We present an intercomparison and consistency study of aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrievals from the 1625 nm channel that has recently been added to the SURFRAD’s Multi-Filter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer (MFRSR) instruments. In addition, a Multi-Filter Radiometer (MFR) has been installed at the SURFRAD sites to measure upwelling radiation in the same wavelength bands. SURFRAD (Surface Radiation Budget Monitoring) is a NOAA measurement network with the prime directive to determine the surface radiative budget. It is composed of seven sites across the United States and two mobile facilities. Each site is equipped with an MFRSR which measures global and diffuse solar radiation in one broadband and six narrow band spectral channels. MFRSR retrivals include several aerosol optical properties including the spectrally resolved AOD at 415, 500, 673, 870, 940, and 1625 nm. With particular focus on the AOD from the 1625 nm channel we discuss measurement uncertainties based on instrument limitations, uncertainties from the retrieval algorithm, and statistical considerations. Some of the SURFRAD sites have a colocated CIMEL sunphotometer that in some instances is equipped with a 1625 nm channel. While the two datasets are highly correlated we observe various deviations. We furthermore present an aerosol particle size distribution retrieval based on the AOD from 5 narrow band MFRSR channels. Here we put particular emphasis on the 1625 nm channel and its potential to improve the retrieval of the coarse mode fraction of the size distribution.

Understanding the consequences of different management practices on vegetation phenology, forage production and quality, plant and microbial species composition, greenhouse gas emissions, and water budgets in tallgrass prairie systems is vital to identify best management practices. As part of the Southern Plains Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (SP-LTAR) grassland study, a long-term integrated Grassland-LivestOck Burning Experiment (iGLOBE) has been established with a cluster of six eddy covariance (EC) systems on differently managed (i.e., different burning and grazing regimes) native tallgrass prairie systems located in different landscape positions. The purpose of this paper is to describe this long-term experiment, report preliminary results on the responses of differently managed tallgrass prairies under variable climates using satellite remote sensing and EC data, and present future research directions. In general, vegetation greened-up and peaked early, and produced greater forage yields in burned years. However, drought impacts were greater in burned sites due to reductions in soil water availability by burning. The impact of grazing on vegetation phenology was confounded by several factors (e.g., cattle size, stocking rate, precipitation). Moreover, prairie systems located in different landscapes responded differently, especially in dry years due to differences in water availability. The strong correspondence between vegetation phenology and eddy fluxes was evidenced by strong linear relationships of greenness index (i.e., enhanced vegetation index) with evapotranspiration and gross primary production. Results indicate that impacts of climate and management practices on vegetation phenology may profoundly impact carbon and water budgets of tallgrass prairie. Interacting effects of multiple management practices and inter-annual climatic variability on the responses of tallgrass prairie highlight the necessity of establishing an innovative and comprehensive long-term experiment to address inconsistent responses of tallgrass prairie to different intensities, frequencies, timing, and duration of management practices, and to identify best management practices.

Geophysical observations collected by The University of Texas at San Antonio’s (UTSA) SeaExplorer, an autonomous, buoyancy-driven, underwater glider equipped with an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) sensor are described. This dataset was collected in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea off the coast of France in April 2018 during the glider production phase by manufacturer Alseamar to ensure proper functioning of all sensors and equipment. The complete, raw dataset is being used by UTSA to aid in the development of in-house processing code to compute water-column current velocity profiles. The SeaExplorer glider, SEA039, is the first ocean glider acquired by UTSA’s Department of Geological Sciences as it expands departmental research into ocean sciences by incorporating new observational technologies and data science. The SeaExplorer glider collects high-resolution vertical profiles of physical and biochemical observations including ADCP current velocities in the water column from the surface to 700 meters depth. The data is processed and visualized primarily using MathWorks® MATLAB and described in conjunction with other regionally-relevant environmental datasets.

Studying the properties of the liquid phase of minerals at high pressure is important to understand the structure and evolution of deep magma oceans, as well as guiding high pressure experiments that reach the conditions in the interiors of rocky planets. We use density functional theory molecular dynamics (DFT-MD) and path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) simulations to generate a consistent equation of state (EOS) for liquid MgSiO3 that spans across a wide range of temperatures and pressures. We study its thermodynamic properties, such as the heat capacity, and characterize the atomic structure of the liquid. From our simulations, we are able to determine the onset of ionization of the inner electronic shells and relate the thermodynamic properties to the electronic structure. Finally, in order to guide future ramp and shock compression experiments, we derive isentropic temperature-pressure profiles and calculate the shock Hugoniot curve, which is in good agreement with existing experimental data.

In this study, the changes in the occurrence of marine fog over the summer North Pacific in warmer sea surface temperature (SST) or increased CO2 climates were investigated based on atmospheric model simulations by using the fifth phase of the Climate Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) multimodel data. Initially, the marine fog representation in CMIP5 multimodels was briefly evaluated globally. We found that the simulated marine fog occurrence was represented relatively well in boreal summer but poorly in other seasons. The results indicated that the changes in the North Pacific high‐pressure system accompanied by changes in horizontal wind patterns control the changes in marine fog occurrence in the North Pacific. The magnitude of contrasting pair changes in marine fog occurrence in the western and eastern North Pacific are primarily determined by the magnitude of changes in the North Pacific high‐pressure system. Global‐scale changes in the vertical profiles of the atmosphere (stability changes) can also affect the marine fog changes. These changes in marine fog over the North Pacific were consistent among most CMIP5 models.

The frequency and intensity of new particle formation (NPF) over remote forest regions in the temperate and boreal zones, and thus the importance of NPF for the aerosol budget and life cycle in the pristine atmosphere, remains controversial. Whereas NPF has been shown to occur relatively frequently at several sites in Scandinavia [1], it was found to be nearly absent at a mid-continental site in Siberia [2]. To explore this issue further, we made measurements of aerosol size distributions between 10 and 300 nm diameter at two remote sites in the transition region between temperate and boreal forest in British Columbia, Canada. The measurements covered 23 days during the month of June 2019, at the time when NPF typically reaches its seasonal maximum in remote mid-latitude regions. These are the first such measurements on the North American continent. Although the sites were only 150 km apart, there were dramatic differences in NPF frequency and intensity between them. At the Eagle Lake site, NPF occurred almost daily and nucleation mode particle concentrations reached above 5000 cm-3. In contrast, at the Nazko River site, there were only 6 NPF events in 11 days and nucleation mode particle concentrations reached only about 800 cm-3. The reasons for this difference are under investigation. They may include airmass origins, pre-existing aerosols, density of forest cover in the surrounding regions, and proximity to the Pacific coast. Our results suggest that measurement campaigns in the remote forest regions of North America to investigate the role of NPF with a more comprehensive set of instrumentation are essential for a deeper scientific understanding of this important process. [1] Nieminen et al., Atmos. Chem. Phys. 18 (2018) 14737-14756. [2] Wiedensohler et al., Atmospheric Environment, 200 (2019) 167-169.

In principle, a goal of any regional seismic network (RSN) is simple - detect and review seismicity in the network’s region of interest. Vigorous aftershock sequences however present a unique challenge to an RSN’s mission in that they can overwhelm automated real-time and analyst-driven post-processing systems. This inundation with seismicity can the lead to earthquake catalogs that are incomplete and erroneous in the area around the aftershock sequence. In response to this challenge, this abstract explores integrating machine learning as a tool to expedite the University of Utah Seismogram Station’s (UUSS)’s response to the September, 2017 Soda Springs event in southeast Idaho. In the months following the event the UUSS was able to locate over 1000 aftershocks and was catalog complete to approximately 2.5 M_L. Owing to the fact that a temporary deployment of 6 six-channel and 2 strong-motion instruments were deployed to the area shortly after the event, it is anticipated that many more high-quality locations can be obtained without resorting to template matching. Therefore, it is our goal to attempt to recover the existing UUSS catalog with machine learning enabled workflows that can produce analyst-grade picks for location and subsequent magnitude estimation. Should this be successful then the anticipated consequence is that analysts can quickly screen and approve more events and by extension lower the network’s magnitude completeness during the aftershock sequence.

Little is known of the structure and seismic nature of icy satellites, planetary bodies that have an outer shell of ice instead of a rocky crust. One such body, Saturn's moon Titan, is unique because of its thick atmosphere, hydrologic cycle similar to Earth's, and salty subsurface ocean. The Dragonfly mission, set to launch in 2026, will use a robotic rotorcraft to transport various instruments, including a seismometer, to the Shangri-La dune field on Titan. Until then, Titan's seismic regime can be estimated by simulating wave propagation through assumed layering using source models. Ridge belts with low slope angles suggest fold-and-thrust belts possibly caused by fluid overpressures in Titan's icy shell. These have been observed in synthetic aperture radar images from Cassini and may be a likely site for Titan-quakes. Synthetic seismograms are calculated for Titan-quakes using Instaseis, a Python-based software sourced by Green's function databases computed by the axisymmetric spectral element method. Back-azimuth angles are calculated for different source-receiver configurations. Very high amplitude waves are interpreted as surface waves. The PP wave is the first arrival at distances greater than 35 degrees. At 45 degrees, S waves are not distinguishable.

Through time rivers move, create erosion, deposit sediments and, consequently, change their shape, however, these movements are different for each river, since each one has specific characteristics and dynamics. While small movements occur every day, it takes us months, years, decades, or even centuries to notice those changes. As rivers are the fundamental sources of life in many cities, towns, and communities, and even determine geopolitical limits, it is more important than ever to understand the dynamics that involve them. Dancing Rivers is a visualization platform that characterizes river patterns and positions the importance of scientific studies of the Amazonian rivers. It includes and displays information about the research, analysis and methodology developed to characterize planimetric morphodynamics (spatial analysis with remote sensing) and altimetry features (description of river bedforms and sediment transport) of major Amazonian rivers: Marañon, Huallaga, Ucayali and the Amazon, with the purpose of disseminating and getting a better understanding of their physical dynamics, allowing stakeholders and researchers to make wise decisions involving the water resource and territorial planning.

The approach of direct inversion of surface wave dispersion data to obtain shallow earth structure becomes popular compared with the traditional two-step surface wave tomographic method. However, some fundamental problems still exist on selecting proper grids to parameterize model. In this study, we apply model parameterization with a multiplegrid scheme to the direct inversion method. A multiple-grid scheme represents a combination of several collocated grids, such as staggered grids, multiscale grids and multiscale-staggered grids. At each iteration, direct inversion is applied to each individual collocated grid to invert for S-wave velocity perturbations that is then interpolated to a predefined base grid using a 3-D B-spline interpolation method. At the end of each iteration, the S-wave velocity perturbations of all collocated grids are averaged together. The averaged perturbations are used to update the 3-D S-wave velocity model that is then used as an initial model for the next iteration. The efficiency of the multiple-grid direct inversion method is demonstrated by applying it to a dense array in Chaohu lake, a special area with the Tanlu fault zone (TFZ) passed through. Synthetic examples confirm a better performance of the multiple-grid direct inversion method than the traditional one. A detailed shallow 3-D S-wave velocity model of the Chaohu lake is obtained after applying the multiple-grid direct inversion method to real data. The velocity model reveals a staggered pattern of velocity variations with low-velocity anomalies in the Hefei basin and eastern Chaohu lake and prominent deep rooted and high-velocity anomalies beneath the TFZ and Yinping mountain, which may associated with the multi-stage tectonic activities in the Tanlu fault. The multiple-grid scheme of this study can further be applied to other tomographic approaches in the near future.

Measurements of ground tilt are a critical geodetic tool for monitoring active volcanoes because they provide multidimensional data that can resolve complex deformation signals. We are developing a Self-Calibrating Tilt Accelerometer (SCTA) for use in the marine environment and present results from two deployments: on land at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Cecil and Ida Green Piñon Flat Observatory and on the seafloor at Axial Seamount on the Juan de Fuca Ridge. The SCTA utilizes a Quartz Sensor Solutions triaxial accelerometer on a gimbal system to periodically rotate the horizontal channels into the vertical to calibrate against the local g vector, achieving high precision and stability within 1 microradian. The SCTA tiltmeter has the added benefit of simultaneously measuring ground accelerations and recording seismic signals. We compare the SCTA performance at the center of the summit caldera at Axial Seamount against a co-located Jewell Instruments LILY tiltmeter on the OOI Cabled Array. The tilt measurements in one direction are consistent, but the data suggest that the deployment platform for the SCTA may be settling in the other direction. We are using data from the ensemble of 4 cabled pressure sensors and 5 tilt sensors at Axial, including the SCTA, to study its inflation behavior since its eruption in 2015. We have identified several significant, cm-scale deflation events of durations of tens of days. The tilt and relative elevations of instrument sites are asymmetric about their turning points, suggesting a more complex mechanism than a simple inflation reversal. We are conducting forward modeling of the deformation signals to determine if the geodetic signals are consistent with differential slip rates, normalized to the rate of inflation/deflation, on the caldera’s outwardly dipping ring faults between these periods. Another plausible mechanism that we plan to investigate is the lateral transport of magma from beneath the southern caldera to either the northern caldera or to a secondary reservoir, located 5 km to the east. These deflation events are potentially important for understanding the mechanisms of magma supply, storage, and transport at Axial Seamount, as well as for accurately forecasting future eruptions, which have been shown to be inflation-predictable.

Current ozone (O3) concentration levels entail significant damages in crop yields around the world. The reaction of the emitted precursors (mostly methane and nitrogen oxides) with solar radiation contribute to O3 levels that exceed established thresholds for crop damage. This paper shows current and projected (through 2080) relative yield losses driven by O3 exposure for different crops and the associated economic damages applying crop prices that are calculated per region and period. We adjust future crop yields in the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM) to reflect the RYLs and analyse the effects on agricultural markets. We find that the projected decreases in O3 precursor emissions in a reference scenario would reduce the agricultural damages, compared to present, for most of the regions, with a few exceptions including India, where higher future O3 concentrations have large negative impacts on crop yields. The annual economic impact of O3 driven losses from 2020-2080 are 5.0-6.0, 9.8-18.8, 6.7-10.6 and 10.4-12.5 B$(2015) for corn, soybeans, rice and wheat, respectively, with the large losses for wheat and soybeans driven by their comparatively high sensitivity to O3. When O3 effects are considered, the projected change on O3 levels and the subsequent variations of yields, would directly affect future agricultural markets. Therefore, the aggregated net present value (NPV) of the crop production would be reduced around 116 B$(2015). However, these changes are not distributed evenly across regions, and the net present market value of the crops would increase up to 270 B$(2015) or decrease up to 120 B$2015 (China)

The International Research Laboratory MINERWA (Responsible Mining, West-Africa) has for objective to contribute to the comprehension of the distribution of mineral resources in Ivory Coast, and to their responsible exploration and exploitation, which implies a thorough understanding of environmental and societal impacts. It is co-funded by the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) and by the African Center of Excellence “Mines and Mining Environment” hosted by the INP-HB (Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny) in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast. It also involves the University Felix Houphouët-Boigny (UFHB, Abidjan), and 4 laboratories in France (Geosciences Environment Toulouse, PRODIG, Hydrosciences Montpellier and Espace-DEV). MINERWA is also part of the world-wide network AMEDEE (Activity of Mining, Environment, Development, Economy, Ethics, https://amedee-network.science/en/), which is an international collaborative R&D platform whose goal is to promote responsible mining in subtropical and intertropical areas in partnership. The approach is interdisciplinary and the research team is composed of specialists in social and environmental sciences and geologists. The focus is placed on a multi-scale analysis, from atomic/mineral to the crustal scale through the scale of territories. It aims to reinforce the analytical capabilities in Ivory coast, with a focus on free remote sensing data and software and low-coast portable instruments for geochemical analysis of rocks and contaminants in the field, including portable XRF, portable LIBS, portable gamma-ray spectrometers and portable visible/NIR spectrometers. The research laboratory shall be funded for 5 years and was initiated in 2019. The activities are divided into 5 work packages, including (1) a platform for continuous exchanges between the different actors, (2) capacity building, (3) geology of mineral ressources, (4) mines, environment and societies, (5) scale transfer. Several preliminary research outcomes in the framework of this laboratory will be presented in the session, in particular in relation to the environmental impact of artisanal mining in West Africa [1,2,3]. [1] Abass Saley, A. et al. , this session. [2] Ngome, M. et al., this session. [3] DAÏ, B.S.M. et al., this session.

Rn and CO2 in-depth, as a proxy for pre-seismic activity Hovav Zafrir1,4, Uri Malik1, Elad Levintal2, Noam Weisbrod2, Yochai Ben Horin3, Zeev Zalevsky4, Nimrod Inbar5 1Geological Survey of Israel, 32 Yesha’ayahu Leibowitz, Jerusalem 9371234, Israel, 2The Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Ben-Gurion University, 8499000 Sede Boqer, Israel, 3Soreq Nuclear Research Center, Yavne 81800, Israel, 4Faculty of Engineering, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel, 5Ariel University, Ariel 40700, Israel. (First author e-mail: hzafrir@gmail.com; zafrir@gsi.gov.il). Abstract The method of long-term monitoring of subsurface gases in shallow to deep boreholes assumes that the climatic influence on geo-physicochemical parameters is limited since its energy decreases with the increase in the thickness of the geological cover. Hence, the monitoring of radon (Rn), CO2 and other constituents above and below the water table in deep boreholes enables to eliminate the climatic-induced periodic contributions, from the residual portion of the signals that are associated with the regional geodynamic processes, as have been proved by us recently for radon(*). Monitoring of radon and CO2 at a depth of several tens of meters along the Dead Sea Fault Zone, between the Dead Sea and the Hula Valley has led to a clear discovery of the phenomenon that both gases are affected by an underground tectonic activity related to the pre-seismic processes of producing earthquakes, even if they are weak. The pre-seismic processes even if not all end with earthquakes, cause the movement of gases in the subsurface geologic media and creating non-periodic signals that are wider than 20 to 24 hours. Hence, monitoring of any other natural gas at depth may show a similar expansion signal and may serve as a precursor for earthquakes. The necessary conditions needed to explore anomalous signals of gases that induced by pre-seismic processes at the depth, as accumulation and relaxation of lithospheric stress and strain, are: a) setup of a monitoring system within boreholes airspace, drilled to active faults, b) verify that there is at least one gas with concentration level few times above the conventional background level of the regional subsurface content, c) utilizing high sensitive detectors to recover changes in the gas content, with detection limit of few percents of the local average (As an example: for radon, the required content is at least 1kBq/m3 and the required sensitivity is better than 5%). (*) Zafrir, H., Ben Horin Y., Malik, U., Chemo, C., and Zalevsky, Z., 2016, Novel determination of radon-222 velocity in deep subsurface rocks and the feasibility to using radon as an earthquake precursor, J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth, 121, 6346–6364, doi: 10.1002/2016JB013033.

The South Atlantic Dipole (SAD) is the main mode of coupled variability between ocean and atmosphere on interannual and interdecadal timescales on the South Atlantic Ocean. Its oceanic component is characterized by a dipole of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies between tropics and extratropics, while the atmospheric part is linked with the South Atlantic Subtropical High (SASH) variability. Some other important factors can influence the SAD, for instance, variations in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which may alter the distribution of physical properties of the ocean such as the SST. Given the current background of anthropogenic global warming, some features have contributed to alter AMOC, such as Greenland’s continental ice melting and also the increase in Agulhas Leakage. Therefore, this work aims to identify possible changes in the SAD pattern during the period after industrial revolution (1851-2010). The SAD is the first mode found through the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) of SST and Mean Sea Level Pressure (MSLP). This analysis was performed at intervals of 30 and 10 years, in order to encompass the interannual and interdecadal cycles of the SAD oscillation, at the same time that it is possible to analyze possible changes in the SAD throughout the study period (1851-2010). Preliminary results show strong signs of changes in the SAD configuration, both in its oceanic and atmospheric components, which probably have impacts on the climate of the adjacent continents, which will be further studied later. The analysis performed with NOAA-CIRES 20th Century Reanalysis V2c indicate a clockwise rotation of the SST anomaly dipole pattern, while the associated MSLP anomalies show a northwestern shift over the study period.

Absorption muon imaging is a technique that can measure density variations underground down to a few hundred meters. Then, it can prove to be useful in a mining environment: to help assess the ore bodies volumes and/or to monitor the underground for natural hazards that can happen at the surface because of the mining exploitation. Here we report the result of an experiment designed to test the capabilities and resolution power of a cosmic muon measurement in a mining environment compared to other standard geophysics tools: gravimetry and seismic studies. It consists of three independent measurement of a subset of the decommissioned iron mine of May-sur-Orne (France). The first one was made using a 50x50cm² micromegas based muon telescope installed at the deepest non-submerged level (50m underground) during 3 months. The second one is a gravimetry survey of the surface area inside the muon telescope acceptance cone. And the third one is a study of refracted and reflected seismic waves along a single line above the muon telescope location. The investigation volume was chosen because of the presence of surface risks (neighborhood), the unknown of some uncharted volume and the presence of an ore storage volume of several meter cubed that was used during the mine exploitation and which filling state is unknown. The data analysis showed that while muon tomography is able to detect the negative density anomaly of the storage volume, the gravimetry measurement is not sensible to it. However, the seismic study was able to detect the volume as well and its location and extension is compatible with the muon measurement.

Mountain ranges in seismically active regions often present vast numbers of deep-seated and voluminous landslides. In general, the comprehension of factors contributing to such slope failures can help better understand the dynamic history of a region. Here, we present the outcomes of our studies in the Buzau-Vrancea seismic region in the Romanian Carpathian Mountains, where massive slides are marked by “softened” hummocky morphologies that result from weathering and aging. The latter factors make it more difficult to understand the circumstances of slope failure development and to trace the limits between in-situ and displaced material. In particular, the uncertain subsurface structure of those large mass movements suggests the application of geophysical methods. We used several geophysical techniques, which allowed us to overcome limitations in terms of investigation depth and lateral resolution of single methods. Electrical resistivity measurements can be used to obtain lithological information, and to characterise the water content of the landslide deposits and of in situ rocks. On most sites, we combined electrical surveys with seismic methods: actively triggered seismic energy used for seismic refraction surveys - analyzed as 2D P-wave tomography (SRT) and as 1D MASW – together with passive methods using ambient noise, i.e. small-aperture seismic array and single station HVNR measurements. In contrast to P-wave velocity prospections, surface and shear wave velocity measurements are able to reveal deeper and lateral contrasts that are independent of the soils water content and thus useful to define the mechanical properties of complex slope deformations. Ambient noise array methods, in addition, generally allow very deep sounding. With this approach, we are able to distinguish the basal shearing horizon of the studied landslide, their volume, geometry, and general geomechanical parameters. The main focus of this work is on the combination of these methods, and on the advantage of interpreting these results in a full 3D geomodel of study sites based on the collected surface (UAV flights, LiDAR-DEMs) and geophysical subsurface data. The 3D geomodel will further be used as a basis for numerical calculations aiming at a back-analysis of the landslide development (in a static and possibly dynamic domain).

The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) Science Data Center (SDC) at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), at the University of Colorado, has managed MMS science and ancillary data processing and distribution since MMS launched in March 2015. The MMS SDC employs automation in nearly every part of its operations. Automation is used to start up processing “runners” that listen on queues for new processing jobs, which are triggered by configurable timing rules, including cron and operational events, or certain data/data files being available. A separate set of SDC code then automatically creates processing jobs and tracks its progress. The MMS SDC runs processing jobs for each instrument (47 different job types in total), ranging from levels l1a to l3, for “survey” and “burst” modes, plotting, and cdf creation. The SDC runs anywhere from a few hundred to over 2,000 jobs per day (on average, 1,000 jobs per day). Processing jobs are scheduled in a few different ways, from running based on a fixed schedule in cron, to being triggered by certain mission events, to being triggered by the appearance of new files. Several fail-safes have been added into the code over time to ensure failures are caught and handled, however, situations do arise where failures occur and are dealt with when something in the SDC does not work as expected. Added to these complexities is the fact that the MMS mission is incredibly time-sensitive, and requires the SDC to be available and ready to handle issues 24/7/365, which can be challenging due to the limited staffing on MMS a few years into the mission. The importance of automation in MMS SDC processing is clear. Not only does automated processing relieve some of the load from the software engineers working on the SDC, but it ensures continued smooth operation of the MMS SDC. This then allows scientists to continue their research efforts unhindered. As time has progressed, various areas for improvement, and extra automation, in this process have been implemented. This poster will focus on automation improvements to keep the system running smoothly with almost no human involvement.