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How to Detect Earthquakes From Your Desk

A SETI-like network of laptops can trump seismometers

By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 28, 2008 6:11 AM CDT

(Newser) – Seismologists have found a way to harness the power of a built-in feature of many laptops and create a new wide-ranging earthquake-detection system, the Economist reports. The "Quake-Catcher Network" capitalizes on laptops' accelerometers, little devices that detect when the computer is falling or shaken, to provide widespread—and highly sensitive—recordings of the earth's vibrations.

The system, which has already detected quakes in California and Nevada, has three major benefits over traditional seismometers. Not only can the laptop network be much more extensive than one of expensive geological instruments, it can also record more detailed information. But the big coup would be to catch quakes fast enough at their epicenters to send warnings to surrounding areas.

A seismologist studies the segment of the North Anatolian Fault that produced a magnitude 7.4 earthquake in 1999.
A seismologist studies the segment of the North Anatolian Fault that produced a magnitude 7.4 earthquake in 1999.   (Magnum Photos)
The Chino Hills Quake hitting one QCN-user's Macbook. The network currently can only take data from Mac and Thinkpad laptops, but developers are working on other brands.
The Chino Hills Quake hitting one QCN-user's Macbook. The network currently can only take data from Mac and Thinkpad laptops, but developers are working on other brands.   ((c) oropeza)
Seismology graduate student Julian Lozos of the University of California, Riverside monitors earthquakes by constantly running a background program on an Apple MacBook laptop.
Seismology graduate student Julian Lozos of the University of California, Riverside monitors earthquakes by constantly running a background program on an Apple MacBook laptop.   (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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