GPS World, September 2018

WATCH MARKET MAPPING 2 Scientists Map Fast Moving Fault off Alaska R esearchers have completed the first high resolution comprehensive mapping of one of the fastest moving underwater tectonic faults in the world located in southeastern Alaska The mapping information will help communities in coastal Alaska and Canada better understand and prepare for the risks from earthquakes and tsunamis that can occur when faults suddenly move Since 2015 scientists have been gathering data on the Queen Charlotte Fairweather fault system a 746 mile long strike slip fault line that extends from offshore of Vancouver Island Canada to the Fairweather Range of southeast Alaska The most recent survey came from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admministration NOAA ship Fairweather with U S Geological Survey scientists aboard from April through July The team gathered high resolution bathymetric data in water 44 GPS WORLD WWW GPSWORLD COM SEPTEMBER 2018 Image Esri USGS GeoMAC A n Esri Storymap provides a quick snapshot of the raging fires across the United States and provides context to the severity of the California fires The interactive map can be explored by panning and zooming Click on a fire and information about that particular fire is displayed including the start date containment and links to the latest news and social information The fires and perimeters are a service of the GeoMAC community that uses the Geospatial Multi Agency Coordination an internet based mapping application designed for fire managers to access online maps of current fire locations and perimeters in the United States The data is updated manually based on information from a host of sources including those on the ground Typically the data is fresh to about 24 hours but there is variability because it is a carefully curated process Esri has updated the app based on feedback from many different groups including firefighting professionals and those directly affected by fires It now includes a National Weather Service NWS animated smoke risk forecast visualized to more directly represent smoke Another is the addition at finer scales of satellite detected hot spots to indicate fire direction sensors Many Earth observing satellites contain sensors capable of detecting the infrared energy released by fires Not only can the hotspots be located but also areas of burned land can be identified based both on their thermal characteristics and visible appearance In Esris ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World the MODIS Thermal Activity layer provides daily updated global hotspot locations US Wildfires Placed in Context depths ranging from 500 to more than 7000 feet deep using multi beam sonar to collect bathymetric data With a slip rate of more than 2 inches per year this fault may be one of the fastestmoving strike slip faults in the world Californias San Andreas fault slips about an inch to an inch and a half each year NOAA nautical charts will be updated with the fault data within a year once the data goes through a quality control process Images NOAA USS Fairweather in Alaskan waters