MetaFilter posts tagged with earthquake and tsunami

They Moved the Whole Town

netbros — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:47:45 -0800

The town of Valdez, Alaska is located in south central Alaska on the northeast tip of Prince William Sound. Incorporated since 1901, the community’s first century has been marked by a number of significant events the most notable of which are the 1964 Alaska Earthquake, being chosen as the terminus of the trans-Alaska Pipeline and the tragic 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Earlier this week Rafaelloello gave us a wonderful post about the Alaskan village of Whittier. The Alaskan town of Valdez has a history equally as interesting. During the 1964 Alaska earthquake the North American plate released upward, displacing a huge volume of ocean water and causing a seismic wave, a tsunami, to travel outward. The wave traveled at an estimated 450 miles per hour in the deeper ocean in a long wave of almost imperceptible height. At the shallow Valdez Inlet the wave reached a maximum height of nearly 200 feet. Further on, at the old town of Valdez, a 30 foot wall of water struck and demolished all structures. Twenty eight Valdez residents died when the tsunami crashed ashore. Valdez was later rebuilt at a higher elevation and further from the waterfront. Valdez' distinguishing characteristics are the incomparable rugged beauty of its natural mountain ringed setting and its extremely high average annual snowfall of 360 inches (30 feet) the most of any community at sea level in North America. Valdez’s economy is based on oil, tourism, commercial fishing, shipping/transportation and city and state government. Unfortunately, when most hear the word Valdez, they think oil spill.

The pirate Captain Morgan never saw this coming

Astro Zombie — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 10:51:41 -0800

Strippers, monkeys, pirates, and fire, a humorously titled account of the 1692 destruction by tsunami of the pirate city Port Royal.

The sounds of science

numlok — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 10:07:38 -0800

The Sound of a Distant Rumble: Using monitoring devices originally intended to pick up the sound of nuke launches, researchers track the underwater noise generated by the December 26 (tsunami) earthquake. Eerie audio file of the slowly-building roar is included on the page. (More info here as well)

Tsunami in Pacific

gunthersghost — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 21:04:18 -0800

Tsunami warning - 7.4 earthquake in the pacific

The quake felt 'round the world

KirkJobSluder — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 01:12:53 -0800

Worth picking up if you have a library with a subscription. The May 20th issue of Science was devoted to the Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake of December 24 describing the full power of that event, the most powerful recorded since the deployment of modern electronic sensors. The multiple effects claimed include swarm earthquakes in Alaska, a shock wave that moved every place on Earth a centimeter, and resonant waves continuing weeks after the event. It is also the the longest rupture recorded and took over an hour to complete. Animated simulations of aspects of the event are linked through PhysOrg.com.

8.2 earthquake off Indonesia

Mwongozi — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 09:06:35 -0800

Magnitude 8.2 earthquake off Indonesia Tsunami warning bulletins are posted here.

Tsunami visualizations

carter — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 10:43:03 -0800

Tsunami visualizations Visualizations of recent and historical tsunami episodes, collected by John McDaris at Carleton College. Includes large but visually effective animations, such as this NOAA visualization of the global propagation of the 26/12/04 tsunami (24MB Quicktime).

Infrasound animals

mediareport — Mon, 03 Jan 2005 18:48:32 -0800

"Infrasonic Symphony" Intrigued by reports of tsunami-avoidance behavior in Sri Lankan wildlife? Science News offers a timely antidote to simplistic mumbo-jumbo about the "mythical power" of animal earthquake detection with a detailed look at the latest research into low-frequency sound. The Elephant Listening Project is particularly interested in elephant rumblings that produce Rayleigh waves. "Mammals, birds, insects, and spiders can detect Rayleigh waves," notes The Explainer. "Most can feel the movement in their bodies, although some, like snakes and salamanders, put their ears to the ground in order to perceive it."

8.0 Earthquake in Hokkaido, Japan

majcher — Thu, 25 Sep 2003 13:57:08 -0800

8.0 Earthquake in Hokkaido, Japan. Holy crap. The Kobe quake in 1994 was a 6.9 - am I right to think that an 8.0 is about ten times worse than that one? Any mefites in Japan who can give us more information?