With scientists now saying there's a 99 percent chance "the big one" will finally hit California sometime during the next 30 years, seismologists are scrambling to come up with new ways to detect and analyze quakes as soon as they happen.

One team of researchers is now hoping to employ the distributed computing approach to detection and create a giant, low-cost tremor-sensing network that takes advantage of the motion sensors that may already be in your laptop.

The Quake Catcher Network, while not replacing the slew of sophisticated seismometers are already in place in California, will "fill in the gaps," Paul Davis, a professor of geology at UCLA, told Technology Review.

Indeed, researchers say the they will initially focus on quake-prone areas like the San Francisco Bay and Greater Los Angeles Basin and eventually expand the initiative to other parts of the world.

As seismologist Elizabeth Cochran of the University of California at Riverside told wired.com: "We can measure the seismic waves and then get a warning out to people before the seismic waves get to them. That to me is physically possible."

Here's how it will work: If you have a Mac laptop with an accelerometer, you're pretty much good to go (you can sign up for news when apps for Windows machines and USB externals will be available; no mention when and if the Wii will be supported). Just download and install the distributed computing software (BOINC), enter up to five of your favorite laptopping locations, and bam, your computer is now a seismometer.

After enough people have signed up for the program, the resulting ad-hoc network will use this software to analyze only the largest shakes sensed by your computer's accelerometer and report them back to a central server. Small jolts, like someone bumping into a table or the passing of a garbage truck, will be disregarded by the software.

Ultimately, researchers say the pattern of signals received by the server should allow the network to recognize a significant earthquake very quickly. Thankfully, the plan is to also add software that also turns PC computers, like the Thinkpad and HP laptops, into portable seismometers as well.

Currently, the initiative is in beta, and touts links to several hundred Mac laptops.

Researchers stress they're not trying to predict earthquakes here, but rather looking for ways to measure and analyze them as quickly as possible and get that information out before damage is done to large populations.

[Scientists Want you MacBook for Earthquake Detection]

[Technology Review]

[Quake Catcher Network Home Page]

Photo courtesy of Technology Review