Spending the summer crisscrossing Michigan and traveling remote back roads may not sound like science, but for two Michigan State University graduate students, it is a key role in the establishment of a massive imaging array to better predict natural disasters.
Benjamin Johnson and Jamie Ryan are identifying locations across the lower peninsula that will host 25 seismic stations as part of EarthScope – a program of the National Science Foundation that is deploying thousands of seismic, GPS and other geophysical instruments to study the structure and evolution of the North American continent and the causes of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
"The seismometers will record earthquakes to produce high-resolution images of the Earth’s interior and allow us to better understand origins and characteristics of earthquakes, both local and distant," said Kaz Fujita, professor of geological sciences and leader of the program at MSU. "These advanced instruments will provide 3-D images of the Earth from 2,000 locations across the continent."
Installations of the seismometers for two-year periods is moving across the country, west to east, and Michigan is among several Midwestern states in the midst of the multi-year installation project.
For Johnson and Ryan, their part of the research project involves using geographic data to identify good locations, and then visiting the sites to ask landowners if they would be interested in hosting the seismometers and to verify that the location is appropriate.
"There are many environmental sources like wind, rivers, and road traffic that can reduce the quality of the data recorded by the seismometer, so we are looking for quiet locations with minimal noise," said Johnson, a master’s student in geological sciences. "Farm fields are a favored location. Once we identify a suitable location it really becomes personal as we work with landowners and ask them to host a site."
A degree of expertise is required in order to find locations, which have to be away from rivers, trees, or busy roads that would disrupt the signal. Each site must also have a strong wireless phone signal so that the equipment can transmit data.
The researchers have so far identified 14 of the 25 locations in the Lower Peninsula. They hope to have all locations by the end of July and installation will occur in 2012.
The data collected is available free to scientists, educators and the public through the USArray website.
More information on the NSF’s EarthScope project can be found here.
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