Team Location: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Authors: Katrina Laygo, Austin Madson, Seth Gorelik
Advisors/Mentors: Andrea Donnellan, Margaret Glasscoe, Ben Holt
Abstract: Three earthquakes, all greater than magnitude 7, occurred in 1811 and 1812 in the Central United States. Although earthquakes do not occur frequently in the Central and Eastern U.S., those earthquakes demonstrate that large earthquakes can and have occurred and will likely occur again. The large population density, relaxed building codes, and potential earthquakes that could occur on any of the numerous pre-existing faults in the Central and Eastern U.S. indicate that the region is at risk from potential earthquake events. This project aimed to enhance end users’ decision-making capabilities before, during and after seismic events by: 1) Expanding the QuakeSim Project’s fault database to include Central U.S. faults, then using that dataset to model earthquake scenarios for events greater than magnitude 5, which typically produce damage; 2) Generating surface deformation and synthetic interferograms from QuakeSim’s crustal deformation modeling tool, using the displacement output to calculate tilt maps identifying regions where water and sewage conveyances will flow backward; and 3) Providing out partners with a methodology to produce rapid earthquake damage estimates by creating change detection maps derived from Central and Eastern U.S. tornado events and Landsat 7 ETM+ imagery as a proof of concept.