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Earthquake Hazard Maps Updated by USGS for US
posted by Satri
on Monday April 28, @01:57PM
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from the shake-that-map dept.
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from the shake-that-map dept.
mdmarkus writes "The USGS has updated their earthquake hazard assessment maps for the contiguous US. They offer static and web dynamic maps showing likely force (in g's) experienced from an earthquake for a given probability level. Great for insurance, risk management, and just finding out what your chance of having the earth move is." Some related stories below.
Related Stories
Disaster Relief after Pakistan's Earthquake 5 comments
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Khaled Saeed writes "In the wake of the massive earthquake in Pakistan, there is an urgent need to compile a GIS based Disaster Relief/Management Initiative. The amount of human suffering is monumental and would increase manifold if a coordinated and efficient effort is not launched immediately.
Would there be volunteers from the global GIS community who could share experiences, tips and application in this program?"
Technology: InSAR and Seismic Modeling
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The Surveying, Mapping abd GIS blog as an interesting entry about InSAR and seismic modeling, providing numerous links to articles. From the blog: "Per Lucy Jones, USGS, ultimately these modeling capabilities along with remote sensing methods for monitoring stresses and movement will need to be communicated with a broader community - structural engineers, architects and planners, building and zoning officials, as well as emergency responders, to be able to act as an integrated team for minimizing earthquake damage."
Predicting Earthquakes From Plankton Blooms 3 comments
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The BBC features a news story about how the detection of anomalous plankton production can be related to quakes. From the article: "Using satellite images and measurements of sea temperatures, they found a correlation between peaks in chlorophyll and proximity to an impending earthquake.
The amount of "advance notice" depended on the ocean depth and proximity to the epicentre of the quake, with the second factor taking precedence. "
The amount of "advance notice" depended on the ocean depth and proximity to the epicentre of the quake, with the second factor taking precedence. "
Hawaii Earthquake 3D Map 1 comment
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Xenon writes "Yesterday I threw together a 3D visualization map of the location of the Oct 15th Hawaii earthquake. My goal was to illustrate the position and relative depth of the epicenter compared to the local seafloor and the height of the island's volcanic peaks. I of course, used my company's Visual Nature Studio 2 to do it, because I'm familiar with it and I knew it could quickly pull together the data I needed.
An interesting problem I encountered has bigger ramifications: The bathymetry DEM data I needed was hosted on web servers at — you guessed it — University of Hawaii! These servers were completely offline due to the power outages and general infrastructural disruption. Luckily, Ben Discoe of the Virtual Terrain Project had a copy mirrored on his server, which is hosted on the mainland. Ben himself lives in a rural area of the Big Island, and is presumably out of communication until infrastructure repairs.
Many people regard the Internet as a disruption-resistant design, but that only applies to the network as a whole. Individual sites may be completely non-redundant, and critical data may be unavailable from a single-point-of-failure like this. Many valuable web-based data sources have unexpectedly disappeared forever in the past — one should always consider preemptively making local cached copies of important data to ward against future unavailability — temporary or permanent, planned or unplanned."
An interesting problem I encountered has bigger ramifications: The bathymetry DEM data I needed was hosted on web servers at — you guessed it — University of Hawaii! These servers were completely offline due to the power outages and general infrastructural disruption. Luckily, Ben Discoe of the Virtual Terrain Project had a copy mirrored on his server, which is hosted on the mainland. Ben himself lives in a rural area of the Big Island, and is presumably out of communication until infrastructure repairs.
Many people regard the Internet as a disruption-resistant design, but that only applies to the network as a whole. Individual sites may be completely non-redundant, and critical data may be unavailable from a single-point-of-failure like this. Many valuable web-based data sources have unexpectedly disappeared forever in the past — one should always consider preemptively making local cached copies of important data to ward against future unavailability — temporary or permanent, planned or unplanned."
Technology: Japan Disaster-Alert System using Satellites
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Very Spatial links to an article on Japan starts disaster-alert system using satellites. From the article: "The new system, called "J-ALERT," will send disaster warnings from the Meteorological Agency via satellite to city and town offices, automatically activating warning sirens and emergency broadcast systems. Until now, local officials have had to activate these systems themselves after receiving warnings. [...] Warnings will be issued for tsunamis and volcanic eruptions along with other extreme weather conditions, and information about earthquake strength will be sent more quickly than before."
Industry: Significant Google Earth Layer Update and No-Addresses Searches 1 comment
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The official Google Lat Long blog informs us of the first 2008 Google Earth layer update. They also inform us users don't need addresses anymore to get directions from Google. The GEB also has a summary regarding the new layers: "New roads layers for 26 countries! 2 million new photos to the Panoramio layer. A substantially updated Earthquake layer, and link to the USGS Earthquake monitoring tool. National Geographic Magazine articles for three more continents. Other Regularly Updated Layers" The GEB also discusses Australia water bodies layers in Google Earth.
Earthquake Hazard Maps Updated by USGS for US
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