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Mid-America Integrated Seismic Network

Operation of the earthquake monitoring network at the UofM Center for Earthquake Research and Information

 

Did you know that there were over a hundred earthquakes within 150 miles of Memphis last year? Did you know that information for each of those earthquakes provided by the U.S. Geological Survey originated at the University of Memphis? This is year 5 of a five-year award with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to continue operation of the regional seismic network operated by the Center for Earthquake Research and Information (CERI) at the University of Memphis. As an authoritative earthquake monitoring network with the federally managed Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) we are responsible for 24/7/365 reporting of information on seismic events over a region that spans from the Oklahoma border to the Potomac River. Our data and products are seamlessly integrated with the USGS National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, CO. We are also mandated by Tennessee Code Title 49 § 49-8-602 to report on earthquakes that impact the state. To perform these functions, CERI has operated seismic networks since 1977 and is a founding member of the ANSS established in 1999. The USGS has provided federal support for our earthquake monitoring program since 1992 and today, with seven talented and dedicated full-time staff, we operate more than 150 stations in nine states and import data from another 230 operated by our federal and state partners throughout the region. In total, we process more than 1,500 data channels in real-time. Our systems continuously scan these data streams to alert staff within two to three minutes of an earthquake and we release human-reviewed information within 5-10 minutes of the event. Our data and products are used by the media, first responders, scientists, and engineers, and those who want to know, “was that an earthquake I just felt.”

Operating stable and consistent earthquake monitoring networks over the long term is essential to understanding the earthquake cycle and building a well curated, statistically meaningful, and geographically representative database of raw waveforms and parametric data (hypocenters, arrivals, magnitudes, etc) that allows scientific investigations, inversions, and analysis. Products include online catalogs, archived waveforms, rapid notifications, and maps of recent earthquakes. On average, we process more than 500 earthquakes each year though induced seismicity swarms may swell those rates to more than 1000/year. Our mission is twofold:

  1. to provide scientists, engineers, public and private entities, emergency responders, and the media with rapid and reliable information about felt and damaging earthquakes within a timeframe that maximizes the utility of the information,
  2. and to provide high quality data on a timely basis to the scientific and engineering communities for the purpose of improving:
  • seismic hazard estimation for urban population centers and the lifelines and critical facilities upon which they depend
  • estimation and measurement of strong ground motions, our understanding of the basic earthquake process, and seismotectonics of earthquake zones, particularly in intraplate regions.

Dr. Mitchell Withers, research associate professor in the Center of Earthquake Research and Information (CERI), leads this project. For more information, visit https://www.memphis.edu/ceri/seismic/.