MyShake quake app invites public testing / MyShake地震預警app邀請大眾測試

For its release, MyShake is available for Android devices; an iOS version will likely come with time.
新推出的MyShake能在Android設備上運行，iOS的版本可能會在未來推出。

A new app that turns a smartphone into a mobile seismometer is being rolled out by California scientists.
加州研究人員所推出的新app使智慧型手機也能當成地震儀來使用。

Known as MyShake, it can sense an earthquake even when the cell device is being carried in a pocket or a bag.
之所以會被叫作MyShake是因為就算把手機放在口袋或是包包裡它都能檢測出地震。

The researchers want users to download the app, in the first instance, to help test and improve its capabilities.
研究人員希望使用者下載這個app，首先是為了幫助測試並改善它的功能。

But ultimately the idea is that recruited phones will be part of a network that not only gathers data but also issues alerts.
但是這個想法最終是讓有參與的手機成為網路的一部分，不只能彙集數據，還能發布警報。

Destructive ground motions take time to move out from the epicentre of a large tremor, meaning people at more distant locations could receive several seconds' vital warning on their phones.
破壞性的地面震動從強震的震央擴散開來需要一些時間，這代表距離較遠的人們有許多秒的時間能從手機上收到生死攸關的警報。

"Just a few seconds' warning is all you need to 'drop, take cover and hold on'," said Prof Richard Allen from the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory.

加州大學柏克萊地震實驗室的Richard Allen教授表示：「你所需要的僅僅是幾秒鐘的時間來『壓低身子、尋找掩護和堅持下去』。」

"Based on what social scientists have told us about past earthquakes, if everyone got under a sturdy table, the estimate is that we could reduce the number of injuries in a quake by 50%," he told BBC News.
他告訴BBC新聞：「以社會科學家曾經告訴我們有關於過去地震的話為依據，如果所有人都躲到堅固的桌子底下，估計在一次地震中的人員傷亡數能夠減少一半。」

Prof Allen has  a paper about MyShake in this week's Science Advances journal, but he has also been demonstrating it here in Washington DC at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Allen教授在本周的科學進展期刊有一篇關於MyShake的文章，但他也一直在華盛頓的美國科學促進協會的年度會議中展示說明MyShake。

The app relies on a sophisticated algorithm to analyse all the different vibrations picked up by a phone's onboard accelerometer.
這個app是依靠複雜的演算法來分析所有被手機內建加速儀接收到的不同震動。

This algorithm has been "trained" to distinguish between everyday human motions and those specific to an earthquake.
這個演算法曾經被「訓練」來分辨人類每天的動作和那些特定的地震。

The achieved sensitivity is for a Magnitude 5 event at a distance of 10km (6.2 miles) from the epicentre.
目前所達到的敏感度能偵測到距離震央十公里(6.2英里)以內的五級地震。

In simulations, the app detects a quake correctly in 93% of cases.
在系統模擬中，app偵測到地震的準確度達到93%。

All this is done in the background - much like health apps that monitor the fitness activity of the phone user.
所有的一切都是在後台完成的，很像是健康類型的app監控手機使用者的健身活動。

Once triggered, MyShake sends a message to a central server over the mobile network. The hub then calculates the location and size of the quake.
一旦啟動，MyShake會透過手機網路傳送訊息到中央伺服器，接著中心會估算地震的位置和大小。


Napa Quake: Downtown San Francisco got eight seconds' warning of impending shaking.
納帕地震：舊金山市中心收到長達8秒的地震警報。

False positives are filtered out because the server is connected to existing seismic and GPS monitoring stations, and - if the public take up MyShake - thousands of other phones.

錯誤的測試結果會被過濾掉，因為伺服器是連接到現有的地震和全球定位監測站，還有成千上萬支手機(如果大眾都開始接受MyShake的話)。

"We took the data from our traditional network gathered during the  2014 La Habra earthquake near Los Angeles, and downgraded its quality to something similar to what might be recorded on your smartphone, and then we applied the MyShake algorithm blindly to that data," Prof Allen explained.
Allen教授解釋道：「我們從在2014年靠近洛杉磯的拉哈布拉地震時收集的傳統網路中取得數據，並將它的品質降低到與可能被記錄到智慧型手機上的東西相似的程度，接著我們應用MyShake演算法盲目地套用在那個數據上。」

"The system triggered rapidly and accurately, and that's really given us the confidence to now take MyShake out to the public for its big, real test."
系統啟動得快速又準確，這讓我們現在能很有自信地將MyShake拿出來讓大眾參與這個龐大又真實的測試。

For this release, MyShake is available for Android devices; an iOS version is very likely to come in the future. And to be clear, enrolled phones will not be receiving alerts of earthquakes - not yet.
新推出的MyShake能在Android設備上運行，iOS的版本很有可能會在未來推出，還有必須清楚知道的是，有註冊的電話將不會收到地震警報─目前還不會。

Richard Allen: "In the future we can use this to provide early warning to people."

Richard Allen：「在未來我們可以利用它來提前發送警報給大家。」

Prof Allen is a leading figure behind ShakeAlert, the earthquake early warning system now in development for California.
Allen教授是ShakeAlert背後的主要人物，這是現在開發的地震預警系統，能在加州得到應用。

Only a few such systems exist in the world.
世界上只有少量這樣的系統存在。

They work on the principle of being able to detect the faster-moving but not-so-damaging P-waves in a seismic event ahead of its S-waves, which cause most destruction.
它們的運作遵循著一個法則，能夠在會造成巨大破壞的橫波(S-waves)發生前，偵測到在地震中移動快速但不具太大破壞性的縱波(P-waves)。

California has several hundred state-of-the art seismic stations in the ShakeAlert system, and during the 2014 South Napa earthquake  an eight-second warning of shaking was delivered to trial participants in downtown San Francisco. This included the city's metro system, BART, which wants to be able to slow its trains ahead of the biggest tremors.
加州在ShakeAlert系統中有好幾百個最先進的地震觀測站，且在2014年南納帕地震時，舊金山市中心的試驗參與者收到了持續8秒的地震警報，這包含了城市內的地鐵系統─海灣地區快速運輸系統(Bay Area Rapid Transit System)，希望能在強震發生前將火車減速。

The phones enrolled to MyShake would eventually get such warnings as well (see this dramatisation).
有向MyShake註冊的電話最後也將會收到警報(看這段編劇)。

"The MyShake approach can contribute to and enhance earthquake monitoring in those parts of the world that have traditional seismic networks, like California. But perhaps even more importantly, because we can do a lot of this 'in the cloud', MyShake could help provide earthquake early warning in locations that have no traditional seismic network - places such as Nepal or India where we get very damaging earthquakes."
用MyShake有助於加強在那些有傳統地震網絡的地方的地震監測，像是加州，但或許更重要的是，因為我們能在雲端上做很多監測，MyShake可以幫助提前發送地震警報給那些沒有傳統地震網絡的地區，像是發生巨大破壞性地震的尼泊爾或印度。

原文網址：http://goo.gl/3sPwCf