Earthquake research at the University of Oregon went primetime recently for a “Disaster Week” special on Canadian television.

Discovery Channel Canada on Aug. 29 covered the Cascadia Initiative, a national seismic experiment led, in part, by UO geophysicist Doug Toomey, with colleagues Emilie Hooft Toomey and Dean Livelybrooks also playing key roles. Among the goals of the project is a better assessment of the earthquake and tsunami risk in the Pacific Northwest.

Livelybrooks was co-chief scientist for a two-week research voyage on the Pacific this summer during which researchers retrieved 30 instruments recording vibrations on the ocean floor along Oregon and California.

His trip – in rough seas and on a tight deadline – was the focus of a four-minute piece on “Daily Planet,” Discovery Channel’s international award-winning flagship show. Billed as the first nightly primetime science and technology magazine show in the world, the show reaches 2.8 million viewers each week in Canada, and millions more on the web.

"It was a new experience to do geophysics in the ocean rather than on land," Livelybrooks said. "The opportunity to participate in the Atlantis cruise alongside co-chief scientist Anne Trehu (of Oregon State University) was icing on the cake, and I'm glad we were able to take a large group of community college, undergraduate and graduate students on that cruise."

The trip included the use of a remotely operated vehicle named Jason, which provided what Livelybrooks called "an exceptional, live view of the ocean floor."

"The trip involved discovery at two levels," Livelybrooks said -- "one, to better characterize where large earthquakes and tsunamis originate, the other, to simply see what is down there."

- by Matt Cooper, UO Office of Strategic Communications