Dear
Kate Hutton of CalTech –
Hope
this note finds you well.
I
was the technical director of National Geographic's first "Earth from
Space" project.
I
subscribe to USGS Bigquake email notifications, for example today's
I
have been wondering if a dynamic tomogram of past earthquakes would be useful
for teaching or briefing purposes.
The
earth could be "cut open" or rendered transparently to show current
events in a historic context, like hurricane plots.
Would
you like to see seismic wave propagation animated from various points of view?
Would
you like to see interaction with populated areas and geologic structures?
I
would.
This
is a concept sketch.
My
background is finite element analysis, ray tracing, sonic studies and image
processing.
I am wondering if we could discuss the possibilities for tools, tools that you
and CalTech could use in presenting seismic events in times of need.
These
same tools could have discovery value if they included fault databases, lunar
orbit plots and reruns of seismic events.
Collaborative
discovery is so exciting.
I
just think it would be cool to see earthquakes in a moving animated context of
wave interference, refraction and reflection.