The Smartphone’s Next Frontier: Earthquake Early Warning System
4 hours ago
A new study has shown that smartphones can be used to create an earthquake early warning system, providing an inexpensive option for many countries.
Early warnings can mean the difference between life and death when an earthquake strikes. Many wealthier nations have invested in expensive early warning system. For many developing countries, however, such systems are out of reach.
Ben Brooks, of the U.S. Geological Survey, presented the results of a study before the Seismological Society of America (SSA)’s 2021 Annual Meeting. According to the study, a network of 80 cellphones were used to detect earthquakes, and the results compared against a scientific-grade system.
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Earthquake early warnings can be delivered successfully using a small network of off-the-shelf smartphones attached to building baseboards, according to a study conducted in Costa Rica last year.
In his presentation at the Seismological Society of America (SSA) s 2021 Annual Meeting, Ben Brooks of the U.S. Geological Survey said the ASTUTI (Alerta Sismica Temprana Utilizando Teléfonos Inteligentes) network of more than 80 stations performed comparably to scientific-grade warning systems.
During six months of ASTUTI operation, there were 13 earthquakes that caused noticeable shaking in Costa Rica, including in the city of San Jose where the network was deployed. The system was able to detect and alert on five of these earthquakes, Brooks and his colleagues determined when they replayed the seismic events to test their network.