[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]ABOUT ALL THOSE SHAKY FOUNDATIONS…UNDER OUR FEET.
(especially all along the trail of the Pacific ring of fire)

In the past few weeks two hard seismic events have shaken up our world. The first, in southern Japan, followed now by this latest one in Ecuador, not to mention a string of other ones all over the place from New Zealand, Alaska, Mexico, Pakistan, Tibet, and China. Such events seem to occur in clusters, some at shorter others at longer intervals of time, but always unannounced and with very little warning.

Both Japan and now Ecuador seem especially harder hit than most, and the world community is mobilizing as best it can to come to their aid, but we need to ask ourselves… is there a better way to forewarn, if not predict, the imminent threat of a seismic event in any part of this world of ours? It’s about all those shaky foundations…especially all along the trail of the Pacific ring of fire…under our feet.

For some reason, despite the fact that we’ve managed to expand our knowledge and understanding about plate tectonics, and how their constant interactions are the source of such tremors all around us, we still haven’t reached that point where we can say with some degree of certainty…look out folks…something is about to bust loose…again…right over there…so move your butts away from there for a while.

We’ve managed to do this with fairly accurate timing for volcanic events, using all sorts of instrumentations and other technology. A similar approach to develop an early warning means for possible seismic events would save us all from the misery of a lot of devastation and loss of life every time such events happen somewhere. And we think we may have come across something that just might do a better job of earthquake prediction for us.

Given the state of the art related to satellite, infra-red, and ground penetrating radar, we may have the ready means at hand to make such a predicting system a reality, and it’s all based on a particular characteristic which is apparently displayed wherever a seismic epicenter is forming. That is, a growing heat signature at one spot along a given fault line.

The significance of that is simple to understand. If such a heat signature is not only growing at such a spot, but also expanding in size…and at an accelerating rate…that should be a clear signal that a seismic event is imminent at that location…and precautionary measures can be taken…before it happens.

So, what would we need to be able to detect such “hot spots”, and properly monitor these on a continuing real time basis? Three things. The first, a specifically designed satellite platform set on a North/South geo-positional orbit, at a relatively low altitude. Such an orbit would provide a 24/7 scan of every fault line on Earth, as it revolves beneath it. The second, on board the latest in IR, GPR, sensor technology, as has been used with various space projects. The third, a dedicated ground facility to receive such IR and GPR data feeds, and display this in 3D visualization of those data feeds.

Any “hot spots” noted on any fault line could then be flagged for close monitoring. If their size and intensity remained unchanged from each 24 hour scan, these could be considered inactive or quiescent. If, on the other hand, such “hot spots” changed rapidly both in size and intensity from each 24 hour scans, that would give an alert that a seismic event was imminent at such spots. Close up ground instrumentation could then be deployed to such spots to gain further real time data, before issuing public warnings for those localities.

It seems to us that many of the private enterprises now engaged in developing “space tourism/travel” at tremendous cost and effort might better spend their capital and energies on developing such a seismic early warning system. It would be a much more useful application of their technological expertise and resources.

CENTURION[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]ANNEX TO ISSUE NO. 34 – Apr 2016

CONCEPT OUTLINE FOR A SEISMIC EVENT EARLY WARNING SYSTEM

GENERAL BACKGROUND;

Some recent research results published in various publications (Science, and Scientific American) indicate that fault lines display “hot spots” or higher than normal temperature readings whenever seismic activity occurs along them.

If that is indeed the case, perhaps the following outline might help develop an effective early warning system, especially for heavily built up urban areas astride fault lines such as San Andreas, Hayward, etc..

PREMISE:

1) If such “hot spots” occur, state of the art in both IR and GPR technologies should make these visible from either high altitude unmanned drones, equipped with such equipment, or, aboard a satellite in a N-S orbit above earth.

2) A satellite platform in such an orbit would thus be able to view every fault line on earth every 24 hours.

3) Images of any hot spots discovered would be transmitted to appropriate ground stations for evaluation.

4)If such hot spots maintained the same intensity between 24 hour passes, that is, did not show any increase in either intensity or dimension, these could be classified as normal, and not of concern.

5)But if such hot spots showed signs of increasing intensity or dimension, after several 24 hour intervals, then this could be considered as a possible precursor for a seismic event, and close monitoring of that particular fault and hot spot would be activated.

6)Such early activation would include:

a)Placement of ground based instrumentation at the suspect site, to confirm the recorded IR/GPR readings from satellite.

b)If ground instrumentation confirmed those readings, alert warnings could be issued by the appropriate authorities, and emergency systems would be checked for readiness.

c)If display and readings intensified and continued growing in dimension that would be a strong indication of an imminent seismic event, and preliminary evacuation or other measures might begin for that area.

CONCLUSION:

Satellite mounted IR and GPR equipment, has been used by NASA to create maps and charts of subsurface features such as pollution plumes, archeological sites, mineral deposits, etc.. These are state of the art and proven technologies, and readily available as off-shelf items, thus relatively inexpensive.

When one considers the costs of repairing public and private infrastructures, as well as the human and economic losses seismic events create, the cost of formatting such equipment for satellite use, and that of launching and placing such a satellite in orbit for this purpose, is minimal by comparison. And miniaturization of most of these components can create further economies for implementing such a system.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”3575″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row]