Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

Azerbaijan and Turkey are engaged in a joint operation to monitor seismic activity. The operation is underway with the logistical support of Cybernetics Institute of Azerbaijan's National Academy of Sciences (ANAS).

Telman Aliyev the head of the ANAS said Azerbaijani experts have installed two monitoring stations in Istanbul, which are connected to the monitoring center of the Cybernetics Institute. He added that the operations are carried out in cooperation with scientists of Istanbul's Bogazici University and a cooperation agreement will be signed in the near future.

"To get accurate results, stations should be located in the deep wells," he said. "Not all countries have such facilities. Stations that are used today in Istanbul are installed in the basement. A contract which is set to be signed with the Bogazici University will provide us with the drilling technology. Turkish side is very interested in this project."

Aliyev also said experiments have already yielded positive results. Thus, the earthquake that occurred in Istanbul at the beginning of December 2013 was fixed by stations 15 hours before it starts.

"An important component of the project is the presence of a larger number of monitoring stations. The number of stations located in the territory of Azerbaijan reaches seven. Main objective is to expand the network beyond Azerbaijan, because main feature of the network is that the station should be at a great distance from each other. Today we are monitoring abnormal seismic processes. Increasing the number of stations will allow us to predict seismic activity," Telman Aliyev said, adding that the future plans of the institute include installation of another station in Izmir.

Currently one monitoring station is activated on the territory of Turkmenistan and negotiations to install stations in Georgia are underway.