The cell phone in your pocket may one day save you from an earthquake. Smartphonesthefuture be used en masse to provide early warning of a major earthquake. Researchers in the US have shown for the first time that combining data from the GPS receivers of many devices can reveal that a major earthquake is imminent.
Researchers from the US Geological Survey, NASA and American universities (Caltech, Houston, Carnegie Mellon), led by geophysicists Sarah Minson and Benjamin Brooks, who published the relevant paper in the new scientific journal "Science Advances", according to "Science" and "New Scientist", found that GPS sensors, although not as accurate as scientific instruments such as a seismograph, are still able to detect ground movement due to the activation of a fault, which heralds a major earthquake.
If there is a system that collects individual data from thousands of smartphones of those who want to participate in such a program, then it is possible - with the appropriate analysis of the massive data by computers - to detect the upcoming earthquake and issue a relevant immediate warning, in principle to the same users who sent the relevant data via smartphones .
Such technology would be useful both as a complementary tool in developed countries, as well as in poorer countries where sophisticated earthquake monitoring systems do not yet exist. This is another case where crowd-sourcing and citizen scientists are contributing to scientific research, and with valuable practical implications.
Today, there are very few early warning systems on Earth (in California, Japan, and Mexico) that can immediately detect the onset of an earthquake and immediately transmit automatic warning signals to residents of an area before they feel the ground shaking. However, most of the Earth's population does not have the ability to be informed in time about an earthquake, due to the high cost of such infrastructure.
The researchers estimated that no more than 5,000 people would be needed to send data from smartphones to detect the exact epicenter of the earthquake within just a few seconds of its onset, thus providing early warning to a large city about the impending event.
As University of Houston professor Craig Glennie said, “the speed of an electronic warning signal is greater than the speed of transmission of the earthquake itself (i.e., seismic waves).” A warning even a few seconds before the earthquake begins can make the difference between life and death.
Initially, the system seems to "work" only with strong earthquakes of at least 7 points and not with smaller ones, which can be extremely destructive. The new technology will be piloted on the coast of Chile, where strong earthquakes often occur. And as GPS sensors are integrated into more and more smartphones and vehicles, the possibilities in the future look really positive.
Source: defencenet.gr
