Field Support

IRIS/PASSCAL summer intern Jennifer Tarnowski is learning the ropes of a seismology career by working at the PASSCAL Instrument Center at New Mexico Tech, and also by participating with hands-on efforts in the field.  Jennifer recently participated in fieldwork supporting the Topographic Effects in Strong Ground Motion project (TESGM, PASSCAL project 201109) in early July, along with principal investigators Brady Cox,  University of Arkansas, Adrian Rodriguez-Marek, Virginia Tech., graduate student Clinton Wood, University of Arkansas, Robert Kent of the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES), and Steve Azevedo, IRIS/PASSCAL.

 

        

Ever wonder what it's like to support a seismic field experiment in Peru?  PASSCAL's Assistant Director, Mike Fort, recommends the Singular Subduction blog, written by Yale research assistant and English major, Laura Marris. Mike was in Peru as an advisor, trainer, and to offer general logistical support to the PULSE experiment.

PICASSO - Program to Investigate Convective Alboran Sea System Overturn

"PICASSO  consists of a multidisciplinary international investigation of the Alboran Sea, Gibraltar arc, Atlas Mountains and surrounding areas in the western Mediterranean using passive and active seismology, magnetotellurics, geochemistry/petrology/structural geology, and geodynamic modeling. The project was selected as the pilot experiment for TopoEurope, an EarthScope-like initiative recently approved by the European Science Foundation. The U.S. PICASSO investigators are from Rice (Lee, Levander), the University of Oregon (Humphreys), U.C. San Diego (Seber), WHOI (Chave, Evans), and the University of Southern California (Becker, Platt)". (From Original Proposal)

ETS, or 'episodic tremor and slip', is a recently discovered phenomenon in seismic research. Similar to earthquakes but much smaller in magnitude, ETS events are associated with the subduction zone of some convergent plate boundaries. One such region, the Cascadia subduction zone under the Puget Sound, is the focus of an experiment by Ken Creager's group at the University of Washington (UW), called Array of Arrays.

This checklist is a list of items to consider while preparing for a new field project.  It is aimed at providing a list of things to think about while making preparations for and assessments of possible seismic sites. This checklist is also appropriate for the initial installations and for the removal of the equipment at the end of the project. These guidelines are fairly general but focused for polar regions.  It applies more to the Arctic and Sub-arctic regions rather than Antarctica, because for Antarctic projects, a lot of these issues are dealt with by the US Antarctic Program.

  

Site Assessment: Climatic conditions:Wind, snow, temperature, altitude, ... Access: On foot: conditions (all year, seasonal), roughness of terrain, safety, man power, ... By wheeled/tracked vehicle: conditions (all year, seasonal), roughness of terrain, ... By fixed wings aircraft: airstrip conditions (all year, seasonal), typical weather conditions,cost, availability, safety, permitting, ... By helicopter: landing zone conditions, typical weather conditions, cost, availability, safety, permitting, ... By boat:land base vs. ship base, ease of access to land, protection from storms, issues of accidental introductions of rats and other non-native species to protected islands, cost, availability, safety, ... Permitting (Public land, private land, restricted land, fees, monitored access, limited access to certain dates, etc). Type of ground: Rock, mud, snow, ice, vegetation, sand, gravel, etc. Hazards to the equipment: Wildlife: Bears (very destructive!), rodents, foxes, cows, etc. Humans: Theft, vandalism, etc. Hazards to crew personnel: Climatic conditions. Access (steepness of terrain, crevasses, isolation, volcanic area, etc). Wildlife (Bears, moose, etc). Humans (locals with guns, etc). Site Installation: Dates: Choice of dates to simplify logistics and installation. Take into account climatic conditions. Personnel, transport and equipment availability. Maximize data return. Minimize cost. Permitting: For land use. For access. For use of vehicle or aircrafts Transport: Personnel:customs issues, ... Equipment:customs issues, potential HazMat, ... Housing: Food: Contingencies:Things rarely all go as planned. Site Removal and Equipment Regrograde: Permitting:land reclamation requirements. Transport:Methods, customs issues, potential HazMat, scheduling. Returning equipment to PASSCAL Instrument Center: