Date: Sat, 20 Dec 1997 20:11:28 -0800 (PST) From: Ken Navarre Subject: Menlo Park Meeting Hi folks, the meeting today was great. We got started on schedule and had a nice turnout. In attendance were: Edward Cranswick, Golden Co. Larry Cochrane, Redwood City, Ca. Steve Hammond, San Jose, Ca. Ted Blank, San Jose, Ca. Jan Froom, Gilroy, Ca. Sam Gasdik, Oakland, Ca. Mark Halliday, Ben Lomond, Ca. John Griffin, Mill Valley,Ca. Jerry Hammes, Palo Alto, CA Bob Ogburn, Daly City, CA Roger Griggs, Oakly, CA and myself from Sunnyvale, Ca. Sam brought a really splendid display that he got from Sean-Thomas Morrissey that detailed his broadband vertical sensor. If you haven't seen the information it is a sensor that uses a piece of spring metal that is obtained from a drywall scrapper. Looks like a great project. They will try to get the information scanned and posted on the PSN web page. Give it a look when it appears. Pretty slick! Edward had a beautiful huge poster that he used at the AGU meeting that showed the California contingent of the PSN and our distribution, purpose, and potential. Made my hair (what little I still have) stand on end. One of our former USGS sponsors, Leif Wennerberg, has gotten "out of the business" and left a treasure trove of books and pamphlets that we picked over. Jerry is going to keep the leftovers so we can build a "library" of related books for those interested. We all spent the better part of an hour going over our individual "bios". Sharing what led us to join this eclectic (and esteemed) group of individuals. Ted reported that he and Larry will be working to complete the support of Ted's EMON ver 7 so that it supports Larry's cards. He said that the new version is almost completed except for identifying some of the addresses. We should look forward to the new EMON soon. Then we had lunch... huge pizzas were brought in curtsey of Edward. Thanks Ed!!! We really porked out and chatted about our individual interests. Ted had EMON running on one laptop. I had another acquisition program running that supports the LPT parallel port A/D plug. At least it used to until I managed to drop the A/D adapter onto the hard floor :( Heck, I needed a new project anyway...) Larry had SDR running but we never let him finish hooking up the system because we were having too much fun babbling with one another. We had a great time. Then Edward made a presentation whose topic was PSN - A model for a new relationship between the Survey and Society. He had a lot of overheads and wowed us with all kinds of graphics. then he showed us the coolest one of all... The Calnet system is comprised of hundreds of sensors throughout northern and central California. This overhead slide showed what happens when you arrange the data from all the sensors in the network aligned by latitude. From 38 degrees to 49 degrees N. They lined up all the P waves and filtered the output. the result was a display that showed a progression of straight lines that formed when the different waves arrived. You'd hardly notice the pattern just by looking at the data from one, two, or even a dozen sites. But when you stick the data from the entire system together you get a startling arrangement that clearly shows the different waves as they arrived. The P, pP, PP, PcP, pPcP, and the ScP were all apparent. We all went ga ga over this one. Larry will be posting it to the web site for all of you to enjoy. Ted suggested that we get a sweatshirt with it on it, it was soooooooo cool!!! (Some people might suggest that we get a life but I'd have to admit that all of us really dug this one!!!) Edward suggested that perhaps the members of PSN - at least the ones at this meeting were all "closet teleseismologists... we like the big ones far far away...) Before we rapped up the meeting we discussed the format of the PSN files. Ted remarked that as the software/hardware has evolved we need to let the software define the type of file that Quakeview or SDR is reading. Some of the newer format files apparently can't be read by Quakeview. No decision was made but it was noted that it would be nice if the software would let the operator know if the file was not readable what version of what program would read it. We also kicked around the idea of developing a standardized PSN sensor that could be calibrated. Doing so would allow us to provide information as to what local ground motion was doing from a single event. If all our machines were calibrated then investigators could draw some conclusions in areas of maximum shaking. Of course we would need good timekeeping so we talked a bit about that. Edward showed the distribution of Calnet sites in California. It was immediately apparent that most of the sites are located on bedrock in the hills and mountains. There was a discernable gap in coverage in the valleys where most of us live here in California. It is specifically *that* area that is of interest to most of the people in the state because that is where most of the damage and injuries will occur in major events. That is the area where there is a lot of interest in how the different ground structure result in different types of shaking and higher amplitudes. This is the same area where the PSN can be of real service to investigators. That led to the comment that all of us need to be sure that our systems stay on-line during an event. We should all do our best to have a UPS on the systems, have them bolted down so they will remain up and recording, and to develop some strong motion sensors so we don't saturate or clip. Maybe some of us can spend some time looking at some strong motion projects that we can share with one another. Well, we had a lot of fun, shared some stories, laughs, and ideas. We'll have to have another one, perhaps in the spring or summer. In the meantime, lets get our equipment nailed down, the UPS systems on line, and collect some good data. Larry is cranking out boards for us. So far he has mufti channel filter/amp cards, demod cards, SG cards, and A/D cards with time correction features. He and Ted are working on some software mods that will make the data collection easier. We need to get more stations up and running and to make contacts in the schools and the community to increase public awareness of our projects as well as the USGS projects. (maybe we can wait till after Xmas to do this...) Everyone should have made out there Xmas list by now. Santa could probably use a bit of help guiding our spouse's choices of exactly which A-D card we want in our stocking - all hung with care... For me, I'm hoping Santa brings my spiffy new SG card or maybe 90 lbs of concrete for my new sensor pad... Take care everybody. Thanks to everyone who showed up. Special thanks to Edward and Larry for putting the whole thing together! Ken