After the Nisqually earthquake, Washington is preparing for what comes next

For just a minute, Pioneer Square shook powerfully, shaking offices and convention centers from Seattle to Olympia and beyond. A major earthquake in Seattle caused nearly $2 billion in damage.

“The 2001 Nisqually earthquake was actually the most destructive earthquake in the United States in the past 30 years,” said Harold Tobin, director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN).

See also | 24 years ago, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Puget Sound

The shock of such a devastating earthquake helped spur PNSN to grow its collection of more than 700 monitoring stations across Washington and Oregon.

Among these sensors are so-called “broadband stations.” These seismometers are so sensitive that they can detect earthquakes halfway around the world.

They can also feel “earth tides.” They resemble ocean tides, but represent the Earth itself bulging and distorted by the Moon's gravity.

So it was no surprise that we were able to see the footsteps of Mickey Cassar, a field technician, as he inspected the site in Seward Park. Soon our steps would cause ripples when we paid a visit to the SP2 seismic station.

The location of this monitoring station was convenient, given its proximity to the shallow Seattle Fault, another potential threat to our area.

Mickey showed us around the station, opening a large stainless steel panel to reveal the cable connected to a data logger, recording seismic readings. The recorder also timestamps every measurement, every seismic wave, down to units even smaller than milliseconds.

The wideband sensor is paired with an accelerometer. Its monitoring specialty is the precise detection of major events, such as large earthquakes. Both are encased in protective armor and buried three feet underground to insulate them from temperature fluctuations that can cause trouble for such sensitive equipment.

Although these sensors are very sensitive, they can detect footsteps, so “noise” does not contaminate the data. Man-made vibrations are almost everywhere, and so-called “cultural noise” is filtered out.

Strong or weak earthquakes send out a variety of types of seismic waves. Primary or “P” waves travel faster than secondary or “S” waves. The offset, or gap between these two waves arriving at the station, tells us how large an earthquake occurred. Multiple stations then triangulate to determine the epicenter of the explosion.

See also | Are you prepared for an earthquake? Tips from the Great Washington earthquake

If four or more different stations detect a large earthquake, the University of Wisconsin Seismology Laboratory has computers running an algorithm that can sound an alert within 4 to 8 seconds. The threshold for such an alert is “strong enough to make you stop and take notice, and not necessarily yet harmful,” Tobin adds. This alert will be sent to cell phones, buzzing towers that are located within the vibration area, and is similar to an Amber Alert.

In Western Washington, we have three main sources of earthquakes. Those generated offshore from the nearby Cascadia subduction zone, those caused by shallow faults, and the most common: deep earthquakes, caused by deformation of the Juan de Fuca plate.

Deep earthquakes, such as the Nisqually earthquake in 2001, occur on average every 20 to 30 years beneath the Puget Strait.

PNSN's vibration alert will provide a notification when this happens next.

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