Keith Sverdrup

Professor

322 Lapham Hall
(414) 229-4017
sverdrup@uwm.edu

PhD: Earth Science from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego
BS: Geophysics from the University of Minnesota

Specializations: Earthquakes, seismology, oceanography

Research:

My current research involves the relocation of earthquakes along the Blanco Transform Fault seperating the Pacific and Juan de Fuca plates off the northwest coast of the United States. Earthquakes in this region have historically been mislocated to the northeast due to the poor azimuth distribution of stations. Events along the transform are typically in the magnitude 5.5 or less range, small enough that only stations in the narrow azimuthal range from about 0 to 135 degrees record them well. This one-sided distribution of stations results in computed locations that are routinely tens of kilometers to the northeast of the actual locations. My relocation methodology involves first grouping nearby events into clusters and then jointly relocating all of the events in a single cluster to mitigate the effects of errors that are common to all of them.

In addition, I am currently revising one of my oceanography textbooks: An Introduction to the World's Oceans, 8ed. by Sverdrup, Duxbury, and Duxbury. McGraw-Hill Higher Education Publishing.

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