Distributed Seismology

By Winters, Jeffrey

The more data points you have, the more finely detailed analysis you can make. Geologists tracking hidden seismic faults know that the earthquakes they study may have millions of eyewitnesses, but quality information is limited to the number of dedicated seismographs they have available. That number could increase substantially if a project from the San Diego Supercomputer Center in California takes off. The project hopes to take advantage of millions of motion detectors already deployed in laptop computers.

In recent years, all Macintosh laptops have featured built-in accelerometers; these motion sensors are part of a system designed to protect the hard drive if the machine is dropped. In addition, every new Mac has built-in wireless communications hardware and a video camera.

The researchers have found a way to link these tools into what they call the iSeismograph. During an earthquake, software created by the SDSC’s Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation Cyberinfrastructure Center records the motion experienced by the laptop and sends the data via a wireless network to a central information center. There, the data can be accessed by researchers in real time. Presumably, the computer center will also be able to keep track of how often Mac users drop their expensive machines.

Copyright American Society of Mechanical Engineers Jun 2008

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