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
2018 one‐year seismic hazard forecast for the central and eastern United States from induced and natural earthquakes
Earthquake early Warning ShakeAlert system: West coast wide production prototype
Earthquake Early Warning ShakeAlert System: Testing and certification platform
Quake warnings, seismic culture
Delayed seismicity rate changes controlled by static stress transfer
Strong SH-to-Love wave scattering off the Southern California Continental Borderland
Source spectral properties of small-to-moderate earthquakes in southern Kansas
Aftershocks driven by afterslip and fluid pressure sweeping through a fault-fracture mesh
Poroelastic properties of the Arbuckle Group in Oklahoma derived from well fluid level response to the 3 September 2016 Mw 5.8 Pawnee and 7 November 2016 Mw 5.0 Cushing earthquakes
Low stress drops observed for aftershocks of the 2011 Mw 5.7 Prague, Oklahoma, earthquake
Solving for source parameters using nested array data: A case study from the Canterbury, New Zealand earthquake sequence
3-D P- and S-wave velocity structure and low-frequency earthquake locations in the Parkfield, California region
Science and Products
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Filter Total Items: 76
2018 one‐year seismic hazard forecast for the central and eastern United States from induced and natural earthquakes
This article describes the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 2018 one‐year probabilistic seismic hazard forecast for the central and eastern United States from induced and natural earthquakes. For consistency, the updated 2018 forecast is developed using the same probabilistic seismicity‐based methodology as applied in the two previous forecasts. Rates of earthquakes across the United States M≥3.0 greAuthorsMark D. Petersen, Charles Mueller, Morgan P. Moschetti, Susan M. Hoover, Kenneth S. Rukstales, Daniel E. McNamara, Robert A. Williams, Allison Shumway, Peter M. Powers, Paul S. Earle, Andrea L. Llenos, Andrew J. Michael, Justin L. Rubinstein, Jack Norbeck, Elizabeth S. CochranEarthquake early Warning ShakeAlert system: West coast wide production prototype
Earthquake early warning (EEW) is an application of seismological science that can give people, as well as mechanical and electrical systems, up to tens of seconds to take protective actions before peak earthquake shaking arrives at a location. Since 2006, the U.S. Geological Survey has been working in collaboration with several partners to develop EEW for the United States. The goal is to createAuthorsMonica D. Kohler, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Doug Given, Stephen Guiwits, Doug Neuhauser, Ivan Hensen, J. Renate Hartog, Paul Bodin, Victor Kress, Stephen Thompson, Claude Felizardo, Jeff Brody, Rayo Bhadha, Stan SchwarzEarthquake Early Warning ShakeAlert System: Testing and certification platform
Earthquake early warning systems provide warnings to end users of incoming moderate to strong ground shaking from earthquakes. An earthquake early warning system, ShakeAlert, is providing alerts to beta end users in the western United States, specifically California, Oregon, and Washington. An essential aspect of the earthquake early warning system is the development of a framework to test modificAuthorsElizabeth S. Cochran, Monica D. Kohler, Doug Given, Stephen Guiwits, Jennifer Andrews, Men-Andrin Meier, Mohammad Ahmad, Ivan Henson, J. Renate Hartog, Deborah SmithQuake warnings, seismic culture
Since 1990, nearly one million people have died from the impacts of earthquakes. Reducing those impacts requires building a local seismic culture in which residents are aware of earthquake risks and value efforts to mitigate harm. Such efforts include earthquake early warning (EEW) systems that provide seconds to minutes notice of pending shaking. Recent events in Mexico provide an opportunity toAuthorsRichard M. Allen, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Tom Huggins, Scott Miles, Diego OteguiDelayed seismicity rate changes controlled by static stress transfer
On 15 June 2010, a Mw5.7 earthquake occurred near Ocotillo, California, in the Yuha Desert. This event was the largest aftershock of the 4 April 2010 Mw7.2 El Mayor-Cucapah (EMC) earthquake in this region. The EMC mainshock and subsequent Ocotillo aftershock provide an opportunity to test the Coulomb failure hypothesis (CFS). We explore the spatiotemporal correlation between seismicity rate changeAuthorsKayla A. Kroll, Keith B. Richards-Dinger, James H. Dieterich, Elizabeth S. CochranStrong SH-to-Love wave scattering off the Southern California Continental Borderland
Seismic scattering is commonly observed and results from wave propagation in heterogeneous medium. Yet, deterministic characterization of scatterers associated with lateral heterogeneities remains challenging. In this study, we analyze broadband waveforms recorded by the Southern California Seismic Network and observe strongly scattered Love waves following the arrival of teleseismic SH wave. ThesAuthorsChunquan Yu, Zhongwen Zhan, Egill Hauksson, Elizabeth S. CochranSource spectral properties of small-to-moderate earthquakes in southern Kansas
The source spectral properties of injection-induced earthquakes give insight into their nucleation, rupture processes, and influence on ground motion. Here we apply a spectral decomposition approach to analyze P-wave spectra and estimate Brune-type stress drop for more than 2000 ML1.5–5.2 earthquakes occurring in southern Kansas from 2014 to 2016. We find that these earthquakes are characterized bAuthorsDaniel T. Trugman, Sara L. Dougherty, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Peter M. ShearerAftershocks driven by afterslip and fluid pressure sweeping through a fault-fracture mesh
A variety of physical mechanisms are thought to be responsible for the triggering and spatiotemporal evolution of aftershocks. Here we analyze a vigorous aftershock sequence and postseismic geodetic strain that occurred in the Yuha Desert following the 2010 Mw 7.2 El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake. About 155,000 detected aftershocks occurred in a network of orthogonal faults and exhibit features of twoAuthorsZachary E. Ross, Christopher Rollins, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Egill Hauksson, Jean-Philippe Avouac, Yehuda Ben-ZionPoroelastic properties of the Arbuckle Group in Oklahoma derived from well fluid level response to the 3 September 2016 Mw 5.8 Pawnee and 7 November 2016 Mw 5.0 Cushing earthquakes
The Arbuckle Group (Arbuckle) is a basal sedimentary unit that is the primary target for saltwater disposal in Oklahoma. Thus, the reservoir characteristics of the Arbuckle, including how the poroelastic properties change laterally and over time are of significant interest. We report observations of fluid level changes in two monitoring wells in response to the 3 September 2016 Mw 5.8 Pawnee and tAuthorsKayla A. Kroll, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Kyle E. MurrayLow stress drops observed for aftershocks of the 2011 Mw 5.7 Prague, Oklahoma, earthquake
In November 2011, three Mw ≥ 4.8 earthquakes and thousands of aftershocks occurred along the structurally complex Wilzetta fault system near Prague, Oklahoma. Previous studies suggest that wastewater injection induced a Mw 4.8 foreshock, which subsequently triggered a Mw 5.7 mainshock. We examine source properties of aftershocks with a standard Brune-type spectral model and jointly solve for seismAuthorsDanielle F. Sumy, Corrie J. Neighbors, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Katie M. KeranenSolving for source parameters using nested array data: A case study from the Canterbury, New Zealand earthquake sequence
The seismic spectrum can be constructed by assuming a Brune spectral model and estimating the parameters of seismic moment (M0), corner frequency (fc), and high-frequency site attenuation (κ). Using seismic data collected during the 2010–2011 Canterbury, New Zealand, earthquake sequence, we apply the non-linear least-squares Gauss–Newton method, a deterministic downhill optimization technique, toAuthorsCorrie Neighbors, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Kenneth Ryan, Anna E. Kaiser3-D P- and S-wave velocity structure and low-frequency earthquake locations in the Parkfield, California region
To refine the 3-D seismic velocity model in the greater Parkfield, California region, a new data set including regular earthquakes, shots, quarry blasts and low-frequency earthquakes (LFEs) was assembled. Hundreds of traces of each LFE family at two temporary arrays were stacked with time–frequency domain phase weighted stacking method to improve signal-to-noise ratio. We extend our model resolutiAuthorsXiangfang Zeng, Clifford H. Thurber, David R. Shelly, Rebecca M. Harrington, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Ninfa L. Bennington, Dana Peterson, Bin Guo, Kara McClement - News