Earthquakes And GPS Technology
16 Mar 2012Located on every continent, GPS monitoring stations provide detailed information that help scientists and researchers identify changes that induce earthquakes, like the devastating one that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010 and the powerful 8.8 earthquake that sparked a tsunami in Chili on February 27, 2010.
Because earthquakes occur as a result of movement of the earth’s crust, seismologists and geophysicists around the world have been able to measure such movement with pinpoint precision — thanks to GPS tracking technology.
In the United States, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) uses GPS technology to measure and study the earth’s crustal deformation. Even though the organization’s work spans across the entire nation, most of its concentration is in the western states, where the majority of earthquakes occur. It’s in the western part of the United States where the crustal deformation rates are the highest.
As part of the process in an earthquake, the earth’s surface is deformed as fault’s strain and slip. Using GPS monitoring stations located near active faults , the USGS can measure the earth’s movements within 5mm or less. With repeated measurements over time at the same monitoring stations, researchers can calculate ground deformation leading to better earthquake predictions.
Perhaps the most dramatic example of the usefulness and accuracy of GPS earthquake monitoring technology occurred when a group of Purdue researchers saw the potential of a 7.0 earthquake striking Haiti .
In addition to learning about the earth’s movements and using data as a predictive tool, information from GPS tracking technology can help with the aftermath in earthquake-stricken areas.
That said, there is more we can to do mitigate earthquakes devastation, says says Hiroo Kanamori, seismologist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. “Today’s tools and geophysical knowledge could be utilized more effectively for earthquake hazard mitigation”, explains Kanamori.
“Hopefully the data will provide clues about where and when possible future earth quakes may occur”, commented earthquake researcher Michael Bevis.
From understanding the movement to identifying changes in the earth’s crust, GPS technology has proven to play an important current — and most likely future — role in monitoring earthquakes.
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