CISN ShakeAlert: Progress Toward Using Early Warnings for Earthquakes in California

In California, the California Integrated Seismic Network (CISN) is now developing and implementing components of a prototype system for earthquake early warning, the ShakeAlert system. As this processing system is implemented, we invite a suite of perspective users from critical industries and institutions throughout California to partner with us in developing useful ShakeAlert procedures and products. At the same time, we will support their efforts to determine and implement appropriate responses to alerts of expected earthquake shaking. In Northern California, our partnership with the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) has progressed farthest, although we have initiated discussions with the Red Cross of Alameda County and various agencies in the City of San Francisco. Our collaboration with BART has begun with a basic system transmitting realtime ground shaking information from more than 150 seismic stations operating in the San Francisco Bay Area to BART's operation center, where they are displayed. BART engineers are developing a way to interface this information with the train operating system, so that the trains can automatically slow and stop if the shaking is strong. We will continue this collaboration to include more sophisticated information from the prototype CISN ShakeAlert system.