06 Aug 2013
Dubbo College Senior Campus has become home to one of nine seismometers situated in schools throughout New South Wales as part of the AuScope Seismometers in Schools program. The recently acquired seismometer, a very small and unimpressive-looking piece of equipment, records seismic data which is transferred to the Australian National University (ANU) and then to a data repository in the Unites States.
The ANU Research School of Earth Sciences' Dr Natalie Balfour said the Dubbo College seismometer was part of an Australia-wide program including 43 seismometers in schools.
"There are many similar programs around the world but the best thing about our program is that it uses professional instruments, thanks to funding through AuScope and the government's Education Investment Fund" she said.
"The data repository in America collects earthquake information from a range of sources and this information can be used by scientists around the world as well as the general public.
"The more seismometers we have, the better the coverage we get so that we can more accurately locate earthquakes and learn more about the earth's interior."
Dr Balfour said the next closest school seismometer to Dubbo was located at Tamworth and Lightning Ridge, with a slinky seismometer about to be placed at Parkes High School.
"There are real advantages for the schools concerned because they are participating in a national science experiment and they can work with real data used by scientists," she said.
"Seismology fits particularly well with the study of physics and it can tell us a great deal about the material below the earth's surface through which the seismic waves travel. As a result it is also very useful to students studying earth science."
Dubbo College science teacher Andrew Slater was instrumental in getting the seismometer placed at Senior Campus.
"I first heard about the Seismometers in Schools program last year and I submitted an application at the end of the year," he said.
"Our application was successful and the seismometer was placed in the school at the end of term two. So far it has detected at least one earthquake that I know of – a magnitude 6.7 off the coast of Christmas Island on June 13."