SCEC Award Number 19139 View PDF
Proposal Category Individual Proposal (Data Gathering and Products)
Proposal Title SCEC5: Portable Broadband Instrument Center
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
Jamison Steidl University of California, Santa Barbara
Other Participants Kaelyn Rose - Geophysics Graduate Student;
Cleto Isaguirre - Geophysics Undergraduate Student;
TBN - Undergraduate Geophysics Student(s)
SCEC Priorities 3a, 4a, 1d SCEC Groups Seismology, GM, EEII
Report Due Date 04/30/2020 Date Report Submitted 08/28/2020
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. In between these major earthquake sequences, the PBIC equipment provides the ability to con-duct individual PI driven research experiments. The PBIC has now phased out the original data acquisition equipment and is in the process of modernizing its instrument pool. The current PBIC instrumentation consists of 7 IP-based data acquisition systems capable of real-time data trans-mission to regional networks or 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 its 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. More recently, the PBIC sup-ported the deployment of USGS and PASSCAL nodal instruments following the Ridgecrest earthquake sequence, as well as supporting the more traditional 6-component broadband/strong-motion portable stations.
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 under-standing of strong ground motions, including the variability and causes of damage during the after-shock sequences of large earthquakes, by providing a pool of RAMP instruments that can be de-ployed 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. Satellite map (left) showing the Ridgecrest earthquake sequence surface rupture (red lines), cross fault nodal instrument deployments (cyan circles), and traditional portable stations from the USGS Pasadena (pink squares) and USGS ASL (blue diamonds). Photo image of a traditional 6-component station deployed along with two different nodal sensors for comparison with the strong motion and broadband data (right).