earth science

ICEARRAY

ICEARRAY is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand ICEARRAY rather than just read about it. In short: ICEARRAY is an abbreviation for Icelandic Strong-motion Array. The ICEARRAY network is a seismic array of 14 strong-motion stations located within the South Iceland Seismic Zone.

Key takeaways

ICEARRAY belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect ICEARRAY to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of ICEARRAY from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

ICEARRAY is an abbreviation for Icelandic Strong-motion Array. The ICEARRAY network is a seismic array of 14 strong-motion stations located within the South Iceland Seismic Zone. Each station consists of a seismograph situated in a protective housing. The stations are spread across a geographical area of approximately 3 km² in the town of Hveragerdi in south-western Iceland. Most of the units are located in the basements of residential buildings in Hveragerdi town centre, which is approximately 35 km southeast of Iceland's capital, Reykjavík. The ICEARRAY project is supported by the 6th Framework of the European Commission through the Marie Curie International Re-integration Grant, the Iceland Centre for Research and the University of Iceland Earthquake Engineering Research Centre.

Instruments The instruments used in the seismic array are CUSP-3Clp accelerometers manufactured by Canterbury Seismic Instruments Ltd. based in New Zealand. The instruments record three components of ground motion, i.e. one vertical and two horizontal components, over a high dynamic range. The instruments are connected to a GPS clock, ensuring a uniform time over the network. The instruments communicate via a wireless permanent GPRS connection. This enables remote configuration of individual units and near real-time alerts and data uploading. An important feature that has been developed during the establishment of the array is a common triggering scheme. This feature was designed in collaboration with the manufacturers of the units. In the event of two or more units receiving an earthquake trigger, the common triggering feature activates the entire array to start recording. This scheme ensures complete data coverage and greatly reduces the need to filter out noise and manmade disturbances.

Geographical location Iceland is located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the extensional tectonic plate boundary between the North American Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is also located over a deep-seated mantle plume known as the Iceland hotspot, which causes dynamic uplift of the Iceland Plateau, with associated volcanism and seismicity. The line of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is offset by two transform zones in Iceland, the South Iceland Seismic Zone (SISZ) in the south and the Tjornes Fracture Zone in the north. The town of Hveragerdi is located at the western end of the SISZ, an area of considerable seismicity.

Background The South Iceland Seismic Zone (SISZ) has been the location of numerous large destructive earthquakes in the past. The SISZ is an east-west trending transform zone approximately 70 km long and 10–20 km wide. Destructive earthquake sequences in this region usually consist of several earthquakes exceeding a magnitude of 6.5 and with their epicentres located on north-south trending faults. Such a sequence started on 17 June 2000 at 15:40 local time with an earthquake of magnitude 6.5. It was followed on 21 June 2000 at 00:51 by a magnitude 6.4 event. Earthquake-induced damage was widespread, although fortunately there was no loss of life and no serious injuries.

Purpose The potential of these large destructive earthquakes occurring is a constant threat to local and national infrastructure, such as pipelines, electrical power transmission, roads, dams and bridges. The spatial variability of earthquake ground motions is a key aspect when designing infrastructure. It can have a dramatic effect on the response of structures and the extent of damage. In order to estimate the effects, it is necessary to develop models from data recorded on a seismograph array. This is the reason why the ICEARRAY was created. The models developed from the data recorded on the ICEARRAY have enabled the first reliable assessment of earthquake effects on infrastructure in the SISZ. The data also provides a physically realistic description of fault rupture. The models and simulations developed can be applied in other regions and the methods used provide a link between seismology and earthquake engineering

References

External links ICEARRAY website Earthquake Engineering Research Centre website Canterbury Seismic Instruments website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with ICEARRAY

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what ICEARRAY claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to ICEARRAY before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about ICEARRAY ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of ICEARRAY

In research: ICEARRAY appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses ICEARRAY in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: ICEARRAY is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Earthquake and seismic risk mitigation, Earthquake engineering, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for ICEARRAY outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study ICEARRAY in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what ICEARRAY means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain ICEARRAY out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is ICEARRAY in simple terms?

ICEARRAY is an abbreviation for Icelandic Strong-motion Array. The ICEARRAY network is a seismic array of 14 strong-motion stations located within the South Iceland Seismic Zone.

Why does ICEARRAY matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study ICEARRAY?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on ICEARRAY.