Permanent Displays

IRIS partners with the USGS Albuquerque Seismic Lab and major museums throughout the US to develop public displays of real-time seismic data.  We work with each museum to choose the appropriate display elements as they design their exhibit.

 

USGS/IRIS Museum Display

Museum with a Permanent Display Year Installed Annual Attendance

American Museum of Natural History

New York, NY

2000

2004

4,000,000

Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Pittsburgh, PA

2000 3,000,000

New Mexico Museum of Natural History

Albuquerque, NM

1999 300,000

Smithsonian Institute Natural History Museum

Washington, DC

2003 8,000,000

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Elements of the Display 

Create Your Own Earthquake

A girl creates her own earthquake

A visitor jumps on the ground in front of the display and sees an earthquake recorded on a rotating drum.

 

 

 

 

Earthquake Monitor

Boy touches the Seismic Monitor screenA large monitor displays the locations of recent earthquakes in real-time.  To see the Seismic Monitor on the web, click here.  Another monitor lists the times, magnitudes and geographic locations of the recent earthquakes.  The Seismic Monitor leads visitors to realize that earthquakes are happening around the world everyday. 

 

 

Drum Recorder

Drum seismometerSignals recorded in three different places in the world are broadcast in real-time to the museum and recorded on the drum.  The drum recorder was included in existing permanent displays, but IRIS no longer offers the drum recorder.

 

 

 

Evaluation of the Permanent Displays

 

Are you interested in incorporating real-time seismic data into your museum display?

Contact: Patrick McQuillan -  mcquillan AT iris.edu