The U.S. Geological Survey says it has awarded $2.7 million to four organizations to improve monitoring of the Earth's crust in earthquake-prone areas.

The awards, made under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, went to the University of California-Berkeley, Central Washington University, the University of California-San Diego and UNAVCO Inc. to improve networks that detect minute changes in the Earth's crust caused by faulting in earthquake-prone regions.

"Monitoring these small changes … is an integral part of assessing the likely rate of large earthquakes," the USGS said. "For optimal performance in real time, many existing monitoring stations need modern sensors and improved communication systems. Funds provided through six cooperative agreements will improve monitoring capabilities by replacing obsolete sensors that may be more than 10 years old and by upgrading communications so that real-time data streams are more reliable or possible for the first time."