Earthquake early warning system gets 'milestone' technological addition
ShakeAlert is now leveraging GPS data, the U.S. Geological Survey announced this week. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has added satellite data to its earthquake early warning system, ShakeAlert. The system will be live for the public in California in late 2019 and for Oregon and Washington in 2021. The new GPS data will be particularly useful in evaluating large quakes. The technology allows alerts to occur seconds before the strongest shaking begins, and can trigger actions such as slowing down trains or opening firehouse doors. Brendan Crowell, a geophysicist at the University of Washington, developed the algorithm, G-FAST, which is at the heart of the GPS component of the system. Robert de Groot, the ShakeAlert operations team lead, called this a "game-changer" for potentially sending alerts out more accurately and faster to people.
公開済み : 3週間前 沿って http://www.facebook.com/FOX29Buffalo, CORY SMITH | The National Desk の Weather
West Coast residents can now benefit from satellite data in their earthquake early warning system.
ShakeAlert is now leveraging GPS data, the U.S. Geological Survey announced this week.
ShakeAlert went live for the public in California in late 2019 and for people in Oregon and Washington in 2021. The system includes over 1,500 seismic sensors on the ground in and near those three states.
There are two waves that radiate from the epicenter of a quake. The initial wave of shaking isn’t as strong, but it’s what triggers the sensors for the early warning system.
People can get alerts on their phones, usually just seconds before the strongest shaking begins. But the aim is to give folks time to take cover.
ShakeAlert can also trigger actions in the event of a quake, such as slowing down trains to prevent derailments or opening firehouse doors so they don’t get jammed shut.
Robert de Groot, USGS ShakeAlert operations team lead, said Thursday that the addition of satellite data into the ShakeAlert system is a big deal.
“This is an important milestone, because what it represents is that we're now incorporating a new technology that is a game-changer in terms of potentially getting alerts out more accurately and faster to people who need them,” de Groot said.
He said the new GPS data will be especially helpful in evaluating large quakes.
“The GPS data tells us how far the ground moved, and when it comes to really big earthquakes, that's important,” he said.
Brendan Crowell, a geophysicist at the University of Washington, helped make this advancement possible.
Crowell’s research has been funded by ShakeAlert. And his algorithm, G-FAST, is at the heart of the newly incorporated GPS component of the system.
He said this technological advancement had been running in test mode for years before officials flipped the switch to bring it into the real-world ShakeAlert a couple of months back.
“The main issue with seismic data is that it's recording accelerations, and accelerations aren't really diagnostic of the full size of an earthquake,” Crowell said. “Like, you can have a high acceleration for a magnitude 6 or magnitude 9. And so, it goes through what's called magnitude saturation, where it'll just say it's a magnitude 7, even if it's a magnitude 9. And that's really where GPS comes in. It's to try and determine, is this really a 7 or is it a 9 or an 8? That's really where the big improvement is.”
ShakeAlert will know an earthquake’s size sooner and more accurately with the new GPS data, de Groot said.
“What that translates into the real world for people is that they may get their alerts sooner, because we'll know sooner,” he said.
ShakeAlert is always looking for ways to reduce latency or innovate, de Groot said.
It might also expand beyond California, Oregon and Washington.
They’ve explored an expansion into Alaska, and de Groot said Nevada makes sense as an expansion candidate.
トピック: Earthquakes