LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Any day, anytime, anywhere in Nevada, there could be an earthquake. There are usually dozens every day though most are too small to feel. To better understand when a big one is coming, there are earthquake monitoring stations across the state in remote locations. Wednesday, FOX5 visited one just west of the Vegas Valley off of a hiking trail in the Spring Mountains.
“We have upwards of 300 stations. We also monitor eastern California and the Sierra Nevada,” explained Dr. Christie Rowe, Director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory, the authority on earthquakes in Nevada. Dr. Rowe took FOX5 to see the somewhat hidden Spring Mountains seismic station.
“This is seismic station RRK. So, you can check that out online and see the data coming in from the station…buried in the ground…we have the seismic sensors, so they pick up the ground accelerations from earthquakes,” Rowe revealed. Like most of their earthquake monitoring stations, RRK is completely off-grid producing its own power, able to relay data even after a disaster.
“We have a microwave network. This one shoots to Black Mountain which shoots directly to our backbone that goes to our UNR data center. So, we get that information in about four seconds,” Dr. Rowe reported. The team at the Nevada Seismological Lab at UNR is constantly crisscrossing the state and parts of California to check on their field monitors.
“We’ve been monitoring earthquakes from this exact location for almost 25 years. This is one of the sites that’s positioned in between metro Las Vegas and some of the big faults that are along the Nevada/ California border. It’s a critical site for recording shaking as it approaches the Las Vegas Valley,” Dr. Rowe shared. Nevada is one of the most seismically active states in the country with the third most magnitude 5.0 or above quakes.
“We have the potential for large earthquakes across the entire state. Obviously, we’re really focused on safety in the metro areas, but also in the rural areas, we have a lot of sensitive infrastructure as well,” Dr. Rowe stated. Dr. Rowe hopes the system of monitors already in place can one day soon give everyone a heads up before a quake reaches them.
“In California people have gotten alerts even before an earthquake has happened,” FOX5’s Kim Passoth asked Rowe.
“Exactly,” Dr. Rowe responded adding, “If you think about the impact on energy infrastructure, dams, hospitals, anything…where a few 10s of seconds, maybe even 30 seconds warning, could allow that infrastructure to survive the earthquake. That’s what we’re looking for.”
With the proper federal funding, Dr. Rowe says the earthquake early alert system could be rolled out in Nevada within two to three years. The Shake Alert cell phone early warning system is already being used California, Oregon, and Washington.
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