May 6, 2021
Soundbites & B-roll: Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, partners activate earthquake early warnings
On May 4, 2021, the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Washington-based Pacific Northwest Seismic Network and the Washington Emergency Management Division activated a system called ShakeAlert that sends earthquake early warnings throughout Washington state directly to people’s cell phones.
PNSN operates a growing network of about 230 seismic stations in Washington and some 155 stations in Oregon that provide data for ShakeAlert. When four or more of these instruments detect unusual shaking, that motion is analyzed by computers on the UW campus that quickly calculate the size and location of the seismic event.
The UW is part of a consortium of universities that developed the earthquake early warning system in partnership with the USGS. Seismologists are continuing to build out and improve the system, even as public alerting has been activated.
Read full story: https://www.washington.edu/news/2021/05/03/earthquake-early-warnings-launch-in-washington-completing-west-coast-wide-shakealert-system/
For more information, contact Kiyomi Taguchi at ktaguchi@uw.edu or 206-685-2716.
Tag(s): earthquakes & seismology • Harold Tobin • ShakeAlert
