Dr. Elizabeth Cochran, a geophysicist and seismologist with U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Science Center, has had an intense interest in earthquakes since she was a middle school student. She sees earthquakes as a growing threat to an expanding number of locations worldwide. The goal, Cochran explains, is “to reduce the exposure people have to earthquake damage while answering fundamental questions about why earthquakes occur when and where they do.” With colleagues at USGS and academic institutions, Cochran has been developing and implementing on the West Coast of the United States a system, ShakeAlert, which issues early warnings of earthquakes by alerting people that shaking is expected. According to USGS Director Dr. Marcia McNutt, “Cochran’s work on next-generation sensor networks is exactly what the United States needs to help enable earthquake early warning.” She adds that the loss of life and property can be reduced even if there is a warning only a few seconds before an earthquake.
The ShakeAlert, currently in the testing phase, according to the Washington Post, issued a 10-second alert for the earthquake that hit the Napa region in California on August 24. http://wapo.st/1rol95a
Cochran, previously an assistant professor at the University of California, Riverside, was among the recipients of President Obama’s Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor the United States government bestows on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. The National Science Foundation nominated Cochran for the award.
Cochran and Jesse Lawrence of Stanford University had collaboratively created the Quake-Catcher Network (QCN), an earthquake-monitoring system that uses low-cost earthquake sensors and computers with installed software and special sensors to record moderate-to-large earthquakes and aftershocks. The sensors, installed externally to the desktop computers or internally to the laptop computers of citizen volunteers, in effect, create computer-“seismic stations.” The computers are networked using computing techniques that allow scientists to monitor the sensors and automatically retrieve earthquake data. Cochran explains: “The Quake-Catcher Network is a way to involve the public in scientific data collection in high-risk earthquake and aftershock zones in the United States and around the world and to collect seismic data in non-traditional ways.” A great number of seismic data are obtained in a short time, greatly expediting the time it takes to detect and characterize earthquakes.
The software was first released in Reno, Nevada, in April 2008. A few people from the area volunteered to obtain the software in time to record a number of earthquakes that struck in June of that year. That was the first test of the system. Cochran reports, “The sensors and data communication worked correctly.” Since the Reno events, the number of volunteers has increased and virtually every state in the United States and many countries across the world are participating.
The system proved effective also in the 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile in early 2010, where, Cochran says, estimates of magnitude and locations were available in about 20 to 30 seconds. In fact, the data obtained from Chile made it possible to analyze small-scale ground shaking, which, Cochran notes, varies in locations a half a mile away from each other. The data were used to compile Quake-Catcher Network ShakeMaps, called “microzonation,” by seismologists, that enable you to examine specific areas for earthquake hazards. “This information,” Cochran explains, “can provide critical data to feed back into building codes and to help determine where critical infrastructure such as power plants, hospitals, water lines and transportation facilities should be built.” Information about the QCN is available at http://qcn.stanford.edu/. Since its inception in 2008, the QCN has gained academic partners from the University of California-Berkeley; California Institute of Technology; University of California-San Diego; and the University of Delaware.
Information on the recent earthquake that occurred in Napa, California, is at http://emberly.fireengineering.com/articles/2014/08/interview-napa-ca-battalion-chief-on-quake-response.html and http://emberly.fireengineering.com/articles/2014/08/dozens-injured-after-california-earthquake.html
To increase the amount of data being collected by the Quake-Catcher Network, Cochran has been working with the University of Southern California’s (USC) Earthquake Center to install more than 100 seismometers in K-12 schools, museums, and park visitor centers in high-risk earthquake areas, including Alaska, California, and the state of Washington.
MARY JANE DITTMAR is senior associate editor of Fire Engineering and conference manager of FDIC. Before joining the magazine in January 1991, she served as editor of a trade magazine in the health/nutrition market and held various positions in the educational and medical advertising fields. She has a bachelorâÂÂs degree in English/journalism and a masterâÂÂs degree in communication arts.
