Android Phones Can Detect Earthquakes Before the Ground Starts Shaking (gizmodo.com) 26
Electronic messages travel faster than seismic waves, Gizmodo points out — meaning some people near an earthquake receive an Android Earthquake Alert "before the seismic waves reach them — and even a few seconds could be just enough time to hide under a table or run outside."
Richard Allen from the University of California in Berkeley's Seismological Laboratory, writes in a new study that "The global adoption of smartphone technology places sophisticated sensing and alerting capabilities in people's hands, in both the wealthy and less-wealthy portions of the planet."
From Gizmodo: According to the study, 70% of the world's smartphones are Android phones, which by default come with the aforementioned sensing and alerting capabilities. From 2021 to 2024, the Android Earthquake Alert (AEA) system detected an average of 312 earthquakes per month across 98 countries. The earthquakes had a magnitude between 1.9 and 7.8, and the system alerted users of earthquakes at or over a magnitude of 4.5, averaging around 60 events and 18 million alerts per month. The AEA system also collected user feedback, revealing that 85% of users who received alerts experienced shaking, with 36% receiving the alert before, 28% during, and 23% after the shaking began...
"AEA demonstrates that globally distributed smartphones can be used to detect earthquakes and issue warnings at scale with an effectiveness comparable to established national systems," the researchers wrote.
The system detected 11,231 earthquakes between April of 2021 and March of 2024, according to the study, which notes that the length of the advanced warning "ranged from seconds up to a minute" for moderate shaking, and about 15 seconds for the strongest shaking.
Richard Allen from the University of California in Berkeley's Seismological Laboratory, writes in a new study that "The global adoption of smartphone technology places sophisticated sensing and alerting capabilities in people's hands, in both the wealthy and less-wealthy portions of the planet."
From Gizmodo: According to the study, 70% of the world's smartphones are Android phones, which by default come with the aforementioned sensing and alerting capabilities. From 2021 to 2024, the Android Earthquake Alert (AEA) system detected an average of 312 earthquakes per month across 98 countries. The earthquakes had a magnitude between 1.9 and 7.8, and the system alerted users of earthquakes at or over a magnitude of 4.5, averaging around 60 events and 18 million alerts per month. The AEA system also collected user feedback, revealing that 85% of users who received alerts experienced shaking, with 36% receiving the alert before, 28% during, and 23% after the shaking began...
"AEA demonstrates that globally distributed smartphones can be used to detect earthquakes and issue warnings at scale with an effectiveness comparable to established national systems," the researchers wrote.
The system detected 11,231 earthquakes between April of 2021 and March of 2024, according to the study, which notes that the length of the advanced warning "ranged from seconds up to a minute" for moderate shaking, and about 15 seconds for the strongest shaking.
Relevant XKCD (Score:3)
https://xkcd.com/723/ [xkcd.com]
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I was thinking of this one... https://xkcd.com/937/ [xkcd.com]
The BBC interviewed someone from Google about earthquake detection a few years ago, because it failed to warn people... I think in Turkey.
It's a useful tool to supplement traditional monitoring, but not a substitute.
Don't miss one in Italy (Score:3)
You might get sentenced for not alerting by bozo judges.
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I want to learn more about this, would you have a helpful link? I can't figure which keywords would lead me to the stories.
Re: Don't miss one in Italy (Score:4, Informative)
https://www.theguardian.com/sc... [theguardian.com]
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Thanks. There's more to it. I come to conclusion that idiot scientist does not necessarily deserve jail, but should be prevented from having any influence on science ever again.
I read https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] and in particular followed ref. 8 https://web.archive.org/web/20... [archive.org] (in Italian).
Enzo Bosci had previously developed theories according which it is totally impossible to predict earthquake, to the point it is worthless to put sensors (because according to him we don't have knowledge to interpr
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You might get sentenced for not alerting by bozo judges.
It should be mentioned that this was a 2012 trial after a 2009 earthquake, and that all but one of the convictions were overturned on appeal. The one whose sentence was confirmed also had his sentence reduced and suspended. In Italy, convicts don't go to prison until after their first appeal, so none of the scientists served a day of their sentence.
The one that had his sentence confirmed, though not his punishment, had provided information in an interview that was scientifically invalid and discourage ev
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but it's not ludicrous.
Yes, it is.
Pedantic post (Score:2)
Re: Pedantic post (Score:2)
Exactly.
How does an Android phone "Detect Earthquakes BEFORE the Ground Starts shaking"? What is it detecting BEFORE the ground shakes?
Earthshaking news (Score:2)
Didn't see *that* coming!
The technology is useless... (Score:3)
... when your mom is walking around.
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No it's very useful. It can warn you she's coming and give you extra needed time to close your browser tabs.
Re: SMS? (Score:2)
Ummm... Who said it's SMS?
When I get the alerts, they come through the system notification system, which is basically an always on connection performing long polling.
Re: SMS? (Score:2)
I live in an earthquake prone area. There is also no usable cell signal.
It works! (Score:3)
I got an earthquake alert from my (non-Android) cell phone last month a good 10 seconds before the shaking started. It was enough warning for me to get under my desk and then be oddly disappointed when the shaking was very mild, but it did demonstrate the benefit of the MyShake [berkeley.edu] app.
Got one a few weeks ago (Score:2)
I was alerted to an impending earthquake a few weeks ago. I looked up at my ceiling trying to decide what parts are structural and which are decorative. Earthquake was over before I could figure that out.
So, just lie cats, then? (Score:2)
Mine always seem to know ahead of time.
Free to download! (Score:2)
* In app purchases
70% (Score:1)
I wonder if that is only Google, or all Android phones. Iinm, this functionality is part of the Google proprietary stuff, so maybe not in all Android phones.