Timor Leste data collection complete

It was a rapid-paced week traveling throughout Timor Leste.  All eight stations have been visited, data has been collected, and our collaboration with IPG has moved forward.  Many thanks to the newly appointed earthquake specialist Mr. Luis Teofilo.  Our future plans for collaboration involve building IPG's earthquake analysis capabilities directly through Luis.  After returning from the more distant locations, we had two stations remaining - a 30 minute drive south from Dili and a 1.5 hour boat ride north of Dili.  To the south, Dare is a village that is perched 400 meters above sea level, providing a different climate and vegetation profile.  Being the station closest to Dili, we used this as an opportunity to bring the national television network TVTL along to advertise our project.  IPG president Helio Guterres discussion our collaboration and they shot more footage of me working with the IPG staff to service the station as well as describe the nature of the data we are recording.

The station in Dare has provided the highest quality
signal so far.  It also has the best setting as it overlooks
Dili as well as Atauro Island in the distance. 

Taken after the taping of the local television channel's segment.  From
left to right, the site owner, IPG Vice President Jorge Martins, myself, IPG hazard division
director Eugenio Soares, IPG President Helio Guterres.  Inset shows the banner
that advertises our collaborative project.

The next day, Luis and I headed across the Wetar Strait to Atauro Island.  The ride there provided some excellent lighting over calm waters.  The mainland faded in the distance as Atauro came into view.  The occasional flying fish could be seen - they typically hop out of the boat wake like crickets leap from grass when walking through a field.

Surreal lighting on the trip from Dili to Atauro Island.  I was fortunate to catch a
flying fish in the act (lower right corner) - they pop out of the water, vigorously
flap fins, then glide for up to 50 meters.  

We have finished most of our mission for the field season: 22 stations have been installed in NTT province of Indonesia, and 8 stations have been serviced with data collected from Timor Leste.  A final few days in Jakarta will allow us to tie up a few loose ends.  I leave you with a taste of some juicy data: the earthquake shown occurred while we were installing in Flores Island.  We received a call from one of the site hosts on Sumba Island saying that they felt this gempa bumi.  Our seismometers in Timor Leste certainly did as well...

A view of the 30 October, 2014 deep (545 km) earthquake that occurred ~140 km
north of Bali.  All eight stations from Timor Leste shown in this 1 hour segment of data.
A filter has been applied to these vertical channel data (2 Hz - 100s).