Posted on 04/11/2010 12:55:09 AM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
As part of their battle to understand and protect against the destructive force of earthquakes, seismologists have gone to extraordinary lengths. They have bored holes deep into the earth's crust, laid out arrays of sensors hundreds of miles across, and built supercomputers capable of running simulations at teraflop speeds. But the most exciting new effort in cutting-edge seismology involves a piece of instrumentation that's a good deal less exotic. It's called an iPhone.
"Each smartphone has an accelerometer built into it," says Robert W. Clayton, a professor of geology at Caltech. "It's primary function is to determine the orientation of the phone and to allow gaming. But it can also be used to detect seismic activity." What's more, the phone's internet connection allows it instant access to remote servers. In essence, though consumers think of them that way, iPhones have the capability to serve as nodes in a distributed seismic sensor network. All they need is someone to organize that network. Clayton is part of a team aiming to do just that. Called Community Seismic Network, the project will debut this summer with a tight cluster of sensors in the Pasadena area.
Volunteers are being issued inexpensive three-axis accelerometers, each about the size of a stopwatch, that can plug into any computer's USB port. Later, the network will expand to include laptops equipped with built-in accelerometers and then to smartphones. The project is running in parallel with a Stanford-based effort called the Quake Catcher Network that is already collecting data from volunteers around the world
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
Have already experienced two earthquake predictions in Japan, via NHK live TV alerts. Sure enough, the rumbling started in about two to three minutes later after the first alert. Amazing. It does give you a chance to prepare, brace, get away from windows, get out of an elevator if you have a text alert system to your cell phone, etc. etc.
Welcome to the Japan that everyone (at least the pro-China Communists in our government and media) said was down and out for the count.
I have had my fair share of earthquakes including a scar in my back caused by the Northridge quake
I hope the phones can tell the difference between being jostled while being carried, and the shaking of earthquakes.
I am pretty sure considering they are getting their info from ground units buried in the earth.
The more likely mistake will be a truck running over a curb which would more likely approximate the acceleration you find in a temblor.
There will be a wide network of other computers and iPODs on the network so the software will be able to discriminate between false alarms and true earth quakes. Other computers close by will either confirm or dismiss an alarm by one iPOD.
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