Are we Ready for the Great Flood?

Abstract

When Steve Malone asked if I would like to write a guest column for the Electronic Seismologist, it seemed like a good idea. I had a few ideas for a column, and I distinctly remember Steve saying that I had two weeks. No Problem. But it turns out that two weeks, in Steve's mind, is actually ten days. So, I whined and got an eleventh day. Now it is early morning on the twelfth day, and I am taking advantage of the time zones to finish (OK, start and finish) this column before Steve settles in for his day's work. My saving grace may be Seattle's Morning Latte Law, which buys me an additional 30–45 minutes relative to an electronic seismologist working out of, say, San Diego. Where did these last eleven days go? What have I done, other than gain a greater appreciation for what Dave Barry faces on a regular basis? Basically, I did my day job in the Internet world. I taught my classes, but I'll spare you those stories. I also worked with Richard Borst, a high-school physics teacher at Silver Bluff High School south of Aiken, South Carolina after he alerted me to an earthquake that opened a sinkhole on a highway near the Savannah River Site. Using data that flows on the Internet in real time from his school and twenty other high schools in South Carolina, I analyzed this event and an earthquake in the area last October. Using data from Richard's school and another high school 60 km away, I was able to show that the most recent event was likely a sonic boom. We were both impressed that we obtained an estimate of the velocity of sound in air of 1,085 ft/sec. For his part, Richard investigated the sinkhole and concluded …