USGS Upgrades Monitoring Sites To Broadband From California To Arizona

By Heather van Blokland
Published: Thursday, August 10, 2017 - 5:10am
Updated: Thursday, August 10, 2017 - 7:44am

The USGS is upgrading out-of-date earthquake monitoring sites from analog to digital broadband.

For its most remote sites — in which more traditional internet providers don’t provide service — the USGS Earthquake Science Center is partnering with a California company to install satellite internet.

Richard Sessoms of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earthquake Science Center said satellite internet is used to transmit earthquake warning data.

The USGS has about 400 earthquake monitoring sites extending from central California into Arizona.

It’s expanding coverage to blanket the area, with plans to create a network along the entire West Coast in five to 10 years.

The goal is to give people a 30- to 45-second head start before an earthquake starts. Upgraded systems have been installed in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

Business Science