U N A V C O , A N O N - P R O F I T U N I V E R S I T Y - G O V E R N E D C O N S O R T I U M , F A C I L I T A T E S G E O S C I E N C E R E S E A R C H A N D E D U C A T I O N U S I N G G E O D E S Y.
We challenge ourselves to transform human understanding of the changing Earth by enabling the integration of innovative technologies, open geodetic observations, and research, from pole to pole.
WHAT'S HOT
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Reaching Educators in Alaska
June 25, 2014
In March of 1964, a magnitude 9.2 earthquake devastated Anchorage and other communities along the Alaskan coast. Fifty years later, Alaskan museum and park interpretive professionals, naturalist guides, instructional specialists, and K-12 teachers gathered at the USGS Alaska Science Center in Anchorage to participate in one of two separate workshops exploring the region’s tectonics.
UNAVCO installs COCONet cGPS site CN21 in Honduras
June 25, 2014
In collaboration with Fausto Ramirez and Oscar Meza of the Honduras Instituto de la Propiedad and Luis Eveline of the Universidad Politécnica de Ingeniería de Honduras (UPI), UNAVCO engineer Michael Fend installed CN21 in San Lorenzo, Honduras.
Data Event Response to the 23 June 2014 Mw 7.9 Earthquake 24km SE of Little Sitkin Island, Alaska
June 24, 2014
A Mw 7.9 earthquake occurred on June 23, 2014, in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. As a response, UNAVCO is downloading high-rate GPS data from Plate Boundary Observatory stations within 1000 km of the epicenter of the event. PBO borehole strainmeter, seismometer, and tiltmeter data are also available.
PBO Featured at EarthScope Symposium and Reception
June 12, 2014
Scientists, funders, and policy makers celebrated the successes of EarthScope's first ten years on May 14 and 15, 2014, in Washington, D.C. The Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) was featured as one of EarthScope's three major observatories, along with USArray and the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD). Events included Congressional briefings, a half-day science symposium, and an evening reception.
SCIENCE SNAPSHOTS
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Plate Boundary Observatory Evaluates California’s Water Resources
April 24, 2014
About 900 GPS stations, most of which are part of the Plate Boundary Observatory in the western United States, recorded the Earth’s surface response to snow and rain loading. The seasonal surface water thickness change in California is about 0.6 meters across the Sierra Nevada, Klamath and southern Cascade Mountains and about 0.1 meters eastward into the Great Basin and westward toward the Pacific Ocean. The GPS analysis indicates that seasonal water storage in the mountains is about 50% larger than some hydrology models for California, while a refined composite model that includes snow, soil moisture and reservoir water correlates better with the geospatial results.
Paleoseismic Evidence for Historic Earthquakes Before the 1906 San Francisco Event
April 10, 2014
High-resolution LIDAR imaging pinpointed good locations for paleoseismic studies at Hazel Dell across a section of the San Andreas Fault in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Offset and disturbed sediments combined with carbon dating of detrital charcoal and buried axe cut wood chips provide conclusive evidence of larger magnitudes and amounts of displacement for the historical 1838 and 1890 earthquakes. Taken together, three large magnitude (i.e., greater than M6) earthquakes along the Santa Cruz section of the San Andreas Fault System occurred over about a 70 year timeframe before the 1906 event, illuminating the manner in which the fault system transitions from a creeping section to a locked section.
Detecting Volcanic Plumes with GPS Data
July 26, 2013
GPS data were used to detect volcanic plumes from eruptions of Mount Redoubt in Alaska. Unlike past research, this study relied on the signal strength, or signal to noise ratio (SNR), data. The new method is powerful because simple models can be used to quickly model SNR data and the SNR data are not sensitive to water vapor.
Unrecognized Rapid Ice Loss in Northeast Greenland Due to Warming
May 13, 2014
The ice stream in northeast Greenland shows rapid ice loss because of rising air surface temperatures and the loss of sea ice, which is associated with rising sea surface temperatures. The thinning glaciers are detected by a combination of satellite and aerial imagery plus GPS measurements of ground surface rebound due to rapid ice mass loss. Models do not predict the northeast sector of the continent to show such melting with consequences for under-estimating sea level rise.
Sea Level Rise on the U.S. Gulf Coast
February 6, 2013
The Mississippi Delta along the Gulf Coast of the United States is a major site of sediment deposition from the Mississippi River and conversely a major site of wetland loss from rising seas and subsidence. There is debate about how much and when the delta has risen or fallen due to deposition, subsidence, sea level change, and erosion.
UNAVCO's Strainmeters Record the Arrival of Tsunamis on the west coast of North America
August 15, 2012
UNAVCO’s Plate Boundary Observatory includes 75 borehole strainmeters installed predominantly throughout the west coast of North America. Strainmeters work by detecting changes in the size of the borehole, and are sensitive enough to detect a 4 picometer change (smaller than the width of a hydrogen atom). Because they are so sensitive, they pick up every thump and shake in their vicinity, including the arrival of a tsunami wave from across the ocean.
Quality Assessment: A new technique to assess and monitor long-term quality of GPS data
March 7, 2013
Geoff Blewitt and Corne Kreemer of UNR’s Geodetic Laboratory have devised a new processing-based technique for evaluating site quality on an ongoing basis.
Last modified: Thursday, 24-Jul-2014 22:25:35 UTC
2014