UW Seismogeodesy Laboratory
What is Seismogeodesy?
Seismogeodesy is the use of high-rate geodetic data to study seismic and deformational sources. This can be used for studying large earthquakes, transient deformation (slow slip), volcanic sources, structural monitoring and more. We employ traditional seismic techniques and new novel methods with this data. We generally use high rate Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data, borehole strainmeters, radar observations, or ocean bottom pressure sensors.
Why Do We Need Seismogeodesy?
It is difficult for traditional seismic sensors to fully characterize large near-field deformations. With GNSS data, we are computing the true ground motions in a non-inertial reference frame (i.e. with respect to a stable center of the Earth). We advocate for the use of both seismic and geodetic data to capture the full dynamic range of ground motions (low frequencies from geodetic, high frequencies from seismic).
What is the UW Seismogeodesy Laboratory?
We are affiliated with the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, located within the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at University of Washington. We strive to make this data more ubiquitous in seismic monitoring and are working towards making the science, data and methods accessible to any geoscientist.