SCEC Award Number 11089 View PDF
Proposal Category Collaborative Proposal (Integration and Theory)
Proposal Title Integration of real-time GPS into existing earthquake early warning methodologies to map finite-fault ruptures
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
Richard Allen University of California, Berkeley Roland Bürgmann University of California, Berkeley Ingrid Johanson University of California, Berkeley
Other Participants Postdoctoral Fellow
SCEC Priorities D, A5, B1 SCEC Groups Seismology, Geodesy
Report Due Date 02/29/2012 Date Report Submitted N/A
Project Abstract
 We explore the use of real-time high-rate GPS displacement data for earthquake early warning using 1 Hz displacement waveforms from the April 4, 2010, Mw 7.2 El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake. We compare these data to those provided by the broadband velocity and accelerometer instrumentation of the Southern California Seismic Network. The unique information provided by the GPS-based displacement timeseries is the permanent/static displacement. Using a simple algorithm that can be applied in real-time, we extract the static offset shortly after the S-wave arrival, around the time of the observed peak shaking at the same site, and before shaking at more distant locations. These data can be used, as they become available, to provide a robust estimate of the earthquake magnitude, which ranges from 6.8 to 7.0 in this case. We therefore conclude that real-time high-rate GPS can provide a useful and independent assessment of earthquake magnitude for the purpose of earthquake early warning and real-time earthquake information systems in general including tsunami warning systems.
Intellectual Merit This project supported one of the first studies that demonstrates that real-time GPS can be used for Earthquake Early Warning. Today, many groups are now working on the development of methodologies for use in our real-time warning system.
Broader Impacts This work supported the international exchange of one graduate student and contributed to the growing discussion of the uses of realtime GPS within the hazards community.
Exemplary Figure Figure 1