Unprecedented Opportunity in Chile Needs Your Immediate Response

Dear Colleagues,

In the aftermath of the Magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile, we have been discussing with our Chile colleagues and the IRIS staff how the U.S. seismological community could best respond. This is an unprecedented opportunity to deploy a significant number of seismic stations for 4-5 months to capture an aftershock sequence for a community-wide open data set that could be used for a large range of scientific studies. Given the scope of the aftershock area and realities of the logistics, we are proposing a community-coordinated response. All data would open providing a "coordinated seismic data product" for the 2010 Chile Earthquake.

We need an immediate response from the community on your interest and recommendations for scientific targets and deployment strategies. This effort will have to be carefully coordinated with our Chilean colleagues, so the deployment plan will also be influenced by their interests and logistics in the field. We would also like some indication if you are interested and able to go into the field to assist in the deployment (Spanish speakers with international deployment experience would be ideal). Initial discussions suggest that we could have as many as 50-100 instruments. Time is short so we would like to hear from those interested in the next 24 hours. IRIS, with the help of the community, is prepared to request funding using the NSF RAPID proposal mechanism for the deployment costs. Funding for science projects using this data would come from NSF PI-driven proposals to be submitted later by the PIs.

There are still many details to work out, but time is critical so we need to move quickly. Please indicate your interest in developing the science and deployment plan and/or in assisting with the fieldwork within the next 24 hours by emailing chile@iris.edu. We will be working to develop the science and deployment plans in the next few days.

Susan Beck
Chair, IRIS Board of Directors

Richard Allen
Chair, IRIS PASSCAL Standing Committee