America’s Lightpaths, AmLight, enables research and education amongst the people of the Americas. The enablement is through the operation of production infrastructure for communication and collaboration between the U.S. and Western Hemisphere science and engineering research and education communities.
AmLight Improves Earthquake Research through increased bandwidth between Mexico and the U.S.
Figure 1: Researchers and students from the University of California Davis, the University of Kansas, and el Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada investigate fresh surface rupture of the Borrego Fault formed during the April 4, 2010 M7.2 El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake in Baja California. Photo credit: Austin Elliott, UC Davis.
The April 4, 2010 7.2 magnitude El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake, near the US-Mexican border, killed four people and injured over 100. This quake ruptured the Pescadores-Borrego fault system, adjacent to the Laguna Salada fault that produced a similar-sized shaker in 1892. Why the earthquake occurred where it did presents an important challenge to understanding of the physics of earthquake slip and recurrence. Given the fault’s location, international collaboration is a vital part of empowering seismic experts to gain an understanding of this event that will enable them to predict similar events in the future. But that collaboration has been hindered by lack of bandwidth.
One of the technologies used to study such events is Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR). LiDAR uses lasers to provide rapid and uniform mapping of a wide range of geological features. This technology produces raw datasets in excess of 100 GB or 4 billion data measurements, placing the data out of reach of many researchers. In order for the data to be most effective, researchers and students need ready access to it.
The AmLight West high-bandwidth upgrade increases by a factor of 10 the network bandwidth between Mexico and the US to enable the rapid flow of information across the border to the OpenTopography facilities located at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC). It will allow geologists at the Centro de Investigacion Cientifica y de Educacion Superior de Ensenada (CICESE) located in Ensenada to quickly provide and analyze data that can then be visualized at the UC Davis KeckCaves facility.
This enhanced bandwidth connectivity will provide a viable conduit for researchers to contribute data to OpenTopography and other similar efforts. This data will then be available to researchers and students worldwide, enabling the planet’s best minds to work together on predicting where the next super-shaker is likely to strike or examining earthquake data in real time.
This enhanced bandwidth connectivity will provide a viable conduit for researchers to contribute data to OpenTopography and other similar efforts. This data will then be available to researchers and students worldwide, enabling the planet’s best minds to work together on predicting where the next super-shaker is likely to strike or examining earthquake data in real time.
The AmLight West project is made possible through the funding support of the National Science Foundation (award# OCI-0963053), Florida International University, the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC), and the Corporación Universitaria para el Desarrollo de Internet (CUDI)
News
Events
SAACC Meeting Held on Tuesday, March 27th. Presentations available for download
Tuesday, March 27,
2pm-5pm Chilean, 1pm-4pm U.S. Eastern Time
Internet2 & New World Symphony 2012 Performing Arts Production Workshop
New World Symphony, Miami Beach, FL, 4-6 March, 2012
AMLIGHT South American Astronomy Coordination Committee (SAACC)--Postponed until Further Notice
219th AAS Meeting - Austin, TX
January 10, 2012 5:30pm-8:30pm
Tuesday, March 27,
2pm-5pm Chilean, 1pm-4pm U.S. Eastern Time
Internet2 & New World Symphony 2012 Performing Arts Production Workshop
New World Symphony, Miami Beach, FL, 4-6 March, 2012
AMLIGHT South American Astronomy Coordination Committee (SAACC)--Postponed until Further Notice
219th AAS Meeting - Austin, TX
January 10, 2012 5:30pm-8:30pm
The AmLight project is made possible through the funding support of the National Science Foundation (award# OCI-0963053), the Academic Network of Sao Paulo (grant# 2008/52885-8), The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa (RNP), Florida International University, the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC), and the Lonestar Education and Research Network (LEARN).
