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New Method Provides Better Earthquake Warnings
Sweden (SPX) Jan 16, 2007 The new method of analysis makes it possible to estimate the complete stress tensor and monitor changes in the magnitude of stress and the instability of faults, which roots the analysis in physics in a manner that earthquake methods normally lack. This makes the method more generally valid, thus facilitating efforts to provide warnings. Another advantage of the new method is that it makes use of micro-tremor data, that is, data for quakes with a magnitude of between -1 and 5, which offer the greatest possible amount of information for the analysis. Tests with Icelandic micro-tremors from 1990 to 2005 yielded excellent results, with the major earthquakes occurring precisely when they were predicted by the stress analysis. This experience from Iceland therefore indicates that the sites of coming earthquakes can be determined years before they occur. "What is crucial to whether the analysis is reliable is to what extent the small quakes are analyzed," says the scientist behind the method, Ragnar Slunga. "Especially if the method is to be used to warn people immediately before a coming earthquake, a few days or a few hours before the quake, it's necessary to analyze very minor micro-tremors as well," Slunga continues.
earlier related report Tests with Icelandic micro-tremors occurring between 1990 and 2005 yielded excellent results, said Slunga, with the major earthquakes occurring precisely when they were predicted by the stress analysis. That, he said, suggests the sites of future earthquakes can be determined years before they occur. "What is crucial to whether the analysis is reliable is to what extent the small quakes are analyzed," said Slunga. "Especially if the method is to be used to warn people immediately before a coming earthquake, a few days or a few hours before the quake, it's necessary to analyze very minor micro-tremors as well." The Icelandic seismological network started as a Nordic collaborative project in 1988 and has become the largest European Union project devoted to earthquake warnings.
Source: United Press International Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Swedish Research When the Earth Quakes Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters When the Earth Quakes A world of storm and tempest
More Tremors Shake Comoros After Volcano Eruption
Moroni, Indian Ocean (AFP) Jan 15, 2007About a dozen new tremors shook the Comoros after the weekend eruption of the Mount Karthala volcano but the threat to residents appeared to be receding, emergency services said Monday. The latest tremors were felt in different areas of Grande Comore, the main island in the Indian Ocean archipelago where the volcano is located, but of lower magnitude than those Saturday and Sunday, they said. |
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