Shinobi
Well-known
Just as I was going to bed last nigh about 12:30, ok this morning, my quake alert on the phone went off. I went back to the computer and looked to see where. It was a 6.8 off the coast of Japan. A tsunami alert was issued for the northern part of Japan and they did get about a 1 meter wave washing up rivers and onto beach areas. Nothing really bad. But here is the thing. I have lived through 2 6.8s, one in Japan and one in the US. They are not that bad. I mean you get shaking movement for a minute or so and it is significant to make the ground surface undulate for a bit but nothing you can walk on. The fact that this one triggered a tsunami is concerning as it means the plates actually slipped.
Back in 2011 before the big 9.8 hit the Tohoku region and set off that killer tsunami that damaged the reactor or the nuclear power plant there were two significant 7 pointer quakes about a week and a week and half before. Generally a 7 point quake is considered a main event as they are listed as strong. But two of them just days apart is a rare occurrence. Still there was no concern at that time of something bigger happening but it did. As such Japan, always looking for anything that might help them predict large quake activity had a research project going at the University of Tokyo. I only know this because my son did a summer intern program working on that project. The basis of the idea is that it was well known by then at least in Japan that there are geomagnetic anomalies that occur with very large quakes. Sometimes slightly before sometimes longer that might show a big quake is coming. The project was to design and build about 10 - 12 low earth orbit cube sats (small size satellites) that took geomagnetic readings in hope of looking for a pattern of disruptions, anomalies prior to large strong quakes. The idea was to have them follow one after the other in a polar orbit going over Japan and taking geomagnetic readings and recording them to compare to times before large quakes happen. Sadly the project was eventually dropped and they never put the satellites up.
Still the concept that such changes in the geomagnetic readings at or near the area of the epicenter of a large quake is becoming more main stream science at least in Japan. Most of western science says no way. As such some new ideas are showing up and one of those is that when strong solar activity happens or longer term activity hits the earth, it is pumping massive amounts of electromagnetic energy into the crust. Since the crust is filled with all manner of crystalline structures and crystals conduct electric current as in crystal radios of old, that the large amounts of charged particles are pumping current into the ground and he crystals are reacting with vibration movement. If this turns out to be true which it might as more studies are being done solar activity and the resultant geomagnetic changes may be a form of quake prediction.
Now it was just less than a week ago we got hit strong enough with a combination of solar flare magnitude 8.5 and strong solar winds from a very large coronal hole, that I was thinking oops may see a strong quake coming to some place in the world. Given the recent strong quake off Kamchatka, Russia, the ever constant activity in Alaska and down the Aleutian island chain as well as Japan we might see something coming. Seems I may have guessed right.
Generally a 6.8 is not going to cause a tsunami unless it is right near the plate boundaries and this one was. Which means there was a slip between the North American plate that much of northern Japan sits on and the Pacific plate. So that begs the question is this the main event or is a bigger one coming. Since the there was actual plate movement did it dislodge enough for more movement to come or was it just a small slip that is fully locked up again. Anyway for about the next couple of weeks don't be very surprised if there comes a larger stronger quake along the ring of fire and subsequent tsunami.
Back in 2011 before the big 9.8 hit the Tohoku region and set off that killer tsunami that damaged the reactor or the nuclear power plant there were two significant 7 pointer quakes about a week and a week and half before. Generally a 7 point quake is considered a main event as they are listed as strong. But two of them just days apart is a rare occurrence. Still there was no concern at that time of something bigger happening but it did. As such Japan, always looking for anything that might help them predict large quake activity had a research project going at the University of Tokyo. I only know this because my son did a summer intern program working on that project. The basis of the idea is that it was well known by then at least in Japan that there are geomagnetic anomalies that occur with very large quakes. Sometimes slightly before sometimes longer that might show a big quake is coming. The project was to design and build about 10 - 12 low earth orbit cube sats (small size satellites) that took geomagnetic readings in hope of looking for a pattern of disruptions, anomalies prior to large strong quakes. The idea was to have them follow one after the other in a polar orbit going over Japan and taking geomagnetic readings and recording them to compare to times before large quakes happen. Sadly the project was eventually dropped and they never put the satellites up.
Still the concept that such changes in the geomagnetic readings at or near the area of the epicenter of a large quake is becoming more main stream science at least in Japan. Most of western science says no way. As such some new ideas are showing up and one of those is that when strong solar activity happens or longer term activity hits the earth, it is pumping massive amounts of electromagnetic energy into the crust. Since the crust is filled with all manner of crystalline structures and crystals conduct electric current as in crystal radios of old, that the large amounts of charged particles are pumping current into the ground and he crystals are reacting with vibration movement. If this turns out to be true which it might as more studies are being done solar activity and the resultant geomagnetic changes may be a form of quake prediction.
Now it was just less than a week ago we got hit strong enough with a combination of solar flare magnitude 8.5 and strong solar winds from a very large coronal hole, that I was thinking oops may see a strong quake coming to some place in the world. Given the recent strong quake off Kamchatka, Russia, the ever constant activity in Alaska and down the Aleutian island chain as well as Japan we might see something coming. Seems I may have guessed right.
Generally a 6.8 is not going to cause a tsunami unless it is right near the plate boundaries and this one was. Which means there was a slip between the North American plate that much of northern Japan sits on and the Pacific plate. So that begs the question is this the main event or is a bigger one coming. Since the there was actual plate movement did it dislodge enough for more movement to come or was it just a small slip that is fully locked up again. Anyway for about the next couple of weeks don't be very surprised if there comes a larger stronger quake along the ring of fire and subsequent tsunami.
