Geophysical Field Engineer Berkeley Seismological Laboratory

Departmental Overview

The Berkeley Seismological Laboratory conducts essential research on earthquakes and solid earth processes while collecting and delivering high quality geophysical data. It provides robust earthquake and hazard information including real-time alerts to the public, in collaboration with our partners. It also enables the broad consumption of earthquake information by everyone while educating and training students at all levels and from all backgrounds.

The Berkeley Seismology Lab (BSL) operates a large network of 240+ seismic and geodetic stations as well as DAS systems across northern California. These stations/systems stream data in real time to our data center on campus, where data is processed, analyzed and archived for the purposes of earthquake monitoring, earthquake early warning and scientific research. The BSL also operates the MyShake application, which provides earthquake early warning alerts to the public in the West Coast of the US.

This position is a field engineer position dedicated to the operation, maintenance and upgrade of the BSL geophysical stations.

• Maintain and upgrade geophysical stations (mainly seismic and geodetic) all across Northern California to ensure that low latency and high-quality data is transmitted in real time to the processing centers on campus and in the cloud. This includes a) remotely assessing station performance, b) identifying station issues, c) putting a plan together to bring back the stations to normal operations, d) purchasing, preparing and configuring all necessary equipment (power, telemetry, digitizer, geophysical sensors, etc.),
  
  e) interacting with landowners and relevant stakeholders to inform them about planned on-site activities, f) traveling alone or with co‑workers to the station locations including off‑road driving, g) vegetation/tree clearing using chainsaws and other equipment, h) replacing equipment on site as needed, i) working in confined spaces, j) climbing towers, k) following safety protocols and supervisor direction, and l) exercising independent judgement and decision making.
  
  The power systems include AC (up to 250 V) and DC systems. The telemetry systems include antennas, routers, switches, radio (e.g. 900 MHz, microwave), satellite and cellular modems.
• Scout, construct, install and relocate temporary and new permanent geophysical stations (mainly seismic and geodetic) in Northern California. This includes a) interacting with landowners and relevant stakeholders including on permits‑related matters, b) defining the optimal setup and configuration for the geophysical sensors, power and telemetry systems, c) supervising contractors, d) purchasing, preparing and configuring all necessary equipment (power, digitizer, geophysical sensors, etc.),
  
  e) traveling alone or with co‑workers to remote geophysical station locations including off‑road driving, f) operating heavy machinery (e.g. excavator, skid‑steer), UTV, 4x4 trucks and towing trailers, g) installing all equipment on site, h) climbing towers, i) following safety protocols and supervisor direction, and j) exercising independent judgement and decision making.
• Regularly monitor the performance of all BSL geophysical stations using the dedicated BSL tools (Grafana dashboards). Take remote troubleshooting actions when needed, including a) resetting equipment or telemetry connections, b) implementing configuration changes, c) upgrading equipment firmware, d) re‑centering/calibrating sensors, and e) working with other BSL staff members (e.g. system administrators, data analysts) to solve complex issues.
• Maintain the engineering facility in good conditions, including a) receiving and unpacking equipment and material, b) ordering spare equipment and supplies on time to ensure that the necessary station maintenance actions can be taken at any time, c) sending defective equipment for repair and following up with equipment manufacturers, d) maintaining inventory, e) organizing and cleaning the space, including operating forklifts, and f) maintaining all vehicles in good operating conditions.
• Ensure that the information and metadata about all BSL…