Hurricane Equipment (Seismic Monitoring) Repair and Hardening
In FY 2025, USGS received disaster supplemental funds (Public Law 118-158) to repair hurricane damaged equipment.
Hurricane equipment repair: tasks and benefits 2025
Media
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
- Hurricane Helene caused a series of communications outages in the southeastern United States that interrupted the data flow from seismic monitoring stations operated by the Center for Earthquake Research and Information to earthquake processing centers.
- When power and communications were restored, most seismic stations back-populated data that was acquired during communications outages and could contribute delayed data for earthquake analyses; however, a subset of seismic stations with antiquated and obsolete equipment failed to store and back-populate data, resulting in periods of complete data loss.
- Funding will be used to upgrade the antiquated equipment at seismic stations within Eastern Tennessee (ET) and New Madrid (NM) seismic networks to harden against future possibilities of complete data loss and prevent detrimental impacts to the USGS Advanced National Seismic System mission to accurately report on earthquakes 24/7.