Facility Support: AfricaArray - Advancing Earth Science Research and Education with an Interdisciplinary Network in Africa

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AfricaArray (www.africaarray.org) is a multifaceted initiative focused on developing a pool of diverse and talented undergraduate and graduate students for the geoscience workforce in the U.S. and Africa through linked research and training programs. Launched in 2005 with support from government, academic and industry partners, AfricaArray now supports three coupled activities, 1) a multidisciplinary observatory network in Africa, 2) a graduate training program for U.S. and African students focusing on research in Africa, and 3) a program to enhance diversity in the geosciences in the U.S. and Africa. This grant supports the operation and maintenance of the observatory network, which provides seismic, GPS and weather data openly to the science community. The network consists of 44 observatories spanning 17 countries in eastern, southern and western Africa. All but one of the observatories houses seismic sensors, and by the end of 2012, twenty-one of the observatories will also be equipped with GPS receivers and automated weather stations. The seismic data are archived and distributed by the IRIS data management center, and the GPS and weather data are archived and distributed by the UNAVCO data management center. Data from the network are being used for solid earth and atmospheric research projects by a wide range of students, faculty and researchers worldwide, including a number of underrepresented minority students in the U.S.