ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – A new Android feature gives users a few seconds of alertness if an earthquake is approaching.
Michael West, state seismologist and director of the Alaska Earthquake Center, said there are no other widely distributed early warning systems in Alaska for people who don’t have cellphones with the Android operating system. He said he would not. Even with this new feature, West said the state still doesn’t have a full-fledged early warning program.
West said the warning time depends on the Android user’s distance to the epicenter.
“In some cases, there may be no warning at all, and it’s entirely possible that you will receive a warning long after the earthquake occurs,” West said. “But for other earthquakes that start further away, seconds, even tens of seconds, and potentially a minute becomes a realistic possibility.”
Rather than using seismic observatories to detect earthquakes, the feature uses sensors called accelerometers, West said.
“Every cell phone basically has a small, very low-grade seismic device built into it,” West said. “That way, your phone knows how to do many things. For example, it will automatically adjust when you hold your phone in landscape or portrait orientation. There are many users out there, and It is possible to derive some kind of sensation from it: the shaking of an earthquake.”
West said this feature helps demonstrate what the Alaska Early Warning System is capable of.
However, Android-based systems have limitations. This is because data cannot be collected over long distances, such as in the middle of the ocean.
“You need any type of sensor near where the earthquake is happening, which may or may not be where the people you want to alert are,” West says. .
West said it would be interesting to see how the warning plays out in such a situation.
There is another system called Shake Alert, which has been implemented in some states in the Pacific Northwest and parts of Canada, but not yet in Alaska. Use seismic observatories to send early warnings. It can also connect to automated systems and trigger actions such as opening a fire station door or closing a gas valve.
Scientists can’t predict earthquakes, but new features in Android and ShakeAlert can provide early warning.
“‘Next Thursday, at 4 p.m., prepare for an earthquake.’ There is no such thing, and most scientists believe there never will be,” West said.
To learn more about ShakeAlert and earthquake early warnings, watch the “Fault in the Facts” episode titled “Can Scientists Predict Earthquakes?”
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