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To:  Participants, ANSS Intermountain West (IMW) Region
       (and other interested persons)

From:  Walter Arabasz, Regional Coordinator

Subj:  ANSS-IMW Information Update & FY2003 Planning

Date:  23 July 2002


CONTENTS

1. ANSS Funding Picture for FY2003
2. Highlights from July 17-18 Mtg of National Implementation Committee
3. COSMOS Recommendations for Strong-Motion Instrumentation of Bldgs
4. Guidance for FY2003 Regional Planning
5. Steps for FY2003 Plan for IMW Region

Reminder: ANSS-IMW homepage is at http://www.seis.utah.edu/anss/index.shtml

1. ANSS FUNDING PICTURE FOR FY2003
   Despite many lobbying efforts, neither the House nor Senate markups of the USGS FY2003 budget include any increase for ANSS. The most likely outcome is a level appropriation of $3.9 million. An excellent source of info on Congressional earth-science-related news is http://www.agiweb.org/ Accounting for agency overhead and O&M commitments for instruments already installed, dollars available for new instruments will necessarily be less than for FY2002, and pressures are mounting from the earthquake engineering community for instrumenting structures in high-hazard areas (see Item 3, below).



2. HIGHLIGHTS FROM JULY 17-18 MTG OF NATIONAL IMPLEMENTATION COMMITTEE
   
   • Meeting attended by USGS-ANSS managers, regional coordinators, and the chair (or a representative) from the Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) of each ANSS region. Bob Guenzler, State of Idaho INEEL Oversight, represented the IMW-RAC, and Steve Bartlett, chair of the Utah Strong- Motion Advisory Committee also attended.
   
   
   • Discussions were deliberately limited to general issues and guidelines for FY2003 planning--as opposed to specific planning for any ANSS region. Funding picture (Item 1, above) poses major challenges).
   
   
   • ANSS challenges include: (1) raising funding, (2) engaging engineering community, (3) addressing technical issues, (4) balance between new hardware and techical support (human resources)--for system operation & maintenance and development of new data/information products, (5) keeping interest and morale high, and (6) keeping promises and commitments (internal and external credibility).
   
   
   • ANSS strong-motion stations installed: 80 in FY2000, 122 in FY2001, and 137 in FY2002, for a total of 339. Emphasis generally will continue on strong-motion instrumentation in urban regions and "national backbone" broadband stations.
   
   
   • Observations and recommendations from the ANSS National Steering Committee were reported (see http://earthquake.usgs.gov/anss/index.php/scmin2001.html)
   • Need for enhanced ANSS data and information products; special working group created to define performance standards; check out and bookmark http://earthquake.usgs.gov/ for examples of new products; USGS reorganization of NEIC focusing on improved earthquake response and delivery of real-time EQ information via the Internet.
   
   
   • California Integrated Seismic Network (CISN) advancing, thanks to $3.9 million from the California state legislature and California Office of Emergency Services (see http://www.cisn.org); but state funding is "metastable."
   
   
   • ShakeMap working group being formed under CISN will be enlarged into a national ShakeMap working group.
   
   
   • Steve Malone reported Idaho's decision--after some deliberation--to indeed be a core member of the IMW Region and an affiliate member of the Pacific NW Region. (See "A Vision for ANSS in Idaho" by Steve Weiser, Idaho Bureau of Disaster Services at http://www.seis.utah.edu/anss/idaho.shtml)
   
   
   • Outcome of COSMOS workshop (Item 3, below) points out need for more emphasis on strong-motion instrumentation of buildings, but no-growth funding means trade-offs; regions outside of California want flexibility in instrumenting buildings vs other strong-motion needs. Policy-making still evolving.
   
   
   • Guidance was developed for FY2003 planning by ANSS regions (see Item 4, below).
   
   
   
3. COSMOS RECOMMENDATIONS FOR STRONG-MOTION INSTRUMENTATION OF BLDGS
   In November 2001, COSMOS (Consortium of Organizations for Strong-Motion Observation Systems) held a workshop on "Strong-Motion Instrumentation of Buildings." A full workshop report is supposed to be released soon. The "Summary and Recommendations" from the report were distributed at the July 17-18 ANSS-NIC meeting and can be viewed at http://www.seis.utah.edu/anss/cosmos.shtml



4. GUIDANCE FOR FY2003 REGIONAL PLANNING
   One of the outcomes of the July 17-18 ANSS-NIC meeting was a general guidance document for preparing FY2003 implementation plans in each ANSS region. The guidance document, circulated by John Filson of the USGS, can be viewed at http://www.seis.utah.edu/anss/fy03_guidance.shtml. Some explanation of parts of the guidance document may be helpful: (a) The requirements for candidate structures for strong-motion instrumentation (see Item 3 above) are elaborate; it will take great effort to make a persuasive case for instrumenting any structures in the IMW Region in FY2003. (b) "System level expenditures" refer to investments in aspects of the ANSS nationwide system that benefit the entire system (e.g., software support, archiving, system engineering studies, national backbone stations); such investments reduce the total dollars available to individual regions but enhance the effectiveness of the whole system. (c) "Regional cooperative opportunities" refer to special cost-sharing opportunities.



5. STEPS FOR FY2OO3 PLAN FOR IMW REGION
   The deadline for each ANSS region to submit an implementation plan for FY2003 has been set for the end of October (2002), and early submissions are encouraged.
   I expect to be out of the country during all of September and want to begin the process of shaping an FY2003 IMW plan. The good news is that the plan can be short! The challenge will be deciding what to propose--given the no-growth funding--and reaching a regional consensus.
   Some states are already working on prioritizing their needs for FY2003, following up on the general needs they outlined in the FY2002 plan.
   
   Step 1. Members of the IMW Regional Working Group (network operators) should begin evaluating their state's needs ASAP--accounting for ANSS funding constraints and guidelines (Item 4 above).
   
   Step 2. Where applicable, plan to convene your state advisory committee soon to engage them in the planning.
   
   Step 3. I plan to arrange one or more conference calls with the IMW Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) during mid- to late-August and hope to have at least preliminary input from individual states so that the RAC can begin evaluating a regional plan.
   
   Thank you all for your help.
   
   Walter Arabasz
   IMW Regional Coordinator
   Tel: 801-581-7410
   Fax: 801-585-5585
   arabasz@seis.utah.edu