About Us
The Seismic Source Facility (SSF) provides the services of highly experienced controlled source seismologists to the management of active-source projects globally. Harder began his career in explosion seismology in 1974 and has since conducted a large variety of active-source projects. Kaip began conducting controlled source projects in 1994. They have blasting licenses in multiple states and countries, commercial driver’s licenses with hazardous materials endorsements, as well as professional geoscience licenses in multiple states.
SSF was funded in the fall of 2013 to provide controlled seismic sources around the world to the academic community, sources that investigators might not otherwise consider because of the complexity of acquiring and operating them. These seismic sources range from shotgun blanks fired into the ground, to accelerated weight drop, to small explosive charges in shallow holes, to one or more vibrators of various sizes shaking the ground, to larger explosive charges in deeper holes. The SSF can both acquire and operate these sources and synchronize them with receivers. Because of the liability associated with seismic sources, the SSF takes on the liability of operating these sources, relieving liability sensitive institutions of this liability. In addition, in areas inaccessible to seismic sources due to the lack of insurance, the SSF maintains a commercial liability policy to cover these sources.
The focus is on providing end-to end seismic source capabilities for principal investigators (PI’s). It is a technical resource for the management of active-source seismic projects. The facility focuses on 4 main objectives: seismic source management, training, liability insurance and proposal support. We provide resources to geoscientists in the fundamentals of seismic source management (designing, permitting, contracting, engineering and firing of sources). Liability insurance coverage is provided for projects under direct SSF supervision. The facility is funded at a very minimal level and will focus on three main objectives training, liability insurance and proposal support. Experiment support will come from collaborative proposals and subcontracts.
SSF is currently funded as an IRIS (Subaward Number: 10-UTEP-SAGE) subaward. It falls under the Cooperative Agreement No. EAR-126181 issued by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under CFDA N0. 47.050