Cascadia2020 Project – Opportunity for Students and Postdocs
We hope to recruit field helpers to put 700 small temporary seismometers in the Oregon and southern Washington Coast Ranges this summer. We would install the instruments at the end of May and recover them at the end of June and the second week of July.
The Cascadia2020 (https://blogs.uoregon.edu/cascadia2020/) project aims to create a model of the subsurface to better understand seismic hazards associated with the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The seismometers would record continuously, providing records of ground motion from earthquakes, background noise, and any other signals that occur during the deployment period. We also hope to coordinate with other researchers to record offshore signals generated by a research ship. Offshore signals would be detected onshore only by very sensitive seismometers, and would not be felt by humans or animals or damage natural or man-made structures. Computer processing of the seismic signals would allow us to generate an image of the subsurface geology to a depth of ~40 km (25 miles) using mathematical techniques similar to those used in medical imaging.
Qualifications
We are looking for about 17 participants across these levels: high school, community college, undergrad, grad and postdoc applicants. There is a need for both experienced and inexperienced field hands; each team will include at least one experienced field hand. We hope to receive applications from students representing the full spectrum of society including students with lived experiences such as veterans, non-traditional students as well as those disabilities that do not limit work in the field.
Seismic bootcamp
The primary deployment push will be preceded by a “seismic bootcamp” which will include discussions of regional tectonics, general seismology, and data processing as well as detailed instructions on how to interpret road logs and practice installing seismic stations. Students will be provided with brochures and training on effective methods for presenting the project to the public. The boot camp will also include a discussion of potential follow up student research projects using the data we acquire.
Applications are now being accepted until March 8, 2020. For more information and to apply online, please visit the GeoPRISMS website at: /call-cascadia-2020/. Questions should be directed to Emilie Hooft (emilie@uoregon.edu)