SCEC Award Number 18144 View PDF
Proposal Category Individual Proposal (Data Gathering and Products)
Proposal Title SCEC Portable Broadband Instrument Center
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
Jamison Steidl University of California, Santa Barbara
Other Participants Ethan Wang
Sam Bell
SCEC Priorities 3a, 4a, 1d SCEC Groups Seismology, GM
Report Due Date 03/15/2019 Date Report Submitted 07/07/2019
Project Abstract
 The ability for SCEC to respond rapidly to a major southern California earthquake with the deployment of seismographs in the near-source region was a catalyst for the creation of the PBIC and remains an important capability of SCEC seismology infrastructure. In between these major earthquake sequences, the PBIC equipment provides for the ability to conduct individual PI driven research experiments. The PBIC has now phased out the older generation of data acquisition equipment and is in the process of trying to modernize it’s instrument pool. The new PBIC instrumentation currently consists of 7 modern IP-based data acquisition systems capable if real-time data transmission to regional networks or to UCSB, and low-noise strong motion sensors capable of recording events as small as Magnitude 1.0 when close to the station, yet remain on-scale up to +/- 4g ground motions. This new equipment is network ready and when combined with a 4G cellular radios or IP radios, allows for integration directly with SCSN regional network operations. The PBIC has demonstrated the capability to deploy and integrate it’s stations into the regional network, providing high-quality observations that are being used for earthquake locations and shake map applications, and the data is archived immediately into the SCEDC along with the rest of the SCSN stations providing access to all community users. These stations have proven to be dependable, remaining deployed for multiple years without a site visit.
Intellectual Merit The portable instrument center contributes to the SCEC research priorities in many ways. It helps improve the accuracy of locations by densification of the regional network, providing data that will lead to improvements in the community velocity model and community fault models. It improves our understanding of strong ground motions, including the variability and causes of damage during the aftershock sequences of large earthquakes, by providing a pool of RAMP instruments that can be deployed within 24 hours of a significant earthquake in southern California. It has also provided individual researchers with equipment to search for and improve the imaging capability of tremor activity, and the ability to examine fault damage and healing through trapped wave experimental deployments.
Broader Impacts The educational impact of the PBIC is demonstrated by the number of undergraduate and graduate student participants in field deployments, and in the routine maintenance and operations of the PBIC. UCSB continues to use undergraduate and graduate students in the deployment and maintenance of the stations, many at UCSB, but also at other institutions within California. Giving the students hands-on experience in how the data is collected is an important part of the education of future geophysicists, especially in a time when data is so readily available via the Internet without any knowledge of what is involved in the data collection process. In addition, the number of women and minority students previously and currently involved in the PBIC program is significant. Outreach to K-12 students has always been an important part of the PBIC program, with the “make your own earthquake” (MYOE) demonstration developed initially through SCEC, now being used at institutions across the country.
Exemplary Figure Figure 1. New CPSLO station deployed in July 2017. Posthole auger rig (left), and completed station and sensor enclosure on concrete pad (center). Surface accelerometer and top of posthole casing within irrigation box sensor enclosure (center bottom and right). Data from this site now flows to both SCSN and NCSN data centers, as well as the IRIS DMC.