Facility Highlights

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Chile Rapid Response Data Communications

July 29, 2010

In response to the magnitude 8.8 Chile earthquake, UNAVCO engineers designed a set of portable communications units to deploy at new or existing GPS sites located in the region near the earthquake epicenter. The communications units contain either a satellite or cellular modem, and a self-sufficient power system consisting of photo-voltaic and battery power sources. This equipment telemeters data from remote sites to UNAVCO for use by researchers assessing the post-seismic response of large magnitude earthquakes. High-rate GPS data must be archived soon after significant aftershock earthquakes to permit a complete time-series.
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Sierra Negra GPS Network Upgrade

June 29, 2010

PIs Bill Chadwick and Dennis Geist have been monitoring the deformation of Sierra Negra Volcano for well over a decade. Pre-2000 InSAR data had revealed inflation in and around the summit caldera, and was the impetus for a UNAVCO-supported GPS campaign that ran from 2000 to 2002. In May and June of 2002, a network of 6 permanent, continuously operating GPS stations were installed throughout the caldera with four more in 2004, and two more in 2009. The GPS receivers did not have internal logging capabilities and data would be lost whenever the radio network experienced difficulties. Especially painful was when the network went offline 12 hours before the most recent eruption of 2005.
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QUIN IGS/GGN Station Maintenance

June 9, 2010

The GGN station located in Quincy, California recently went offline and a site visit was needed in order to restore its internet link. The station's internet connection is provided via a HUGHES DW7000 VSAT. During this site visit, a new monitor and UPS system were installed and connected to the station computer, allowing for longer runtimes through power outages. A new cable for the VSAT system was also installed as the old one was damaged by water and corrosion. The VSAT cable was run through conduit and then run into the trailer where it was then attached to the modem.
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SMAP Validation Project

June 9, 2010

The SMAP (Soil Moisture Active & Passive) Validation project is funded by NASA with collaborators from the University of Colorado at Boulder and UCAR. The purpose of the SMAP Validation project is to provide an independent means to validate the results of the SMAP satellite mission using GPS signals received at ground-based sensor sites. Continued research with GPS data will also help refine the algorithms and science products used to determine soil moisture content at the Earth's surface from a growing number of GPS sites in North American and around the World.
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• Semi-annual UNAVCO member equipment purchase Jun.-Aug. 2010
• Try our POLENET Game: Power Through the Night
• New EarthScope airborne LiDAR data: SoCal and ISB
• Production Release of GPS Data Archive Interface Version 2 (DAIv2) Now Available
• New Facility Knowledgebase is Online - Beta Release