*click on illustration for a larger view
| (From left to right) Enrique Cabral-Cano (UNAM)|Francisco Corre-Mora (UNAM)
Chuck Meertens (UNAVCO)|Tim Dixon (Univ. of Miami)|Karl Feaux (UNAVCO)
Andrew Newman (Northwestern Univ.). This was at the end of our first day
of installations during this trip. Although it is hard to tell, Popo was
steaming quite significantly the entire afternoon.
|
*click on illustration for a larger view
| In this photo, Enrique and Karl are working to drive a 2-meter Cu-clad bar
into the ground in order to protect the equipment from lightning strikes.
Chuck is watching as he is taking a breather from drilling a 1" round whole
into the bedrock using a star-drill. At this time, the fuming of Popo is
quite apparent.
|
*click on illustration for a larger view
| This is a view of the same site, just before the concrete was poured,
exposing the re-bar that has been epoxied into the bedrock. Popo is
still fuming.
|
*click on illustration for a larger view
| This is the same site several days later. The cement is still a bit
wet, so we were unable to finalize the installation, although we did
hook up the GPS and radio antenna in order to make certain that we were
able to "see" the site on the radio network that is sent via telemetry back to
Mexico City (~60km). The mountain in the background is Ixtacewatl, an
extinct volcano that is likely the mother of Popo. The snow came from
a very intense storm the previous night that knocked out the power to the
hotel where I was staying---Good thing they were able to run the
Discoteque off of a generator!!!.
|
*click on illustration for a larger view
| This is the second site that we installed during this visit. We are
on the south flank of Popo and are looking northeast. Visible in this
photo are both the GPS antenna and the receiver box, which has both
the solar panel and radio antenna fixed to its lid. We were able to
drill a 6'' deep 1'' wide whole into the bedrock. Because of this, we
felt it was unnecessary to build a concrete monument for the site
(boy was I happy--carrying 100 kg of concrete and water to that site
was not in my plans for that day!(Altitude sickness))
|
*click on illustration for a larger view
| The crew that worked to install this site as well as the last site on
the flank of Popo. From left to right: Karl|Andrew|Enrique|Francisco.
The antenna for this site was also drilled directly into bedrock.
|
*click on illustration for a larger view
| Just another photo of the last site: The fireman gear is for
protection from volcanic bombs.
|
*click on illustration for a larger view
| More specifically, this is why we were wearing the fire gear. This is a
three meter crater from a volcanic bomb that hit during a recent pyroclastic
explosion. It wasn't until after seeing this hole that I decided it was
a good idea to wear the gear.
|
*click on illustration for a larger view
| After a long days work, it is good to see such a beautiful site. This is
west off the mountain at the setting sun. The color is undoubtedly from
the immense air pollution that is streaming from Mexico City (to the right).
|
gatech.edu | Updated:
Sat Aug 13 11:40:29 EDT 2005
