The Real-time Earthquake Analysis for Disaster (READI) uses real-time GPS measurements from nearly 500 stations in California, Oregon and Washington to quickly calculate the location, magnitude and other details about an earthquake.
The same system could also aid in faster disaster response for tsunamis, since it provides exactly the type of detailed data about an earthquake that's needed to calculate the strength of a tsunami.
The system, which was first introduced in 2004, works by measuring ground displacements with high precision using GPS. The result is a far more rapid and accurate estimate of the earthquake's strength compared to conventional seismic networks.
"By using GPS to measure ground deformation from large earthquakes, we can reduce the time needed to locate and characterize the damage from large seismic events to several minutes," said Yehuda Bock, director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography's Orbit and Permanent Array Center in La Jolla, California.