IRIS 1999 Wayne D. Pennington Geophysics in the 8th Grade: Earthquake Waves Right in Their Own Backyard Michigan Technological University

Volunteer-Run Temporary Seismograph Stations  Simple Software  Run for 2-3 Months  Use Volunteers; train them first  Cheap, easy…. bWe hope!

Mexican earthquake, magnitude 6.8

UPSeis:  Upper Peninsula Seismic Experiments In Schools

The UPSeis Program  One of several established programs  In-classroom experience for K-12  University personnel visit schools  Volunteer efforts  SEG Foundation purchased equipment

Working Closely With  MichSeis  Michigan Seismology

Can non-permanent stations record Earthquakes?  Yes, we do it all the time  Just wait long enough, for a...  Really big one  Nearby one  Both of the above Seismogram from MichSeis Web site

How do schools get started?  Teacher or principal...  Learns about UPSeis  Calls us  We visit school and install  In classroom, away from feet  Explain to each class

Step-by-Step: 1  Place Seismograph in classroom  Leave it there for 2-3 months  Record earthquakes

Step-by- Step: 2  Record Eq’s  Locations: 

Step-by-Step: 3  Return and “interpret” seismograms

The Interpretation Process  Distribute  seismograms  earthquake lists  travel-time curves  string  globes P S LRLR

Analyze the Events  Identify earthquake from times on list  Locate earthquake on globe (lat,lon)  Find distance to hometown (string)  Use travel-time curves to identify arrivals of seismic waves  Advanced classes: find magnitude

What do the students learn?  About Earthquakes  About Geophysics in general  That real people can do real science  How to read a globe!!!  Charts and equations

How is this now possible? 1  New, low-cost ($1500) Broad-band Seismographs  Research quality  Easy to install and maintain

How is this now possible? 2  Low-cost computers serve as Data-Acquisition units  A-D boards are still expensive, getting cheaper  Low sample rates

The Seismometer We Use  The S102 from EAI  Uses an RF distance detector EAI = Electronic Acoustics, Inc.

What other equipment is used?  Macintosh Computer  (any with a full-length NuBus slot)  National Instruments A-D board  Plan to expand program with other:  Computers  A-D boards

Equipment Plan That’s All! A to D

But we don’t have a seismic “pier”  That’s OK! We use the floor.  Preferably ground floor, but we’ve used upper floors  Big earthquakes are big enough to record anywhere!

What about people walking?  Doesn’t make a difference  Experiments in class prove it,  and are fun!

What’s Next?  Improve Software  User-friendly  Machine-independent  Utilize cheaper A-D boards  Fool-proof

Why Am I Telling You?  You can get involved  Next year, we hope  to have a better program in place  any company can sponsor workers  to use equipment in schools  and help our young people be excited about science!

And Whom Do I Thank?  SEG Foundation  Equipment purchase  Software re-write  Principals and Teachers  Especially Mr. Jim Luoma, Houghton  Original Software author  Dr. Larry Ruff, University of Michigan