Workshops for continuation GPS monitoring of tectonic, atmospheric, hydrologic, and volcanic processes in Mexico.

Unavco, Inc., Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

This award is to convene a workshop for US, Mexican, and international participants to initiate the planning phase for a 70-100 station continuous GPS network suitable for studying tectonic, atmospheric, hydrologic, and volcanic processes and hazards in Mexico. More than 50 existing continuous GPS stations in Mexico already constitute a backbone of the proposed new network. A key objective of the workshop is to assemble the individuals and institutions currently operating these sites to discuss the rationale and strategy for combining the existing GPS instruments with new GPS and ground-based metrology instrumentation and borehole strain meters to create a powerful tool for basic research, hazards monitoring, and applied work in Mexico. The workshop will support 18 U.S. scientists and students from the solid Earth, atmospheric, and hydrologic disciplines, and additional Mexican participants for the three-day workshop. The workshop will be held at a Mexican venue, in Puerto Vallarta. The international scope of the workshop and its multidisciplinary scientific objectives give the workshop unusually broad implications, ranging from seismic hazards for large areas of southern Mexico, including Mexico City, to atmospheric, surface, and ground water budgets in dry areas of northern Mexico and the southwest U.S. The workshop will provide a much needed forum for the individuals and institutions that operate continuous GPS stations in Mexico to address the scientific, practical, and societal benefits of merging their operations into a unified GPS network with open data sharing and standardized equipment and communications and to address the needs of agencies engaged in hazards monitoring and response.The workshop will thus take the first, critical step toward leveraging the roughly one million US dollars that have already been invested in CGPS in Mexico to construct a unified and sustainable solid Earth and atmospheric imaging tool. The workshop will foster new collaborations between Mexican, US, and other scientists who attend.