I'm designing and building a weather data collection and logging system for an amateur weather network in California where earthquakes are frequent. It occurred to me that it might be possible to incorporate an IC accelerometer into the hardware design to detect earthquakes.
Do typical integrated accelerometers, such as the Hitachi H48C, have enough sensitivity to detect small to moderate earthquakes? I know that dedicated hardware is required for any serious seismological work, but I'm just looking for the ability to detect that an earthquake occurred and perhaps roughly measure the amplitude of the ground movements.
Has anyone done this type of work with these sensors, or know of any links/sources of info?