科學家推智能手機地震探測應用MyShake
When an earthquake strikes literally every second counts. That was the case five years ago when a magnitude 9 quake unleashed a massive tsunami that devastated Japan. A seismological network kicked into action issuing early warnings, but the massive waves still killed nearly 16,000 people and caused an estimated $300 billion in damage.
當地震發生時，每一秒鐘都極其重要，正如5年前一場9級大地震引發的巨大海嘯曾重創日本一樣。雖然地震監測網迅速發佈海嘯來臨警告，但巨大的海嘯仍然吞噬了一萬六千條生命並造成約爲三千億美元的經濟損失。Since then scientists have been working to improve detection systems in the hopes of generating more accurate earthquake data and ultimately buying people a bit more time to flee a soon to be disaster zone.
從那以後，地震學家致力於改善地震檢測系統，希望以此來計算出更加準確的地震監測數據，並最終爲人們在災難來臨前的撤離多爭取一點時間。Now researchers are hoping to tap into new pool data. It turns out the technology in conventional seismological instrumentation exists in every smartphone on the planet.
如今地震學家正在嘗試開發新的數據庫，希望能將常規的地震監測工具"安裝"到這個星球上的每一部智能手機裏面。
"The idea is if we can harness the accelerometers in those smart phones then we can collect massive amounts of data. It could really revolutionise how we understand earthquakes and earthquake effects," said Richard Allen, the director of the Seismological Laboratory at the University California, Berkeley.
加州大學伯克利分校的地震學實驗室負責人理查德·阿倫表示："如果我們能夠在智能手機上安裝測震儀，那麼我們就能夠收集大量的數據。那樣將徹底重塑我們對地震及其影響的理解。"Allen and his team have developed a smartphone app called 'MyShake' designed to monitor a phones accelerometer data and send alerts to a central server when seismic activity registers.
阿倫及其團隊已經設計出一款名爲"MyShake"的手機應用，可以通過手機監測地震數據並上傳到服務器，一旦有地震活動出現可以立即發出警報。He says accelerometers in phones are nowhere near as sensitive as conventional instrumentation, but what they lack in sensitivity they make up for in numbers. Real time data from phones could equate to more warning time. "So the amount of warning time we might be talking about depends of course on where you are relative to the earthquake. We are talking about seconds, tens of seconds, best case scenario is a few minutes before and earthquake, tens of minutes potentially for tsunamis," said Allen.
阿倫表示，雖然手機上的測震儀在精度上遠遜於傳統的測震設備，但是這可以通過數量來彌補的，大量的手機實時數據就相當於更多的預警時間。他說："我們談論的預警時間的長短取決於你與震源地帶的距離，我們說的幾秒、幾十秒，最好就是在地震前幾分鐘，以及可能引發海嘯前的幾十分鐘。"The smartphone data is meant to complement existing earthquake monitoring networks, according to Allen, but he adds that many of the regions most prone to deadly earthquakes and tsunami don't have reliable early warning systems. In those places, he says, this new source of data could prove to be a game changer.
據阿倫表示，採集手機數據是爲了完善現存的地震預警網絡，但他同時表示，由於在一些劇烈地震海嘯高發區域缺少可靠的災前預警系統，新的數據來源將扮演更加重要的角色。The app can be downloaded the Labs website at
目前，這款應用已經可以在地震實驗室的官網上（）下載了。
