Sunday, February 04, 2007

Shake, Rattle & Roll

About nine minutes ago there was a small earthquake here in the greater Tokyo area. There's a terrific Web site (http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake) which immediately provided extremely accurate data: earthquake at 20:59 JST 04 Feb 2007, location 35.6N 140.1E, depth 80 Km, magnitude 4.2....

....Ah, now the Web site has more sensors reporting. In my part of the city it was magnitude 1+ or 2+, depending on the exact location. This technology is amazing.

Update: The numerical magnitude numbers used in Japan are based on the JMA Seismic Intensity Scale, which ranges from 0 to 7.

No comments: