2023-2024 Science Planning Summary
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2023-2024 USAP Field Season
Project Detail

Project Title

Dry Valley seismic project


Bull Pass. Photo by Dave Haney, courtesy of the NSF/USAP Photo Library.
G-078-M Research Location(s):  Bull Pass, Dry Valleys

Summary

Event Number:
G-078-M
NSF/PLR-DoD MOA

Program Director:
Dr. Michael Jackson

ASC POC/Implementer:
John Rand / Jenny Cunningham


Principal Investigator(s)

Mr. Paul A Bertrand
paul.bertrand@us.af.mil
United States Air Force
AFTAC


Location

Supporting Stations: McMurdo Station
Research Locations: Bull Pass, Dry Valleys


Description

The Dry Valley seismic project monitors regional and global seismicity. The Dry Valleys' stations near McMurdo Station are part of the Air Force Technical Applications Center’s (AFTAC) southern network, which accumulates near-real-time data from nine locations in the Southern Hemisphere. The data are transmitted to the National Data Center in Florida and made available to the international scientific community.


Field Season Overview

The primary goal this season is to deploy three team members to perform battery installation & Hybrid Power System (HPS) maintenance (diesel engine work, refueling, etc.) at the Mt Newall site, and seismic equipment & similar HPS maintenance at the Bull Pass site. Additional activities at McMurdo address inventory, data path maintenance, etc. The team camps for ~14 days at each site, with camp put-ins & pull-outs accomplished via helicopter. This scope of work encompasses the "normal maintenance actions" currently planned for this maintenance season, and does not include the potential for emergent requirements, such as a failure of either of the HPS's over the winter. Lastly, two of the team members are scheduled to also work with the T-396/CTBTo Infrasound project team while deployed to McMurdo.


Deploying Team Members

  • Riley Bickford
  • William Dickinson
  • Christian Patrick