Leveraging Researcher Data Access to Promote Student Engagement With Martian Seismic Data

Date: 4/25/2019

Time: 06:00 PM

Room: Fifth Avenue

The InSight mission aims to explore the interior of Mars using seismic data from marsquakes and meteorite impacts. The data from InSight, which will be available through the IRIS Data Management Center (DMC), offers a chance for researchers to use IRIS DMC tools to access Mars data once the data have been publicly released (anticipated April 2019). IRIS will leverage existing international Seismographs in Schools networks to allow a large and growing number of students to interact with Mars seismic data as soon as it is available on Earth. Students in these networks have experience with seismic data and software and are primed to engage with this NASA Discovery mission. Some standard DMC tools have been modified as needed to handle Mars data including timing, coordinate systems, and mapping tools. To help make the data accessible to a broader audience, the data will also be available in the ASCII GeoCSV format. Data will also be available from the Auxiliary Payload Sensors Suite for comparison to the seismograph data.

Seismology offers unique opportunities to enrich earth science and physics curriculum, involving students in questioning and problem solving. School networks are preparing specially designed lessons, software, web tools, data viewers, and other resources in advance of data arrival to allow students to explore and interrogate shaking on Mars. Students will be able to observe daily variations in ground motions and to analyze 3-component data from the broadband sensor, so as to attempt to locate marsquakes and meteor strikes. Being among the first to work with Martian seismic data by accessing data through the IRIS DMC, students will have the opportunity to feel they are working alongside scientists on the next frontier of seismic exploration.

Presenting Author: Tammy Bravo

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