New app puts an earthquake detector in your pocket
Smartphone technology harnessed to track temblor vibrations
WASHINGTON — If you need to detect earthquakes, there’s an app for that. Seismologists have harnessed the motion-sensing accelerometers built into smartphones to detect tremors. The app, called MyShake, could eventually provide early warning of approaching quakes in regions lacking sophisticated seismometer networks, Richard Allen, a seismologist at the University of California, Berkeley, said February 11 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
MyShake monitors a smartphone’s movements. The software differentiates between everyday motion, such as a phone jostling in a pocket, and vibrations caused by an earthquake. The system monitors whether smartphones running the app in the same area report a quake (SN: 4/19/14, p. 16). One day, the system could then send earthquake alerts to users’ phones, Allen said.