Title: Next-Generation Real-Time Geodetic Station Sensor Web for Natural Hazards Research and Applications
Presenting Author: Jennifer Haase
Organization: Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Co-Author(s): Yehuda Bock, Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Sharon Kedar and Angelyn Moore, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Abstract:
We describe the accomplishments of our four-year AIST project that was completed in May, 2016. We developed and deployed at 25 stations in California a power-efficient Geodetic Module as a prototype for the next-generation geodetic station to control low-cost GPS, accelerometer and meteorological sensors. The goal was to generate in-situ, on-the-fly higher-order data products including millimeter-level displacements and precipitable water within the Geodetic Module rather than at a central processing facility as has been the prevailing paradigm. This approach allows for semi-autonomous sensors to transmit and receive information through communications with a central facility and data product customers. Leveraging existing real-time continuous GPS stations in Western North America we successfully accomplished two technology infusion projects. With NOAA's Weather Forecasting Offices in southern California and the Earth Science Research Laboratory in Boulder, we implemented a regional GPS meteorology capability and successfully tracked summer monsoon activity through analysis of changes in atmospheric precipitable water to issue an accurate flash flood warning. Second, we are in the process of transitioning the optimal combination of geodetic and seismic sensors (seismogeodesy) to NOAA's Tsunami Warning Centers in Alaska and Hawaii. Tsunami early warning requires a timely and accurate measure of earthquake magnitude, in particular for the case of local tsunamis where time to evacuate is short (15-60 minutes). This is best estimated through seismogeodesy rather than by seismic methods that often underestimate the magnitude of tsunamigenic earthquakes and the expected zone of coastal inundation.