So it's true: Twitter messages can outrun ground shaking during an earthquake. The U.S. Geological Survey even monitors tweets of #earthquake to help with monitoring seismic events. (To follow tweet-derived earthquake information, subscribe to @USGSted)
Okay, that’s cool. But do amateur scientists really have the power to truly transform earthquake science? Short answer: Yes.
That’s the word from University of California, Berkeley, seismologist Richard Allen, who reviews the latest citizen-based earthquake science projects in a Perspectives article out today in the journal Science.
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So, if you fancy yourself a quake catcher, we can tell you how (scroll down for a guide). The ultimate goal, of course, is to get volunteers to gather as much reliable detail as possible about how and where temblors move the ground so that the experts can improve early warning systems and help make plans to mitigate damage to people and property.
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Even the best of the world’s traditional seismic networks only have stations every 10 kilometers or so. Volunteers can really fill in the gaps by filling out online surveys, by setting accelerometer-equipped laptops and smartphones to transmit ground motion information directly, or by hosting a digital earthquake sensor in a home or office building.
Allen gives his thumbs up to these types of programs under two conditions: The collected information must be held to a high standard, and program designers must work to keep volunteers engaged over the long haul.
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Did You Feel It? (DYFI)
“The best-developed citizen-based earthquake science project today,” Allen writes. Here’s all you have to do to get involved: If you feel an earthquake, go online and answer a few questions about where you were and what you felt. The DYFI database already has two million entries available for download.
Quake-Catcher Network (QCN)
The Quake-Catcher Network is a distributed computing network that links volunteer-hosted computers into a real-time, motion-sensing network. The network's servers sift through these signals and weed out the ones that represent wobbly tables or trucks driving by. Anyone can buy sensors on QCN’s website for $49, and teachers can get special deals.
iShake iPhone App
Download this free app, and let your phone work while you sleep. All you have to do is turn the application on when you plug in your phone at night (to ensure the device is still). Any tremors your phone detects will be streamed back to servers that will process the data and generate a map available for instant viewing.
NetQuakes
Attention citizen seismologists in the western U.S.: The USGS has a new digital seismometer that uses existing broadband WiFi connections to transmit data after an earthquake, and they would like to come bolt one to the foundation of your home, business or school. The agency provides online tools so that you can compare the readings of your sensor to those of others nearby.
IMAGE:
This instantaneous view of earthquake recordings provided by citizen-scientists shows that the ground shaking looks like waves in a pond propagating away from the source. (Courtesy Richard M. Allen and AAAS/Science)
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