Evaluating the Network Time Protocol (NTP) for Timing in the South Carolina Earth Physics Project (SCEPP)

Abstract

Last fall, the ES faced a dilemma. He could spend time writing a full-length article for the special SRL Educational Seismology issue by late September OR wait nine months and write an ES column for the issue. Guess which choice came out on top? Yup, the ES procrastinated. Then, as the June deadline approached, a third choice presented itself: Have someone else write the column! So, in the spirit of the Educational Seismology issue, our lead guest author this month is Andrew Frassetto, a rising senior Geophysics major at the ES's home institution. Andrew has been working with the ES and his famous sidekick, Philip Crotwell, on the South Carolina Earth Physics Project (SCEPP) for a couple of years, getting a true education in both the challenges of modern seismology and the challenges of working in the K-12 educational system. For the ES, working on the SCEPP project has provided some of the most satisfying and most frustrating experiences of his professional career. Teachers are some of the most interested and motivated students that the ES has ever encountered. However, they and everyone in their school districts are very busy, which caused the ES more than minor frustration when trying to get their attention to install a seismograph station in their school. The ES and other SCEPP staffers quickly learned that minimizing the efforts that teachers and school district personnel need to make on your behalf is the single most important factor in getting instruments into schools. Having schools prepare outdoor sites was extremely difficult; asking them to locate instruments near outside walls where we could have GPS signals and Internet connections was merely difficult. Fortunately, asking them to find a location anywhere they wanted within reach of an Internet drop was something most schools could handle in the limited …