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by TheOtherHobbes 1607 days ago
People who want to study earthquakes will keep a distance and model and measure remotely.

The idea that seismologists actually want to experience massive destruction personally is bizarre, and completely wrong.

4 comments

Seismologists don't just sit there making models. They also like to do things like drill big holes into faultlines.

If you're studying faultlines, you want to have reasonable access to the subject of your study. Otherwise you may as well be a marine biologist living in Kansas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9ZPq5FRmnE https://www.gns.cri.nz/Home/News-and-Events/Media-Releases-a...

Physical measurement is used to make better models, you need both. This: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH_PAGimWJM informs this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HipS-7kGe9c

Likewise, if you want to study volcanoes, you'd want to have access to volcanoes.

https://youtu.be/eJGmkOFBDvg

> People who want to study earthquakes will keep a distance and model and measure remotely.

Hee hee, I completely missed that implication of the analogy.

There really should be an "earthquake chasers" reality show if there isn't already. Like, they get a signal from that early warning system in the U.S., the countdown starts and then reaches zero by the time they jump in their van.

The rest of the episode would be counting the seconds as they hurry toward their destination, only to arrive upset that yet again they missed it by only a few tens of thousands of seconds.

Yeah, the post definitely has some serious "tell me you aren't a geologist without telling me you aren't a geologist" energy.
well, volcanologist Robert Landsburg was killed studying Mt St Helens

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/last-moments-bef...