North America is shaking. This moment, earthquakes with a 3.5 or less magnitude are popping up across the nation. This activity is monitored by a network of agencies headed up by the US Department of the Interior.
Earthquakes are a geological reality
These quakes are not a paranoid illusion or mass conspiracy meant to terrorize the populace. This is the geological reality presented by the US Geological Survey (USGS), an agency of the US Department of the Interior. Together with an intricate, cooperative network, coordinated through the Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS), earthquake sensations are recorded at stations across the US. These ANSS stations track activity in eight regions which include Alaska, California, Hawaii, Intermountain West, Central and Eastern US, Northeast, Pacific Northwest, and Puerto Rico and US territories.
Visiting the official ANSS website
ANSS publicizes varying numbers of earthquakes within minutes of their appearance on a seismograph. This is only one of its many functions but for the curious or concerned, it is perhaps the most significant.
Visitors can begin their earthquake education at the ANSS home via a terrain map called the “Backbone.” The Backbone shows at a glance where seismologic data is being received and the currency of the information. Most data is being recorded within a ten-minute time frame, illustrated by green triangles on the map.
Click on any one of the color-triangles to bring up a detail page which names the host agency or organization along with a Google map and specific map coordinates. Each of these “Seismic Network Operations” that compose the Backbone is amplified many times over with details relating to the instrumentation, latency and other scientific information that helps interpret the data being measured.
In addition to the Seismic Network Operations, visitors can view one of the specific regions such as Alaska, the state with the most seismic activity, and read static information that includes a brief history of earthquakes and earthquake monitoring details for that region.
Timely earthquake data
The ANSS website can be used to cull every detail imaginable about this geologic activity and in this way, it acts as an educational clearinghouse. However, one section in particular reveals updated information about shakes and quakes, the “Earthquake” tab.
The Earthquake Hazards Program offers real-time earthquake activity on the east and west coasts and the interior of the States, as well as Hawaii, Alaska and US territories. The interested public can keep current with the latest activity through email notifications and RSS feeds or by bookmarking the web page and checking in at their discretion.
On January 17, 2010, the activity of magnitude 3+ quakes showed two earthquakes with a 3.5 magnitude. The first occurred in the Gulf of Alaska at 6:31 UTC, and is one of about a hundred Alaskan earthquakes recorded within the last week. The second recorded quake was at 7:10 UTC and located in Northern California, less than a mile from Lake Davis, CA.
However, the numbers of less severe quakes at magnitudes of 1 to 3 were far greater. On that day alone, the count was climbing to 50 such shakes. The majority of these (30) are occurring up and down the length of California from the San Francisco Bay Area to Greater Los Angeles to San Diego and Baja California.
Alaska had its share of rumblings too with quakes recorded in the Gulf of Alaska, the Kodiak Islands and the central and Southern parts of the state.
Real-time world earthquake activity
In addition to tracking movement in the US regions, worldwide seismic data can be viewed through a global map. As of January 17, 2011 at 13:43 UTC, there were 185 earthquakes plotted on the earth map. Japan experienced a 4.9 magnitude quake in the Bonin Islands within an hour. Within the preceding 24 hours, some residents in the country of Tonga felt a more serious earthquake at M~5.4. And within the preceding week, numerous quakes at a magnitude of 5.0 or greater had beset islands located several hundred miles distant from Brisbane, Australia, which was inundated in the worst flooding in its recorded history.
Interesting facts to calm your nerves
Before earthquake terror grips, it’s good to put things in perspective. For example, earthquakes are not a rarity. Every year, about 500,000 quakes are shaking the ground around the world, and of these, only one-fifth are strong enough to be felt. Of this smaller number, only 100 cause damage.
Closer to home, Southern California experiences 10,000 earthquakes per year with an extremely low percentage at a magnitude discernible to life and only 15-20 above a magnitude 4.0. If you lived in Florida, Iowa, Wisconsin or North Dakota during the 20-year period beginning in 1975, the earth below you was solid and earthquake-free.
But we humans are not alone. Our lunar star has its share of shakes too. The moon experiences low magnitude moonquakes, caused by tidal fluctuations between its distance from the earth. There's no getting away from the geological reality of shakes and quakes.
Sources
Advanced National Seismic System. 2011 January 17. Latest Earthquakes M3.0+ in the USA Past Seven Days.
Advanced National Seismic System. 2011 January 17. Latest Earthquakes M1.0+ in the USA Past Seven Days.
US Geological Survey, US Department of the Interior. 2009. Earthquake Facts.
Lynch, J. and Johnston, E. 2011 January 18. Floods to savage budget. theage.com.au.
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