Exciting news! We're transitioning to the Statewide California Earthquake Center. Our new website is under construction, but we'll continue using this website for SCEC business in the meantime. We're also archiving the Southern Center site to preserve its rich history. A new and improved platform is coming soon!

Research Highlights

Mike Floyd: State of the Community Geodetic Model (more presentations)

The Community Geodetic Model (CGM) provides displacement time series and velocities of the Earth’s surface over southern California.

The Community Stress Drop Validation technical activity group is focused on resolving discrepancies in earthquake stress drop.

The Community Rheology Model (CRM) provides a three-dimensional description of the ductile rheology of southern California’s lithosphere.

Education Programs

Supported Opportunities for Undergraduates and Researchers to Collaborate on Earthquake Science (SOURCES) offers a remotely-mentored research experience to college students nationwide.

Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) pairs a student, one-on-one, to conduct research with a pre-eminent earthquake scientist or specialist.

Undergraduate Studies in Earthquake Information Technology (UseIT) internship is a team-based undergraduate research program.

SCEC Transitions Program provides students and early-career scientists with resources and mentoring at major transitions in their educational and professional careers.

Recent Earthquakes

Earthquakes can happen at any time. See the USGS or SCEDC for real-time earthquake information.

Earthquake Preparedness

Seven Steps to Earthquake Safety
A step-by-step guide for staying safe before, during, and after an earthquake.

Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills
SCEC is the global coordinator for the world’s largest earthquake drill, when millions of people practice self-protection and other aspects of their emergency plans.

Earthquakes in the News

A series of “hidden” geological hazards has been uncovered in the northern reaches of Yellowstone National Park,...
Scientists discovered that unique seismic signals were detectable around eight months before the devastating 7.8...
The latest analyses of data from the region since 2014 show signs of precursor phenomena in the form of spatially and...
North America may still be trembling with the aftershocks of two major earthquakes that struck the continent more than...
High-performance computing (HPC) has enabled scientists to use geophysical and seismographic data from past events to...
Immature faults, such as those in the Eastern California Shear Zone, generate widespread fracturing at the surface...
In a significant stride towards earthquake preparedness, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank proudly hosted this year’s...
The USC-based Southern California Earthquake Center is expanding its reach to cover the entire state of California...
These new results evaluate dual hydration of oceanic lithosphere, and provide important reference for global sea level...
New research, published in Quaternary Science Reviews, has explored the possibility of the earthquakes being triggered...