Starting a new Magnetometer Network in Chile
QuakeFinder started a new magnetometer network in Chile in January. Why Chile?
There are lots of earthquakes in Chile!
Chile had the world’s largest recorded earthquake in modern history—a M9.5 near Valpariso in May of 1960 (greater than Sumatra, Japan, and Haiti)and it generated a 38 ft tsunami. More recently, Chile had another M8.8 in Feb 2010, between Santiago and Conception, with some of the damage shown in the picture below.
We found some wonderful collaborators at the Catholic University in Santiago (PUC-C), at the University of Conception, a marine research center (UNAB), and a desert research center (Patache Sur). We delivered 4 instruments to Chile and installed them at sites called Tigo (Conception), El Tabo (west of Santiago), UNAB (also west of Santiago), and Iquique (in the Atacama desert). The site appearances were quite different, from the Mars-looking Atacama desert (below)
…to lush forest area near Conception.
We received great cooperation from the 4 different groups at the 4 sites, and we hope this will be the start of a long and scientifically beneficial relationship in Chile.