Environmental seismology in Florida
How do signals from water moving underground, floods at the surface, and storms overhead appear in our recordings? We are developing this part of our research in Florida by combining measurements of ground motion and infrasound with hydrological observations. We also work with colleagues who use gravity, geodetic, electrical, and magnetic methods.
Cave geophysics
Our Florida fieldwork includes the Lafayette Blue Springs cave geophysics study.
Lahars and flash floods
In our Belham Valley field study on Montserrat, we monitored lahars (volcanic debris flows) and flash floods in earlier work and plan to continue. In both settings, we are interested in what ground vibrations can tell us about the passage of a flow through a channel. At volcanoes, this work also forms part of our volcano seismology research.
Hurricanes, thunderstorms, and lightning
We would like to test how well seismic and infrasound recordings can track the passage of hurricanes. For thunderstorms, we are interested in using the arrival times of thunder across multiple sensors to estimate where lightning occurred. We could compare those locations with independent estimates from a Lightning Mapping Array (LMA), which detects radio emissions from lightning.
Rocket launches and groundwater
In 2022 we monitored wells during launches at Kennedy Space Center. Whether repeated launches could influence groundwater discharge or coastal erosion remains an open question.
Ground vibration and airwaves near communities
Our interest in quarry and mine blasts includes an environmental question: how do ground vibration and airwaves from a blast vary between the source and nearby neighborhoods? We are interested in comparing those measurements with signals from other sources, including sonic booms.