[OBSIPtec] Dear Colleague Letter: Onshore-Offshore Seismological Studies of the Aleutian Arc

[Kasey Aderhold]

Dear OBSIPtec subscribers,

Please see the following Dear Colleague letter from the National Science 
Foundation about an opportunity to submit proposals for an offshore 
deployment complementing the EarthScope Transportable Array in Alaska 
<http://www.usarray.org/Alaska>. This would leverage the capabilities of 
the Ocean Bottom Seismograph Instrument Pool (OBSIP 
<http://www.obsip.org/>) and take advantage of the deployment of many 
new land stations in Alaska, expected to be fully deployed by 2017.

The Dear Colleague letter is also available here 
<http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2016/nsf16061/nsf16061.pdf> on the NSF website.

Cheers,
Kasey
<http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2016/nsf16061/nsf16061.jsp?org=NSF>


Dear Colleague:

There is gathering momentum and interest in the community in developing 
new activities that span the traditional Earth-Ocean Science boundaries. 
This is especially relevant at subduction zones where active processes 
span the coastline. Subduction zones are among the most dynamic features 
on Earth, producing large and powerful earthquakes that can cause major 
damage in the near-field, the local, the regional, and far-field 
(tsunamis). The National Science Foundation (NSF) has long supported 
basic research to understand the seismogenic zone in these regions. We 
believe that spatially and temporally coincident onshore-offshore 
seismic studies provide a much more comprehensive picture of the 
structures and seismic activity that characterize subduction zones than 
either land- or marine-based studies alone. TheCascadia Initiative 
<https://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/goodbye?http://cascadia.uoregon.edu>is a 
recent example of a successful experiment at a subducting margin that 
utilized a network of onshore-offshore seismic stations. That effort has 
recently concluded after a five-year term.

Recent reports and community workshops have highlighted the Aleutian Arc 
as another priority study region for understanding the active processes 
at subduction zones and their associated geohazards:

  * *Amphibious Array Facilities Workshop (October 22-24, 2014)
    and**Report*
    <https://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/goodbye?http://www.earthscope.org/assets/uploads/misc/AAFW_Report_FINAL.pdf>*(February
    2015)*
  * *GeoPRISMS Science Plan*
    <https://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/goodbye?http://geoprisms.org/research/science-plan/>

NSF recognizes the unique opportunity offered by the upcoming deployment 
of the EarthScope Transportable Array (TA) in Alaska to conduct an 
onshore-offshore seismic experiment along the Aleutian subduction zone. 
The TA will be fully deployed in Alaska in 2017, and is planned to 
operate for two years (subject to the availability of funding). This 
opportunity also takes advantage of NSF's investment in theOcean Bottom 
Seismometer Instrument Pool (OBSIP) 
<https://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/goodbye?http://www.obsip.org/>, which 
includes instruments capable of deployment in shallow water. The timing 
is right for focus on the Aleutian Arc.

NSF will entertain proposals for cross-coastal field campaigns that 
leverage the TA with deployments of seismic instrumentation offshore and 
perhaps additional deployments of land seismometers. Given the far 
greater coverage of TA instruments on the Alaskan mainland, we expect 
that proposals would focus on areas along or to the east of the Alaskan 
Peninsula (one such area is highlighted in the workshop report 
referenced above).


    PROPOSAL PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION

  * Proposals should reflect broad community engagement and
    participation. Results from funded projects must be made available
    to the public (via appropriate public repositories including the
    Seismological Facilities for the Advancement of Geosciences and
    EarthScope (SAGE) Data Management System) immediately after standard
    quality control and processing steps. Proposals should not include
    significant data analysis. Follow on work would be considered
    separately in future proposals to the relevant programs.
  * Proposers should submit inquiries to the Ocean Bottom Seismometer
    Management Office (OMO), managed through IRIS, to estimate total
    costs associated with deployments. Forms supplied by IRIS should be
    included in the proposal submission as supplementary documents.
    Proposers should request the number of instruments appropriate for
    the targeted geographic area and resolution.


    TO WHAT PROGRAM SHOULD I SUBMIT MY PROPOSAL?

NSF Ocean and Earth Sciences Divisions cooperatively manage an 
inherently cross-coastal effort in the Geodynamic Processes at Rifting 
and Subducting Margins (GeoPRISMS) program. The Aleutians Arc was 
identified as a top priority study area in the GeoPRISMS Science Plan, 
and the GeoPRISMS program has already funded a number of field efforts 
in the Aleutian Arc that would benefit from understanding the broader 
geophysical framework of this region. While additional funds may be 
provided by other programs as appropriate, interested parties should 
plan to submit all proposals for seismic instrument deployments such as 
those described here to the upcoming GeoPRISMS deadline (July 15, 2016). 
The GeoPRISMS budget will not increase to accommodate these proposals, 
though GeoPRISMS funds will be leveraged with funds from other programs 
within the Directorate of Geosciences. Please note that NSF anticipates 
revising the GeoPRISMS solicitation prior to April, and the revised 
version will reflect the content of this letter and other related areas 
of program interest.


    PEER REVIEW AND FUNDING

Proposals for onshore-offshore projects complementing the TA will be 
reviewed with and compete for funding with other proposals submitted to 
the participating programs. As such, the total monetary request 
(including ocean bottom seismometer costs included in the proposal 
budget, and ship costs estimated as part of the UNOLS ship time request) 
should be commensurate with the proposed scope of activities, and should 
be consistent with prior award sizes within those programs.

PIs are*strongly*encouraged to contact one of the program officers 
listed below early in the proposal development process:

  * Maurice Tivey (Marine Geology and Geophysics,mtivey at nsf.gov
    <mailto:mtivey at nsf.gov>)
  * Deborah Smith (Marine Geology and Geophysics,dksmith at nsf.gov
    <mailto:dksmith at nsf.gov>)
  * Jennifer Wade (GeoPRISMS,jwade at nsf.gov <mailto:jwade at nsf.gov>)
  * Gregory Anderson (EarthScope,greander at nsf.gov <mailto:greander at nsf.gov>)

Richard W. Murray
Division Director
Ocean Sciences Division

Carol Frost
Division Director
Earth Sciences Division

-- 
Kasey Aderhold
Project Associate | IRIS OBSIP Management Office
202-682-2220 x163 | kasey at iris.edu

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.iris.washington.edu/pipermail/obsiptec/attachments/20160317/05b6e0d5/attachment.html>