to study the structure and evolution of the North American continent. The EarthScope project deployed the transportable USArray and constructed the Plate Boundary Observatory (now known as the Network of the Americas). In the same spirit, the EarthScope Consortium aims to provide cutting-edge geophysical instrumentation and data, along with resources for education and workforce development of the next generation of scientists.

EarthScope Consortium continues operation of NSF’s GAGE and SAGE Facilities previously operated by UNAVCO and IRIS.