UAF CTBT IMS sites
The infrasound team at the Geophysical Institute, UAF has been charged with
the installation, testing and operation of three CTBT IMS sites. These
sites are described briefly below and detailed descriptions may be found by
selecting from the list in the panel at the left.
We installed a preliminary CTBT IMS site at Windless
Bight, Antarctica during the 2001 austral summer. Data from the array
began to flow to our data base and to the US IDC in February, 2001. Since
then the site has returned data continuously with over 95% up-time. The
microphone array is comprised of eight microphones with five microphones in an
outer, pentagonal array and three microphones centered as a triangular sub-array
within the pentagon. Currently, we are in the testing and evaluation phase
of operation and we are preparing the site for certification by the CTBT.
We have begun assembling the equipment that will be installed in a forested
area north of the Geophysical Institute on the University of Alaska
campus. This is the same area that has been the site of the Fairbanks DOE
array. The site construction is planned to be complete by September 2002
and preliminary data flow is expected to begin at that time.
We have completed the site survey at Palmer,
Antarctica and are awaiting funds to proceed with the initial installation.
The Palmer station is situated on a rocky outcrop seaward of a glacier
field. The infrasound sensors will have to be placed among the islands
which make up the archipelago. We are planning to install and eight
microphone array to insure there is sufficient redundancy to allow the array to
operate in the case of power outages at the remote sensor sites.
Established in 1999 under a contract with the Department of Energy, the Fairbanks
array has operated continuously for over two years. The original array
was modeled after the CTBT prototype with four microphones arranged in a
triangle with one microphone located near the center. The array is
scheduled for upgrade to an 8 microphone CTBT IMS site during the summer of
2002.
The microphone enclosure shown at the left will be replaced by a
CTBT-standard vault when the upgrade is completed.
Return to Infrasound Home Page
