Our Terms & Conditions | Our Privacy Policy
Wednesday, 19 March 2025, 9:52 am
Press Release: Natural Hazards Commission
New research from Victoria University of Wellington shows
that low-cost, off the shelf seismometers can add great
value to earthquake monitoring and even show promise as
early detection devices.
The Natural Hazards
Commission Toka Tū Ake (NHC) funded* research is the first
in the world to analyse the quality of data gathered through
publicly available Raspberry Shake seismometers in such
detail.
Lead researcher Bethany Hughes and her
supervisor Dr Finn Illsley-Kemp say the $1000 NZD “small
but powerful” desktop seismometers could revolutionise how
we think about earthquake data.
“The citizen science
data collected through Raspberry Shakes has been often
dismissed as a hobby of people interested in earthquakes,
and very rarely has it been used for scientific research
because it’s been assumed that the data isn’t good
enough,” says Illsley-Kemp.
“But we show that,
when paired with the GNS Science’s GeoNet seismometer
network, the data is high quality and reliable and can help
us accurately monitor earthquakes,” he
says.
Studying earthquakes helps scientists better
understand the causes and potential impacts of future
events, which can inform preparedness planning by
communities and emergency management
agencies.
Illsley-Kemp’s group collaborated with the
CRISiSLab team from
Massey’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research who used the
Raspberry Shakes to study early earthquake
detection.
Advertisement – scroll to continue reading
The researchers sent out 22 Raspberry
Shakes to people around the Wellington region, to compliment
GeoNet’s network of 20 high-quality
seismometers.
“We purposely didn’t help people
set-up the Shakes because we wanted to simulate real-world
situations where people don’t have guidance from
experts.”
Together with the GeoNet network, the
Raspberry Shakes picked up 19 earthquakes ranging from
magnitudes 1.1 to 3.5 over a one-week period.
“The
amplitudes measured by the Shakes was comparable to the
GeoNet network, and we were surprised to see the Shakes
picking up low magnitude earthquakes that were even outside
the range of GeoNet seismometers due to the increased sensor
density in the study.”
Illsley-Kemp was also
surprised to find the devices accurately located
earthquakes, despite users’ exact locations being obscured
for privacy reasons.
“Understanding earthquake
location can help us find new faults or better understand
known ones.”
Illsley-Kemp cautions that Raspberry
Shakes are most useful in conjunction with professional
seismometer networks, which is why Wellington was a good
place to undertake this research.
Alongside the GeoNet
land-based sensor network, NHC is also funding a temporary
network of ocean-bottom seismometers to study the Hikurangi
subduction zone off Wellington’s coast.
There are
about 50 Raspberry Shakes in New Zealand, according to the
global
map, which hosts earthquake data from devices all over
the world.
“If more people installed these devices
in their homes, alongside the professional networks, we
would have a really amazing seismometer network that would
be able to locate earthquakes in and around Wellington in
great detail,” Illsely-Kemp explains.
“A dense
distribution of Raspberry Shakes could act as an early
warning system, picking up signals seconds before they reach
the GeoNet network,” he says.
“One of the biggest
barriers to an earthquake early warning system in New
Zealand is the cost, whereas we show that the
instrumentation can be affordable while still being very
useful.”
The group plans to extend their research
into using Raspberry Shakes to study fault lines, earthquake
swarms, and even volcanic activity.
Dr Natalie
Balfour, NHC Head of Research, is pleased to see the
practical application of this study.
“We’re
interested in innovative research that helps communities be
more resilient to natural hazards. These results are
promising because they show that it’s possible to
supplement our high-quality GeoNet network with low-cost,
readily available devices, to better understand earthquake
hazard.
“What’s also great about this approach is
that it empowers people and communities to take part in the
science,” she says.
*The project is co-funded by the
Rachael Westergaard Memorial
Scholarship.
© Scoop Media
Using Scoop for work?
Scoop is free for personal use, but you’ll need a licence for work use. This is part of our Ethical Paywall and how we fund Scoop. Join today with plans starting from less than $3 per week, plus gain access to exclusive Pro features.
Join Pro Individual
Find out more
[ad_1]
Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.
Aggregated From –
[ad_2]
Comments are closed.