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Iceland is a island in the North Atlantic with a large amount of volcanism. This volcanism is fueled from the mantle by the Mid Atlantic Ridge as well as a mantle plume which overlaps with the spreading center. Previous studies into the structure of the plume have given some idea of size and shape but these still remain fairly uncertain. I will be analyzing data from preexisting seismic networks from 1996 to the present day, to measure the effect that attenuation has on arrivals below Iceland. This will allow us provide further constrain to the structure of the Iceland Mantle Plume.
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Yair Franco
Project Title: Heartbeat of a volcano; in search of tremors in the Valles Caldera, New Mexico
The Valles Caldera is a dormant volcanic complex in northern New Mexico, whose main feature is a 15-mile wide crater left behind by a massive eruption around 1.2 million years ago. While it is inactive now, its last eruption was quite geologically recent, which presents a possibility for future activity. Earthquakes are one way of gauging the level of activity in a volcano. I will be using data from seismic stations installed by students and faculty of SAGE in 2019, and apply machine learning methods to find and analyze current seismicity in the Valles Caldera.
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Masooma Hasnain
Project Title: Identification and Separation of Land and Sea-based Microseism from Historical Data
The project aims to fill in the historical catalog of hurricanes, before satellites were used, through seismograms. Tropical storms and local weather generate microseisms: tropical storms by gravity waves and local weather by wind, rain, etc. My goal is to distinguish the two of them based on their relationship between frequency and power.
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Elliz McClelland
Project Title: Using Magnetotellurics to Create a 3D Model of the Valles Caldera, NM
I am working with Paul Bedrosian at USGS to collect and process magnetotelluric data collected at Valles Caldera, New Mexico. The goal of my project is to construct a 3D resistivity model to better shape our understanding of the Valles Caldera structure and magmatic system. I will also be assisting Paul in MT data acquisition in Hawaii for USGS studies on Kilauea. The Valles Caldera data I am processing was collected by the Summer of Applied Geophysical Experience (SAGE) program.
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Kaetu_Wleh
Project Title: On the Detection of Upper Mantle Discontinuities in Africa with Radon-Transformed Ps Receiver Functions (CRISP-RF)
The goal of this project is to use Ps receiver functions, which are a passive seismological technique, to date detect upper mantle discontinuities in the African subsurface. Ps receiver functions are often limited in resolution due to an overprinting of the seismic signal due to the multiple reverberations that follow the direct P wave and converted Ps wave. To avoid, the overprinting of these reverberations over the converted wave signal, this project uses a new methodology for analyzing receiver functions called CRISP-RF to improve the precision of the receiver function technique. CRISP-RF stands for Clean Receiver function Imaged using SParse Radon Filter.
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Sarah Ayling
Project Title: Using machine learning to improving earthquake detection for a dense nodal seismic array
This summer I am working with Dr. Grace Barcheck at Cornell University testing the ability of machine-learning based codes to pick P and S wave arrival times. I am using data collected from a 400-instrument nodal seismic array which is part of the Alaska Amphibious Community Seismic Experiment (AACSE) located on Kodiak Island in Alaska. I will be learning how to pick P and S wave arrival times and then learning how to apply various machine-learning earthquake detection codes.
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Leah_April
Project Title: Reliable detection of converted phases with nodal arrays
I will work with Dr. Joseph Byrnes this summer, in Flagstaff, Arizona, to use receiver functions to image shallow base fault zones, using the high frequencies captured from a short-term nodal array deployment. We are using Dr. Byrnes's code, which uses the rjMCMC approach, and focusing on the Ridgecrest earthquake data, August 2019, using the Southern California Earthquake Catalog (SCEC).
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Alaina Foster
Project Title: Exploring seasonal seismic velocity changes at Long Valley Caldera, California
My project looks at seasonal seismic velocity changes in the Long Valley Caldera. I am combining two data sets using Python: one from Taka’aki Taira at the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory and one from Alicia Hotovec-Ellis at the USGS California Volcano Observatory. In this study, I aim to better understand the underlying mechanisms of the caldera by combining coda wave interferometry data and ambient noise seismic interferometry. They will also be observing the seasonal characteristics with other geophysical and hydrological data.
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Ann_Malayil
Project Title: Mapping the crust beneath an active earthquake swarm in Elgin, SC
I am working under Dr. Daniel Frost from the University of South Carolina for this internship. My internship is focused on the earthquake swarms in Elgin, SC. My primary goal to achieve from this internship is to construct the velocity model of the velocity structure of this earthquake swarm. Also, to learn about the layers of the crust, receiver functions will use in the project for this.
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Anah Bogdan
Project Title: Imaging crustal seismic structure of the southern Los Angeles Basin
The Los Angeles (LA) Basin is a highly populated sedimentary basin that formed due to the interaction between the Pacific and North American plates. Sedimentary basins can enhance the effect of ground motion when an earthquake occurs. We aimed to better characterize the depth of the sedimentary basin via Ps receiver function analysis using a combination of permanent stations and nodal data obtained for the southern half of the basin. We examined data from 24 broadband stations in the Southern California Seismic Network (CI) scattered across the LA Basin. We also examined data from the UCR nodal array that contained 50 nodes spaced 500 meters apart. Despite high cultural noise, Ps receiver functions highlighted the presence of multiple interfaces associated with the basin and crust.
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Jackson_Fellows
Project Title: Seismic Velocity Modeling With Shore-Crossing Data Offshore Kodiak Island, Alaska
The goal of this project is to develop a seismic velocity model of the accretionary prism offshore of Kodiak Island, Alaska. This area, where the Pacific Plate subducts under the North American Plate, is very seismically active. Our study lays within the rupture zone of the 9.2 Mw Great Alaska megathrust earthquake of 1964. By combining dense on-land nodal array data with marine airgun shots (both acquired during the 2018-2019 Alaska Amphibious Community Seismic Experiment) we hope to develop a more detailed velocity model than previous researchers. This model could help scientists better understand and mitigate earthquake hazards in the region.
