Stephen Gao's work on monitoring earthquakes in the Midwest (which we reported on previously) continues to attract attention. The latest media coverage comes from Voice of America, which dispatched a reporter to meet with Gao and his graduate students earlier this summer. The result is this news story: EarthScope Advances Quake Prediction.
Here's an excerpt:
Last month, Science Daily talked to Gao about what days -- and what times of days -- earthquakes are likely to happen. They seem to be more frequent on Sundays or late at night, but Gao says "that's just because it's quiet" during those times.
Here's an excerpt:
EarthScope is part of a huge project to seismographically map the continental U.S. and Alaska. "The idea is to use 400 seismographs to cover the whole U.S. in about 14 years," Gao explains, adding that the information that will come from those monitors is designed to help scientists predict, not prevent, earthquakes. "[But if] you can predict one, then you can do something to lessen the damage caused by an earthquake," he points out. "People can come out of their house and camp outside. You can shut down the power, the natural gas lines. In that situation, you can reduce the damage a lot."
EarthScope began putting down seismometers on the U.S. west coast in 2002 and is moving its operations eastward across the country. The project is currently entering the area of the New Madrid fault zone, in Missouri and several nearby states. It's the site of one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded in North America.
Last month, Science Daily talked to Gao about what days -- and what times of days -- earthquakes are likely to happen. They seem to be more frequent on Sundays or late at night, but Gao says "that's just because it's quiet" during those times.
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