Has there been an increase in seismic activity?

it seems like I have been reading a lot of stories about volcanoes and earthquakes happening in 2010.

www.msnbc.msn.com...

www.iris.edu...

earthquake.usgs.gov...


lot more things being reported regarding seismic and volcanic activity

There is a volcano in the Philippines that was suppose to blow on December 24th or 25th... They said it had to blow within the next day or two on the 23rd. It hasn't blown, and most likely, it is building up.

here's last weeks 5.0 or larger events for the last week (168 hours)

Update time = Sun Jan 3 18:14:07 UTC 2010


MAG UTC DATE-TIME
y/m/d h:m:s LAT
deg LON
deg DEPTH
km Region
MAP 5.5 2010/01/03 15:13:52 -12.898 166.097 26.7 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS
MAP 5.2 2010/01/03 14:13:56 -1.863 138.998 27.1 NEAR THE NORTH COAST OF PAPUA, INDONESIA
MAP 5.0 2010/01/03 09:10:37 -13.816 167.243 188.2 VANUATU
MAP 5.8 2010/01/03 04:11:42 -5.341 145.837 57.5 EASTERN NEW GUINEA REG, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAP 6.2 2010/01/02 08:45:34 12.509 141.878 10.0 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
MAP 5.2 2010/01/02 05:20:53 12.402 142.092 22.7 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
MAP 5.3 2010/01/02 02:15:12 38.247 71.495 44.5 TAJIKISTAN
MAP 5.0 2010/01/02 00:10:10 -20.020 -175.316 139.2 TONGA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAP 5.1 2010/01/01 15:43:07 -24.324 -179.827 462.1 SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS
MAP 5.0 2010/01/01 09:37:12 42.415 -30.513 10.0 AZORES ISLANDS REGION

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAP 5.0 2009/12/31 17:42:15 -19.689 -177.820 376.2 FIJI REGION
MAP 5.0 2009/12/31 12:22:29 19.463 122.715 33.2 BABUYAN ISLANDS REGION, PHILIPPINES
MAP 5.5 2009/12/31 09:57:30 27.332 91.412 10.0 BHUTAN
MAP 5.2 2009/12/31 09:23:26 -59.558 -150.794 10.0 PACIFIC-ANTARCTIC RIDGE
MAP 5.4 2009/12/31 06:26:13 -2.046 137.444 35.0 PAPUA, INDONESIA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAP 5.8 2009/12/30 18:48:57 32.464 -115.189 6.0 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 5.4 2009/12/30 11:17:52 6.481 126.319 48.3 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES
MAP 5.0 2009/12/30 08:12:58 -25.831 -70.528 44.2 ANTOFAGASTA, CHILE
MAP 5.4 2009/12/30 07:48:58 10.584 125.346 151.7 LEYTE, PHILIPPINES

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAP 5.0 2009/12/29 23:12:20 51.987 -171.465 63.8 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 5.1 2009/12/29 22:14:35 10.040 126.449 75.0 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS REGION
MAP 5.0 2009/12/29 19:23:06 41.930 142.005 72.6 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
MAP 5.1 2009/12/29 11:47:36 -36.536 -72.711 28.4 BIO-BIO, CHILE
MAP 5.0 2009/12/29 10:08:02 -12.530 166.480 82.7 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS
MAP 5.6 2009/12/29 09:01:54 24.376 94.851 114.1 MYANMAR-INDIA BORDER REGION
MAP 5.0 2009/12/29 08:06:16 4.225 127.792 134.4 KEPULAUAN TALAUD, INDONESIA
MAP 5.4 2009/12/29 05:12:32 -5.168 152.178 82.6 NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAP 5.0 2009/12/28 15:00:24 -10.147 124.649 10.0 TIMOR REGION, INDONESIA
MAP 5.3 2009/12/28 10:18:11 3.942 126.865 56.1 KEPULAUAN TALAUD, INDONESIA
MAP 5.1 2009/12/28 08:05:43 47.740 153.031 120.5 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.2 2009/12/28 00:57:20 -22.434 -70.224 56.1 ANTOFAGASTA, CHILE
MAP 5.2 2009/12/28 00:12:51 43.269 144.509 92.5 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION

Source

I dunno, I'm usually a little skeptical of thinking there are more or less earthquakes or volcano action in a certain time.

I have noticed that the earth is constantly in motion, and some periods there is a little more activity than other days. Same with volcanoes. I recall reading in textbooks how some periods in the 50s-60, had many earthquakes going on, while other decades it was quieter. But over all, I dont think there is anything to worry about......... yet

Historical Earthquakes
20th Century Quakes
21st Century Quakes

Hope you guys and gals take a look and see how its been in the past. I guess we also just notice these things more than before. Thats another reason why it can seem like more activity!