The USArray Flexible Array is a pool of instruments that is available for PI-driven research projects associated with the goals of EarthScope. This pool of instruments is housed at the IRIS PASSCAL Instrument Center located at New Mexico Tech in Socorro, NM. The pool consists of broadband (325), short-period (100), accelerometer (20), and controlled source (1700) stations. Using both natural and controlled sources, these portable instruments permit high-density, short-term observations of key targets within the footprint of the larger Transportable Array. USArray's flexible component offers exciting opportunities for a variety of focused investigations requiring higher-resolution images embedded within the context of the Transportable Array.
Support for an EarthScope funded Flexible Array experiment differs from the standard PASSCAL experiment in two main areas: station equipment and data archiving. For Flexible Array passive experiments, PIs will be supplied with the standard equipment (datalogger, sensor, solar panels and charge controller) with the addition of station enclosures and sensor vaults. There is no cost to the PI for this additional equipment. Archiving of on-site recorded Flexible Array data with the IRIS DMC is the responsibility of the PASSCAL facility. PASSCAL staff will work closely with PIs gathering metadata and raw data to complete the archiving requirements. Several documents listed below detail the archiving process and policy.
Many important geologic targets are amenable to investigation with the Flexible Array, including the depth extent of faults, magma chamber dimensions beneath active volcanoes, the relation between crustal tectonic provinces and mantle structure, the shape of terrane boundaries, the deep structure of sedimentary basins and mountain belts, and the structure and magmatic plumbing of continental rifts. Linked with coordinated geological, geochemical, and geodetic studies, the Flexible Array will also address a wide range of problems in continental geodynamics, tectonics, and earthquake processes.
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