CIG code SPECFEM3D_Globe Used in California Academy of Sciences “Earthquake” Exhibit

The California Academy of Sciences (CAS) opened their latest exhibit Earthquake on May 26. The exhibit, occupying the entire west wing of the museum, features a walk-through Earth and a shake house as well as explores topics such as mantle convection, seismic tomography, plate boundaries, tectonic impacts on evolution, and earthquake preparedness. Its companion show, Evidence of a Restless Planet at the Morrison Planetarium, explores the forces that transform the surface of our planet including accurate, data-driven visualizations in a dramatic immersive video format on the 75-foot "full-dome" digital screen. For the show, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) calculated earthquake ground motions of the 1906 San Francisco M7.9 earthquake and a possible M 7.05 Hayward Fault scenario using WPP (an elastic finite difference code of seismic simulations developed at LLNL) and the CIG maintained code SPECFEM3D_GLOBE (developed by Princeton University, CNRS/Aix-Marseille and others). The SPECFEM3D_GLOBE calculation for the 1906 earthquake shows the surface ground motions as well as motions along a radial cross-section paralleling the San Andreas Fault on the scale of North America. The exhibit and planetarium show will remain open for over a year. Make time to visit this exciting exhibit during Fall AGU. 

More information is available online at: www.calacademy.org/academy/exhibits/earthquake 
 

Submitted by Artie Rodgers, LLNL