Mentorship

Audrey Dunham - Pennsylvania State University

I trained the student to model static displacements on any surface or at GPS stations, strains, and stresses caused by fault slip using Coulomb software. This student has been working as a summer intern at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Columbia University. This student also presented her research in AGU in 2016. Please, visit my google scholar for the AGU abstract.

The project details are given below.

Project: Modeling and analysis of theorized paleo-seismic event along the Burma Arc: Implications for an avulsion of the Meghna River

PI : Dr. Michael Steckler

Abstract: The boundary between the India plate and Burma platelet has not produced an earthquake in recent history and the nature of the subduction in this region has always been a point of controversy. It was previously believed that the subduction was inactive (Ni et al. 1989). A Recent GPS study suggests that this the subduction is active and could fail in a megathrusting event of a magnitude Mw 8.2-9.0 9 (Steckler et al. 2016). However, it is not known when it ruptured in the recent past, which is very critical to know in order to understand the seismic hazard potential in that region. As a part of that initiative, an ancient riverbed was discovered on the surface above the active subduction zone and it is thought to have once been the path of the Meghna River. A possible reason for this avulsion is a past megathrust earthquake that produced surface deformation and changed the path of the river. In this study, I have modeled the earthquake using an elastic dislocation model to understand the mode and location of the rupture that could have caused the avulsion. Through this study it is clear that an earthquake rupturing along the detachment fault as well as rupturing onto a splay or on a lone splay could all be possible causes of this ancient earthquake and produce the uplift needed to have avulsed the riverbed. This study is imperative for the people of Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated countries in the world, as well as the surrounding region, for better understanding the earthquake hazard.

Samuel Mekonnen - UMASS LOWELL

Samuel is an electrical engineer student at UMass Lowell in Massachusetts. Samuel came to MIT Haystack to work on the power budget of the avionics and Iridium satellite data transfer. I helped Samuel with the data analysis.

Project: Development of an Avionics System for Autonomous Antarctic Ice Penetrator Power Budget:Power Budget of Iridium Data Transfer

PI : Dr. Pedro Elosegui

Abstract: The stability of the massive Antarctic ice sheet, hence sea-level change, depends critically on the stability of the floating ice shelves that rim the continent and buttress the flow of glaciers, ice streams, and continental ice towards the ocean. Because ice shelves lie at the ocean-ice-atmosphere interface, they respond to ocean and atmospheric forcings. We are developing a seismo-geodetic ice penetrator instrument to study the response of Antarctic ice shelves to infragravity waves. This REU project builds on a prototype system built by the students of an MIT (16.83) capstone course. The scientific sensors include a broadband seismometer and a geodetic-quality GPS receiver. The instrument is designed to operate autonomously and continuously for a year during which it will transmit science and engineering data from the field to a server on the Internet via the Iridium satellite system. The system runs on primary batteries, hence power budget has a significant impact on mass budget and, because the system is air-dropped, also on aerodynamic performance, and ice impact and penetration.