Now GPS can detect early signs of megaquakes, improving the warning system
Scientists have discovered a way to identify indicators of a mega earthquake using GPS-based information, an advance that may help improve early warning systems for quakes. The researchers from University of Oregon in the US combed through databases of earthquakes since the early 1990s have discovered a possible defining moment 10-15 seconds into an event that could signal a magnitude seven or larger quake. Likewise, that moment -- gleaned from GPS data on the peak rate of acceleration of ground displacement -- can indicate a smaller event. GPS picks up an initial signal of movement along a fault similar to a seismometer detecting the smallest first moments of an earthquake. Such GPS-based information potentially could enhance the value of earthquake early warning systems, said Diego Melgar, a professor in the University of Oregon. The physics-heavy analyses of two databases detected a point in time where a newly initiated earthquake transitions into a slip pulse where ...