PREDICTING EARTHQUAKES FROM SPACE

In January, 1994, an earthquake centered in Northridge, California, a suburb in the San Fernando Valley, devastated the Los Angeles area. Fifty-seven people died, about 1500 suffered serious injuries, and total damage was estimated at $15 billion. While the human and financial cost was relatively low for a natural disaster of that magnitude, advance warning could help communities prepare for future quakes.

Does that sound far-out or far-off? Not necessarily. Two months before the Northridge Earthquake, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published a paper predicting the size and style of a potential earthquake near the San Fernando Valley. Their findings were based on six years of Global Positioning Data, obtained by observing Earth from satellites orbiting our planet, which found that the area’s faults were active and building up strain.

As the space-based research becomes more sophisticated, it will be able to predict earthquakes more exactly, giving communities time to prepare by evacuating vulnerable buildings and alerting fire departments, health care facilities, and other rescue operations. Earthquakes’ human and financial tolls will be reduced, and our communities and our country will benefit.

Soon predicting quakes by observing the earth from outer space will be a reality. It will represent a real-world return on a far-seeing investment in university research. This research is being conducted by scientists at MIT and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and funded by the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Download All 15 Examples (PDF)