Quake Watch 2011

A small offshore earthquake has rattled far north Queensland, sending a tremor through Cairns and surrounding areas. Geoscience Australia confirmed a magnitude 4.0 earthquake took place about 30km off Innisfail, south of Cairns, at 4.08pm (AEST) on Tuesday. Residents to the north and south of Cairns reported feeling a tremor, but no damage was reported. Advertisement: Story continues below Cairns resident Kathy Brown said the sensation experienced by those in her office at Smithfield, north of the city, was similar to that caused by a passing heavy vehicle. "I was just sitting here and I felt it through the floor and then my computer started to shake," Ms Brown told AAP.

www.cairns.com.au...

reply to post by bkaust


Yeh, I'm on the north side and had headaches for a few days again, and nausea. It did ease this afternoon though. Geoscience would have to be the worst for earthquake info and data. Typical Govt. department.

Australia - last 7 Days Earthquakes


www.ga.gov.au...

Probably a bit after the event but since I produced this for something else I was doing I thought I would post it.

Stations within ~1000 miles of the 9.0 Tokohu quake

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5cfc2eba3155.png[/atsimg]

Originally posted by MoorfNZ
Australia - last 7 Days Earthquakes


www.ga.gov.au...

This list - 30 days world wide might be useful, especially if like me you prefer a good list rather than some interactive toy.

By the way, useless piece of information:

Inis Fáil is an ancient name for Ireland.

Originally posted by PuterMan


By the way, useless piece of information:

Inis Fáil is an ancient name for Ireland.

edit on 15/3/2011 by PuterMan because: (no reason given)

Hey, I never knew that! thankyou for your useless tidbit - I have Irish heritage, my family is from Cork Apparently I have a really Irish name, we were the only family in Australia with our last name until recently, when a few people from NZ came over with it (damn you kiwis! ;p) Off topic, sorry!

I'm watching Japanese TV and right now there's shaking in Tokyo. A mag 6.2 close to coast in that region. Showing in Yokohama region as a 6+ on the JMA scale.

Screenshot from TV station NHK:


LINK to NHK live stream.

Also showing on GEE .MAJO at 1.2 mm/sec (not microns -- millimetres.)

Here's the GEE traces for the above quake. (Please ignore the "TA." traces. They're on the west coast of the USA, which I happen to be watching as well):



Please note the second trace down -- IU-MAJO -- is showing mm/sec, not microns!

Details not yet on USGS but should be posted soon.

EDIT magnitude now revised to mag 6.0, but they are showing the quake as on land, slightly south of Yamanashi.

Mike

reply to post by JustMike


Is it this one Mike?
earthquake.usgs.gov...

MAP 5.8 2011/03/15 13:27:53 37.626 142.320 1.0 OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

Or will we be waiting for another one to come when they update again?

reply to post by bkaust

That one fits with the time of the trace on GEE, but USGS has a completely different location from that the TV network is reporting. They get their info straight from JMA and they are showing it on land. I got a screen shot and will post it in a minute or two.

EDIT: okay, here's the screen shot I took a few minutes ago. As you can see, the quake (marked with an X) is clearly on land and not out to sea to the northeast.


NHK TV Japan has been very good at issuing alerts and their quake location maps are always pretty well bang on the mark. They have to be: people's lives there may depend on it. And even in the TV station, things were shaking while they were reporting this one. They wouldn't be if the quake was 100's of KM to the northeast for one of that mag!

People, please note that the "6+" on the map near the "X" is the JMA rating (called shindo). This is very strong. The maximum they use is a shindo 7.

LATER EDIT: USGS Is now showing the bigger quake. The confusion was the the GEE trace is showing two different quakes. The one in the north shows best on II.ERM, and then a few minutes later the much stronger one that is given as near Shizuoka occurred. I thought the plots were of the one event but they're two. USGS is just a lot slower than Japanese TV at getting reports out. (This is understandable!)

Here is a screen shot from USGS a few minutes ago. They show this latest quake in red to the NE, as I've posted, NHK shows it on land, SW from Tokyo and Yokohama. EDIT: I took this screen shot before USGS had managed to upload the bigger quake. Apologies for this. I was too quick off the mark. My error! (At least I got the location right.)

I have placed a circle on this map to show the approximate location of the quake as broadcast by Japanese sources. Note the fault line there.

OKay, USGS is slow: now they have the latest one right:

Magnitude 6.1 - EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
2011 March 15 13:31:46 UTC

* Details
* Maps

Earthquake Details

* This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

Magnitude 6.1
Date-Time

* Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 13:31:46 UTC
* Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 10:31:46 PM at epicenter

Location 35.322°N, 138.552°E
Depth 1 km (~0.6 mile) set by location program
Region EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
Distances

* 40 km (25 miles) NNE (20°) from Shizuoka, Honshu, Japan
* 42 km (26 miles) S (182°) from Kofu, Honshu, Japan
* 104 km (65 miles) NE (48°) from Hamamatsu, Honshu, Japan
* 115 km (72 miles) WSW (251°) from TOKYO, Japan

Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 12.4 km (7.7 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameters NST=364, Nph=368, Dmin=139.1 km, Rmss=0.71 sec, Gp= 40°,
M-type=teleseismic moment magnitude (Mw), Version=A
Source

* U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center:
World Data Center for Seismology, Denver

Event ID usc00023fx

reply to post by JustMike


Confusion reigns

I think it is this one
Magnitude mb 6.1
Region EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
Date time 2011-03-15 13:31:47.0 UTC
Location 35.34 N ; 138.65 E
Depth 10 km
Distances 14 km N Fujinomiya (pop 121,515 ; local time 22:31:47.8 2011-03-15)
22 km SW Fujiyoshida (pop 52,983 ; local time 22:31:47.8 2011-03-15)

Showing on the database as 6.0 but obviously upgraded as the provider's info shows 6.1.

Not in on USGS yet.

Edit:
Just turned up on USGS
Date/Time UTC,Latitude,Longitude,Magnitude,Depth(Km),Location
2011-03-15T13:31:46.000Z,35.32160,138.55190,6.1000,1.0000,eastern Honshu. Japan
2011-03-15T13:31:55.000Z,35.78000,139.01000,6.0000,60.0000,NEAR S. COAST OF HONSHU JAPAN

Still 6.0 listed on EMSC but the next download should sort that.

reply to post by JustMike


Here it is!
6.1 EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN


6.1

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 13:31:46 UTC
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 10:31:46 PM at epicenter

Depth
1 km (~0.6 mile) set by location program

Region
EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN

Distances
40 km (25 miles) NNE (20°) from Shizuoka, Honshu, Japan
42 km (26 miles) S (182°) from Kofu, Honshu, Japan
104 km (65 miles) NE (48°) from Hamamatsu, Honshu, Japan
115 km (72 miles) WSW (251°) from TOKYO, Japan



-- Woah, we all posted at the same time there!

Yeh, just noticed they had a 5.8 and a 6.1 just 4 minutes apart.

Hope it settles down for the poor buggers.

reply to post by PuterMan
and to:

reply to post by bkaust


Yeah, I know. See my post above yours, guys...

I hope you'll appreciate that I'm watching several GEE traces, also keeping an eye on Japanese TV, taking and loading up screenshots and writing posts -- all at the same time. Sorry for my error. I've added an edit into one of my posts to explain why I was confused.

Regards,

Mike

reply to post by bkaust




The upper one is EMSC and the lower one is USGS

Not too happy about the location of this if USGS is right. Mt Fuji and the triple junction

All the same (re my previous post), I think it demontrates two things:

If you want the absolutely latest info of what's going on in Japan with quakes, keep NHK streaming in the background. If there's a big quake you'll hear an very clear alarm signal that they always use. And the map graphics are so clear it doesn't matter if you don't speak or read Japanese.

Second: this latest quake is of great concern because of its location bang on the "corner" of that fault. What USGS doesn't show is that this is where another fault runs right up through Japan. It's actually a plate boundary and not just a dog-leg in a fault! (ie a triple junction. The correct term "slipped" my mind... Thanks to Puterman for the reminder. )

We need to keep a close eye on this.

Please get NHK on streaming! Japanese or English. They are very reliable and I tell you, when you see things actually shaking in the TV studio you can believe them when they say it's a strong quake!
ETA:
On a side note: last Friday was perhaps the first time I've seen a live-to-air TV journalist wearing a safety helmet while she was giving her quake update reports in the TV studio!. Now, that's dedication to your job!

reply to post by JustMike


It does show it. Why do you think I said triple junction. Clear as a bell on Google earth with plate boundaries provided by USGS.

Looks as if the Japanese TV confirms the USGS location, slap bank on the TJ

Originally posted by JustMike

If you want the absolutely latest info of what's going on in Japan with quakes, keep NHK streaming in the background. If there's a big quake you'll hear an very clear alarm signal that they alwways use. And the map graphics are so clear it doesn't matter if you don't speak or read Japanese.

If you want an English version of NHK-TV there is one via UStream.

NHK World TV

I have been watching it for about an hour and they are providing good information on the quakes happening right now.