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DOE OSTI2019

Testing the efficacy of active pressure management as a tool to mitigate induced seismicity

Manipulation of subsurface stresses through fluid injection/extraction may induce seismicity through modulation of overpressure along faults. Globally, most industrial operations do not induce significant earthquakes. However, the possibility of inducing moderate to large earthquakes is recognized as a significant risk for basin-scale carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) storage operations (Niass et al., 2017). One possible method to reduce the occurrence of induced seismicity is to maintain only small (or zero) fluid overpressure changes in the subsurface through extraction of formation brine. For active pressure management (APM), operators may employ different procedures including extraction of various brine volumes and different configurations of injection/extraction well locations. However, the impact each these operational procedures on induced seismicity must be understood in order to develop management strategies. Here, we describe a numerical modeling workflow to evaluate the efficacy of APM techniques, that when applied to a specific site may be used to inform operational management strategies. We couple the multiphase reservoir model, NUFT, with the earthquake simulator, RSQSim and simulate seismicity induced by CO 2 injection into a hypothetical brine saturated reservoir. Reservoir overpressure is modified by co-extraction of brine at various fractions of the injected CO 2 volume from five potential wells. Our goal is to understand how the well-pair configuration and the extracted brine volume impact the total number and the maximum event magnitude. Additionally, the performance of each scenario is also evaluated in terms of the volume of CO 2 that can be stored before an earthquake above a tolerance threshold is induced.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2023

3-D Simulations of earthquakes rupture jumps: 1. Homogeneous pre-stress conditions

SUMMARY Observational and modelling studies indicate that earthquake ruptures can jump between fault sections as large as ∼3 and ∼5 km for compressional and extensional offsets, respectively. Here, we compare characteristics of the rupture jump process on parallel but offset fault sections from traditional 3-D dynamic rupture simulations governed by slip weakening friction using the finite element code, FaultMod, to those from quasi-dynamic simulations governed by rate- and state-dependent friction (rate-state friction) using the code RSQSim. These simulations use spatially uniform initial stresses. For a variety of measures the rupture renucleation position on the offset fault, the rate-state friction and slip weakening friction models produce very similar results. The principal difference is the additional occurrence of delayed rupture jumps that arise from the time- and stress-dependent nucleation that is characteristic of rate-state friction. For immediate rupture jumps, models with slip weakening friction span greater offsets than those with rate-state friction. However the jump distances are nearly identical when delayed rupture jumps are included in the comparisons. We propose that delayed rupture jumps are the likely mechanism for adjacent large-earthquake pairs and clusters. Based on the similarity of renucleation positions with both dynamic and quasi-dynamic models, we conclude that the renucleation positions for rupture initiation on the receiver fault (separated by less than ∼3 km from the source fault) are primarily controlled by static stress changes induced by slip on the initiating fault. However, in light of the slightly greater maximum jump distances (>3 km) seen with the dynamic slip weakening friction model, dynamic stress changes from seismic waves play an increasingly important role as offset distances increase.

, RSQSim↗

DOE OSTI2023

EQSIM and RAJA: Enabling Exascale Predictions of Earthquake Effects on Critical Infrastructure

Nearly 120 years ago, the great “San Francisco” earthquake of 1906 provided a stark and sobering view of the havoc that can be caused by the sudden and violent movement of Earth’s tectonic plates. According to USGS, the rupture along the San Andreas fault extended 296 miles (447 kilometers) and shook so violently that the motion could be felt as far north as Oregon and east into Nevada. The estimated 7.9-magnitude quake and subsequent fires decimated the major metropolis and surrounding areas: buildings turned to ruins, hundreds of thousands of people left homeless, and a death toll exceeding 3,000. Today, as evidenced by the catastrophic 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey in February of 2023, large earthquakes still present a significant potential danger to life and economic security as researchers work to develop ways to better understand earthquake phenomena and quantify associated risks.

42 ENGINEERING↗

NASA NTRS2006

Crustal Deformation and the Seismic Cycle across the Kodiak Islands, Alaska

The Kodiak Islands are located approx.120 to 250 km from the Alaska-Aleutian Trench and are within the southern extent of the 1964 Prince William Sound (M(sub W) = 9.2) earthquake rupture and aftershock zone. Here we report new campaign GPS results (1993-2001) from northeastern Kodiak and reprocessed GPS results (1993-1997) from southwestern Kodiak. The rate and orientation of the horizontal velocities, relative to a fixed North America, range from 29.7 +/- 1.7 mm/yr at N30.3degW +/- 3.3deg, located approx.120 km from the deepest point of the trench, to 8.0 +/- 1.3 mm/yr at N62.4degW +/- 9.3deg, located approx.230 km from the trench. We evaluated alternate models of coseismic and interseismic slip to test the importance of the mechanisms that account for surface deformation rates. Near the Gulf of Alaska coastal region of Kodiak the horizontal velocity can be accounted for primarily by the viscoelastic response to plate motion and a locked main thrust zone (MTZ), down-dip creep, and to a lesser extent, slip in the 1964 earthquake. Further inland the dominant mechanisms that account for post-1964 uplift rates are time-dependent, down-dip creep and a locked MTZ; for the horizontal velocity component southwest translation of western Kodiak may be important as well. Based on the pre-1964 and post-1964 earthquake pattern of interseismic earthquakes, we suggest that between the occurrences of great earthquakes like the 1964 event, more moderate to large earthquakes occur in the southwestern Kodiak region than near northeastern Kodiak .

Sauber, Jeanne↗

NASA NTRS1974

Study of the characteristics of seismic signals generated by natural and cultural phenomena

Seismic data recorded at the Tonto Forest Seismological Observatory in Arizona and the Uinta Basin Seismological Observatory in Utah were used to compare the frequency of occurrence, severity, and spectral content of ground motions resulting from earthquakes, and other natural and man-made sources with the motions generated by sonic booms. A search of data recorded at the two observatories yielded a classification of over 180,000 earthquake phase arrivals on the basis of frequency of occurrence versus maximum ground velocity. The majority of the large ground velocities were produced by seismic surface waves from moderate to large earthquakes in the western United States, and particularly along the Pacific Coast of the United States and northern Mexico. A visual analysis of raw film seismogram data over a 3-year period indicates that local and regional seismic events, including quarry blasts, are frequent in occurrence, but do not produce ground motions at the observatories comparable to either the large western United States earthquakes or to sonic booms. Seismic data from the Nevada Test Site nuclear blasts were used to derive magnitude-distance-sonic boom overpressure relations.

Goforth, T. T.↗

DOE OSTI2026

Limited Dynamic Earthquake Triggering in Nevada

Dynamic triggering occurs when seismic waves from distant large earthquakes temporarily alter stress conditions along faults, potentially triggering new earthquakes hundreds to thousands of kilometers away from the source. Previous studies have linked triggered seismicity to anthropogenic activities such as geothermal, oil, and gas production. Although these activities are present in Nevada, little work has been conducted to explore dynamically triggered seismicity in Nevada. Here, we analyze a newly published, high-resolution earthquake catalog for Nevada to identify local seismicity dynamically triggered by teleseismic events (Mw≥7) from 2008 to 2023. We identify 94 dynamically triggered earthquakes concentrated in four distinct regions, which qualitatively show a modest positive correlation with geothermal well locations. Triggered seismicity in Nevada is predominantly delayed, with some instantaneously triggered by Rayleigh waves. The prevalence of delayed triggering indicates that pore fluid interactions may play a critical role in controlling dynamic triggering susceptibility in Nevada. Our results demonstrate that dynamic triggering can provide valuable insight to help identify critically stressed regions.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2021

A Big Problem for Small Earthquakes: Benchmarking Routine Magnitudes and Conversion Relationships with Coda Envelope-Derived Mw in Southern Kansas and Northern Oklahoma

Earthquake magnitudes are widely relied upon measures of earthquake size. Although moment magnitude (M w ) has become the established standard for moderate and large earthquakes, difficulty in reliably measuring seismic moments for small (generally M w <4) earthquakes has meant that magnitudes for these events remain plagued by a patchwork of inconsistent measurement scales. Because of this, magnitudes of small earthquakes and statistics derived from them can be biased. Furthermore, because small earthquakes are much more numerous than large ones, many applications, such as seismic hazard modeling, depend critically on analysis of events characterized by magnitudes other than M w . Therefore, to assess this problem, we apply coda envelope analysis to reliably determine moment magnitudes for a case study of small earthquakes from northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas. Not surprisingly, we find significant differences among M L , m bLg , and M w for M ~2–4 earthquakes examined here. More troublingly, we find that relations designed to convert other magnitudes to M w , which are relied upon for important applications such as seismic hazard analysis, often increase rather than decrease this bias for our dataset. In our case study, we find that converted magnitudes can result in a systematic bias sometimes exceeding 0.5 magnitude units, a difference that typically corresponds to a factor of ~3 in seismicity rate. Moreover, we find a correspondingly large bias in Gutenberg–Richter b-values, controlled primarily by inaccurate magnitude scaling in the conversion relationships. Although this study focuses on a relatively small geographic area, we can expect that similar issues exist with varying severity in other regions. Therefore, magnitudes of small earthquakes and their associated statistics, including seismicity rates and b-values, should be treated with caution.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS2017

Imaging of Earthquake Faults Using Small UAVs as a Pathfinder for Air and Space Observations

Large earthquakes cause billions of dollars in damage and extensive loss of life and property. Geodetic and topographic imaging provide measurements of transient and long-term crustal deformation needed to monitor fault zones and understand earthquakes. Earthquake-induced strain and rupture characteristics are expressed in topographic features imprinted on the landscapes of fault zones. Small UAVs provide an efficient and flexible means to collect multi-angle imagery to reconstruct fine scale fault zone topography and provide surrogate data to determine requirements for and to simulate future platforms for air- and space-based multi-angle imaging.

Donnellan, Andrea↗

DOE OSTI2021

Coupling of regional geophysics and local soil-structure models in the EQSIM fault-to-structure earthquake simulation framework

Accurate understanding and quantification of the risk to critical infrastructure posed by future large earthquakes continues to be a very challenging problem. Earthquake phenomena are quite complex and traditional approaches to predicting ground motions for future earthquake events have historically been empirically based whereby measured ground motion data from historical earthquakes are homogenized into a common data set and the ground motions for future postulated earthquakes are probabilistically derived based on the historical observations. This procedure has recognized significant limitations, principally due to the fact that earthquake ground motions tend to be dictated by the particular earthquake fault rupture and geologic conditions at a given site and are thus very site-specific. Historical earthquakes recorded at different locations are often only marginally representative. There has been strong and increasing interest in utilizing large-scale, physics-based regional simulations to advance the ability to accurately predict ground motions and associated infrastructure response. However, the computational requirements for simulations at frequencies of engineering interest have proven a major barrier to employing regional scale simulations. In a U.S. Department of Energy Exascale Computing Initiative project, the EQSIM application development is underway to create a framework for fault-to-structure simulations. This framework is being prepared to exploit emerging exascale platforms in order to overcome computational limitations. This article presents the essential methodology and computational workflow employed in EQSIM to couple regional-scale geophysics models with local soil-structure models to achieve a fully integrated, complete fault-to-structure simulation framework. Here, the computational workflow, accuracy and performance of the coupling methodology are illustrated through example fault-to-structure simulations.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

NASA NTRS2002

Transients in Pacific/North American Plate Boundary Deformation: Synthesis and Modeling of GPS and Borehole Strain Observations

This is the Final Technical Report on research conducted between 1 June 1997 and 14 September 2001 entitled "Transients in Pacific/North American plate boundary deformation: Synthesis and modeling of GPS and borehole strain observations." As the project title implies, our effort involved a geodetic study of strain transients, i.e., temporal variations in deformation rates, that occur within plate boundary zones and their relationship to earthquakes and plate motions. Important transients occur during and following large earthquakes, and there are also strain transients not apparently associated with earthquakes. A particularly intriguing class of transients, for which there is a modest but growing list of examples, are preseismic anomalies. Such earthquake precursors, if further documented and understood, would have obvious importance for earthquake hazard mitigation. Because the timescales for these diverse transients range over at least 6 orders of magnitude (minutes to years), no single geodetic technique is optimum. We therefore undertook a systematic synthesis of Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) and borehole strainmeter data in three areas in California where there are adequate numbers of both types of instruments (or their equivalent): the San Francisco Bay region (within the Bay Area Regional Deformation network), southern California (within the Southern California Integrated GPS Network), and Parkfield (where a two-color laser system provides a proxy for continuous GPS measurements). An integral component of our study was the elucidation of the physical mechanisms by which such transients occur and propagate. We therefore initiated the development of multiple forward models, using two independent approaches. In the first, we explored the response to specified earthquake slip in viscoelastic models that incorporated failure criteria and the geometry of major faults in California. In the second approach, we examined the dynamical response of a complex rheological medium to the application of a far-field stress imposed by plate motions. The forward models were used both to gain insight into the range of strain transients to be expected under different assumed mechanical conditions and to develop representations for strain fields that allow GPS, borehole, and other strain data to be combined in a self-consistent, yet well-determined, manner. The models also provided a basis for hypothesis testing, by which data from a strain transient well characterized by GPS and borehole observations were utilized to distinguish among competing candidates for the causative physical mechanism and the governing physical characteristics. During the three years of this project, continued to a fourth year through a no-cost extension of the grant, we published 14 papers and presented or co-authored 37 papers at national scientific meetings.

Solomon, Sean C.↗

DOE OSTI2024

Machine Learning and Data Science to Advance Laboratory Earthquake Prediction and Illuminate the Mechanics of Precursors to Failure

Earthquakes represent one of our greatest natural hazards and in recent years human induced seismicity is adding to the threat. Even a modest improvement in the ability to forecast devastating large earthquakes or smaller shallow events associated with fluid injection could save thousands of lives and billions of dollars. Current efforts to forecast earthquakes are limited by knowledge of earthquake physics and hampered by a lack of reliable lab or field observations. However, recent work has provided a critical opportunity for advancement. We have found: 1) clear and consistent precursors prior to earthquake-like failure in the laboratory and 2) that lab earthquakes can be predicted using machine learning (ML). These works show that stick-slip failure events –the lab equivalent of earthquakes– are preceded by a cascade of micro-failure events that radiate elastic energy in a manner that foretells catastrophic failure. Remarkably, ML predicts the fault zone stress state, the failure time and in some cases the magnitude of lab earthquakes. In addition, the observations include clear precursors to failure in the form of changes in fault zone properties prior to lab earthquakes. Precursors have been observed in previous laboratory studies but their origin is poorly understood and their possible connection to ML based earthquake prediction is unknown. The work conducted under our project has dramatically expanded these efforts. We have developed an integrated data science approach to illuminate the physics of earthquake precursors and lab earthquake prediction. Our work has accelerated the development of ML, artificial intelligence (AI), and related data science approaches by providing massive data sets that are tightly connected to critical scientific problems and by bringing together leading subject matter experts and data scientists. Earthquake physics involves phenomena that are far from equilibrium. Our work has leveraged data science methods to illuminate these phenomena and investigate how they relate to earthquake prediction. In addition to a large database with many types of labeled events that is available to everyone, our work has advanced the fundamental understanding of seismic forecasting, earthquake physics, and fault rheology

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1987

Earthquake source mechanisms and transform fault tectonics in the Gulf of California

The source parameters of 19 large earthquakes in the Gulf of California were determined from inversions of long-period P and SH waveforms. The goal was to understand the recent slip history of this dominantly transform boundary between the Pacific and North American plates as well as the effect on earthquake characteristics of the transition from young oceanic to continental lithosphere. For the better recorded transform events, the fault strike is resolved to + or - 4 deg at 90 percent confidence. The slip vectors thus provide important constraints on the direction of relative plate motion. Most centroid depths are poorly resolved because of tradeoffs between depth and source time function. On the basis of waveform modeling, historical seismicity, and other factors, it is appropriate to divide the Gulf into three distinct zones. The difference in seismic character among the three zones is likely the result of differing levels of maturity of the processes of rifting, generation of oceanic crust, and formation of stable oceanic transform faults. The mechanism of an earthquake on the Tres Marias Escarpment is characterized by thrust faulting and likely indicates the direction of relative motion between the Rivera and North American plates. This mechanism requires revision in plate velocity models which predict strike slip motion at this location.

Goff, John A.↗

DOE OSTI2020

Regional-Scale 3D Ground-Motion Simulations of M w 7 Earthquakes on the Hayward Fault, Northern California Resolving Frequencies 0–10 Hz and Including Site-Response Corrections

Large earthquake ground-motion simulations in 3D Earth models provide constraints on site-specific shaking intensities but have suffered from limited frequency resolution and ignored site response in soft soils. In this work we report new regional-scale 3D simulations for moment magnitude 7.0 scenario earthquakes on the Hayward Fault, northern California with SW4. Simulations resolved significantly broader band frequencies (0–10 Hz) than previous studies and represent the highest resolution simulations for any such earthquake to date. Seismic waves were excited by a kinematic rupture following Graves and Pitarka (2016) and obeyed wave propagation in a 3D Earth model with topography from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assuming a minimum shear wavespeed, VSmin, of 500 m/s. We corrected motions for linear and nonlinear site response for the shear wavespeed, VS, from the USGS 3D model, using a recently developed ground-motion model (GMM) for Fourier amplitude spectra . At soft soil locations subjected to strong shaking, the site-corrected intensities reflect the competing effects of linear amplification by low V S material, reduction of stiffness during nonlinear deformation, and damping of high frequencies. Sites with near-surface V S of 500 m/s or greater require no linear site correction but can experience amplitude reduction due to nonlinear response. Averaged over all sites, we obtained reasonable agreement with empirical ergodic median GMMs currently used for seismic hazard and design ground motions (epsilon less than 1), with marked improvement at soft sedimentary sites. At specific locations, the simulated shaking intensities show systematic differences from the GMMs that reveal path and site effects not captured in these ergodic models. Results suggest how next generation regional-scale earthquake simulations can provide higher spatial and frequency resolution while including effects of soft soils that are commonly ignored in scenario earthquake ground-motion simulations.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1987

Transform fault earthquakes in the North Atlantic: Source mechanisms and depth of faulting

The centroid depths and source mechanisms of 12 large earthquakes on transform faults of the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge were determined from an inversion of long-period body waveforms. The earthquakes occurred on the Gibbs, Oceanographer, Hayes, Kane, 15 deg 20 min, and Vema transforms. The depth extent of faulting during each earthquake was estimated from the centroid depth and the fault width. The source mechanisms for all events in this study display the strike slip motion expected for transform fault earthquakes; slip vector azimuths agree to 2 to 3 deg of the local strike of the zone of active faulting. The only anomalies in mechanism were for two earthquakes near the western end of the Vema transform which occurred on significantly nonvertical fault planes. Secondary faulting, occurring either precursory to or near the end of the main episode of strike-slip rupture, was observed for 5 of the 12 earthquakes. For three events the secondary faulting was characterized by reverse motion on fault planes striking oblique to the trend of the transform. In all three cases, the site of secondary reverse faulting is near a compression jog in the current trace of the active transform fault zone. No evidence was found to support the conclusions of Engeln, Wiens, and Stein that oceanic transform faults in general are either hotter than expected from current thermal models or weaker than normal oceanic lithosphere.

Bergman, Eric A.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Transform fault earthquakes in the North Atlantic - Source mechanisms and depth of faulting

Bergman, Eric A.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Crustal Deformation and the Seismic Cycle across the Kodiak Islands, Alaska

The Kodiak Islands are located approximately 130 to 250 km from the Alaska-Aleutian Trench where the Pacific plate is underthrusting the North American plate at a rate of about 57 mm/yr. The southern extent of the 1964 Prince William Sound (${M-w}$ = 9.2) earthquake rupture occurred offshore and beneath the eastern portion of the Kodiak Islands. Here we report GPS results (1993-2001) from northern Kodiak Island that span the transition between the 1964 uplift region along the eastern coast and the region of coseismic subsidence further inland. The horizontal velocity vectors range from 22.9 $\pm$ 2.2 mm/yr at N26.3$\deg$W $\pm$ 2.5$\deg$, about 150 km from the trench, to 5.9 $\pm$ 1.3 mm/yr at N65.9$\deg$W $\pm$ 6.6$\deg$, about 190 km from the trench. Near the northeastern coast of Kodiak the velocity vector above the shallow, locked main thrust zone is between the orientation of PCFC-NOAM plate motion (N22$/deg$W) and the trench-normal (N3O$\deg$W). Further west, our geodetic results suggest the accumulation of shear strain that will be released eventually as left-lateral motion on upper plate faults such as the Kodiak Island fault. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the difference between the Pacific-North American plate motion and the orientation of the down going slab would lead to 4-8 mm/yr of left-lateral slip. Short-term geodetic uplift rates range from 2 - 14 mm/yr, with the maximum uplift located near the axis of maximum subsidence during the 1964 earthquake. We evaluated alternate interseismic models for Kodiak to test the importance of various mechanisms responsible for crustal deformation rates. These models are based on the plate interface slip history inferred from earlier modeling of coseismic and post-seismic geodetic results. The horizontal (trench perpendicular) and vertical deformation rates across Kodiak are consistent with a model that includes the viscoelastic response to : (1) a downgoing Pacific plate interface that is locked at shallow depths,(2) coseismic slip in the 1964 and (3) interseismic creep below the seismogenic zone. The change in orientation of the horizontal velocity vector occurs down-dip from the locked main thrust zone. In southern Kodiak, the coseismic slip in the 1964 earthquake was smaller than in the northern Kodiak region; yet, the horizontal, interseismic velocities as a function of distance from the trench are comparable to those in northern Kodiak. Based on the earthquake history prior to, and following the 1964 earthquake, we hypothesize that the plate interface in southern Kodiak slips in more frequent large earthquakes than in northern Kodiak.

Sauber, Jeanne↗

DOE OSTI2021

Nowcasting Earthquakes: Imaging the Earthquake Cycle in California With Machine Learning

We propose a new machine learning-based method for nowcasting earthquakes to image the time-dependent earthquake cycle. The result is a timeseries that may correspond to the process of stress accumulation and release. The timeseries are constructed by using principal component analysis of regional seismicity. The patterns are found as eigenvectors of the cross-correlation matrix of a collection of seismicity timeseries in a coarse grained regional spatial grid (pattern recognition via unsupervised machine learning). The eigenvalues of this matrix represent the relative importance of the various eigenpatterns. Using the eigenvectors and eigenvalues, we compute the weighted correlation timeseries of the regional seismicity. This timeseries has the property that the weighted correlation generally decreases prior to major earthquakes in the region, and increases suddenly just after a major earthquake occurs. As in a previous paper, we find that this method produces a nowcasting timeseries that resembles the hypothesized regional stress accumulation and release process characterizing the earthquake cycle. We then address the problem of whether the timeseries contain information regarding future large earthquakes. For this, we compute a receiver operating characteristic and determine the decision thresholds for several future time periods of interest (optimization via supervised machine learning). We find that signals can be detected that can be used to characterize the information content of the timeseries. These signals may be useful in assessing present and near-future seismic hazards.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS2012

Seismic Imager Space Telescope

A concept has been developed for a geostationary seismic imager (GSI), a space telescope in geostationary orbit above the Pacific coast of the Americas that would provide movies of many large earthquakes occurring in the area from Southern Chile to Southern Alaska. The GSI movies would cover a field of view as long as 300 km, at a spatial resolution of 3 to 15 m and a temporal resolution of 1 to 2 Hz, which is sufficient for accurate measurement of surface displacements and photometric changes induced by seismic waves. Computer processing of the movie images would exploit these dynamic changes to accurately measure the rapidly evolving surface waves and surface ruptures as they happen. These measurements would provide key information to advance the understanding of the mechanisms governing earthquake ruptures, and the propagation and arrest of damaging seismic waves. GSI operational strategy is to react to earthquakes detected by ground seismometers, slewing the satellite to point at the epicenters of earthquakes above a certain magnitude. Some of these earthquakes will be foreshocks of larger earthquakes; these will be observed, as the spacecraft would have been pointed in the right direction. This strategy was tested against the historical record for the Pacific coast of the Americas, from 1973 until the present. Based on the seismicity recorded during this time period, a GSI mission with a lifetime of 10 years could have been in position to observe at least 13 (22 on average) earthquakes of magnitude larger than 6, and at least one (2 on average) earthquake of magnitude larger than 7. A GSI would provide data unprecedented in its extent and temporal and spatial resolution. It would provide this data for some of the world's most seismically active regions, and do so better and at a lower cost than could be done with ground-based instrumentation. A GSI would revolutionize the understanding of earthquake dynamics, perhaps leading ultimately to effective warning capabilities, to improved management of earthquake risk, and to improved public safety policies. The position of the spacecraft, its high optical quality, large field of view, and large field of regard will make it an ideal platform for other scientific studies. The same data could be simply reused for other studies. If different data, such as multi-spectral data, is required, additional instruments could share the telescope.

Sidick, Erkin↗