Cutting Edge Science Presented at IRIS Workshop
The 19th IRIS Workshop was held June 4-6, 2008, at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Washington. More than 275 people from the US and numerous countries around the world attended the 3-day meeting to learn about innovative research being conducted in seismology and to exchange ideas with colleagues.
During the workshop, more than 150 papers were presented in five
plenary sessions and three poster sessions. Topics included the integration of
active and passive seismology and the integration of seismology and mineral
physics; transformative science, technology and culture enabled by EarthScope's
Transportable Array; seismology, geodesy, and ice dynamics in polar regions;
episodic tremor and slip; synergy in seismic event monitoring and research; and
teaching seismology. The program also included more than 12 Special Interest
Group meetings. Each of these one-hour sessions focused on a specific topic,
such as "Mobile Real-Time Networks for Aftershock Warning and Study, "Data
Quality Assessment for the Transportable Array," and "Best Practices for
Teaching Seismology to Undergraduates," and typically included a brief
introduction followed by discussion. A complete list of the Special Interest
Group meetings can be found on the Workshop Agenda.
About 100 attendees participated in a half-day field trip
along the Columbia River Gorge to learn about the geology and past geological
processes that created the beautiful landscape. Along the way, stops were made
to observe sites which were shaped by landslides, floods, and earthquakes. One
of the field trip highlights was a visit to a local winery to learn about
terroir - the relationship between soils, geology, climate and wine - and of
course, to sample some of the wines.
Throughout the meeting, participants had the opportunity to
visit the KeckCAVES, a state-of-the-art immersive visualization facility that
was set-up at the workshop venue. This high-end display demonstrated
interactive exploration and analysis of complex 3-dimensional geoscientific
data. Various applications of the KeckCAVES was also the topic of an
after-dinner presentation.
More information about the IRIS Workshop, presentations and abstracts is available on the 2008 IRIS Workshop web page.
