Homestake meeting minutes, 06/11/15

Attending: Riccardo, Gary, Victor, Vuk, Lee, Noah, Daniel, Patrick, Shivaraj

Homestake wiki: https://zzz.physics.umn.edu/groups/homestake/home

Our agenda:

• Homestake array status (Gary, Tanner, Daniel, Pat)
  • Update from Tanner (email): Still having very frequent problems with the Antelope setup at UMN. UMN IT people don't know of any issues with the virtual machine where Antelope is running or with the disk where the data is being saved. Emailed BRTT twice about this issue (CCing Gary) and have yet to get a response. Most of the time the data is still flowing through UMN to Caltech (although there have been a few times when the entire Antelope process has shut down at UMN, which halts the flow). Daniel is working on setting up the data quality monitor webpage at Caltech since the data is being recorded more consistently there. Otherwise, we found that there was a setting in the field computer at Homestake that was deleting data older than 120 days. We have turned it off and I believe Gary has a copy of the data that has been deleted (and of course it exists on the Balers, too), so we shouldn't be missing any data.
  • Daniel installed the data quality monitor at Caltech, working well. Vuk linked it from the DQ page.
  • Gary: have a complete copy, rsync-ed from Homestake. Could copy it to other locations.
  • Vuk: would be good for UMN. Will talk to Tanner.
  • Daniel: 4850A does not have GPS signal. Contacted Jaret and Jamey, looks like they changed the switch on this level recently.
  • Gary: copying the data to IRIS, in process.
  • Gary: WTP has low SNR for the radio, so it occasionally drops out. Didn't notice any data gaps. Next trip, may want to put better radio antenna. Have an extra directional antenna, plus there should be another one if we replace the highschool radio antenna.
  • Gary: At the highschool, trying to get connection to the computer there. Found that their VPN didn't work as they expected, so they opened their firewall for ssh-ing to this machine. Will have to check. We also have radio problem with that location, IRIS will send us 900 MHz radio which should solve this problem. At the moment it is like stand-alone.

• Next Homestake trip
  • Gary: heard that the NSF proposal for the active excitation project was funded. Should be able to cover the costs of this, including the underground excitations. Gary will have to connect with Jaret et al to figure out how to best do this.
  • planning for active excitations: Gary's planned routes. It will take 4-5 days to do this exercise.
  • Lee: the weight drop is a 2-person job. There is also a 60m streamer dragging behind the truck, which would require additional manpower to move it around. And need someone to stay behind it.
  • Gary: want to keep the streamer, it includes significant important information.
  • Lee: should have sufficient signal above 5Hz, don't know below 5 Hz since never measured.
  • Gary: Heavier source better for low frequencies.
  • Lee: have a small weight drop that can be pulled by an ATV, may be useful underground.
  • Gary: interesting, will have to discuss with SURF. There will be safety concerns. We might be limited to a hammer-based source. Will send the proposal to Lee, can discuss ideas.
  • Victor: probably shouldn't plan for a drop experiment underground.
  • Lee: can send 2 people, a student or two, potentially a tech.
  • Gary: could also send a student and potentially a tech.
  • Will probably need 1-2 more people.
  • Date: Early-mid september, Lee and Gary will check with their students.
  • Other things to do: fix WTP and LHS sites, probably before the experiment. Also should check that the remote stations are up and running. Gary could be there before everyone else arrives, and could try to deal with these. Underground, should deal with 2000E station.
  • Gary: for 2000E, would pour a new concrete pad and place a tile on it. Not much room, may have to pour on the existing concrete. Also have to transfer the orientation.
  • Gary should get in touch with the City of Lead, to discuss the proposed map and the schedule. Also should contact Jaret et al.

• data analysis
  • calibration
  • radiometer method
  • other analysis plans