Anticipating Earthquakes Initiative: Application of Machine Learning to Study the Causes of Earthquakes

Lead PI: Dr. Sean C. Solomon

Unit Affiliation: Seismology, Geology and Tectonophysics, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO)

January 2020 - December 2020
Inactive
North America ; Mid-Atlantic Region
Project Type: Research

DESCRIPTION: Earthquakes are among the most destructive forces on the planet. In the last decade alone, a surge of huge, so-called “great” earthquakes caused hundreds of thousands of fatalities and billions of dollars in economic losses as shaking and associated landslides and tsunamis devastated cities. Yet our ability to anticipate the timing and impact of future earthquakes remains elusive. Nearly all of these recent great earthquakes upended previously held ideas about the way earthquakes work. The Anticipating Earthquakes initiative is assembling a team of experts and developing the cutting-edge technology to analyze and anticipate earthquake behavior. This effort is vital to improve local risk assessments and disaster planning to help communities survive earthquakes. Its mission is to improve understanding of the physical processes that trigger earthquakes and control how they evolve. By developing deeper knowledge about earthquake risk and behavior, we can help policymakers improve disaster preparation and prevention policies such as building codes that help communities survive earthquakes large and small.