Earthscope Usarray Facility Final Report
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EarthScope USArray Facility Final Report Award # EAR-0733069 Award Title Collaborative Research: EarthScope-Facility Operations and Maintenance (USArray) Award Term October 1, 2008 – September 30, 2013 Report Prepared on December 30, 2014 Report Prepared for National Science Foundation 4201 Wilson Boulevard Arlington, VA 22230 Report Prepared by Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology 1200 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20005 Introduction The USArray component of the National Science Foundation’s EarthScope program facility consists of four major observatory components: (1) a Reference Network of permanent seismic stations; (2) a Transportable Array (TA) of ~400 seismic stations; (3) a Flexible Array (FA) pool of seismic instruments available to Principal Investigators (PIs); and (4) a Magnetotelluric (MT) observatory with permanently and temporarily deployable instruments. USArray also includes comprehensive data management and siting outreach efforts. USArray efforts during FY09–FY13 continue and expand facility activities established under the previous MREFC and O&M awards (EAR-0323309 and EAR-0323311, respectively) and continued under the “Seismological Facilities for the Advancement of Geoscience and EarthScope” award (EAR-1261681). Quarterly and annual reports submitted to the National Science Foundation throughout the award document USArray progress and accomplishments. This present report provides an overview of programmatic activities conducted under EAR- 0733069. Facility Information The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) operates USArray. Under the governance structure in place during the O&M award, USArray management received community input via the IRIS Board of Directors, the USArray Advisory Committee, and the Transportable Array and Electromagnetic Working Groups (Figure 1). The organizational structure of the USArray has been designed to leverage the experience and facilities that already exist within IRIS. USArray activities are performed at several primary locations (Table 1), and experienced personnel (Table 2) manage all components. Figure 1. Organizational structure of USArray, including major subawards and advisory bodies 2 Table 1. Key USArray locations USArray Facility Activity Location Overall project management and Headquarters IRIS Headquarters, Washington, DC Siting Outreach activities Archive and distribution of all Data Management IRIS Data Management Center, EarthScope seismic and Center Seattle, Washington magnetotelluric data Field operations support for both Operated by New Mexico Institute of Array Operations TA and FA, including sensor Mining and Technology Facility testing and repair, warehousing, (Rick Aster, PI) etc. Operated by the University of Array Network Provides real-time data collection California, San Diego, Scripps Facility and data management for TA Institution of Oceanography (Frank Vernon, PI) Transportable Provides coordination activities for Operated by New Mexico Institute of Array Coordinating TA site reconnaissance, Mining and Technology Office permitting, and related logistics (Rick Aster, PI) Provides field operations depot Magnetotelluric Operated by Oregon State University and support for both MT backbone Depot (Adam Schultz, PI) and MT transportable activities Table 2. Primary USArray personnel Name USArray Role Contact David Simpson Principal Investigator [email protected] USArray Director, Director of IRIS Bob Woodward [email protected] Instrumentation Services, co-PI Bob Busby Transportable Array Manager [email protected] Marcos Alvarez/James Flexible Array Manager N/A Gridley Tim Ahern Data Management Manager [email protected] John Taber Siting Outreach Manager [email protected] Magnetotellurics (PI on IRIS subaward to Adam Schultz [email protected] Oregon State University) Subawards To complete its charge, the USArray facility utilized 54 subawards spanning a wide range of tasks, scope, and cost. Some of these were a continuation of subawards established during the initial O&M award. Major operational subawards are described below. Appendix A presents a complete listing of subawards. Coastal Technical Services, Inc.: TA Station Construction Teams from Coastal Tech. oversaw the construction of nearly all TA stations during the award period. Activities included use of heavy machinery to emplace a water-resistant vault and solar panel mast. Coastal Tech. performed similar operations under a separate subaward related to construction of the Cascadia stations. 3 Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc.: TA Station Operation and Maintenance and Alaska Logistical Consultation Engineers from Honeywell were contracted throughout the award to install, remove, and service TA station instruments and hardware. Similar operations were performed under a separate subaward related to operation of the Cascadia TA redeployment stations. Honeywell also provided logistical consultation and initial engineering support to the development of TA operations in Alaska. New Mexico Tech: Transportable Array Coordinating Office (TACO) The NMT TACO provides logistical and technical support for permitting, construction, and servicing of TA stations. This group performed similar operations under a separate subaward related to the installation of the Cascadia TA redeployment stations. New Mexico Tech: Array Operations Facility (AOF) The NMT AOF provides fundamental support for the two portable components of USArray, the TA and FA. For the TA, the AOF provides system integration, maintenance, and depot facility services. Equipment is staged at the AOF and delivered to the field installation teams. The AOF provides depot maintenance and repair of equipment that cannot be repaired in the field. The FA is operated in much the same way as the IRIS PASCCAL program, in that the FA instrumentation pool is housed at NMT and borrowed by NSF-funded PIs, with the AOF providing planning, training, field, and technical support. University of California, San Diego: Array Network Facility (ANF) The UCSD ANF manages the real-time data flow from the USArray TA and delivery of these data to the IRIS Data Management Center (DMC) for permanent archiving as well as distribution to the user community. The ANF provides quality control for all data and ensures that the proper hardware calibration and station metadata are up-to-date and available. The ANF performed similar operations under a separate subaward related to operation of the Cascadia TA redeployment stations. Oregon State University: Operations and Management of EarthScope Magnetotelluric (MT) Program OSU provides managerial oversight of the EarthScope MT program, consisting of Backbone (MT- BB) and Transportable Array (MT-TA) stations. OSU also provides technical management to ensure the scientific goals are met, and provides data processing and hardware support for PIs using reallocated MT-TA instruments for short-term Flexible Array (MT-FA) deployments (MT- FA). In addition, OSU operates and maintains the seven MT-BB stations, and plans and manages the yearly MT-TA field campaigns consisting of ~80 stations. Cascadia Archaeology: Site Assessment on Public Land Cascadia Archaeology provided archaeological assessment for Cascadia TA redeployment stations installed on public land. Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology (IAGT): Geospatial Technology Support IAGT prepared tools and materials and provided on-site staff support for the 2009 TA siting workshop. As part of their workshop support, they performed site suitability analyses to determine the most likely areas for instrument installation. IAGT downloads GIS and related data, processes and integrates the data, runs the suitability analyses, makes and prints maps for each site, and exports maps to GeoPDF digital format before making their assessment of site suitability. University of Alaska-Fairbanks: Support EarthScope TA in Alaska UAF coordinates permitting, assists community outreach efforts, participates in the development and execution of fieldwork and logistics, and collaborates with USArray management relating to TA deployment efforts in Alaska. 4 RECON, LLC: Alaska Reconnaissance Support RECON scouted and provided reports on 78 potential EarthScope TA stations in north-central Alaska. RECON created local and regional maps for use during fieldwork, and completed site visits to identify primary and alternate locations for each site installation. University of Quebec: Station Deployment Support The University of Quebec provided a translator and local expertise to the TA deployment team as it installed stations in predominantly French-speaking parts of Canada. Moravian College: jAmaSeis Moravian College developed jAmaSeis, an improved Java software interface for the AS-1 seismometer used by the IRIS Seismographs in Schools program. Northwestern University: USArray Data Processing Short Course Northwestern hosted a data processing short course that provided training in the foundations of seismic data processing to the next generation of seismologists. The short course promoted the usage and development of more effective ways to handle data from large seismic data sets, such as the USArray. South Carolina Research Foundation: USArray Station Monitor The South Carolina Research Foundation developed the USArray Station Monitor, a web-browser tool that quickly renders a single day of the vertical-channel seismogram at a specified TA station. Data Products (see Appendix A for more detail) Over three years, Data Management awarded $189,940