NASA CSUN/JPL PAIR PROGRAM

GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS) THEORY, DATA ANALYSIS, & MODELING

 

Dr. Gerry Simila

Department of Geological Sciences Drs. C. Shubin & W. Horn

Department of Mathematics

 

1994 NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE

Magnitude 6.7 Blind Thrust Fault (previously unknown) 40 cm Vertical Uplift (north of CSUN) CSUN Damages = $350 million Most Costly Natural Disaster ($20+ billion) Catalyst for 250 GPS Network (SCIGN)

1994 Northridge Earthquake

CSUN Parking Structure

OBJECTIVES Students are introduced to the basic concepts of GPS,

Plate Tectonics, and Earthquakes. Students will use several software packages for data

analysis: EXCEL, MATLAB, and JPL’s DISLOC & GPS/GIPSY programs.

Student’s will apply their knowledge to analyze and model GPS data for earthquake displacements.

Student’s learn about current GPS research project from guest speakers – lecture series.

COURSE FORMAT

Course format was 12 days in duration. Class instruction/analysis was 6 hours/day. Lecture in the morning and data analysis in the

afternoon. Computer program instruction in afternoon lab.

CONTENT

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3

WEEK 1 MORNING: 1) Plate Tectonics, Faulting, and Earthquakes 2) GPS Concepts (coordinate system, reference systems, lat. & long., map

scales); 3) GPS Measurements and Time Series Analysis; 4) Introduction to Stress and Strain;

5) GPS and Northridge Earthquake; 6) Earthquakes, Faulting, and Earthquake Double Couple Mechanism and Seismic Moment; 7) Elastic Crack Fault Models of Okada/ DISLOC (C. Shubin).

WEEK 1

AFTERNOON: GPS Data Analysis (EXCEL); JPL/SCIGN web site Exercise; NASA Mission Mathematics (C. Shubin); Introduction to MATLAB; Stress/ Strain Analysis (EXCEL)

 HOMEWORK: Mathematical exercises were assigned for content topics on GPS, earthquakes, stress, and strain.

WEEK 2 MORNINGS: MATLAB and Finite Element Modeling (W.

Horn); Fault Modeling (DISLOC) and Tectonics; GPS Analysis and GIPSY (Dr. Ken Hurst, JPL).

AFTERNOONS: Software programs (MATLAB, GIPSY) operations.

HOMEWORK: GPS Analysis and Fault Modeling.

WEEK 3

Student Research Project: GPS data modeling for the 1994 Northridge earthquake using MATLAB and DISLOC.

Student Presentations JPL tour

CHALLENGES

Course designed for science and math students with varied majors and background courses.

Synthesizing the content material for students. Time schedule for content and student project. Student enthusiasm for intensive course.

GPS COURSE IMPLEMENTATION

Part of GEOL 460 & 464 (Theoretical & Applied Geophysics)

Part of ES300 (Earth Science) Pre-service teachers Proposed GEOL 595-GP Special Topics