Will a continuous GPS array for L.A. help earthquake hazard assessment?

Abstract

The striking landscapes and hospitable climate of Southern California are home to more than 20 million people and vital elements of the nation's economy. Unfortunately, the region is also laced with many active faults that can produce strong earthquakes. Scientists from several institutions are pursuing a new approach to studying earthquake hazards in a high‐risk metropolitan area.The Southern California Integrated GPS Network (SCIGN) is currently an array of about 40 Global Positioning System (GPS) stations distributed throughout the greater Los Angeles metropolitan region. There have been informal discussions about expanding the array to 250 stations, and formal proposals have been submitted to begin this expansion. To achieve high precision, the sites will be carefully monumented, and all the GPS receivers will operate continuously. The goals of the array are to provide an accurate and detailed velocity field from which to identify the deformation from known faults, test current models of the geologic structure, and make better estimates of the seismic potential in the populous parts of southern California.