COMMUNICATING EARTH SCIENCES TO THE WELLESLEY COLLEGE COMMUNITY USING A RASPBERRYSHAKE SEISMOGRAPH

In 2023, Wellesley College’s Geosciences Department purchased three RaspberryShake seismographs: two are in the 1D category, which measures vertical motion only, and one is in the 3D category, which measures both vertical and horizontal motion. The RaspberryShake is a portable, cost-effective seismograph that measures ground motion and uploads real-time local and global seismic data to a shared Internet collective known as ShakeNet. One 1D station is temporarily set up in a lab room for testing purposes, but can also be brought to other locations for educational purposes. The 3D station is permanently set up in the basement of a campus building. For their final class project, the Fall 2023 Paleoseismology class formed three groups investigating this technology and its possible applications. One “Education” group developed class content to teach middle-school aged children about earthquakes using interactive activities, such as jumping up and down and seeing the effect visualized on the station’s ShakeNet real-time feed. The “Communication” group was dedicated to finding an efficient way to relay RaspberryShake data to members of the College who are not necessarily familiar with earthquake science. The “Research” group explored the data-collecting capabilities and accuracy of the permanent 3D RaspberryShake and identified the most suitable location on the Wellesley College campus for data collection. Another task of the “Research” group was distinguishing ambient noise from actual ground motion for local and global events. This study will mainly continue the “Education” and “Communication” goals via interactive sessions with members of the Wellesley College community. The purpose of this study is to spread awareness of seismic hazards and gauge first-year student interest in the geosciences. This will be accomplished through a combination of presentations on earthquakes and citizen science and an experiment similar to the school exercise described above. Before and after surveys provided to participating students will help determine how likely they are to further pursue the geosciences and remain aware of seismic hazards.