Duncan Agnew astride one of Pinon Flat's three strainmeters.

For almost 30 years, Pinon Flat Observatory has served as a testing ground for new geophysical instrumentation, including 3 laser strainmeters, 2 tiltmeters, 2 GPS (global positioning system) receivers, and a variety of seismometers. The observatory is located between the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults, high up near San Jacinto mountain which looms over 8,000 feet above the Palm Springs desert floor. Pinon Flat Observatory is operated by the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics of the University of California, San Diego (IGPP-UCSD).
The stainmeter's computers.
Another bizzare sculpture on the Pinon Flat landscape; the satellite radar retroreflector.
Old sheds house different experiments at the Observatory.

On the Road with the Faultline Project
©1999 Exploratorium