Building a National Seismic Monitoring Center: NEIC from 2000 to the Present

Abstract

Operating a seismic data center is like being in the army. Most of the time it is “hurry up and wait,” but it can quickly change to “the plan goes out the window once the first bullet is fired.” So it goes at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)’s National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC), home to one of the world’s foremost seismic monitoring systems. Located in Golden, Colorado, just west of Denver, NEIC staff provides the latest, most accurate earthquake information available within minutes of the occurrence of a global event. That means NEIC is ready to respond at a moment’s notice. NEIC determines, as rapidly and as accurately as possible, the location and size of all significant earthquakes worldwide, including estimates of economic loss and casualties, and swiftly disseminates that information to emergency responders, governments, the public, and the news media. NEIC maintains an extensive seismic database as well—it is the nation’s data center and archive for earthquake information. It also pursues an active research program to improve its ability to characterize earthquake sources and their likely impact. NEIC’s job and its tools have evolved substantially over the years, and especially since the turn of the century. This is the tale of the evolution between 2000–2016, when NEIC dealt with 21 M 8 or larger earthquakes (including two M 9.1 events) and a number of other devastating earthquakes (see Fig. 1). This took place against the backdrop of an explosion of available real‐time seismic data, instantaneous global communication and societal awareness, and, consequently, higher expectations for information services. Figure 1. Map of global seismicity from 1973 to present for all magnitude 5.5 and larger earthquakes (white circles). All magnitude 7.0 and larger earthquakes (yellow circles), magnitude 7.5 and larger earthquakes (orange circles), and the 21 magnitude 8 or larger earthquakes since 2000 …