The Network of the Americas: Measuring multi-scale geophysical signals using geodesy

Abstract:

The Network of the Americas (NOTA) is a geodetic and seismic network that covers the western North American continent, Mexico, and Caribbean region, and is managed by UNAVCO through the NSF-funded Geodesy Advancing Geosciences and EarthScope (GAGE) facility. The network contains over 1800 continuously operating GNSS stations, 83 borehole strainmeters (BSM), 87 borehole seismometers, 26 tiltmeters, and 22 pore pressure sensors. Data from these instruments are freely available from the UNAVCO web site in raw and processed formats. The GNSS station data are processed to produce daily position solutions by the GAGE GNSS Analysis Center at CWU and station velocities are derived from the time-series by the GAGE Analysis Center Coordinator at MIT. Geodetic data from NOTA span time scales from seconds to decades, with some GNSS time series dating back to the mid-1990s. This, coupled with the large geographic footprint, provides a rich data set for researchers that contains tectonic deformation, local and teleseismic earthquakes, postseismic deformation, slow slip events, volcanic uplift/subsidence, hydrologic loading, and more. When a large earthquake occurs within the NOTA footprint, an event response is initiated, high rate GNSS data at 1Hz and 5Hz sampling intervals are downloaded. BSM data are also compiled, coseismic offsets are calculated, and figures and data links are gathered on a central web page for use by researchers and the general public. We present examples of regional and local deformation, give an overview of our data products, describe our data event response procedures for significant geophysical events, and provide information on how users can download the data.