Scout Mission: The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people

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Scout Mission: The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Scout Law.  On April 14th, 2018, TXESP exchanged ideas and completed fun activities focusing on geoscience, physics, mathematics AND ENGINEERING!  We brought an EQ-1 Vertical Seismometer for real-time demonstrations – we even “made” our own earthquakes! – the GREAT Shake Board, and the Engineering Blocks Board.

Thank you Boy Scouts of America!

 

Technology Comparison Near Home (Part 6.1)

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Shown are two seismograms from Station E1TX.  The top seismogram was detected and recorded by the EQ1 Vertical Seismograph. The bottom seismogram was detected, recorded and filtered with a 2  Hz LP filter on the Raspberry Shake Seismometer.  This event, close by ~480 mi away in Perry, OK, are very similar to each other.

  

 

 

Seismological Consistency – Are you seeing double?

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Shown are Station E1TX seismograms recorded on 09 April 2018.  The top image is the M4.6 (main shock)  seismogram recorded 04/07/2018 at 12:16hrs UTC (7:16 am CST).  The second image is the M4.3 (after shock) seismogram recorded 04/09/2018 at 10:22hrs (5:22 am CST).  Notice the very similar patterns of the first few minutes of wave phases.  This is a good sign that (1) the seismograph is working consistently, (2) the subsurface geology must not have changed significantly over the temporal scale, and (3) consistency bring confidence in measurements.

M4.6 earthquake on 04/07/18 at 12:16hrs UTC (main shock)

M4.3 earthquake on 04/09/18 at 10:22hrs UTC (main shock)

Technology Comparison Near Home (Part 6)

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Shown are two seismograms from Station E1TX.  The top seismogram was detected and recorded by the EQ1 Vertical Seismograph. The bottom seismogram was detected, recorded and filtered with a 2  Hz LP filter on the Raspberry Shake Seismometer.  For this event, close by 481 mi away in Perry, OK, the two recordings are very similar.

 

Hello Oklahoma

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Below: Shown is Station E1TX’s recording (seismogram) on 07 April 2018 at 12:16hrs UTC (7:16 am CST).  The event was approximately 5kms deep and 481 miles (~6 polar degrees) away from this Station.  We will post a seismogram comparison btwn the EQ1 and Raspberry Shake in the next post.

ScreenShot: M4.6 Oklahoma, 04/09/2018 12:16hrs UTC

Seismogram: M4.6 Oklahoma, 04/09/2018 12:16hrs UTC

Map: M4.6 Oklahoma, 04/09/2018 12:16hrs UTC

 

DYFI in Santa Cruz, CA?

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SANTA CRUZ, CA:  TXESP just recorded a magnitude 5.3 earthquake in highly populated Santa Cruz, CA.  The event had an epicentral distance of ~ 20 pol deg and a focal depth of 9.9kms.  It occurred within the past few hours at 19:29hrs UTC or 12:29 pm PST.

Below: Shown are the two seismograms recorded at Station E1TX in Spring, TX.  The first image is the recording from the EQ-1 seismometer, the last seismogram is the recording from the Raspberry Shake.  We were surprised to record this earthquake as the hot subsurface dissipates seismic waves btwn CA and Texas.  The last image is the range in frequencies recorded by the Raspberry Shake Seismometer.

A M5.3 earthquake occurred today at 19:29hrs UTC near Santa Cruz Island, CA.

Seismogram recorded at E1TX – EQ-1 Seismograph

Seismogram recorded at E1TX – Raspberry Shake Seismometer (0.6Hz LP Filter)

Frequencies recorded by the Raspberry Shake of the 04/05/2018 19:29hrs UTC Santa Cruz, CA earthquake. NOTE the predominance of low frequencies.

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Calling All Scientists and STEM Professionals

  Scientists, educators and STEM Professionals, TXESP is publishing Round 2 of Guest Bloggers.  Specifically, we are searching for these individuals who would be willing to share (1) an image of themselves or “doing what they do”,  and (2) a short paragraph or caption of how they promote Science and STEM throughout their day.  Once we have a dozen or so contributions, we will publish with your permission on www.txesp.org.  AND, “THIS IS A GOOD THING” ** !!

**from Martha Stewart

 

Comparing Technology, Part 5: Different Seismograms

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Station E1TX has two seismographs – an EQ-1 Educational Vertical Seismograph (sold by Ward’s) – and a less expensive, “plug-and-play” Raspberry Shake. While it may be assumed that the RS is not as technologically advance as the EQ-1, we have observed on the RS the Magnitude 5.9 earthquake detected mid-range frequencies with greater amplitudes than it’s counterpart (the EQ-1).  This event occurred on 04/02/2018 at 23:23hrs UTC.  We are uncertain interpreting the RS while the EQ-1 seismogram had arrival times as expected.

Below: Shown is a comparison of the EQ-1 and Raspberry Shake seismograms. Very intriguing!  To note, the epicentral distance is 18 pol deg and the focal depth is 50kms.

 

Comparing Technology, Part 4: the BIG(er) guy won from Bolivia

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Station E1TX has two seismographs – an EQ-1 Educational Vertical Seismograph (sold by Ward’s) – and a less expensive, “plug-and-play” Raspberry Shake. While it may be assumed that the RS is not as technologically advance as the EQ-1, we have observed in the Magnitude 6.8 earthquake detected low (teleseismic) frequencies more often with greater amplitudes than it’s counterpart (the EQ-1).  This very deep event, >560kms, occurred on 04/02/2018 at 13:40hrs UTC.

Below: Shown is a screenshot comparing the EQ-1 seismogram with an extracted seismogram from the Raspberry Shake.  Very intriguing!  To note, the epicentral distance is 59.5 pol deg and the focal depth is 564kms.

 

Two and Counting…

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Station E1TX has recorded two seismographs on the EQ-1 Educational Vertical Seismograph within the last 24 hours.  The first earthquake, a small M3.1 in Puerto Rico, can be easy to miss on a screenshot view, but an extraction of the data confirms wave phase arrivals at expected times for E1TX on 04/01/2018 at 22:44hrs UTC.  The second, very large M6.8 Bolivian earthquake occurred later in the day (now 04/02/2018) at 13:40hrs UTC.  The Bolivian seismogram recorded many wave phases – easily seen on the screenshot-  and thus TXESP has will have wave good recordings of the associated teleseismic waves. 

Screenshot image of both the Puerto Rico (M3.1) and Bolivia earthquakes (M6.8).

M3.1 Earthquake in Puerto Rico on 04/01/2018 at 22:44hrs UTC

M6.8 Earthquake in Bolivia on 04/02/2018 at 13:40hrs UTC