• By JORDAN BLUM
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Mar 10, 2010 - Page: 1B

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When the Chile earthquake struck Feb. 27, its shocks temporarily shut down research operations at the LIGO Livingston Observatory.

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory focuses on detecting cosmic gravitational waves for scientific research.

LIGO also has seismometers to detect earthquakes and ground movements so the cosmic readings are not confused, said Joe Giaime, observatory head and LSU professor of physics and astronomy

Larger quakes like the one in Chile can be too much for LIGO’s equipment and force research shutdowns for several hours, he said.

“That took us down for hours,” Giaime said. “There’s only been a few times since we’ve been running that it’s been that long. LIGO was not built to measure earthquakes.

“They (surface wave readings) are very slow and they go back and forth maybe two to three times a minute. That force is just too much for us,” he said.

Still, Giaime emphasized that the inconveniences are trivial.

“We don’t let it bother us, but we feel really bad for the people on the other end,” he said.

Despite the recent string of earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and Turkey, which just occurred Monday, LSU scientists say there is nothing much out of the ordinary.

Juan Lorenzo, LSU geology and geophysics professor, said better seismic recording technology and more people living in earthquake-vulnerable areas may contribute to there seeming to be more earthquakes.

“It’s not unreasonable to have them in a short period of time,” Lorenzo said of the recent series of big earthquakes. “It’s within the normal expected realm. The (tectonic) plates have been moving for millions of years. You can’t stop the plates.”

One earthquake might trigger another one only when it is already “poised to break,” he said.

Lorenzo oversees LSU’s seismology equipment. But because of limited resources, Lorenzo said he only monitors for seismic activity during LSU football games and for classroom use. So none of the recent quakes was recorded on campus. However, Lorenzo has conducted seismic research in Chile, as recently as two years ago.

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