AFTER AN EARTHQUAKE: ACCESSING NEAR REAL-TIME DATA IN THE CLASSROOM

Students, teachers, and college faculty can access and analyze near-real-time earthquake location and waveform data stored in the IRIS Data Management System and elsewhere via a number of web-based tools and a new Java-based application. The broadest audience is reached by the Seismic Monitor, a simple Web-based tool for observing near-real-time seismicity. The IRIS Earthquake Browser (IEB) allows users to explore recent and cataloged earthquakes and aftershock patterns online with more flexibility, and K-12 classroom activities for understanding plate tectonics and estimating seismic hazards have been designed around its use. Waveforms are easily viewed and explored on the web using the Rapid Earthquake Viewer (REV), developed by the University of South Carolina in collaboration with IRIS Education and Outreach. Data from REV are used in exercises to determine Earth’s internal structure and to locate recent earthquakes. With the web development in the Seismographs in Schools program, an opportunity was created for schools to share event data and 24-hr images on the site as well as making the data available in real-time via the API. This API allows anyone to extract data, re-purpose it, and display it however they need to, as is being done by the British Geological Survey Seismographs in Schools program. Over 350 schools throughout the US and internationally are currently registered in the IRIS Seismographs in Schools database.

IRIS Education and Outreach is collaborating with Moravian College on a Java-based software application to replace the current educational seismometer software. This new software is a significant advancement over what was previously available, allowing data to be collected and viewed from a suite of instruments as well as streaming data in true real-time. This allows multiple classrooms within a school to display data from their seismograph and for schools without an instrument to display data from another school. Additionally, this software includes easy to use analysis tools for users to quickly extract and analyze data from eith­­­er their recording device or a remote data stream.