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 Wednesday, March 17, 2010 Scripps Oceanography Dispatches Rapid Response Exploration of Chile Earthquake Site Scientists quickly seize rare opportunity to map of one of the largest ruptures in recorded history Scripps Institution of Oceanography / University of California, San Diego Scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego will explore the earthquake rupture site of the Feb. 27 massive 8.8-magnitude Chilean earthquake, one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history. Scripps Institution of Oceanography's research vessel Melville. "Regarding the genesis of a tsunami, scientists want to know if it was caused by direct uplift of the seabed along a fault or by slumping caused by shaking of sediment-covered slopes," said Dave Chadwell, a Scripps research geophysicist and chief scientist of the expedition. "We hope to address this by looking for disturbances in the seafloor, including changes in the reflectivity and possibly the shape by comparing previous data and the new (rapid response) data." An important aspect of the rapid response mission will involve swath multibeam sonar mapping of the seafloor to produce detailed topographic maps. These digital data can be quantitatively compared to pre-quake data taken by scientists at Germany's Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR).  R/V Melville's location off Chile when the massive 8.8 Feb. 27 earthquake struck. "This is a unique case in which we have the shipboard assets, the scientific agenda and the funding all in place. The earthquake was a tragedy for the people of Chile, but we hope this opportunity enables important new discoveries that can help us plan for future events," said Bruce Appelgate, associate director for Ship Operations and Marine Technical Support at Scripps. The logistical details of undertaking the expedition are enormous and constantly evolving due to the uncertainty regarding transportation infrastructure in Chile. Port facilities in Valparaíso are limited due to widespread earthquake devastation, making fueling and provisioning the ship difficult.  Scripps' research vessel Melville "This rapid response cruise is a rare opportunity to better understand the processes that affect the generation and size of tsunamis," said Julie Morris, NSF division director for Ocean Sciences. "Seafloor evidence of the quake will contribute to understanding similar earthquake regions worldwide." The American scientists will be joined by Chilean researchers Juan Díaz and Matias Viel González from Universidad Católica in Valparaíso as well as scientists from IFM-GEOMAR. Several years ago IFM-GEOMAR researchers conducted a detailed multibeam mapping survey off Chile and their data will be valuable for comparisons with the new survey to expose changes brought by the Feb. 27 earthquake rupture. For cruise blog entries and other information, visit SIOSEARCH # # # Note to broadcast and cable producers: University of California, San Diego provides an on-campus satellite uplink facility for live or pre-recorded television interviews. Please phone or e-mail the media contact listed above to arrange an interview. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, at University of California, San Diego, is one of the oldest, largest and most important centers for global science research and education in the world. The National Research Council has ranked Scripps first in faculty quality among oceanography programs nationwide Now in its second century of discovery, the scientific scope of the institution has grown to include biological, physical, chemical, geological, geophysical and atmospheric studies of the earth as a system. Hundreds of research programs covering a wide range of scientific areas are under way today in 65 countries. The institution has a staff of about 1,300, and annual expenditures of approximately $155 million from federal, state and private sources. Scripps operates one of the largest U.S. academic fleets with four oceanographic research ships and one research platform for worldwide exploration. |
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