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Crowdsourced Seismometry

Does the earth move for you ?
  (+9)(+9)
(+9)
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Most smartphones have accelerometers.

Earthquake waves move surprisingly slowly.

Sign up on the website, download the app.

When an earthquake is detected you get a loud warning tone and a splash screen telling you to put your phone flat on the floor RIGHT NOW.

The phone records any tremors and its GPS location, then uploads to the server. The data quality is poor, but there are many, many identified sampling points.

As a bonus, rescuers may have a better idea where to dig- for your phone, at least.

8th of 7, Oct 08 2014

See links here Detect Earthquakes using Fitbit
[notexactly, Sep 22 2016]

[link]






       Brilliant! +
csea, Oct 08 2014
  

       //put your phone flat on the floor//   

       One problem is that the phone is likely to slide, if the floor is moving sideways at more than a very low frequency.
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 22 2016
  

       Lie down on the phone. This will protect it somewhat from being crushed.
8th of 7, Sep 22 2016
  

       A bit late to the party, [8th of 7]. This idea was all the rage after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake swarm. I can't find a decent link, but there's MyShake among others.
neutrinos_shadow, Sep 22 2016
  

       // Christchurch //   

       ... population 300,000 sheep, two dozen Maoris, five small brown flightless birds, and a markedly indifferent rugby team.   

       Not a big sample size, then.
8th of 7, Sep 22 2016
  

       What on Earth are Maoris doing in Cornwall? And why do they need so many sheep?
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 22 2016
  

       (a) Asylum seekers, driven from their native land by crashing boredom. Even Cornwall is an improvement, which tells you how bad NZ is.   

       (b) Ask the Intercalary. If you're unlucky, he'll explain by showing you some of his home videos.
8th of 7, Sep 22 2016
  

       //The phone records any tremors and its GPS location   

       Uhh...can it screen out the motion from the user running away?
not_morrison_rm, Sep 22 2016
  

       It doesn't have to. The user's duty is, as stated above, to lie on top of the phone and protect it, if necessary sacrificing their life for Science.
8th of 7, Sep 23 2016
  
      
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