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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| OMG. Did you just feel a quake? | OMG. Did you just feel a quake? |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Tweets are being used by the US Geological Survey (USGS) to get instant public reaction to earthquakes. | Tweets are being used by the US Geological Survey (USGS) to get instant public reaction to earthquakes. |
| The agency is trawling the messages to find out what people felt during a tremor - whether there was a lot of shaking in their area or not. | The agency is trawling the messages to find out what people felt during a tremor - whether there was a lot of shaking in their area or not. |
| There are big spikes in Twitter traffic immediately following a quake and the USGS believes emergency responders might find the information useful. | There are big spikes in Twitter traffic immediately following a quake and the USGS believes emergency responders might find the information useful. |
| It could help them assess very quickly the severity of a particular event. | It could help them assess very quickly the severity of a particular event. |
| However, the survey stressed that the social networking tool would only ever supplement the existing scientific reporting systems which determine shake effects. | |
| Quake tweets | Quake tweets |
| "It is a speed versus accuracy issue," explained Dr Paul Earle. | "It is a speed versus accuracy issue," explained Dr Paul Earle. |
| "Twitter messages start coming out in the seconds after an earthquake whereas, depending of the region, scientifically derived information can take 2-20 minutes," he told BBC News. | "Twitter messages start coming out in the seconds after an earthquake whereas, depending of the region, scientifically derived information can take 2-20 minutes," he told BBC News. |
| Dr Earle has been describing the Twitter Earthquake Detection project here at the American Geophysical Union's (AGU) Fall Meeting, the world's largest annual gathering of Earth scientists. | Dr Earle has been describing the Twitter Earthquake Detection project here at the American Geophysical Union's (AGU) Fall Meeting, the world's largest annual gathering of Earth scientists. |
| It seems that sharing their experiences is one of the first things tweeters are most keen to do following a quake. | It seems that sharing their experiences is one of the first things tweeters are most keen to do following a quake. |
| For example, typical messages after a magnitude 5.1 event offshore of New Zealand earlier this month included: | For example, typical messages after a magnitude 5.1 event offshore of New Zealand earlier this month included: |
| • Wellingtonians - was that an earthquake or just a very big truck going past our building? | • Wellingtonians - was that an earthquake or just a very big truck going past our building? |
| • that was a bigger earthquake the mirror shook in the bathroom and the floor moved ..... Scared :( | • that was a bigger earthquake the mirror shook in the bathroom and the floor moved ..... Scared :( |
| • Just had a Earthquake, biggest one ive ever seen, not huge, but enough to really shake our house and everything on my desk, good old NZ | • Just had a Earthquake, biggest one ive ever seen, not huge, but enough to really shake our house and everything on my desk, good old NZ |
| • My monitors were shaking like the water in Jurassic Park, kinda awesome. #earthquake #wellington | • My monitors were shaking like the water in Jurassic Park, kinda awesome. #earthquake #wellington |
| "Twitter provides a stream that dumps out the tweets continuously," explained Michelle Guy, a software engineer working on the USGS project. | "Twitter provides a stream that dumps out the tweets continuously," explained Michelle Guy, a software engineer working on the USGS project. |
| "We put a filter on that stream, looking for key words like 'earthquake' or 'quake'. We download it 24/7." | "We put a filter on that stream, looking for key words like 'earthquake' or 'quake'. We download it 24/7." |
| Noise filter | Noise filter |
| The USGS continuously collects, geo-codes (where the information is supplied, perhaps by a GPS enabled device) and stores the tweets. | The USGS continuously collects, geo-codes (where the information is supplied, perhaps by a GPS enabled device) and stores the tweets. |
| When the national seismic network detects a quake, the new system then checks back to see if there was a significant increase in messages following the event. | When the national seismic network detects a quake, the new system then checks back to see if there was a significant increase in messages following the event. |
| If there was, it can send interested scientists emails that summarise where the tweets were coming from and the text from a sample of them. | If there was, it can send interested scientists emails that summarise where the tweets were coming from and the text from a sample of them. |
| The USGS development team concedes there can be a lot "noise" in the data stream. | The USGS development team concedes there can be a lot "noise" in the data stream. |
| For instance, the filter has had to be tuned to ignore references to the popular video game "Quake" and an ice cream known as the "Oreo Brownie Earthquake". | For instance, the filter has had to be tuned to ignore references to the popular video game "Quake" and an ice cream known as the "Oreo Brownie Earthquake". |
| "Because there is a lot of noise in this data and we don't believe this system could ever be used to initiate a critical response such as shutting down a nuclear power plant, but what it may do is give us an initial heads-up in a region which doesn't have a dense seismic network that further scientific evaluation is needed," said Dr Earle. | "Because there is a lot of noise in this data and we don't believe this system could ever be used to initiate a critical response such as shutting down a nuclear power plant, but what it may do is give us an initial heads-up in a region which doesn't have a dense seismic network that further scientific evaluation is needed," said Dr Earle. |
| A paper describing the project will be published soon in Seismological Research Letters. | A paper describing the project will be published soon in Seismological Research Letters. |
| Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk | Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk |