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HIGHLIGHTS

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cGPS Used to Study Slow Slip Landslide

May 23, 2018

From February 12th through 16th, UNAVCO's Dylan Schmeelk and John Galetzka joined UC Santa Cruz professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences Noah Finnegan (PI) and his graduate students Alex Nereson and Colleen Murphy in Oak Ridge in the mountains just east of Milpitas, CA to upgrade continuous GPS (cGPS) monitoring of the slow slip landslide at Oak Ridge Earthflow Observatory.

Maintenance of Episodic GPS Stations in Panama

May 22, 2018

Over two weeks in April 2018, a UNAVCO field engineer traveled with UNAVCO collaborators throughout much of Panama to service previously installed continuous GPS stations (cGPS), including relocation of one station, and the relocation of a GPS antenna at another. This was part of an ongoing project to investigate the complex interactions between the Caribbean, Cocos, and Nazca plates.

Community Event Response to the May 2018 Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai’i Eruption

May 8, 2018

Activity at Kīlauea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawai’i has recently increased. Starting on Monday, April 30, 2018, magma beneath Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō drained and triggered a collapse of the crater floor. Within hours, earthquakes began migrating east of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, signaling an intrusion of magma along the middle and lower East Rift Zone. A new eruption commenced in the Leilani Estates subdivision in the lower East Rift Zone on May 3, 2018, following days of increased earthquake activity and ground deformation.

The 2018 UNAVCO Science Workshop: Geodesy Advancing Geosciences and EarthScope: Applications for Science and Society

April 9, 2018

The 2018 UNAVCO Community Science Workshop was held 27-29 March 2018 in Broomfield, Colorado. The UNAVCO Science Workshop provides an opportunity for the UNAVCO community to share their latest science, UNAVCO staff to receive input from the scientific community, and for staff to update the scientific community on available resources. Over 100 university researchers gathered along with federal agency representatives, private industry, and facility staff.

SCIENCE SNAPSHOTS

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Probabilities of Large Earthquakes in Alaska

February 28, 2018

A crustal deformation model for the Western United States fits geodetic and geologic observations and shows where major changes in the crust are occurring. Such modeling is critical for earthquake hazard assessments and for understanding Earth processes.

Finding Faults with Geodetic and Geologic Data: Deformation Model for the Western U.S.

November 3, 2017

Analysis of past earthquakes shows that GPS/GNSS sites can provide high-rate, low-noise data to determine peak ground velocities for earthquakes of magnitude greater than 5.8. The geodetic-derived ground motion can help with earthquake early warning, emergency response and earthquake engineering.

Looking for Dark Matter Passing Through the GPS Constellation

November 21, 2017

The Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation can be used to detect dark matter. Sixteen years of ground-based GPS receiver observations were utilized to look for dark matter passing near Earth. Although no dark matter was detected, the results refine the properties of the universe, the accuracies of atomic clocks and future searches for dark matter.

Measuring Snow Accumulation in Antarctica with GPS Reflectometry

March 26, 2018

Snow accumulation along the Mercer and Whillans ice streams in West Antarctica was measured between 2007 and 2017 with an array of Global Positioning System (GPS) stations. The snow was measured using the signals from GPS satellites that reflect off of the snow surface into the bottom of the station antenna; an innovative and cost-effective method called GPS interferometric reflectometry (GPS-IR).

Seasonal Water Load Changes Can Trigger Earthquakes in California

September 18, 2017

GPS sites in California measure the changing water load due to rainfall, snowfall, groundwater, and drought. The recorded small vertical motions are shown to influence the state of stress on shallow faults. An analysis of fault failure conditions indicate that the rise and fall of the surface due to water loading and unloading creates a small amount of additional stress on the faults and can trigger small earthquakes.

Tsunami Hazards in Central America

November 8, 2017

Central America faces tsunami threats along the Pacific and Caribbean coasts and at the shores of large lakes. Large earthquakes caused the most damaging tsunamis, however, landslides or volcanic eruptions can cause tsunamis around large lakes. Warning systems rely on seismic and geodetic observations. The Central American Tsunami Advisory Center (CATAC) will use these observations to help reduce losses.

Testing Geodetic Observations for Earthquake Early Warning in Alaska

August 31, 2017

An analysis of the 2016 Iniskin earthquake shows how GPS sites in Alaska may augment earthquake early warning. For a large magnitude earthquake that originates at a shallow depth, information from GPS can provide some warning before the shaking arrives in populated areas such as Anchorage. The geodetic data can rapidly and precisely define the earthquake properties to help with response and triggered hazards such as landslides and tsunamis.

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