MRI-R2: Acquisition of GPS Equipment for Africa Array

这项奖励是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助的。这项主要研究仪器回收和再投资(MRI-R2)计划赠款支持购买20个双频GPS接收器和自动气象站(MET站)，这些接收器和自动气象站测量风速和风向、液体降水、气压、温度和相对湿度。新的全球定位系统/气象站将由美国非营利公司UNAVCO公司的员工在非洲大陆的选定地点安装，其中15个将与现有的地震记录仪并置，这些记录仪是以前由美国国家科学基金会资助的非洲大陆地震网络的一部分(非洲阵列；EAR-0446647)。所有全球定位系统和气象局数据最终将在联安援助团数据管理系统内存档，并通过网络公开分发。业务和管理责任以及费用将由东道国的非洲阵列台站运营商以及地球科学理事会(南非)、威特沃特斯兰德大学(南非)和宾夕法尼亚州立大学按照目前用于运营和维护非洲阵列地震台站的模式分配。非洲阵列大地测量网络将使人们能够对非洲大陆地壳形变进行前所未有的观测，以便进行构造学研究，特别是对了解东非大陆裂谷盆地的结构、力学性质和演化感兴趣。气象观测将极大地扩展整个非洲大陆目前的环境观测能力，并将支持气候学和水文学模型。私人投资机构将通过现有大学与非洲教育机构的合作，以及通过为少数族裔服务机构的美国学生提供在非洲进行研究的机会，吸引代表不足的群体。非洲阵列的一个更广泛的目标是将培训和研究项目结合起来，为非洲建立和保持一支地球科学劳动力队伍。

0960160MillerThis award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This Major Research Instrumentation Recovery and Reinvestment (MRI-R2) Program grant supports acquisition of 20 dual-frequency GPS receivers and automatic weather stations (Met stations) that measure wind speed and direction, liquid precipitation, barometric pressure, temperature, and relative humidity. The new GPS/met stations will be installed by employees of the U.S. non-profit corporation UNAVCO, Inc. at selected sites across the African continent, with 15 to be collocated with existing seismic recorders that are a part of a previously NSF-funded seismic network on the African continent (AfricaArray; EAR - 0446647). All GPS and met data will ultimately be archived within the UNAVCO data management system and openly distributed via the Web. Operations and management responsibilities and costs will be distributed amongst AfricaArray station operators in host countries, plus the Council for Geoscience (South Africa), The University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) and Penn State, following the model currently used to operate and maintain AfricaArray seismic stations. The AfricaArray geodetic network will enable unprecedented observations of African continent crustal deformation for research in tectonics with a particular interest in understanding the structure and mechanical properties and evolution of the continental rift basin in East Africa. Meteorological observations will dramatically expand current environmental observational capabilities across the continent and would support climatological and hydrological models. The PIs will engage underrepresented groups through existing university collaborations with African educational institutions and through opportunities for U.S. students at minority-serving institutions opportunities to do research in Africa. A broader goal of AfricaArray has been to couple training and research programs for building and maintaining a geoscientific workforce for Africa.***