6.9 earthquake off Baja California, Mexico

[Snowy Owl]

Re: 6.9 earthquake off Baja California, Mexico

From Space weather

http://spaceweather.com/

SWIRLING DEBRIS ON JUPITER: The impact cloud on Jupiter continues to expand and evolve. On August 1st and 2nd, worldwide observers noted that it had transformed from a concentrated, cindery-black spot to an Earth-sized paling swirl. South is up in this image from Anthony Wesley of Murrumbateman, Australia:

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"Polar winds seem to be carrying the main body of the cloud westward (to the right in the photo)," Wesley says. "Also, a small stream of dark material is being pulled down and in the opposite direction--perhaps around a cyclone or some other localised weather feature?" (Bonus: The moon in the foreground casting its shadow on Jupiter's cloudtops is Io.)
Researchers are scrambling to study the cloud before it fully disperses. Light reflected from the debris may hold clues to the nature of the mystery-impactor. "If the cloud's spectra contain signs of water, that would suggest an icy comet. Otherwise, it's probably a rocky or metallic asteroid," says JPL planetary scientist Glenn Orton. Several teams of professional astronomers are working to obtain the data--stay tuned for updates.​

Meanwhile, amateur astronomers can monitor the cloud as it shifts and swirls near Jupiter's System II longitude 210?. For the predicted times when it will cross the planet's central meridian, add 2 hours and 6 minutes to Sky and Telescope's predicted transit times for Jupiter's Great Red Spot. [sky map]
more images: from Raffaello Lena of Rome, Italy; from Glenn Jolly of Gilbert, Arizona, USA; from Wah! of Hong Kong; from William Rison of Newburg, Maryland; from Joel Warren of Amarillo, Texas; from David Kolb of Lawrence, Kansas; from Alphajuno of League City, Texas; from Mariano Ribas of Buenos Aires, Argentina; from Giancarlo Ubaldo Nappi of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
FAUX-VOLCANIC SUNSETS: Almost two full months after Russia's Sarychev volcano erupted, peppering the stratosphere with ash and sulfur dioxide, Doug Zubenel is still seeing volcanic sunsets over Kansas. Is he having a flashback? It certainly seems real:

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"I took this picture last night," says Zubenel. "The sky had the telltale lavendar color and ray structure characteristic of a volcanic sunset."
However, Sarychev may not be to blame. "A more likely cause for these colors is wildfires burning across the western US," points out Zubenel. There are 28 major fires in progress right now. Strong updrafts can pull the fires' fine, smokey aerosols into the lower stratosphere, where their effect on the sunset mimicks that of a volcano. As wildfire season unfolds--it is most intense during late summer and fall when ground vegetation dies and becomes kindling--these "faux-volcanic sunsets" could increase in frequency and intensity. Submit your images here.

 

[Snowy Owl]

Re: 6.9 earthquake off Baja California, Mexico

Aroud this time of the year we are getting trough a lot of solar system debris, it swing the earth, it seems ok for this year

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: 6.9 earthquake off Baja California, Mexico

That sounds about right - I'll have to go look it up.

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Most quakes in the BAFFIN BAY SEISMIC ZONE, or Arctic Ocean, or other areas in NU, are all "assigned" the same depth of 18 km, due to "insufficient data".

See; http://earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/recent/maps-cartes/index-eng.php?maptype=1y&tpl_region=arctic

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[Snowy Owl]

Re: 6.9 earthquake off Baja California, Mexico

I remember AD that you have look at the wave the sig line of the eartquake and you knew it was ok. Is this one OK?

Snowy

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: 6.9 earthquake off Baja California, Mexico

Snowy:

Below is one of the two earlier threads (other is in moderator area). At that time someone had speculated that they were atomic blasts. when I looked at the seismographs, I could see the P-S-L waves, which tend to indicate an earthquake rather than blast.

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=86154&highlight=earthquakes+arctic

We now have a member who is a bonafide geophysicist - Wotan. I hope she sees this thread.

.

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: 6.9 earthquake off Baja California, Mexico

6.9 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Mexico's Gulf of California

Monday , August 03, 2009

A powerful earthquake Monday shook fishing villages along Mexico's Gulf of California and prompted alarm as far away as Phoenix, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The U.S. National Earthquake Information Center said the 6.9-magnitude quake struck at 12:59 p.m. (1:59 EDT, 17:59 GMT) and was centered 76 miles north-northeast of Santa Isabel in Baja California and 331 miles southeast of the border city of Tijuana.

It was the strongest of four quakes of 5.0-magnitude or greater that struck the area over a 45-minute period late Monday morning.

Phoenix Fire Department spokesman Alex Rangel said a high-rise near downtown shook violently enough that workers evacuated, but there were no reports of injuries or damage. The quake was centered about 460 miles from Phoenix.

Wilfredo Rivera, a manager at the Posada Santa Gemma hotel in Bahia Kino near the coast, said doors slammed as the ground rocked.

"The earth was turning around really ugly," he said. "People got really scared."

The quake was also felt in San Diego, where city employees left an 18-story downtown tower that houses the city attorney and other departments.

"Employees heard and felt some shaking and rattling," said Darren Pudgil, a spokesman for Mayor Jerry Sanders. "I'm told 40 to 50 people left the building but have since returned."

Gina Coburn, a spokeswoman for the city attorney's office, sought safety in a doorway of her 16th-floor office and thought briefly about leaving the building.

"I felt it a lot," she said. "The building was swaying back and forth. I didn't know if I should go down the stairs."

Civil protection officials in the two Mexican states on either side of the quake ? Baja California and Sonora ? said there were no reports of damage or injury.

The quakes were all centered in the middle of the narrow slice of sea between the Baja peninsula and Mexico's mainland, which reduced its chances of causing major damage, said Don Blakeman, an analyst at the earthquake center.

Earthquakes around 7.0 magnitude are common in the region, according to the center, including a 7.6-magnitude quake that hit the coast of Colima state in 2003.

Seismologist Debi Kilb at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego said the series of quakes started with a 5.8 preshock followed quickly by a 6.9 temblor. She said two aftershocks came about half an hour later.

Kilb said it wasn't surprising that the quakes didn't cause damage. They were in the water, far from major cities, she said.

U.S. authorities said there was no tsunami threat to Hawaii or the Pacific coast of the United States. The Gulf of California coast was put on alert for large waves, said Alfredo Escobedo, the director of the Baja California civil protection service.

Scientists say some areas where strong shaking occurred may experience local underwater landslides.

The Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez, is believed to have come into being millions of years ago when tectonic forces shifted the Baja California peninsula off the North American Plate.

Called the "world's aquarium" by undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau, the sea has a unique ecosystem and is home to hammerhead sharks, whale sharks, orca whales, dolphins and giant Pacific manta rays.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,536313,00.html?test=latestnews

 

[peter m]

Re: 6.9 earthquake off Baja California, Mexico

"Employees heard and felt some shaking and rattling," said Darren Pudgil, a spokesman for Mayor Jerry Sanders. "I'm told 40 to 50 people left the building but have since returned."

In Dwtn LA there are 20 to 30 high rises at least 40 stories tall: some may be 50 stories. I read somewhere that all these buildings ,which harbor major corp/finance powerhouses, are built with gigantic rollers underneath them ,sort of like huge room-sized ballbearings, which sway and roll when an earthquake hits. Ultimate seismic retrofitting.

One thing about Ca, they take their earthquake retroffiing seriously. Every modern buliding & freeway in LA has steel rods/ shanks running thru the concrete or brick, tied together & screwed onto the concrete with thin but superstrong wire/ cables strands. U can see these rods sold at the home depot in lengths up to 10-12 ft but in commercial construction they would likely be far longer to make the massive concrete freeways & large institutional structures such as schools as quake resistant as possible .

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: 6.9 earthquake off Baja California, Mexico

One thing about Ca, they take their earthquake retroffiing seriously

I'm glad to hear that. When I left CA in 1971, there were still many old schools built of red bricks with NO reinforcement.

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