Dr. Larry Stetler of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology has two experiments under way at the Sanford Lab at Homestake.

Tiltmeteres that Stetler and his colleagues have installed in the former gold mine will measure movement of ground as Homestake is dewatered.

In another experiment, Stetler is installing a series of climate stations in the Sanford Underground Laboratory. Sensors in the climate stations will provide a 3-D view of climatic conditions and how changes move through the mine as a function of dewatering, increased human activity and changes in ventilation.

The microclimate network currently consists of five stations:

•    The 1250 Level at the Ross Shaft.
•    The 2000 Level at the LIGO site.
•    The 2600 Level at the Ross Shaft
•    The 2600 Level, 1,000 feet off the shaft in a dead-end drift.
•    The 4550 Level in the Six Winze hoist room.

Each station has a temperature/relative humidity probe and a barometric pressure gage.

Up to four additional stations will be placed underground over the coming months, and a full station has been installed at the surface on the roof of the Yates Administration Building. The surface station measures wind speed and direction, temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure and precipitation.