Earthscope: Epic ScienceThe Earthscope is one of the biggest scientific projects on the planet, what
Earthscope: Epic ScienceThe Earthscope is one of the biggest scientific projects on the planet, what Popular Science called the #1 most epic experiment in the universe. There are multiple arms to the project, but the most expansive is called the Transportable Array, a suite of 400 seismometers that has rolled east across the US over the last 8 years. TA stations were deployed for 2 years in a north-south stripe across the country, then picked up and moved east to the next footprint and redeployed. The result is unprecedented seismic coverage of the North American continent. The mission of the project is to use this massive seismic array and other data sets such as GPS and satellite data as a telescope pointed into the Earth, exploring the structure of the continent and underlying mantle.The big idea behind the project is to use North America as a “natural laboratory” to study the entire cycle of continental growth, modification, and breakup. Several hundred papers have been published based on Earthscope data so far, including one that used TA seismic data to image a previously unknown, massive magma chamber under the Yellowstone hotspot. The Earthscope team also produces a wide range of educational resources and data products; I particularly like the “Birthquake” app, which gives you a snapshot of the earthquakes that happened on your birthdate. Also enthralling are the ground motion visualizations produced from TA data which show earthquake waves sweeping across the country.The TA reached the East Coast in 2013, and is now moving to Alaska - an even more daunting task. The array will continue to record until 2018; it will leave behind a number of legacy stations which have been adopted by local institutions, permanently improving the state of seismic coverage in the US.-CELImages: “This/these images were created by the EarthScope National Office, a National Science Foundation funded project. EarthScope scientists study the structure and evolution of the North American continent using three primary observatories, the Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO), USArray, and the San Andreas Observatory at Depth (SAFOD). For more information, visit www.earthscope.org”Sources:earthscope.orgusarray.orghttp://bit.ly/1QwJPozGround motion visualizations: http://bit.ly/1ORDh3ZBirthquake: earthscope.org/birthquake -- source link
Tumblr Blog : the-earth-story.com
#science#geology#earthscope#seismic#seismometer#us array#quake#crust#mantle