During the course Natural Hazards: Risk and Resilience in Japan, students from the Australian National University and the University of Tokyo heard from Dave about the Australian Seismometers in Schools (AuSIS) program.

As part of a field-based course, students explored real-world examples of earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic hazards across Japan, connecting classroom learning with first-hand community experience. 

Earlier this year, ANU student Jasmine Zollinger was on a natural hazards field trip in Japan when she heard a voice that sounded familiar. It was Dr Sima Mousavi, a seismologist from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences—and suddenly, everything clicked.

Seven years earlier, Dr Mousavi had visited Jasmine’s school as part of the AuScope-funded Australian Seismometers in Schools (AuSIS) program. Back then, Jasmine was a curious Year 8 student, jumping with her classmates to create a “footquake” for the school’s seismometer. That moment sparked a passion for Earth science that has stayed with her ever since.

Now in her third year of an Environmental Science degree, Jasmine is fascinated by earthquakes, climate change, and soil science. For the AuSIS team, meeting her again in the field was an unexpected and heartwarming full-circle moment.

“Outreach like this reminds us how science can shape a student’s future,” says Dr Mousavi.

Source: CoSM News, Australian National University, 2025

In May 2025, four AuSIS schools in Tasmania — Lilydale District School, Burnie High School, Parklands High School, and Taroona High School — were visited for seismometer servicing and student outreach.

A total of nine workshops were delivered, sparking curiosity and great discussions in classrooms. The enthusiasm of students and support from teachers was fantastic.

Special thanks to the IT staff at each school — the true backbone of the program — for keeping the stations running smoothly.

At 2:55am AEST on April 23, a magnitude Mw 4.6 earthquake struck near Singleton, in the Hunter region of NSW. The quake was felt across a huge area — from Taree to Wollongong, including Sydney and even parts of Canberra and southern Queensland.

The Australian Seismometers in Schools (AuSIS) network captured clean, sharp recordings of the seismic waves — not only from NSW, QLD, ACT and SA, but even from as far away as St Philip's College in Alice Springs, NT! That’s over 1,500 km from the epicentre.

Not part of the AuSIS network? No problem!

If your school isn't currently part of the AuSIS program but you're interested in our outreach sessions, we’d still love to hear from you!

Please book by emailing sis@anu.edu.au.

Location: Acton campus (ANU) or online

In the first week of April 2025, Sima visited Earth Ed, a specialist STEM centre dedicated to bringing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to life for students and teachers. Earth Ed’s mission is to inspire the next generation by providing innovative learning experiences through onsite, outreach, and online programs—free for all Victorian government schools. During the visit, Sima delivered five outreach sessions, including two in-person workshops with Year 8 and Year 9 students from Mount Clear College, and interactive online sessions with Meredith, Malmsbury, and Forrest Primary Schools in regional Victoria. Through hands-on activities and real-world seismic data, students explored the role of seismology and Earth sciences in addressing 21st-century challenges—and were encouraged to imagine themselves as future Earth scientists.

A powerful magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck central Myanmar at 06:20 UTC on 28 March 2025, with a shallow depth of 10 km and an epicentre near the city of Sagaing. Seismic waves from this major event have just passed beneath all stations in the AuSIS network. The quake was widely felt across Southeast Asia, including in Bangkok where swaying buildings and reports of damage caused panic among residents. The live seismogram from the S1.AUANU site at RSES was the first to alert us to the event (second photo). According to the USGS at the time of writing four aftershocks magnitudes 6.4, 4.6, 4.6, and 4.5 have already occurred.

In March 2025, AuSIS conducted site visits across Western Australia, with Sima visiting Kalgoorlie (AUKAL), Kulin (AUKUL), Harvey (AUHAR), and Mazenod College in Perth (AUMAZ). These visits focused on servicing seismometers, updating computers, and ensuring that software was running optimally to support both educational and research applications.

In addition to maintenance, seven interactive workshops were held for students across WA, designed to spark curiosity about Earth sciences and seismology. Through engaging activities, students explored earthquakes and seismic waves.

With ongoing outreach, hands-on learning, and technology updates, AuSIS continues to enhance science education and inspire future Earth scientists in Western Australia.

Every January, it’s a privilege to engage with the bright minds of the Science Olympiad students and introduce them to the fascinating world of seismology. Watching their creativity shine as they design and build their own LEGO seismometers is always a highlight. Judging their innovative creations is both exciting and inspiring.

Well done, future scientists! Your passion and curiosity are truly impressive.

The Vanuatu Islands experienced a powerful magnitude Mw 7.3 earthquake on December 17, 2024, at 01:47:26 UTC. Our AuSIS network across Australia successfully captured this significant seismic event, including a detailed recording at the AUANU site located in the basement of RSES at ANU. 

In 2024, AuSIS switched its seismometers to FIFO mode. This means that if a station loses connection, the data are stored and transmitted once the connection is reestablished. Today, we set a new record—54 days' worth of stored data were successfully transferred from the AUAPY station in Pukatja, located in the Aboriginal APY Lands, after the connection was restored. Without FIFO, this data would have been lost!

Sima, Malcolm, and Dave attended ANU Research Infrastructure Expo 2024. This provided an exciting opportunity to showcase AuSIS to ANU staff, researchers, students, government, and industry partners.

On the 21st of November 2024, the entire network of 50 AuSIS seismometers was fully operational for only the second time. A big thank you to all the schools in the AuSIS network for making this possible.

In November 2024, Sima travelled to Victoria and visited a number of AuSIS stations. This included Hawkesdale P12 School, where she maintained the AUHPC station and spoke to students and staff about AuSIS.

In November 2024, Sima travelled to Victoria and visited a number of AuSIS stations. This included Rosebud Secondary College, where she maintained the AURSC station and spoke to students and staff about AuSIS.

In November 2024, Sima travelled to Victoria and visited a number of AuSIS stations. This included Keysborough Secondary College, where she maintained the AUKSC station and spoke to students and staff about AuSIS.

As part of its ongoing infrastructure strategy, AuSIS is experimenting with sending station data directly to a cloud computing service. This has the potential to overcome a number of issues that will result in higher quality seismic data. Testing continues! 

As part of the New Colombo Plan course "Understanding Geological Hazards", Sima and Dave travelled with 16 ANU undergraduates to Japan in September 2024. Working with staff and students from the University of Tokyo, students learned about hazard risk and the role of AuSIS in earthquake science, education, and public outreach. 

On the 28th of August 2024, AuSIS achieved a major milestone. Our entire network of 50 seismometers was fully operational for the first time. A big thank you to all the schools in the AuSIS network for making this possible.

Ulladulla High School are winners of the AuSIS Science Quake of the Year 2024! The whole school participated (including 12 Korean students who were visiting at the time). You can watch a video of their Quake using this LINK. 

In Augsut 2024, Sima visited Wavell State High School as part of the Queensland leg of the AuSIS National Science Week Tour. She undertook maintenance on the AUWSH station and ran a workshop for students and staff.

During the Queensland leg of the AuSIS National Science Week Tour, Sima visited Beerwah State High School.  She undertook maintenance on the AUBSH station and ran a number of workshops for students and staff.

Sima and Meghan visited Broome Senior High School in Western Australia. Their trip to WA in August 2024, included maintaining the AUBRM station and running workshops for staff and students. Their visit to Broome Senior High School was part of the AuSIS National Science Week Tour. 

In August 2024, Sima and Grace visited Ernabella Anangu School in South Australia as part of the AuSIS National Science Week Tour. They presented a number of workshops and rebuilt the AUAPY station. This was followed by a traditional AuSIS footquake seismometer test!

CONASTA is the annual science education conference of the Australian Science Teachers Association. Sima attended CONASTA 71 in Melbourne and ran an AuSIS workshop on seismology educational resources.

The AUHAR station at St Anne's Primary School in Western Australia was need of some maintenance. During her trip to WA in June 2024, Sima got the station up and running and streaming data again. 

The AUCAR station at St Mary Star of the Sea School in Western Australia needed some maintenance. Sima rebuilt the station from scratch and presented an AuSIS workshop to staff and students.

In May 2024, Sima visited the AUUHS station hosted by Ulladulla High School in New South Wales. She performed some essential maintenance on the seismometer and ran a workshop for students and staff. 

The AUBUS station in Western Australia is a long way from AuSIS headquarters in Canberra. Thanks to Zoom; however, Sima was able to hold a virtual workshop in April 2024 for students and staff at Georgiana Molloy Anglican School and told them about their AuSIS seismometer.  

AuSIS visited Cummins Area School in South Australia in March 2024. This provided an opportunity to service the AUCAS station and Sima presented and AuSIS workshop to students and teachers.

Through 2024, AuSIS will be switching its seismometers to "First In, First Out" (FIFO) mode. This means that if a seismometer loses its network connection, it will store data and then send it to us once it is back online. This will improve data quality and ensure that we don't miss important seismic events. 

In January 2024, Australian Science Olympiad students visited the ANU Reseach School of Earth Sciences. Sima ran an AuSIS workshop for the students and showed them how to build a Lego seismometer.