T164 Risks and Realities: Current Advances in Understanding Societal Risk and Resilience to Natural Hazards II

Tuesday, 20 October 2009
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
D135/136

THE FUTURE OF EARTHQUAKE MONITORING FOR HAZARD MITIGATION IN THE PacNW

Paper number: T164-4
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:45 AM – 9:00 AM

Authors

Abstract

The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN) assists the emergency managers, the press and the public to understand and mitigate earthquake hazards. Our talk in Session T62 reviews our current operations. Although prediction of earthquakes before they begin remains as out of reach as ever, improved communications, computing power, and a better understanding of earthquakephysics are leading to dramatically improved rapid earthquake warnings and evaluations.

More sensors are being installed to improve the speed and accuracy of monitoring, with hundreds of new strong motion and geodetic instruments proposed in the coming years. Recording slow (minutes to hours to days) using geodetic instruments as well as fast (seconds) ground deformation using seismic instruments will allow us to monitor a wider range of hazards, including newly discovered slow earthquakes or landslides, and improve our volcano monitoring capabilities.

Seismic waves only spread at a rate of a few km/sec, so sensors close to the fault rupture provide extra seconds of potential warning to communities at a further distance, as well as more accurate earthquake characterization. Sufficiently rapid data collection and analysis will allow seconds to minutes of warning before the strongest shaking strikes. Such systems are in place in several other countries and being tested now in California. This capability will be possible in the near future in the Pacific Northwest.