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AI is Helping Seismologists Detect Earthquakes They'd Otherwise Miss (theverge.com)

Using the same tools we use for voice detection, scientists are uncovering tiny earthquakes hidden in the data. From The Verge: Oklahoma never used to be known for its earthquakes. Before 2009, the state had roughly two quakes of magnitude three and above each year. In 2015, this tally rocketed to more than 900, though it's calmed since, falling to 304 last year. This sudden increase is thought to be caused by the disposal of wastewater by the state's booming fracking industry, and it's caught seismologists off-guard. As a historically quake-free area, Oklahoma doesn't have enough equipment to detect and locate all of these quakes, making it hard to investigate their root cause. The solution proposed by Perol and his colleagues from Harvard University's engineering and earth sciences departments is to use artificial intelligence to amplify the sensitivity of the state's earthquake detectors, otherwise known as seismographs. In a paper published today in the journal Science Advances, they show how effective this technique is -- capable of detecting 17 times more earthquakes than older methods in a fraction of the time. The method is similar to the voice detection software used by digital assistants like Alexa and Siri.

32 comments

  1. Oklahoma never used to be known for its earthquake by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    then we fraked the fuck out of it
    protip oklahoma - use museum putty to hold things on shelves

  2. Are the programmers going to be arrested... by greenwow · · Score: 1

    if there's an earthquake they didn't predict? Oh wait. We're not Italy.

  3. Cheesy TV show by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cue some Cheesy TV show where they are looking at the output from a seismograph and someone behind them is yelling "Enhance, enhance!"

  4. Is this really AI? by sjbe · · Score: 2

    They are running a filter to remove background seismic activity so that they can better read the signal from earthquakes that are not close to the seismograph. New application of old techniques to all appearances. Not knocking the technology just worried that they are slapping the label AI on anything vaguely clever that uses a computer.

    1. Re:Is this really AI? by 110010001000 · · Score: 2

      The best way to get money for a grant (or from a VC) right now is to call what you are doing "AI".

    2. Re:Is this really AI? by Lab+Rat+Jason · · Score: 1

      No.... that's blockchain.

      --
      Which has more power: the hammer, or the anvil?
    3. Re:Is this really AI? by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 2

      No.... that's blockchain.

      Ah! I get it! So it's the blockchain miners who are causing all the earthquakes with all their digging.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  5. AI, AI, while it is NOT AI! It is ML! by NuclearCat · · Score: 1

    Please dont use buzzwords suitable for mass media. They use _machine learning_, and it is far from being AI.

    1. Re:AI, AI, while it is NOT AI! It is ML! by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      According to classical definitions, ML can easily belong into the AI field.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  6. Re:Oklahoma never used to be known for its earthqu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And then eventually when a town ends up 50% destroyed due to an earthquake, the rest of the taxpayers have to foot the bill for irresponsible actions of an industry and a government that bends over for them.

    But we're all so glad they have that job, so we can pay to renovate their town for them.

    #entitlementscausedbypeoplewhodontlikeentitlements

  7. Maybe they can detect Paul Ryan's tiny balls? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or is that beyond even fantasy-grade AI?

  8. AI by 110010001000 · · Score: 0

    I love how analytics is called "AI" now. Hilarious. The hype around AI is about the same level as the "VR" hype last year, before VR was exposed as a waste of time.

  9. WHY there are earthquakes in OK now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fracking. How nice for them to setup this nice laboratory for earthquake detection.

    1. Re:WHY there are earthquakes in OK now? by MoaDweeb · · Score: 1

      How about removing all funding for these attention-seeking seismologists . Then there will be no earthquakes = no problem = Frack On!

      --
      New Zealanders are well balanced with a chip on each shoulder. One represents Australia, the other the rest of the world
  10. Umm, AI? by ddtmm · · Score: 1

    Since when did FFT become AI? The use of the term AI has become a joke.

    1. Re:Umm, AI? by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      They trained neural nets. Trained = sort of like learning. Neural = kind of like the brain. So it must be like an learning artificial brain. Hence, it is AI.

    2. Re:Umm, AI? by mishehu · · Score: 1

      Man it's all about bilking the simple-minded no? Got to make sure you leverage AI blockchains for cryptocurrency in the cloud. (Surely I've missed a few buzzwords, but I digress...)

    3. Re:Umm, AI? by bobbied · · Score: 1

      Be still my beating heart!

      This isn't AI and it's not even new... I happen to KNOW that this kind of thing was being done back in 1993 with audio signals doing spectral analysis of a signal to pick out noises BELOW the noise floor of the audio that NOBODY could hope to hear. We even used neural nets to compare these noises in different sources and detect things like direction or even locations of the source if you had multiple microphones providing you audio... Worked like a charm back in '93.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  11. The real story here is Natural Stupidity by Mister+Liberty · · Score: 0

    not Artificial Intelligence.
    In other words, F**king Fracking, which in the end means the destruction of human habitat.

    1. Re:The real story here is Natural Stupidity by magzteel · · Score: 1

      not Artificial Intelligence.

      In other words, F**king Fracking, which in the end means the destruction of human habitat.

      "Fact 1: Fracking is NOT causing most of the induced earthquakes. Wastewater disposal is the primary cause of the recent increase in earthquakes in the central United States.

      Wastewater disposal wells typically operate for longer durations and inject much more fluid than hydraulic fracturing, making them more likely to induce earthquakes. In Oklahoma, which has the most induced earthquakes in US, only 1-2% of the earthquakes can be linked to hydraulic fracturing operations. The remaining earthquakes are induced by wastewater disposal."

      https://earthquake.usgs.gov/re...

    2. Re:The real story here is Natural Stupidity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fracking creates wastewater and there's no other way to deal with it, so you're wrong. They reinject it everywhere fracking occurs, bar none. The alternative is tailing ponds which are just as bad though not for quakes.

    3. Re:The real story here is Natural Stupidity by magzteel · · Score: 1

      Fracking creates wastewater and there's no other way to deal with it, so you're wrong. They reinject it everywhere fracking occurs, bar none. The alternative is tailing ponds which are just as bad though not for quakes.

      I can't be wrong since I didn't express an opinion. I relayed the opinion of the USGS.
      Take it up with them, I'm sure people with your depth of experience are in great demand there.

  12. Re:Oklahoma never used to be known for its earthqu by magzteel · · Score: 4, Informative

    then we fraked the fuck out of it
    protip oklahoma - use museum putty to hold things on shelves

    The USGS calls bullshit on you.

    "Fact 1: Fracking is NOT causing most of the induced earthquakes. Wastewater disposal is the primary cause of the recent increase in earthquakes in the central United States.

    Wastewater disposal wells typically operate for longer durations and inject much more fluid than hydraulic fracturing, making them more likely to induce earthquakes. In Oklahoma, which has the most induced earthquakes in US, only 1-2% of the earthquakes can be linked to hydraulic fracturing operations. The remaining earthquakes are induced by wastewater disposal."

    https://earthquake.usgs.gov/re...

  13. It's also helping... by raftpeople · · Score: 1

    Jonesy the sonar guy find the Red October

  14. Re:Oklahoma never used to be known for its earthqu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    TFS said 'This sudden increase is thought to be caused by the disposal of wastewater by the state's booming fracking industry'. Sure, the fracking itself isn't causing the earthquakes but it does cause the waste water disposal which wouldn't exist without the fracking.

    Regarding botulism, do you think the bacterium itself is blameless because it only produces the deadly toxin and is itself harmless? It wasn't the fall, it was the impact? It wasn't the bomb, it was the overpressure, the heat and the fallout? It wasn't the shooter, it was the gun?

  15. Re:Oklahoma never used to be known for its earthqu by Local+ID10T · · Score: 1

    This is a distinction without a difference:

    The wastewater is created as part of the fracking process.

    The wastewater is disposed of by injecting it into the earth.

    The wastewater injection is causing the earthquakes.

    Therefore the cause of the earthquakes is fracking.

    --
    "You want to know how to help your kids? Leave them the fuck alone." -George Carlin
  16. Was that an eartquake? by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

    Or did we just have sex?

    --
    Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  17. Re:Oklahoma never used to be known for its earthqu by magzteel · · Score: 1

    This is a distinction without a difference:

    The wastewater is created as part of the fracking process.

    The wastewater is disposed of by injecting it into the earth.

    The wastewater injection is causing the earthquakes.

    Therefore the cause of the earthquakes is fracking.

    Nice logical progression but the USGS disagrees with you. Take it up with them.