Program for Array Seismic Studies of the Continental Lithosphere (PASSCAL)
PASSCAL Statement of Work FY13
The primary activities supported under the PASSCAL program are the acquisition of portable
instrumentation and funding for the PASSCAL Instrument Center at New Mexico Tech, for the
maintenance of equipment, training, and field support for PIs. Other subawards include the
Texan facility at the University of Texas, El Paso.
PASSCAL Core Activities
• Travel and meeting costs for the PASSCAL Standing Committee.
• Provide user services to support NSF-funded PIs in facilitating portable field
experiments.
• Provide instrumentation, field, and data support for ~70 experiments per year.
• Train scientists in use of equipment and data collection and archiving.
• Continue field support of PI science-driven experiments.
• Provide PI data support, acquisition, metadata and archiving.
• Continue to maintain the existing pool of high-frequency, short-period, and broadband
sensors.
• Continue instrumentation support by replacing/refurbishing existing equipment as
necessary.
• Work with manufacturers and the community to develop the next generation of field
equipment.
• Continue to expand resources for near surface geophysical investigation as resources
allow.
PASSCAL Subaward: PASSCAL Instrument Center (New Mexico Tech)
• Provide personnel, student assistance, and facilities for the Instrument Center.
• Operate the Center under the technical and programmatic guidance of the PASSCAL
Program Manager.
• Provide input to the PASSCAL Program Manager, to the PASSCAL Standing
Committee, and to other components of IRIS, to develop more efficient and effective
core operations.
• Participate, in close coordination with the PASSCAL program manager, in appropriate
pan-IRIS activities, including collaborative efforts with EarthScope, the general
promotion of seismological research, education and outreach, workshops, technical
coordination with other science groups such as UNAVCO, and next-generation
instrumentation initiatives.
PASSCAL Subaward: Texan Facility (University of Texas, El Paso)
• Maintain UTEP pool of Reftek 125 (TEXAN) Instruments.
• Provide UTEP Texans for PASSCAL Experiments.
• Provide maintenance support for pool instruments.
• Provide experiment field support.
• Work with PASSCAL to improve software and field operations.
PASSCAL Budget Justification
Salaries & Fringe Benefits ($0, See Instrumentation Services)
The PASSCAL Program Manager is responsible for overall oversight, management and
coordination of the PASSCAL program. 75% of his time is budgeted in this proposal to
PASSCAL and 25% estimated to be budgeted to USArray Flexible Array.
Equipment ($0)
There is no equipment budgeted for acquisition.
Travel ($85,000)
Travel costs include domestic and foreign travel for the Program Manager to attend
meetings, conferences, training, etc. Travel is also provided for seven PASSCAL
Standing Committee members and other participants to attend two meetings annually,
miscellaneous travel for PASSCAL Instrument Center staff, and travel funds to support
individuals working with PASSCAL on international collaborations.
Materials and Supplies ($100,000)
The materials and supplies budget is for the purchase of small equipment, and instrument
repair parts, which may include instruments whose unit cost falls below the equipment
threshold of $5,000, such as short-period sensors and Texans, communications hardware,
field computers, and hand terminals. Additional supplies include other accessories such
as solar panels, balers, shipping cases, and miscellaneous field support items.
Subawards ($2,445,364)
New Mexico Tech – PASSCAL Instrument Center - $2,200,921
New Mexico Tech provides personnel and facilities for the PASSCAL Instrument Center.
Budgeted staffing level over the next year will remain at 14.25 FTE’s. The NMT
subaward remains substantially the same level as last. The PASSCAL Instrument Center
will also continue to support summer graduate interns and undergraduates.
University of Texas, El Paso - $244,443
Subaward funds provided to UTEP are for the availability of UTEP Texan instruments to
the PASSCAL community, maintenance and field support. This subaward remains
substantially unchanged from the previous year.
Other Direct Costs ($257,000)
Software costs include the yearly license fees for Antelope, SPW and other miscellaneous
packages that are used to support the program. Other costs include shipping, insurance,
and professional services for technical or other support. These funds also include the
costs of factory maintenance on field hardware. This level of support is slightly more
than the previous year’s support.
Other Awards ($0)
Nothing to report.
PASSCAL Direct Cost
PASSCAL G&A
PASSCAL Total Cost
$2,887,364
$118,080
$3,005,444
Prioritized additions beyond this base level of funding are in the form of Project
Initiation Forms (PIFs) on the following pages in order of PASC priorities following
the guidance from the IRIS board of directors.
Funding Plan for New Technologies
Unspent funds on the FY12 PASSCAL subaward will be applied to FY13 New Technologies
initiative. The PASC and BoD approved PIF-PA-2011-01, which IRIS initiated in FY12, this
will a continuation of this activity into FY13.
IRIS PASSCAL PROJECT INITIATION FORM
PIF Ref:
PIF-PA-2011-01
Title:
A Plan for the Next Generation PASSCAL Technology Pools (Core, Polar,
RAMP)
James Gridley
Original: 11 February 2011
Authors:
Date:
Project Description
The PASSCAL Program will support ongoing issues regarding application of next generation
technologies to support the PASSCAL equipment pools and PIs. This requires supporting the
traditional PASSCAL experiments, Polar, and RAMP applications. The support will start with a
devoted FTE as project lead to address the community demand on the PASSCAL program to
research, plan, and support next generation develops in geophysical measurements. A second
FTE will comprise an aggregate of technical staff and expertise to explore new technologies. The
project lead will work with the IRIS PASSCAL staff and community to produce
recommendations and develop plans to infuse the program facility with to most applicable nextgeneration technologies. Given the issue of the next generation PASSCAL equipment pool and
how these issues relate across the many IRIS programs, this project is likely to have a large PanIRIS element to seek maximum use and efficiencies.
Project Purpose and Business Benefit
The purpose of this project is to develop recommendations and options for effective technical and
business facility in sustaining effective equipment pools for the PASSCAL Core, Polar, and
RAMP programs. Developing and infusing next generation technologies into the PASSCAL
Program is a core function of the program, which creates predictability in the capability of the
program and the business needs required to support the PI-requests.
Project Scale and Duration
The project scale is two FTEs to be an ongoing part of the core PASSCAL program. Given the
diverse nature of the community requests and the size of the equipment pools, maintaining a
“state of the art” level of applied technology within the program requires a full time person who
is knowledgeable across all these areas including other IRIS program needs.
Estimated Project Cost
The estimated cost is 2-FTE, and would be an ongoing commitment by the PASSCAL program.
Material costs to support equipment purchases, testing, and evaluation will be approximately
$100k per year. These costs specifically support the exploration of new technologies.
Originally Projected Cost/Spending Plan
YR 1 (FY12)
YR 2 (FY13)
FTE Level
2 FTE
2 FTE
Materials
$100k
$100k
YR 3
2 FTE
TBD
PASSCAL Direct Cost
PASSCAL G&A
PASSCAL Total Cost
$385,193
$0
$385,193