TUMWATER -- Scientists from a consortium of universities and federal agencies are hoping to get a clearer picture of the Feb. 28 earthquake by placing a permanent global positioning system at the top of Tumwater Hill.
The installation, which the City Council unanimously approved Tuesday, will detect shifts in the land as small as two millimeters horizontally and five millimeters vertically.
The $20,000 device will be placed on the hill immediately by the Pacific Northwest Geodetic Array group, whose members include U.S. Geological Survey, National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Central Washington University.
Scientists are hoping to get an idea of how much the earth's crust is settling after the earthquake and how long it will last, said John Galetzka, a USGS geologist from Pasadena, Calif.
They also hope to learn just how much the earthquake already has caused the land to shift.
However, it won't be able to predict when the next earthquake is coming, Galetzka said.
"It might help narrow the range down to a decade, if not several years, but I don't think we'll ever be able to say on Sept. 16, 2007, at 2 p.m. we're gonna have a big one," Galetzka said.
The site will also provide an educational tool for area students. Consortium officials will be available to speak to local schools about earthquakes and what the system does, he said.
"I do see this as a very interesting thing for the school district to get involved with," Mayor Ralph Osgood said.
Similar GPS systems have been installed near Elbe and Monroe and others are proposed near Wenatchee, Gold Mountain and Sequim. Tumwater Hill was selected because of its composition of bedrock and its setting for transmitting data from the device.
"It definitely puts Tumwater on the map," Galetzka quipped.
On the Web
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (www.noaa.gov)
Earthquake links (The Olympian)
Earthquake stories archive (The Olympian)