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June 13, 2008
Back in the Saddle
That's right. I'm hittin' the road again. This time, back to California. For something a little different, actually. Something I've never done before. How exciting. I think the excitement of slinging bags of cement around will only last a few days (hours?), but whatever. At least there's that.
I'd been told there would be some work for me in June and July for the Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) project, something that UNAVCO is managing and that I've worked on before but that falls outside the normal scope of my duties. PBO is a network of over 800 permanent GPS stations and I-don't-know-how-many (but fewer than 800) borehole strainmeters installed throughout the western US from Alaska down to California and the Pacific out through the Rocky Mountains to measure strain associated with the Pacific-Juan de Fuca-and North American plate boundaries. In short: The Pacific plate is diving under the North American plate off the southern coast of Alaska, creating volcanoes and earthquakes (the 1960 eq that leveled Anchorage is one of the largest eqs on record, one of the few exceeding a magnitude 9); the Juan de Fuca plate, a cute little piece that used to be part of a huge plate that has since gotten gobbled up, is likewise sliding (subducting) under the North American plate off the coast of southern Canada, Washington, Oregon, and northern California, also resulting in volcanoes (the Cascades--Rainier, St. Helens, Hood, Shasta, etc.) and potentially large earthquakes (there's evidence of the last big one in the tsunami records of Japan--cool, and a little scary); and the Pacific plate is sliding past the North American plate along the San Andreas, getting stuck and then rupturing to release the pressure as an earthquake and doing it again, and again.
PBO is designed to measure the strain (accumulating pressure, measured as motion along the ground, such as two points along the San Andreas moving past each other as pressure builds between earthquakes) all throughout the region. Pretty impressive. (Check out http://www.unavco.org for more info if you're interested.) I usually work on the GPS part of things, which measures motion of a point in three dimensions (east, north, up) by calculating the point's position and then looking at how it changes over time. This time, I'll be working on a strainmeter installation. I'll be able to tell you more about it when I've actually done it, but the idea is that a professional drill rig comes in and drills down a few hundred feet, and we put a very sensitive and very expensive instrument down in the hole to measure compression and expansion, as the earth is pushed and pulled. These instruments are more sensitive to small motions that GPS--they're amazingly sensitive, actually--but they don't tell the long-term motion like GPS does, meaning they're great for 'events,' like an earthquake, but not for measuring what's going on in the in-between.
So, this time around, I'll be helping out with a strainmeter installation.
After I drive a truck out to California.
Here's the gig: Right when I had written this deal off, thinking I wouldn't get any work from UNAVCO in the next couple months after all because I hadn't heard anything, Karl calls and asks if I'm interested in driving a truck out west and then doing some work on the strainmeters. Sure. When? Maybe as early as Sunday. Nothing wrong with three days' notice, eh?
So this is what happened. First of all, my mentality went through a bit of a 180. Just earlier this week, when I'd written off any field work, I was thinking how--wow--it's really kind of nice to be able to commit to things. Like, telling my friends that yes, I can come to their bbq in several weeks, or penning in an Ultimate tourney or two, and actually getting excited about these things, *and* even thinking hey, I'm going to practice with a club team and get my edge back. It was kind of nice to look forward to things. Then, Karl says, wanna drive to CA, and..... I get off the phone and do a little jig. Because YEAH, of course I do! Not only do I get to make some money, but I get to go on an adventure, too!
I hopped on it. Drove into work to fill out the paperwork for a driving record check and made an appointment for a physical to drive a truck between 10,000 and 36,000 lbs. Ours are 11,000. It's a little bit ridiculous. Big white Ford somethin'-somthin' pickups with custom canopies. In my physical, the doctor said, You look like you've been in an accident--the skinned knees and scrapes, the bruises. At least she didn't ask if I was being beaten, which is what I was expecting. I have two particularly nice bruises right now on my right arm, and some bruises or pulled muscles over my ribs. It kind of hurts to breathe. I hope that one heals before I have to start slinging the bags of cement around. Stupid Frisbee.
When I talked more at length with the guys I'd be working for--Dave, the guy in charge of the strainmeter stuff, in particular--my attitude went back about 90, to put me somewhere in the middle of excitement vs. not. He was talking like I might be out more or less until the end of July, and my mind went to all the events that I actually wanted to be around for here in Boulder.... I mean, it's summer! It's beautiful! It's fun! And I kind of like having friends. And being around for them sometimes. It's nice.
In the end, I don't know how long I'll be out for. (Speaking of long--this might be my longest stream-of-consciousness entry in a loooong time.) Stay tuned. What I do know is that I'll be leaving tomorrow (might drive west to Grand Junction and play in a little Frisbee tourney there before continuing on!) or Sunday, deliver the truck to my friend Brian in Richmond, CA on Tuesday or Wednesday, and then hop on a plane to Ontario, CA, where I'll rent a car and drive into the Mojave to meet up with the strainmeter crew. The Mojave in June. Yeah.
In the meantime, a little happy hour with the girlfriends. Could the weather be any better?
Posted by beth at June 13, 2008 7:54 PM
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