Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Digging Holes and Filling Batteries -- A party in Vidalia, Georgia


The SUGAR deployment team arrived en-masse on Saturday bringing the Line 2 personnel total to a whopping 45! The day started off with science and overview lectures by the SUGAR principle investigators Donna Shillington and Dan Lizarralde.  Students diligently rearranged the ten’s of Texan boxes into a makeshift lecture hall, complete with a projector and a Bluetooth sound system. 

With the science lecture complete and stomachs full of pizza, the entire group ventured out to conduct a practice deployment under the watchful eyes of the PASSCAL instrument team.  All 17 teams participated in the activity, standing in a single file line in front of our hotel digging practice holes, connecting the Texans to the geophones, and mindfully orientating them with their handy-dandy bubble levels. 

After a sweat filled hour under the Georgia sun, we caravanned back to the instrument center for a “battery party”. I call it a battery party in honor of the “streamer parties” that students will often participate in on active source seismic research cruises in which kilometers of cable need to be reeled off and rearranged.  In our case a battery party consisted of the 32 students placing 2 D-cell batteries inside each of the 2,000 Texans.  The instrument center quickly transformed from an orderly lecture hall into a mass of empty battery boxes and disassembled Texans though despite the apparent chaos, we got the job complete and the Texans filled in only a few short hours. 

Next up will be flagging the instrument locations and the actual deployment.  We have our fingers and toes crossed for dry weather and safe road conditions as the student teams prepare to set off on their flagging and deployment expeditions. 

Natalie Accardo - Columbia University, LDEO


The SUGAR2 deployment team hails from all across the United States
covering more than 15 states and 21 different universities/institutions.   

The deployment team sits with rapt attention listening to
the science and overview lecture.

Students practice digging holes and deploying Texans
near our hotel in Vidalia, Georgia.

Students and PASSCAL personnel take over the instrument center
filling 2,000 Texans with D-cell batteries.

The "battery party" comes to an end as the last Texans are filled and
the boxes are rearranged for easy late-night programming by the PASSCAL team.