PBO FACILITY CONSTRUCTION: YEAR 1 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

The Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO), part of the larger NSF-funded EarthScope project, will study the three-dimensional strain field resulting from active plate boundary deformation across the Western United States. PBO is a large construction project involving the reconnaissance, permitting, installation, documentation, and maintenance of 875 permanent GPS stations and 175 strainmeter stations in five years. PBO has a demanding 5-year project installation schedule, for both GPS and strainmeter installations. During the first year of the project, PBO not only met the first year GPS production goals, but also completed various project startup activities, including developing and implementing policies and procedures to streamline the remote office operations. Operations are ongoing in the five PBO remote offices that were located, staffed, and setup in the first year of the project. The GPS station design was completed and procedures were developed to ensure consistent construction practices throughout the six PBO regions. The GPS driller selection and evaluation plan was developed to ensure a competitive subcontractor selection process. A PBO construction safety plan was developed and implemented to ensure safe PBO worksites. Finally, Year 1 saw the beginning of the development of a robust database and other web-based tools to facilitate the data entry, documentation, and reporting of all the reconnaissance, permitting, and installation activities. The completion of these tasks was necessary in order to meet the even more demanding schedule for year two.