UW News

September 13, 1999

MEDIA ADVISORY: Scientists set to unveil

News and Information

* WHAT: News conference to discuss the “dry” phase of the Seismic Hazards Investigations in Puget Sound (SHIPS) project

* WHO: Scientists from the University of Washington, the U.S. Geological Survey and other participating institutions

* WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 16, 10:30 a.m.

* WHERE: Kitsap County Fairgrounds, Presidents Hall

DETAILS: The “wet” phase of the SHIPS project was conducted last year using air guns aboard the UW research vessel Thomas G. Thompson. The “dry” phase will be conducted this month with 1,000 seismic recorders measuring small explosions in boreholes drilled along a 60-mile line from Olympic National Park to the Cascade Range foothills. Scientists will discuss details of the project and demonstrate some of the equipment that will be used. Researchers expect the SHIPS data to provide a complete three-dimensional view of the Seattle basin, allowing them to model the effects of strong shaking on the basin over which much of the Seattle area is built.

DIRECTIONS: In Bremerton, take Warren Avenue north from the Naval Shipyard. Follow Warren past Olympic College and across the Warren Avenue Bridge. A short distance past the bridge, the street becomes Wheaton Way and State Route 303. Continue north to Fairgrounds Road Northeast. Turn left (west) on Fairgrounds Road and follow it to the Kitsap County Fairgrounds.

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For more information, contact Bill Steele in the UW Seismology Laboratory, (206) 685-2255 or bill@geophys.washington.edu.