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In early September 2009, thirty scientists, students, and engineers descended on Burns, OR, to demobilize the 104 broadband seismic stations of the High Lava Plains (HLP) seismic experiment. The HLP project, which began with four broadband seismic stations in January 2006, was drawing to a close. Several crews were led by David James, principal investigator of the project; field seismologist Steven Golden; postdoctoral fellow Nick Schmerr; visiting investigator Matt Fouch of Arizona State University (ASU); former postdoctoral fellows Maureen Long, now at Yale University, Lara Wagner of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Katie Cooper, now at Washington State University; and ASU colleagues John West and Kevin Eager. The group was also joined by colleagues from the Program for Array Seismic Studies of the Continental Lithosphere (PASSCAL) Instrument Center, who provided guidance in sorting and cataloging instrumentation and packing for the return shipment to PASSCAL, DTM, and ASU, as well as a large group of graduate and undergraduate students.
In the field, connecting wires were pulled, data loggers and sensors were lifted out of the ground and packed in travel cases, solar panels were removed, barbed wire fences and posts were dismantled, PVC pipe was disconnected or cut, the 30 gallon barrels—that served as the underground vaults—were hoisted out of the ground, holes were filled in, and the sites were cleaned of all debris.
Data from all of the stations were downloaded and archived by Steven Golden, and the data disks and compact flash cards were removed for data extraction. Equipment from the field was loaded into an 18-wheeler for shipment; residual station components and tools were donated to host ranchers or to the staff at the USDA Agricultural Research Service/ Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center, the group’s headquarters during the project.
Professional photographer Tony Fiorini, husband of Maureen Long, assisted the group in the demobilization and documented much of the work and surrounding area in photos. See Fiorini’s blog for more. Further information on the HLP seismic experiment can be found on the group’s Web site.
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