Acquisition of a Multi-Processor Computer System for a SAR Interferometry Processing Facility

University Of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

0091845 Peltzer This grant provides partial support of the costs of acquiring a multi-processor computer and workstations to set up an interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) processing facility for solid Earth geophysical research within UCLA's Earth and Space Sciences Department. The PI, Gilles Peltzer, is a recent addition to the ESS department faculty at UCLA, after having spent 10 years as a research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In addition to G. Peltzer's group including post-doctoral scholars and graduate students, the system will be used by a larger group of faculty including, but not limited to, Profs. J. Vidale, D. Jackson and collaborating scholars engaged in processing and analysis of massive data sets and CPU-intensive physical modeling. The computer server will allow processing and analyses of large sets of InSAR data for research aimed at understanding sub-surface processes involved in the generation of earthquakes, the relaxation of the stress following these events, volcanic eruptions, and more surficial effects including the surface deformation produced by crustal fluid extraction and reinjection. The observations made possible using InSAR (providing spatial continuity of sampling) ideally complement those made with permanent GPS arrays (temporal continuity). The ability to rapidly analyze and interpret both sets of geophysical data will be immediately useful for geodetic and seismological research conducted by several scientists within the Earth and Space Science department of UCLA. ***