This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) grant supports acquisition of necessary equipment and installation of a real-time continuously operating Global Positioning System (GPS) observational network in the Houston metropolitan. The so-called ?HoustonNet? will support studies of urban natural hazards related to deformation processes associated with local and regional tectonics, flood loading and subsurface fluid extraction and salt diapirism, in large part causing subsidence and sinkhole dynamics in this area with significant associated civil costs and engineering and hazards management considerations. Data from the network will also enable geoscientists to address fundamental questions about the relationship between tectonic motions in the Gulf Coast and the activity and processes of growth of normal faults, the role of salt domes, and the possible role of aquifer depletion and petroleum extraction in re-activating certain normal faults. HoustonNet will span an area of 200 x 150 km with average GPS station spacing of 15 km inside the Houston metro area and 30 km outside the metro area. Forty-five (45) continuously operating GPS stations, 10 with co-located weather stations would be installed. Twenty-five (25) of these will be maintained by the Houston-Galveston Subsidence District and Fort Bend Subsidence District for ground subsidence monitoring motivated by understanding the effects of water, oil, and gas extraction. Seven (7) stations will be co-located with borehole extensometers operated by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Five (5) stations will be in close proximity with weather and environmental towers operated by the University of Houston (UH). Eight (8) stations will be installed on local public school buildings. The stations will be installed with assistance of a UNAVCO field engineer and a graduate student who will be trained in geodetic monument engineering and GPS geodesy. All of the observational data will be telemetered and open to the public through the data archiving facility at UNAVCO and a real-time GPS data streaming system at the UH Geodesy Laboratory. The network will also support real time tropospheric water vapor tomography in support of atmospheric studies and for improving regional weather forecasting and hurricane intensity forecasting. The network will serve the local civil engineering for cadastral surveys and engineering projects requiring precise positioning. The PI team includes faculty from the Departments of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Engineering Technology, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM) at the University of Houston and planned installations at local area K-12 building will form the basis of planned outreach efforts.
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