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A Policy for Rapid Mobilization of USGS OBS (RMOBS)

Introduction
Potential Deployment Sites
Alaska Volcanoes
Continental Borderland
Mendocino Triple Junction
Policy and Resources
Obligations of RMOBS Participants
Criteria for Support
Contact Information
Acknowledgements

USGS Policy and Resources


The initiative for rapid deployment of ocean bottom seismometers (OBS) will come from USGS scientists who have the regional responsibility for monitoring of earthquake and volcanic hazards (See contact information). Other USGS and non-USGS scientists should coordinate their application with the USGS scientists who have the regional monitoring responsibility. The decision to support an RMOBS will be made jointly by the USGS scientist in charge of the USGS OBS facility and by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientist in charge of the OBS Instrument Pool (OBSIP) in Woods Hole. The decision will generally be made within 24 hours of a request for RMOBS instruments.  The decision will be based on the guidelines outlined in Criteria for Support. The USGS will provide the following services to scientists undertaking a RMOBS through. 
 
  1. The USGS Coastal and Marine Program will provide $35,000 for a rapid mobilization of the OBS. This amount will be used to cover mobilization and shipping costs, the cost of expendables, the cost of sending a technician to deploy and retrieve the instruments, and the cost of boat rental to deploy and retrieve the instruments.

  2. The Woods Hole OBS Instrument Pool, through an agreement with the USGS, will provide five four-component short-period ocean bottom seismometers for rapid deployment.  RMOBS instruments are expected to be at the instrument center when not in the field for an RMOBS deployment, and are generally not considered as part of the general OBSIP instrument pool during the normal OBSIP scheduling process.

  3. The National OBS Instrument Pool will provide the OBS data in a standard format and time-tagged and corrected to the scientists who initiate the RMOBS no later than a week after the instruments have been recovered from the ocean floor.

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This page last modified on Monday, 14-Jan-2013 04:50:26 EST