Paul Nichols’ Time Lapse Quake Maps
- John Cornelison
- June 24, 2011
Table of Contents
If you’ve not come across them, Paul Nichols has created several time lapse earthquake maps. Working at the University of Canterbury's Digital Media Group, he takes USGS or GeoNet data and plots it using the Google Maps API to create a fascinating animation.
The main message is that “the” quake is actually a “quake swarm” - with a few prominent releases that really stand out amongst a background of thousands of smaller releases. Also of note is that there are some smaller preliminary shocks – before the major ones let loose.
The animations go on for minutes and depict both magnitude (circle size) and depth (color). Check out the Christchurch Quake Map and the Japan Quake Map.
Seattle’s Jill Watson used them as a great backdrop when introducing speakers at the recent Mass Care Forum.
