The construction of the vault for broadband seismometers has a direct impact on the data quality. The principle of broadband sensor vault design is to minimize temperature changes, and to distance the sensor pad from the surficial layer which tilts due to temperature, precipitation, solar insolation, wind, etc.

Nearby sources of ground noise, like footsteps or acoustic noise, are reduced by shallow burial (2-5 ft.) The construction must be adapted to the site and materials available. A decision will have to be made to balance the cost and labor of different vault designs against the length of deployment, resources available, and quality of data expected.

Finding a pre-existing enclosure is a tremendous savings in time and effort. This might include missile silos, power stations, abandoned mines, caves, or root cellars. Consider the details of cables, power, and locating a GPS antenna for timing at these sites.

Introduction

Pre-deployment or “huddle” testing of equipment is a critical step in preparing for any field-based scientific deployment. This process involves testing most or all components of a typical field station, for multiple stations, simultaneously in a centralized location. The number of systems that can be tested in parallel depends primarily on available personnel and workspace.

Huddle testing can reduce the time and cost associated with fieldwork, minimize the likelihood of returning to correct issues, and greatly improve consistency across deployment teams. Most importantly, it increases the chances of successful equipment performance once deployed.

The Smart Solo IGU-16HR 3C is a compact all-in-one 3-channel sensor & datalogger with onboard GPS timing, and a self-contained power supply. Similar to the FairfieldNodal ZLand 3C, it has been adopted by the academic community as a useful sensor for both active and short-term passive experiments.

The units require a pre-deployment plan to be filled out with the sample rate, gain, and minimum or linear phase specified. The units must be sent back to EPIC for data offload, unless the portable harvester system is requested for the experiment.

Specifications:

In early May, a team from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) visited New Mexico Tech to use school facilities to support a new documentary on the current state of knowledge about the Earth's core.  Since seismology is the only practical method for probing the Earth's core, the team arranged the support of two of New Mexico Tech's facilities, the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center (EMRTC), and the Program for Array Seismic Studies of the Continental Lithosphere (EPIC), to demonstrate how the seismic waves from earthquakes or man-made explosions can travel through the Earth, and be used as a subsurface probing tool. The team was assisted by Dave Thomas and Mouse Reusch from EPIC, and Richard Aster from the NMT Earth and Environmental Science department.