Sarah Minson
Biography
Education
2010 Ph.D. in Geophysics, California Insititue of Technology
Thesis: “A Bayesian Approach to Earthquake Source Studies ”
Committee:
James Beck, Thomas Heaton (chair), Donald Helmberger,
Hiroo Kanamori, Nadia Lapusta, Mark Simons (advisor)
2005 M.S. in Geophysics, California Insititue of Technology
2003 B.A. in Geophysics with Highest Distinction in General Scholarship, University of California, Berkeley
Honors Thesis: “Source Mechanisms of Volcanic Induced Seismicity – Miyakejima, Japan, 2000”
Advisor: Douglas Dreger
Appointments
2014 – Present Research Geophysicist, U.S. Geological Survey
2014 Postdoctoral Fellow, California Institute of Technology
2011 – 2013 Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow, U.S. Geological Survey
Awards
2018 Kavli Fellow (National Academy of Sciences and The Kavli Foundation)
2016 U.S. Geological Survey STAR Award
2014 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)
2011 – 2013 U.S. Geological Survey Mendenhall Fellowship
2009 Outstanding Student Paper Award – AGU Fall Meeting
2006 – 2009 NASA Earth System Science Fellowship
2003 – 2004 Gutenberg Fellowship, California Institute of Technology
2002 – 2003 Ramsden Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley
2003 Departmental Citation in Recognition of Distinguished Undergraduate Accomplishment, University of California, Berkeley
2003 Outstanding Woman Student Award, Association of Women Geoscientists
2002 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley
Publications
Minson, S. E., M.-A. Meier, A. S. Baltay, T. C. Hanks, and E. S. Cochran (2018), The limits of earthquake early warning: Timeliness of ground motion estimates. Sci. Adv., 4 (3), eaaq0504, doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaq0504. [PDF] [SOM PDF] [open access permalink]
Lapotre, M. G. A., B. L. Ehlmann, S. E. Minson, R. E. Arvidson, F. Ayoub, A. A. Fraeman, R. C. Ewing, and N. T. Bridges (2017), Compositional Variations in Sands of the Bagnold Dunes, Gale Crater, Mars, from Visible-Shortwave Infrared Spectroscopy and Comparison with Ground Truth from the Curiosity Rover, J. Geophys. Res. Planets, 122(12), 2489-2509, doi:10.1002/2016JE005133. [PDF]
Brooks, B. A., S. E. Minson, C. L. Glennie, J. M. Nevitt, T. Dawson, R. Rubin, T. L. Ericksen, D. Lockner, K. Hudnut, V. Langenheim, A. Lutz, M. Mareschal, J. Murray, D. Schwartz and D. Zaccone (2017), Buried shallow fault slip from the South Napa earthquake revealed by near-field geodesy, Sci. Adv., 3(7), e1700525, doi:10.1126/sciadv.1700525. [PDF]
Minson, S. E., S. Wu, J. L. Beck, T. H. Heaton (2017), Combining multiple earthquake models in real time for earthquake early warning, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer., 107(4), 1868-1882, doi:10.1785/0120160331. [PDF]
Lapotre, M. G. A., B. L. Ehlmann, and S. E. Minson (2017), A probabilistic approach to remote compositional analysis of planetary surfaces, J. Geophys. Res. Planets, 122(5), 983-1009, doi:10.1002/2016JE005248. [PDF]
Clayton, B. S., S. H. Hartzell, M. P. Moschetti, and S. E. Minson (2017), Finite-Fault Bayesian Inversion of Teleseismic Body Waves, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer., 107(3), 1526-1544, doi:10.1785/0120160268. [PDF]
Crowell, B. W., D. A. Schmidt, P. Bodin, J. E. Vidale, J. Gomberg, J. R. Hartog, V. C. Kress, T. I. Melbourne, M. Santillan, S. E. Minson, and D. G. Jamison (2016), Demonstration of the Cascadia G-FAST Geodetic Earthquake Early Warning System for the Nisqually, Washington, Earthquake, Seismol. Res. Lett., 87(4), 930-943, doi:10.1785/0220150255. [PDF]
Duputel, Z., J. Jiang, R. Jolivet, M. Simons, L. Rivera, J.-P. Ampuero, B. Riel, S.E. Owen, A. W. Moore, S. V. Samsonov, F. Ortega Culaciati, and S. E. Minson (2015), The Iquique earthquake sequence of April 2014: Bayesian modeling accounting for prediction uncertainty, Geophys. Res. Lett., 42, 7949-7957, doi:10.1002/2015GL065402. [PDF]
Miller, M. D., M. Simons, J. F. Adkins, and S. E. Minson (2015), The information content of pore fluid δ18O and [Cl-], J. Phys. Oceanogr., 45(8), 2070-2094, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-14-0203.1. [PDF]
Minson, S. E., B. A. Brooks, C. L. Glennie, J. R. Murray, J. O. Langbein, S. E. Owen, T. H. Heaton, R. A. Iannucci, and D. L. Hauser (2015), Crowdsourced earthquake early warning, Sci. Adv., 1(3), e1500036, doi:10.1126/sciadv.1500036. [main PDF] [SOM PDF] [open access permalink]
Murray, J. R., S. E. Minson, and J. L. Svarc (2014), Slip rates and spatially variable creep on faults of the northern San Andreas system inferred through Bayesian inversion of Global Positioning System data, J. Geophys. Res., 119, doi:10.1002/2014JB010966. [PDF]
Minson, S. E., and W. H. K. Lee (2014), Bayesian historical earthquake relocation: an example from the 1909 Taipei earthquake, Geophys. J. Int., 198(3), 1419-1430, doi:10.1093/gji/ggu201. [PDF]
Minson, S. E., M. Simons, J. L. Beck, F. Ortega, J. Jiang, S. E. Owen, A. W. Moore, A. Inbal, and A. Sladen (2014), Bayesian inversion for finite fault earthquake source models II - the 2011 great Tohoku-oki, Japan earthquake, Geophys. J. Int., 198(2), 922-940, doi:10.1093/gji/ggu170. [main PDF] [SOM figures PDF] [SOM tables ZIP]
Minson, S. E., J. R. Murray, J. O. Langbein, and J. S. Gomberg (2014), Real-time inversions for finite fault slip models and rupture geometry based on high-rate GPS data, J. Geophys. Res., 119(4), 3201–3231, doi:10.1002/2013JB010622. [PDF]
Jolivet, R., Z. Duputel, B. Riel, M. Simons, L. Rivera, S. E. Minson, H. Zhang, M. A. G. Aivazis, F. Ayoub, S. Leprince, S. Samsonov, M. Motagh, and E. J. Fielding (2014), The 2013 Mw 7.7 Balochistan earthquake: seismic potential of an accretionary wedge, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer., 104(2), 1020-1030, doi: 10.1785/0120130313. [PDF]
Duputel, Z., P. S. Agram, M. Simons, S. E. Minson, and J. L. Beck (2014), Accounting for prediction uncertainty when inferring subsurface fault slip, Geophys. J. Int., 197(1), 464-482, doi:10.1093/gji/ggt517. [PDF]
Minson, S. E., M. Simons, and J. L. Beck (2013), Bayesian inversion for finite fault earthquake source models I - theory and algorithm, Geophys. J. Int., 194(3), 1701-1726, doi:10.1093/gji/ggt180. [PDF]
Simons, M., S. E. Minson, A. Sladen, F. Ortega, J. Jiang, S. E. Owen, L. Meng, J-P. Ampuero, S. Wei, R. Chu, D. V. Helmberger, H. Kanamori, E. Hetland, A. W. Moore, and F. H. Webb (2011), The 2011 Magnitude 9.0 Tohoku-Oki Earthquake: Mosaicking the Megathrust from Seconds to Centuries, Science, 332(6036), 1421-1425, doi:10.1126/science.1206731, 17 June 2011. [main PDF] [SOM PDF]. (Science Express version, published online 19 May 2011: [Express main PDF] [Express SOM PDF])
Minson, S. E. (2010), A Bayesian approach to earthquake source studies, Ph.D. thesis, 151 pp., Calif. Inst. of Tech., 4 June. [PDF] [Info]
Walter, F., J. F. Clinton, N. Deichmann, D. S. Dreger, S. E. Minson, and M. Funk (2009), Moment tensor inversions of icequakes on Gornergletscher, Switzerland, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer., 99(2A), 852-870, doi:10.1785/0120080110. [PDF]
Minson, S. E., and D. S. Dreger (2008), Stable inversions for complete moment tensors, Geophys. J. Int, 174(2), 585-592, doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2008.03797.x. [PDF]
Minson, S. E., D. S. Dreger, R. Burgmann, H. Kanamori, and K. M. Larson (2007), Seismically and geodetically determined nondouble-couple source mechanisms from the 2000 Miyakejima volcanic earthquake swarm, J. Geophys. Res., 112(B10308), doi:10.1029/2006JB004847. [PDF]