USARRAY
Encyclopedia
USArray is one of the three components of the Earthscope
project, funded by the National Science Foundation
and being constructed, operated, and maintained as a collaborative effort with UNAVCO Inc., the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, and Stanford University
, with contributions from several other national and international organizations. A major goal of USArray is to collect detailed seismic images of the North American lithosphere
. The data collected from USArray will be integrated with geologic observations made on the earth's surface to help determine the geologic history of North America, as well as to better understand that geologic processes that are at work today.
The instrumentation of USArray will consist of a portable array of 400 seismometers that will be deployed across the United States over a 10 year period. In addition a "flexible component" array will be available to be deployed in areas where a denser network of seismometers is required. A permanent array of seismometers that is currently maintained by the USGS will also be augmented.
The other two components of EarthScope are the Plate Boundary Observatory PBO
and the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth
SAFOD.
Earthscope
EarthScope is an earth science program using geological and geophysical techniques to explore the structure and evolution of the North American continent and to understand the processes controlling earthquakes and volcanoes. Thousands of geophysical instruments will comprise a dense grid covering...
project, funded by the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
and being constructed, operated, and maintained as a collaborative effort with UNAVCO Inc., the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, and Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, with contributions from several other national and international organizations. A major goal of USArray is to collect detailed seismic images of the North American lithosphere
Lithosphere
The lithosphere is the rigid outermost shell of a rocky planet. On Earth, it comprises the crust and the portion of the upper mantle that behaves elastically on time scales of thousands of years or greater.- Earth's lithosphere :...
. The data collected from USArray will be integrated with geologic observations made on the earth's surface to help determine the geologic history of North America, as well as to better understand that geologic processes that are at work today.
The instrumentation of USArray will consist of a portable array of 400 seismometers that will be deployed across the United States over a 10 year period. In addition a "flexible component" array will be available to be deployed in areas where a denser network of seismometers is required. A permanent array of seismometers that is currently maintained by the USGS will also be augmented.
The other two components of EarthScope are the Plate Boundary Observatory PBO
Plate Boundary Observatory PBO
The Plate Boundary Observatory or is one of three components of the Earthscope project, along with USArray and SAFOD...
and the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth
San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth
The San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth is one of three components of the Earthscope Project, funded by the National Science Foundation in conjunction with the USGS and NASA. The SAFOD site is located just north of the town of Parkfield, California...
SAFOD.