Elizabeth S Cochran
Dr. Elizabeth S. Cochran is an observational seismologist at the United States Geological Survey in Pasadena, California. She conducts research on human-induced earthquakes, earthquake early warning, earthquake triggering, rupture processes, and seismic wave propagation.
Elizabeth has led several large seismic deployments following significant earthquakes in the United States. She served as Acting Director of the Earthquake Science Center in 2021. Elizabeth was the Project Chief of the Induced Seismicity project in the Earthquake Science Center from 2018-2021 and Chief Scientist of the ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning project from 2016-17. She was the co-founder of the Quake Catcher Network, a crowd-sourced seismic network that detected earthquakes using low-cost sensors connected to desktop or inside of laptops and phones. Elizabeth received a B.S. in geophysics from University of California, Santa Barbara and a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in geophysics and space physics from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2010, she was recognized with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), which is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers.
Experience
2011 – Present Research Geophysicist, US Geological Survey
2011 – Present Visiting Associate in Geophysics, California Institute of Technology
2007 – 2011 Assistant Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, University of California, Riverside
2005 – 2007 Postdoctoral Scholar, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Scripps
2000 – 2005 Research Assist./Assoc., Department of Earth and Space Science, University of California, Los Angeles
Education
University of California, Santa Barbara Geophysics B.S., 2000
University of California, Los Angeles Geophysics and Space Physics M.S., 2003
University of California, Los Angeles Geophysics and Space Physics Ph.D., 2005
Honors and Activities
· Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), 2010.
· NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, 2010.
· Geological Society of America, Subaru Outstanding Woman in Science Award, 2006.
· Young Fellow of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, 2004.
· Southern California Earthquake Center Seismology Discipline Co-Chair, 2009-2017.
· IRIS Standing Committee Member; Data Management (2008-2010), Education and Public Outreach (2012-2014).
Science and Products
Along-strike variations in fault frictional properties along the San Andreas Fault near Cholame, California from joint earthquake and low-frequency earthquake relocations
Strong-motion observations of the M 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake sequence and development of the N-shake strong-motion network
Using a modified time-reverse imaging technique to locate low-frequency earthquakes on the San Andreas Fault near Cholame, California
On the reliability of Quake-Catcher Network earthquake detections
A century of oilfield operations and earthquakes in the greater Los Angeles Basin, southern California
Improved rapid magnitude estimation for a community-based, low-cost MEMS accelerometer network
Stress- and structure-controlled anisotropy in a region of complex faulting—Yuha Desert, California
The Red Atrapa Sismos (Quake Catcher Network in Mexico): assessing performance during large and damaging earthquakes.
Investigation of the high-frequency attenuation parameter, κ (kappa), from aftershocks of the 2010 Mw 8.8 Maule, Chile earthquake
Technical implementation plan for the ShakeAlert production system: an Earthquake Early Warning system for the West Coast of the United States
Observations of static Coulomb stress triggering of the November 2011 M5.7 Oklahoma earthquake sequence
Semiautomated tremor detection using a combined cross-correlation and neural network approach
Science and Products
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Filter Total Items: 76
Along-strike variations in fault frictional properties along the San Andreas Fault near Cholame, California from joint earthquake and low-frequency earthquake relocations
Recent observations of low‐frequency earthquakes (LFEs) and tectonic tremor along the Parkfield–Cholame segment of the San Andreas fault suggest slow‐slip earthquakes occur in a transition zone between the shallow fault, which accommodates slip by a combination of aseismic creep and earthquakes (<15 km depth), and the deep fault, which accommodates slip by stable sliding (>35 km depth). However,AuthorsRebecca M. Harrington, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Emily M. Griffiths, Xiangfang Zeng, Clifford H. ThurberStrong-motion observations of the M 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake sequence and development of the N-shake strong-motion network
We present and describe strong-motion data observations from the 2015 M 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake sequence collected using existing and new Quake-Catcher Network (QCN) and U.S. Geological Survey NetQuakes sensors located in the Kathmandu Valley. A comparison of QCN data with waveforms recorded by a conventional strong-motion (NetQuakes) instrument validates the QCN data. We present preliminaryAuthorsAmod Dixit, Adam T. Ringler, Danielle F. Sumy, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Susan E. Hough, Stacey Martin, Steven Gibbons, James H. Luetgert, John Galetzka, Surya Shrestha, Sudhir Rajaure, Daniel E. McNamaraUsing a modified time-reverse imaging technique to locate low-frequency earthquakes on the San Andreas Fault near Cholame, California
We present a new method to locate low-frequency earthquakes (LFEs) within tectonic tremor episodes based on time-reverse imaging techniques. The modified time-reverse imaging technique presented here is the first method that locates individual LFEs within tremor episodes within 5 km uncertainty without relying on high-amplitude P-wave arrivals and that produces similar hypocentral locations to metAuthorsTobias Horstmann, Rebecca M. Harrington, Elizabeth S. CochranOn the reliability of Quake-Catcher Network earthquake detections
Over the past two decades, there have been several initiatives to create volunteer‐based seismic networks. The Personal Seismic Network, proposed around 1990, used a short‐period seismograph to record earthquake waveforms using existing phone lines (Cranswick and Banfill, 1990; Cranswicket al., 1993). NetQuakes (Luetgert et al., 2010) deploys triaxial Micro‐Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) sensorsAuthorsBattalgazi Yildirim, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Angela Chung, Carl M. Christensen, Jesse F. LawrenceA century of oilfield operations and earthquakes in the greater Los Angeles Basin, southern California
Most of the seismicity in the Los Angeles Basin (LA Basin) occurs at depth below the sediments and is caused by transpressional tectonics related to the big bend in the San Andreas fault. However, some of the seismicity could be associated with fluid extraction or injection in oil fields that have been in production for almost a century and cover ∼ 17% of the basin. In a recent study, first the inAuthorsEgill Hauksson, Thomas Goebel, Jean-Paul Ampuero, Elizabeth S. CochranImproved rapid magnitude estimation for a community-based, low-cost MEMS accelerometer network
Immediately following the Mw 7.2 Darfield, New Zealand, earthquake, over 180 Quake‐Catcher Network (QCN) low‐cost micro‐electro‐mechanical systems accelerometers were deployed in the Canterbury region. Using data recorded by this dense network from 2010 to 2013, we significantly improved the QCN rapid magnitude estimation relationship. The previous scaling relationship (Lawrence et al., 2014) didAuthorsAngela Chung, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Anna E. Kaiser, Carl M. Christensen, Battalgazi Yildirim, Jesse F. LawrenceStress- and structure-controlled anisotropy in a region of complex faulting—Yuha Desert, California
We examine shear velocity anisotropy in the Yuha Desert, California using aftershocks of the 2010 M7.2 El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake. The Yuha Desert is underlain by a complex network of right- and left-lateral conjugate faults, some of which experienced triggered slip during the El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake. An automated method that implements multiple measurement windows and a range of bandpass filAuthorsElizabeth S. Cochran, Kayla A. KrollThe Red Atrapa Sismos (Quake Catcher Network in Mexico): assessing performance during large and damaging earthquakes.
The Quake‐Catcher Network (QCN) is an expanding seismic array made possible by thousands of participants who volunteered time and resources from their computers to record seismic data using low‐cost accelerometers (http://qcn.stanford.edu/; last accessed December 2014). Sensors based on Micro‐Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) technology have rapidly improved over the last few years due to the demanAuthorsLuis A. Dominguez, Battalgazi Yildirim, Allen L. Husker, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Carl Christensen, Victor M. Cruz-AtienzaInvestigation of the high-frequency attenuation parameter, κ (kappa), from aftershocks of the 2010 Mw 8.8 Maule, Chile earthquake
The Bío Bío region of Chile experienced a vigorous aftershock sequence following the 2010 February 27 Mw 8.8 Maule earthquake. The immediate aftershock sequence was captured by two temporary seismic deployments: the Quake Catcher Network Rapid Aftershock Mobilization Program (QCN RAMP) and the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology CHile Aftershock Mobilization Program (IRIS CHAMP). HerAuthorsCorrie Neighbors, E. J. Liao, Elizabeth S. Cochran, G. J. Funning, A. I. Chung, J. F. Lawrence, C. M. Christensen, M. Miller, A. Belmonte, H. H. Andrés SepulvedaTechnical implementation plan for the ShakeAlert production system: an Earthquake Early Warning system for the West Coast of the United States
Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) systems can provide as much as tens of seconds of warning to people and automated systems before strong shaking arrives. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) and its partners are developing such an EEW system, called ShakeAlert, for the West Coast of the United States. This document describes the technical implementation of that system, which leverages existingAuthorsDouglas D. Given, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Thomas Heaton, Egill Hauksson, Richard Allen, Peggy Hellweg, John Vidale, Paul BodinObservations of static Coulomb stress triggering of the November 2011 M5.7 Oklahoma earthquake sequence
In November 2011, a M5.0 earthquake occurred less than a day before a M5.7 earthquake near Prague, Oklahoma, which may have promoted failure of the mainshock and thousands of aftershocks along the Wilzetta fault, including a M5.0 aftershock. The M5.0 foreshock occurred in close proximity to active fluid injection wells; fluid injection can cause a buildup of pore fluid pressure, decrease the faultAuthorsDanielle F. Sumy, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Katie M. Keranen, Maya Wei, Geoffrey A. AbersSemiautomated tremor detection using a combined cross-correlation and neural network approach
Despite observations of tectonic tremor in many locations around the globe, the emergent phase arrivals, low‒amplitude waveforms, and variable event durations make automatic detection a nontrivial task. In this study, we employ a new method to identify tremor in large data sets using a semiautomated technique. The method first reduces the data volume with an envelope cross‒correlation technique, fAuthorsTobias Horstmann, Rebecca M. Harrington, Elizabeth S. Cochran - News