Alaina Foster

July 10th, 2023

One challenge I am having a hard time with at the moment is creating a plan for what I want to do in a day. Usually I have one big task I need to complete, but I have been struggling with breaking it into smaller tasks and coming up with goals for each day to finish them. I think this has been resulting in me working on the same thing for an entire day instead of moving on to something different when I get stuck on something. One thing that is going well has been troubleshooting code with my mentors. When I have gotten stuck on things I have been able to go and talk with them to get through the issues.

I used Python to make the map of the stations in my study area that is in my blog post from last week. I used the matplotlib and cartopy packages to make it. I used matplotlib to plot the stations and used cartopy to “add” the map background using geodetic transform. I am studying this area because the Long Valley Caldera is one of the most seismically active volcanoes in California. Because it is a high threat volcano, it is important to understand the seismicity of the region.

June 16th, 2023

This summer I will be combining datasets from Taka’aki Taira at BSL and Alicia Hotovec-Ellis at the USGS California Volcano Observatory. Taka’aki’s data is changes in velocity from coda wave interferometry of repeating earthquakes and Alicia’s data is velocity changes from ambient noise seismic interferometry. This data has been used by each of them, but they have never been combined into one dataset. Alicia’s data has been processed and filtered, but I have been working on sorting through Taka’aki’s data. Because their data formatting is different, I have had to adjust and write code that can work for each set. One thing in particular that I have had to do is sort through data that does not have enough information or has too large of a standard deviation.

One skill from the self-reflection rubric that I feel like I will need to work on this summer is monitoring and planning for my progress towards the goals of my project. Time management is a skill I am very weak in generally, and the structure of my project makes it necessary to manage my time well. I think that this is a difficult skill to quantify, but I would say that someone proficient in this skill would create plans (daily, weekly, overall, etc.) and be timely with their assignments. They would be able to complete their goals at a gradual pace rather than quickly after procrastinating. Additionally, they would need to be able to communicate with the people around them to make sure they have all the information they need to do what they need in a timely manner. Some things I am doing to help myself become better at time management are setting reminders on my phone and computer to keep me on track. I have also been trying to maintain a consistent schedule and give myself breaks so I don’t burn out. I also make to-do lists and plans for my short and long term goals for the project.

June 8th, 2023

This summer I am working with Taka’aki Taira at the University of California, Berkeley Seismology Lab. We are also working with Alicia Hotovec-Ellis at the USGS California Volcano Observatory. The project I am working on looks at seasonal seismic velocity changes at the Long Valley Caldera.

My goals for this summer are:

1. Build a strong understanding of scientific programming.

2. Learn about intersections of environmental changes and seismology.

3. Make conclusions about the seasonal changes in velocity.

My first goal will take the entire summer because I will have to build upon my previous programming experience from a different perspective. The second goal I have will also likely take most of the time of the internship, but as I do more background research I am finding out how things like precipitation and groundwater may affect seismic velocity. Finally, the overarching goal of the project is to create a conclusion based on the data that we have about the seasonal changes in velocity of the Long Valley Caldera.