QUESTIONS WE'VE RECEIVED ON THE RECENT EARTHQUAKES
Written by: Brian Neudorff
One thing you quickly learn when you start a career in broadcast meteorology that your scope and knowledge has to go beyond just weather. We are more than just meteorologist but an Earth Science teacher. When big events happen whether they are astronomical or geological one of the first places people will turn to get answer will be the local meteorologist. This has been true this week with the earthquake in Chile and the tsunami that followed.
We received a couple of emails this week regarding earthquakes. The first question was about New York and if one has or could ever happen here. The below graphic shows the "Seismic Hazard" across New York State, click the graphic to go to the USGS website:
There have been earthquakes in New York and the strongest quake was Between Massena, New York and Cornwall, Ontario, Canada on September 4th, 1944. It had a magnitude of 5.8.
If you want to know more on local New York earthquakes you can visit the New York Page setup by the USGS here and I also found a site that lists all the recent activity over the past couple of months.
The final question, was related to the report that the 8.8 magnitude Chile earthquake shifted the Earth's Axis 3 inches and shortened the day by 1.26 microseconds according to NASA scientists. This shift is something you won't noticed and is negligible, but permanent. You may remember the 9.1 Sumatran earthquake in 2004, which set off a deadly tsunami. It also shortened the day by 6.8 microseconds and shifted its axis by about 2.76 inches.
Brian,
ReplyDeleteWhen they say it shifted on its axis, do they mean the north-south axis, like the way the earth tilts to and from the sun to make the seasons? If so, did it tilt the north pole three inches closer to the sun (like the direction it would in the spring) or three inches further away from the sun (like it would in the fall). Sorry if i'm doing a bad job explaining what i'm asking, I don't really understand these things very well.
As you can see in the featured graphic of the earth tilted, the axis is if there were actual poles at the North and South Poles. It didn't say in which direction it shifted so I can't answer that but it moved that much I have seen.
ReplyDeleteyeah, it's odd, i've looked at half a dozen credible articles about it, and not a single one indicates which direction it tilted. I wonder why all of the write ups about it declined to state which direction. I know three inches is trivial in the grand scheme of things, but it would be interesting to know nontheless. Oh well, maybe as NASA comes out with more info on it they'll give more specifics (although I don't know how much more specific you can get than 1.26 miliseconds lol).
ReplyDeleteBrian do you think that there is anything to the whole mayan prophesy about 2012? It does seem a little odd that all of these tremors are happening. and did you hear about how there have been THOUSANDS of mini tremors around yellowstone? And what's crazy about this is that the mayans have been right about almost everything so far....things that we just now are starting to figure out. Not to mention the fact that other civilizations, completely unrelated to the mayans, just happened to project the same exact date for the destruction of the world. When you put it all together, it's very eerie and ominous. What do you guys think about it?
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question about the 2012 prediction go check out my post from this morning.
ReplyDeleteI feel the earth is having more frequent and more serious earthquakes lately and wonder: could the extensive melting at the poles be shifting the weight of water (from ice) differently around the globe and causing tectonic plate movement?
ReplyDeleteThat may be causes in areas where there is ice or closer to areas that are near the arctic but if you go to my current post I give an explanation I found.
ReplyDeletePersonally, geology and seismology are not our fields. I just don't have the background to confidently say yes or no to your question.
Then you bring up the climate change and global warning and then we start that discussion all over on this site.
Personally, No I don't think climate change (global warming) caused the earthquakes in Chile or Haiti or the ones felt in Japan and Taiwan.