UCR Scientists Develop GPS Algorithm to Map Major Earthquake Risk Zones
Updated
Updated · Fox Weather · Sep 6
UCR Scientists Develop GPS Algorithm to Map Major Earthquake Risk Zones
3 articles · Updated · Fox Weather · Sep 6
Summary
UCR researchers said their new GPS-based algorithm can identify locked fault patches where strain is building, highlighting where some of the biggest earthquakes are most likely to rupture.
The method tracks subtle ground movement along subduction zones and flags asperities—frictional sections that resist motion until accumulated stress is released in a major quake.
In Kamchatka, the model identified a stressed region beneath Russia’s peninsula before the 2025 magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck there, though it did not predict the timing and cannot forecast tsunami size.
Researchers are now testing the approach in Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the Pacific Northwest and California, aiming to improve long-term hazard planning rather than provide exact earthquake forecasts.