USA: Officials push to keep dozens of earthquake sensors slated for removal across Alaska

By Alex DeMarban

Alaska officials are working to keep in place a statewide seismic network that’s scheduled to be decommissioned next year but is vital for understanding earthquake and tsunami risks in the nation’s most seismically active state.

The National Science Foundation next year plans to remove more than 150 seismic sensors it installed in Alaska in recent years, closing out a $50 million project that vastly improved the state’s limited seismic network, said Mike West, state seismologist.

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The seismic stations were a “game-changer” in Alaska, said West, head of the Alaska Earthquake Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. They created a quake-monitoring web, filling in “Montana-sized” gaps that had existed in much of the state.

The federal sensors supplemented the state system — consisting of about 150 sensors limited to Southcentral Alaska and the Railbelt — and allowed scientists to pinpoint the depth, orientation and footprints of the most remote quakes.

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West said the University of Alaska seeks $5 million in state funding to keep many of the USArray sensors in Alaska. It’s the university’s lone capital budget request for research, a sign of its value, he said.

The state money could attract another $19 million in federal funding, helping cover operations and maintenance costs for five years, he said.

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