This page summarizes the current state of that part of the Tien Shan Broadband Network (GHENGIS) located in China. It was created in July, 1999 shortly after the installation was completed, and will be updated as more information becomes available. The last update was made on 14 July, 1999.
Background
The proposed deployment of the GHENGIS network is shown below (click on image for a larger version). In this figure, triangles are located in China (Xinjiang), circles are in Kyrgyzstan and Kazachstan, and diamonds are other broad band stations operating in the area (e.g., KNET and Wushi). Red symbols are stations deployed in 1999, white symbols are stations deployed before 1999. (NOTE: This is an old figure and is no longer entirely accurate. It will be updated as new information becomes available.)
There are 11 stations in the Xinjiang part of the Tien Shan seismic network. Four of these were installed in June, 1998. In June 1999 seven more sites were installed and one of the 1998 sites (Atushi) was relocated to achieve a more uniform density of stations.
Site Conditions:
Four of the sites are in existing vaults. Generally these are excellent quality installations with continuous AC power although one of them (Bachu) is located above ground on the floor of a tower and runs off of solar panels. It thus has a higher noise level and potential power problems.
The remaining seven new sites suffer from logistical constraints, mostly having to do with site security. When searching for sites, I was repeatedly cautioned against leaving equipment in the open or near any village with a substantial (100's of people) population. This is a common theme repeated by nearly every official with whom I spoke and given that some Chinese seismographs were stolen from this area last year this fear seems to be not unfounded. The price one pays for security is vibrational noise because it is necessary to store the DAS/Disk/Batteries in some kind of secure place and the solar panels have to be out of reach (e.g., on a high roof), and as a result the sensor can be quite far from bedrock. This kind of constraint is enough to make a seasoned seismologist cringe, but our experience in looking at data from a similar site we installed last year (Wuqia) suggests that good quality data is possible to retrieve from such sites. In any event the sites we chose were arrived at only after extensive discussion with the locals and by two recon efforts - one in May by Xu Yi and Wei Ruoping and another by Xu Yi and myself in June. For most of these sites it was a matter of deciding on the least of an assortment of evils.
The typical new site, therefore, has the DAS/Disk/Batteries in an abandoned building (or at least room) with the Solar Panels/GPS on the roof and the sensor in a hole dug outside the building, usually just on the other side of the wall from the room holding the DAS (the cables are not long enough to do much else). The sensor is in a hole at least one meter deep and sits on a tile cemented and leveled at the bottom. The sensor is covered with a crate lined with 7 cm of foam rubber for insulation. This assembly is then buried, as are the cables and breakout box (after being wraped in plastic and enclosed in a makeshift housing of brick or stone).
The GPS antenna usually is placed in a small wooden box with thin veneer covering on the top. Where security may be a problem we cemented this box to the roof. Solar panels typically are wired to a frame constructed of welded rebar.
Batteries: For most stations we use two 70 Ah "Americell Startblaster" brand batteries purchased in Aksu. These apparently are made by a joint Chinese- American company in Chengdu.
The table below summarizes the status of the deployment. Click on the station code to link to more information about that station. If you are interested primarily in pictures, go to the 1999 Picture Page
| Code | Place | Latitude | Longitude | Elev | DAS | Sensor | S/N | Dates Operational | Pictures |
| BCHU | Bachu | 39o47.60' | 78o46.95' | 1140 | 0866 | 3ESP | T337 | 1998/06/05 (156) - 1999/06/19 (170) | Go |
| ATUS | Atushi | 39o42.96' | 76o09.43' | 1225 | 0899 | 3ESP | T3173(X) | 1998/06/04 (155) - 1999/06/20 (171) | Go |
| KASH | Kashi | 39o30.99' | 75o55.46' | 1310 | 0769 | 3ESP | T3147 | 1998/06/03 (154) - 1999/06/22 (173) | Go |
| WQIA | Wuqia | 39o43.60' | 75o14.84' | 2170 | 0694 | 3ESP | T3156 | 1998/06/07 (158) - 1999/06/23 (174) | Go |
| AKSU | Aksu | 41o08.65' | 80o06.83' | 1132 | 0372 | STS2 | 109805 | 1999/06/15 (166) - | Go |
| AHQI | Aheqi | 40o56.29' | 78o27.77' | 1980 | 0658 | 3ESP | T3698 | 1999/06/16 (167)- | Go |
| HLQI | Halaqi | 40o50.03' | 77o57.45' | 2256 | 1049 | 3ESP | T3706 | 1999/06/17 (168) - | Go |
| KOPG | Koping | 40o30.20' | 79o02.10' | 1148 | 0373 | STS2 | 109835 | 1999/06/19 (170) - | Go |
| XIKR | Xiker | 39o40.07' | 77o21.99' | 1137 | 1026 | STS2 | 69204 | 1999/06/20 (171) - | Go |
| TGMT | Turkmet | 39o59.58' | 76o08.27' | 1885 | 0866 | STS2 | 109837 | 1999/06/21 (172) - | Go |
| PIQG | Piqang | 40o19.18' | 77o39.77' | 1770 | 0769 | STS2 | 69206 | 1999/06/24 (175) - | Go |
| HARA | Harajun | 40o10.46' | 76o50.24' | 1630 | 0694 | 3ESP | T3703 | 1999/06/25 (176) - | Go |
| BCHU | Bachu | 39o47.60' | 78o46.95' | 1140 | 0341 | 3ESP | T337 | 1999/06/19 (170) - | Go |
| KASH | Kashi | 39o30.99' | 75o55.46' | 1310 | 0899 | 3ESP | T3147 | 1999/06/22 (173) - | Go |
| WQIA | Wuqia | 39o43.60' | 75o14.84' | 2170 | 0345 | 3ESP | T3156 | 1999/06/23 (174) - | Go |
NB: Most of the locations above were determined with a handheld Magellan GPS receiver. Elevations are derived from GTOPO30 or from local station data.
| Staton Code: | AKSU | Aksu, Xinjiang |
| Magellan Location: | 41o08.65' | 80o06.83' |
| Operation: | 1999/06/15 - | JDAY 99:166 - |
| DAS: | A08 | 372 |
| Sensor: | STS2 | 109805 |
| Disk: | 4.4 Gb | 51528 |
| Relevant Personnel: |
Two Mr. Wongs, who helped
with the installation, and one Mrs. Wong who runs the Aksu station. Zhong Wen Lai (Xiao Zhong), who is charge of the easten part of the network, is based here as well. | |
Discussion:
This site is located in an existing vault operated by the Aksu seismic bureau. The data from the existing sensors are telemetered back to a site located within the town of Aksu. The vault is built into an excavation of metasediments in some folds south of the Tien Shan. These are the extreme eastern end of the spur of folds that forms the southern edge of the FT belt.
The vault is a small building with two rooms and thick walls. The smaller room provides an entryway, while all the equipment is in the larger room. The STS2 is on a pier next to the Aksu sensors and DAS, disk, and Kepco share a table with the telemetry equipment. Batteries are beneath the table. Power is A/C, and pretty reliable, although only 180 V (Kepco adjusted to compensate).
GPS antenna is on the roof, cemented in a wooden box with the cable fed into the room via a hole in the post supporting the telemetry antenna. Lock may be intermittent because of abutment of vault against shear face of excavation, which blocks out half of the horizon.
A complete field workstation (Tierra) is set up at the Aksu seismic station for data downloading from the eastern part of the network (Aksu, Aheqi, Halaqi, Koping, and Bachu).
Pictures from the 1999 installation.
| Staton Code: | AHQI | Aheqi, Xinjiang |
| Magellan Location: | 40o56.29' | 78o27.77' |
| Operation: | 1999/06/16 - | JDAY 99:167 - |
| DAS: | A08 | 658 |
| Sensor: | Guralp CMG3ESP | T3698 |
| Disk: | 4.4 Gb | 51551 |
| Relevant Personnel: |
Jo When Wha is the director of the
site. His assistant is Wong Je Quan. | |
Discussion:
This site is in a very nice existing vault dug some 30 meters into the rock. Fortunately the GPS cable is long enough to get us all the way from the roof of the entryway to the pier.
Sensor is located on the main pier and remaining equipment (except GPS) is located in an anteroom on the other side of a door that closes off the sensor room.
GPS antenna is cemented to the roof, as in Aksu.
Power: We are using a Kepco here. AC power is reliable except in January because the hydroelectric plant can't function when the river freezes. At that time they turn on a generator. The only problem for us is normal voltage is 270 (!) and drops to 180 when generator is on. Thus, Xiao Zhong (or Mr. Jo) will need to adjust the Kepko during these times. Note that this DAS had grounding problems when run off the Kepco. This is solved by (1) connecting the negative input on the power board to a nail we drove into the ground and (2) reversing the polarity of the Kepko plug (the one going to the A/C power supply).
Pictures from the 1999 installation.
| Staton Code: | HLQI | Halaqi, Xinjiang |
| Magellan Location: | 40o50.03' | 77o57.45' |
| Operation: | 1999/06/17 - | JDAY 99:168 - |
| DAS: | A08 | 1049 |
| Sensor: | Guralp CMG3ESP | T3706 |
| Disk: | 4.4 Gb | 51607 |
| Relevant Personnel: |
Mr. Wong Lee Fu, who is the town
manager (chief) of Halaqi, Tua Who Tua, the assistant town manager, and Mamati Hadir, the local propaganda person for population control | |
Discussion:
Site is outside an infrequently used storage facility located on the south side of the valley in one of the buildings on the northwest corner of the compound. We are close to the outcrop (maybe 100 m away). Sensor is in a hole in the back of the building, GPS on the roof. The locals very kindly created a hole in the back wall so that the sensor cable can go through, and then after some discussion they offered to hammer our solar panel frames to the front wall of the (adobe) building. We installed 4 panels here. Ambient noise level is quite low, even with people around. Looks to be a good site.
Pictures from the 1999 installation.
| Staton Code: | KOPG | Koping, Xinjiang |
| Magellan Location: | 40o30.20' | 79o02.10' |
| Operation: | 1999/06/19 - | JDAY 99:170 - |
| DAS: | A08 | 0373 |
| Sensor: | STS2 | 109835 |
| Disk: | 4.4 Gb | 51582 |
| Relevant Personnel: |
Mr. Yen Jian Chong, the chief of the
meteorological station. | |
Discussion:
The sensor is located in the back of a meteorological station in the outskirts of Koping. Nothing but alluvium around but nowhere to make a site in the hills because of security issues. The STS-2 is just out back of an (unused) office, the GPS is on the roof and the DAS, etc. in the office itself. Comfy environment for the DAS. Reliable AC power.
Biggest problem here is cultural and wind/tree noise. Windy season is January-March. I predict we get long period signal here but short period will be hit or miss.
Pictures from the 1999 installation.
| Staton Code: | BCHU | Bachu, Xinjiang |
| Magellan Location: | 39o47.60' | 78o46.95' |
| Operation: | 1998/06/05 - 1998/06/19 | JDAY 98:156 - 99:170 |
| DAS: | A08 | 0866 |
| Sensor: | CMG3ESP | T337 |
| Disk: | 4.4 Gb | 5264 |
| Operation: | 1998/06/19 - | JDAY 99:170 - |
| DAS: | A08 | 0341 |
| Sensor: | CMG3ESP | T337 |
| Disk: | 4.4 Gb | 51620 |
| Relevant Personnel: |
Mr. Du Wen Ping is the chief of the seismic
station and runs the place with his wife. | |
Discussion:
The site is in an existing facility operated by the Bachu seismic station. The existing sensors sit on the floor of a tower built on a part of the Bachu uplift located several km from town. Data is telemetered back to the station. There is no AC; power derives from large solar panels fixed to the top of the tower.
The new sensor sits on the floor of the tower, there being insufficient room on the pier for an additional sensor, and is covered by an insulation-lined box to mitigate changes in temperature. The DAS/Disk/Batteries are located on the second floor of the tower, and two solar panels are attached to the same frame as the existing panels on the roof. GPS is also on the roof, fixed to the panel frame.
Issues at this site are noise from the tower (mostly wind related) and power, as the part of the frame to which we had to fix the panels was partially obstructed to sunlight during the winter, and indeed there were several power outages in the winter months. We will be adding additional panels and batteries to this site, along with a modification to the frame to allow better exposure of the batteries.
The visit in 1999 was to swap the DAS (for CPU upgrade), disk (to downloard data) and GPS antenna.
Pictures:
Photos from the 1998 installation of Bachu.
| Staton Code: | XIKR | Xiker, Xinjiang |
| Magellan Location: | 39o40.07' | 77o21.99' |
| Operation: | 1998/06/20 - | JDAY 99:171 - |
| DAS: | A08 | 1026 |
| Sensor: | STS2 | 69204 |
| Disk: | 4.4 Gb | 51534 |
| Relevant Personnel: |
Mr. Dai Jen Guo, the town manager,
Li Shen Shung, the assistant to the chief, and Jiang Zuo Chen, the secretary. | |
Discussion:
The site is located in the Xiker town hall. The DAS, disk, power board, and batteries are located in the meeting room, which I gather is rarely if ever used. The GPS is on the roof, as are two solar panels. Note that we are told there will be AC power in Xiker this coming fall, so Xiao Zhong will hook us up later on. Sensor is in the usual size hole dug behind the room. Note that this site was occupied Liu Qiyuan last year and despite it's shortcomings it apparently is reasonably quiet.
Pictures from the 1999 installation.
| Staton Code: | ATUS | Atushi, Xinjiang |
| Magellan Location: | 39o42.96' | 76o09.43' |
| Operation: | 1998/06/04 - 1999/06/20 - | JDAY 98:156 - 99:171 |
| DAS: | A08 | 0899 |
| Sensor: | CMG3ESP | T3173 |
| Disk: | 4.4 Gb | N/A |
| Relevant Personnel: |
Mr. Ma Cha is chief to the seismic
bureau and oversees the several other stations. Zhong Yung Que is the chief of Atushi station. | |
Discussion:
Atushi was installed in 1998. The station is located in a large town and is above a very deep (22 m below surface) vault although thanks to a long GPS cable we can reach the roof through a ventillation system (but just barely). Power is A/C and Kepco is used, although this site is where we first notice grounding problems tha pegged the display. Solved by grounding the negatives on the powerboard.
On 1999 trip we removed all the equipment for installation elsewhere. DAS wsa upgraded with new CPU for reinstallation. Note that the sensor was not working at this site.
Pictures:
Photos from the 1998 installation of Atushi.
| Staton Code: | TGMT | Turugumet (Turkmet), Xinjiang |
| Magellan Location: | 39o59.58' | 76o08.20' |
| Operation: | 1999/06/21 - | JDAY 99:172 - |
| DAS: | A08 | 0866 |
| Sensor: | STS2 | 109837 |
| Disk: | 4.4 Gb | 51585 |
| Magellan Location: | 39o59.58' | 76o08.20' |
| Date Installed: | 21 June, 1999 | JDAY 172 |
| Relevant Personnel: |
Mr. Wu Shin Jua, the town manager
and Mamet Juma, the translator (Chinese/Kyrgyz). | |
Discussion:
Site is in a small farming village south of the main part of Turkmet. It is in the easternmost room of a largeish house at the extreme southern edge of the village closest to the mountains and the place with the least amount of cultural traffic (although traffic is minimal throughout this village; cars can get only to the northern half of it and there are not many of those).
The site is located just outside a rarely used storage room (and I understand the folks there will be asked to not use it at all during this year). The DAS/Disk/Batteries are located beneath a window in the storage room, the sensor in a dug hole outside this room on the east side of the house. Two solar panels and GPS antenna on the roof.
Pictures from the 1999 installation.
| Staton Code: | KASH | Kashi, Xinjiang |
| Magellan Location: | 39o30.99' | 75o55.46' |
| Operation: | 1998/06/03 - 1999/06/22 | JDAY 98:150 - 99:173 |
| DAS: | A08 | 0769 |
| Sensor: | CMG3ESP | T3147 |
| Disk: | 4.4 Gb | N/A |
| Operation: | 1999/06/22 - | JDAY 99:173 - |
| DAS: | A08 | 0899 (Old Atushi) |
| Sensor: | CMG3ESP | T3147 |
| Disk: | 4.4 Gb | N/A |
| Relevant Personnel: |
???? is the chief of the station.
Wei Bing is in charge of operating the western part of the network. A fair number of people work here as this is a major facility. | |
Discussion:
The existing site was built in 1971 and is an impressively deep hole in the ground with two levels of piers. The existing equipment sits at the lower level (about 12 m below the surface) our equipment is on the upper level (about 6 m below the surface; this choice is constained by the length of the GPS cable, which must go up through the ventillation pipe to the outside). AC power is available and reliable, so no solar panels installed.
On 1999 trip we replaced the DAS (for CPU upgrade) and disk (for data download) and the GPS antenna. We also set up a workstation (Moab) for data downloading in the western part of the network, and spent a couple of days making copies of the data from 1998.
Pictures:
1. Photos from the 1998 installation of Kashi.
2. Photos from the 1999 visit.
| Staton Code: | WQIA | Wuqia, Xinjiang |
| Magellan Location: | 39o43.60' | 75o14.84' |
| Operation: | 1998/06/07 - 1999/06/23 | JDAY 98: 158- 99:174 |
| DAS: | A08 | 0694 |
| Sensor: | CMG3ESP | T3156 |
| Disk: | 4.4 Gb | 5293 |
| Operation: | 1999/06/23 - | JDAY 99:174 - |
| DAS: | A08 | 0345 |
| Sensor: | CMG3ESP | T3156 |
| Disk: | 4.4 Gb | 51579 |
| Relevant Personnel: |
Mr. Zhou Chiou is the head of the station.
Wei Shing is in charge of the local network. Mr. Ma from Atushi is the ultimate authority, as he will be happy to inform you. | |
Discussion:
The sensors for the existing site are located in a vault several km north of the seismic station proper and data is telemetered back to the station. For security reasons we could not occupy the vault, but instead place the sensor in a hole behind the seismic station and the DAS/Disk/Batteries in a back room. Two solar panels and the GPS antenna are on the roof. AC power is available and generally reliable.
On 1999 trip we replaced the DAS (for CPU upgrade) and disk (for data download) and the GPS antenna. We also replaced a solar panel that had failed; apparently some damage to the panel had resulted from high winds.
Pictures:
1. Photos from the 1998 installation of Wuqia
2. Photos from the 1999 visit.
| Staton Code: | PIQG | Piqang, Xinjiang |
| Magellan Location: | 40o19.18' | 77o39.77' |
| Operation: | 1999/06/24 - | JDAY 99:175 |
| DAS: | A08 | 0769 |
| Sensor: | STS2 | 69206 |
| Disk: | 4.4 Gb | 51579 |
| Relevant Personnel: |
None that I met. The town manager
was not there when I visited. | |
Discussion:
Piqang is a small village in a dry and remote part of the valley which makes one wonder why it is there at all apart from the small spring that must exist here to provide water for a modest amount of agriculture. It is set well off from the highway and appears to have very little going on culturally and so appears to be a reasonable place to leave a sensor. The sensor is in back of the town offices with the DAS/Disk/Batteries in one of the unused rooms (looks like almost all are unused from what I can see). Four solar panels and GPS antenna on the roof.
Pictures from the 1999 installation.
| Staton Code: | HARA | Harajun, Xinjiang |
| Magellan Location: | 40o10.46' | 76o50.24' |
| Date Installed: | 1999/06/25 - | JDAY 99:176 |
| DAS: | A08 | 0694 (Old Wuqia DAS) |
| Sensor: | GuralpCMG T3E | T3703 |
| Disk: | 4.4 Gb | 51567 |
| Relevant Personnel: |
Unfortunately I lost the paper on which
I wrote the names of the town manager and his assistant. Will try to retrieve this information later. | |
Discussion:
Harajun is located smack in the middle of the big valley and thus no chance of an outcrop anywhere and no road north or south to the mountains, so we occupied a small office building set 200 meters off the main road. The road to this building has very little traffic (maybe one vehicle per month) and there is no agriculture or animal grazing going on. The only close inhabitant is the town judge who lives across the street. Some trees, but these are small.
DAS/Disk/Batteries in unused room at extreme end of building. GPS and four solar panels are on the roof. Sensor is in hole dug out behind the building. Despite lack of any obvious cultural activity nearby the ambient background can be a few 1000 counts; but this is highly variable. Not the best of sites, at least from our short sample of it.