Quake in the South Pole

Im sure no one felt this one except the penguins and the seals. still, a rather large quake in the pole. Any experts know of any significance of a quake this size in this region and does it have any relevance to whats happening all over the old ring of fire at the moment.

hisz.rsoe.hu...

theres a volcano erupting in that region as well actually

Just been on to the USGS website and can't find anything.

Click HERE for the lastest regional map

reply to post by asperetty


from the link

"Volcanoes: None volcano in the 100-kilometer radius."

This earthquake probably doesn't mean much. We get 6.0's frequently each month. I'm not saying nothing will happen or that the ring of fire hasn't been active but they call it the ring of fire for a reason.

Originally posted by HEREFORD 1969
Just been on to the USGS website and can't find anything.

Click HERE for the lastest regional map

there was a thread like 2 or 3 days ago about the series of airplane incidents all over the US that had a brilliant map that showed disasters of all kind all over the globe. ill post it here when i find it, but as for now everyone try to search for it.

EDIT:

here it is hisz.rsoe.hu...

yeah, i didnt think there were any volcanoes in that part of the area. i agree it called the ring of fire for that reason, it just seems to be more angry in the last couple of months.

Originally posted by asperetty

Originally posted by HEREFORD 1969
Just been on to the USGS website and can't find anything.

Click HERE for the lastest regional map

there was a thread like 2 or 3 days ago about the series of airplane incidents all over the US that had a brilliant map that showed disasters of all kind all over the globe. ill post it here when i find it, but as for now everyone try to search for it.

EDIT:

here it is hisz.rsoe.hu...

edit on 10-11-2010 by asperetty because: (no reason given)

great site, i have been going to this site for my information for the past couple of years. its great for earthquakes and has actually sometimes had them up before the u.s site.

earthquake.usgs.gov...

its between Western Australia and the South Pole in the Southern Ocean.

MM

The only 6.3 mag quake i can find is this one HERE and this is in the wrong area.

Could they have gotten the data mixed up somehow


Whoops beaten to it.

Hi Op, thanks for the thread.

This helps to show why I (for one) don't rely on RSOE EDIS as a source of info. Their reporting of locations is sometimes erroneous and this is a good example. Though a couple of other posters have pointed out that they have the location wrong I'd like to show why:

Here's the data from the RSOE site. (I prefer to post it as the link could become a "404" in the future.)

6.3
Mercalli scale: 7
Date-Time [UTC]: 10 November, 2010 at 04:05:24 UTC
Local Date/Time: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 04:05 at night at epicenter
Location: 45° 32.274, 96° 23.628
Depth: 10.70 km (6.65 miles)
Region: South Pole
Country: French Southern Territories
Distances: 2,003 km (1.24 miles) S of Port-aux-Francais, Territory of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands
Source: USGS-RSOE

Linky (because T&C's require we give them in our posts, even though you did already).

Here's the data from USGS for that actual quake:

Magnitude 6.3
Date-Time

* Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 04:05:24 UTC
* Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 10:05:24 AM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 45.538°S, 96.394°E
Depth 10.7 km (6.6 miles)
Region SOUTHEAST INDIAN RIDGE
Distances 2250 km (1400 miles) SW of PERTH, Western Australia, Australia

Here's the source

Now let's do a comparison.

The magnitude, date, time and depths match. Well,except that RSOE has the local time the same as UTC, which is absurd. But errrmm... otherwise, all okay there. This is useful, because it helps to find the real quake location when RSOE messes it up.

Now note the location.
RSOE has : 45° 32.274, 96° 23.628
USGS has: 45.538°S, 96.394°E

First point: RSOE's data incorrectly gives a northern latitude, meaning it places this quake in the northern hemisphere, while the USGS data clearly shows it's a southern latitude! If you copy and paste RSOE's coordinates for this quake into Google Earth, it'll take you to a location near the Mongolian/Chinese border region.

Please note that by default (and by international scientific and navigational standards), any latitude that is shown without a "direction" sign is considered to be North, and longitudes without such a sign are always East. The alternative is to place a minus sign before South or West coordinates. For example, all locations in the US states only need their latitude written as it is, (with no "N"), but their longitudes must be shown either with "W" or with a minus sign prefix. If you don't put that W or minus sign then your location is on the other side of the world -- meaning that a California location will show up as being somewhere around Afghanistan if you miss out that vital "W" for the longitude.

Often, organizations will show N/S and E/W direction indicators anyway, but where those are absent then the coordinates are (by default) N and E. The problem is that RSOE sometimes gets this wrong...like they did here.

Because RSOE has left out the "S" symbol, they have the quake's coordinates in the wrong hemisphere.

Second point: it's almost impossible to figure out how RSOE arrives at the South Pole as the "Region". It doesn't match up with their stated coordinates and also bears no relation to the correct location either. It's an absolute mystery how they got this.

Summary:

Granted, RSOE is a useful source for getting some quick data. However, its data collection and interpretation are badly flawed and just cannot be relied upon. I can only recommend that if you find a quake reported there, then it's vital to check it from other sources that are specialized in the subject and known to be reliable. And seeing as RSOE claims USGS as their source, the logical thing is to bookmark the USGS world quake map page (updated in near real time) and use that as a reference source. It has a lot more quake info available than RSOE anyway and is very rarely wrong.

If RSOE reports a quake in Europe and it's a smallish one that USGS might not show on its maps, then no problem: just go to the EMSC (European and Mediterranean Seismic Centre) page and check it there.

It's far better to use reliable, specialized sources than RSOE for info like this. I'll put it this way: I have never yet seen USGS or EMSC put a quake on their maps in the wrong hemisphere, let alone give coordinates that locate it near China and then say it's at the South Pole!

Best regards,

Mike

reply to post by JustMike


Thankyou so much for your well thought out, and well researched reply. as i am only new to this sort of thing (about 3 years), and i am not what would be considered computer literate, i appreciate any help and tips i receive from those in the game longer than me.

i am specifically interested in the pacific as that has the greatest affect on my country. our last big quake was centred around newcastle and as i was sitting on the floor of my house in sydney, i felt only a slight shake that lasted about 2 seconds but it was enough to get me hooked. and that was over 17 years ago. any sites that you could recommend that would be of assistance to me and explain things in plain english would be greatly appreciated.