Installation of the first Strainmeter Instrument (3)

Overview

March 25, 2005

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Crews woke up to drizzling rain and cloudy skies this morning. Despite small openings in the sky, the wet weather persisted intermittently throughout the day. As the installation steps continued to be refined through “dry runs” outside the borehole, testing continued on the strainmeter. Inside the enclosed walls of a large truck to protect from them from the rain, PBO personnel continued to learn the workings and test results of the instrument. Unfortunately, unexplained noise appeared in the test results, and crews spent the rest of the afternoon trying to diagnose the problem.

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Luck was not brought to the strainmeter crew on this St. Patrick’s Day. After working through the night to find the root of the unexplained noise levels, Mick Gladwin announced Thursday morning that the cause is still undetermined. One possibility could be from the rapid changes in temperature and humidity that occurred during the last couple of days; however, an accurate diagnosis cannot be determined without sending the instrument back to the lab in Australia, where the instrument can be opened in a sterile environment. Not willing to risk putting a faulty instrument into the ground, PBO engineers and Mick Gladwin agreed that the installation activities should be put on hold until the noise issue is detected and resolved. Crews worked into the evening packing up the installation equipment at the site and discussing the next steps that need to be taken in order to get a working instrument in the ground as soon as possible.