EarthScope's use of advanced instrumentation permits us to answer some of the outstanding questions in Earth Sciences by looking deeper, increasing resolution, and integrating diverse measurements and observations. Over the wide frequency range of seismic waves transmitted through the Earth (hundreds of seconds to ten cycles per second), the sensors of the permanent and transportable arrays are capable of resolving the smallest background motions at the quietest of sites, while remaining “on-scale” for all but the largest ground motions from regional earthquakes.
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EarthScope "Special Report": Yellowstone Earthquake Swarm - December 2008
An intense earthquake swarm is rattling Yellowstone National Park. The shallow swarm, which began on December 27, is centered beneath northern Yellowstone Lake inside the Yellowstone Caldera (Figure 1). More than 250 earthquakes have been located so far by the local seismic network, which is operated by the University of Utah Seismograph Stations (http://www.seis.utah.edu/EQCENTER/eqcenter.htm). The closest seismic station, LKWY, shows intense seismic activity (Figure 2). The largest earthquake, on December 28 05:15UTC (December 27 10:15pm MST), had a magnitude of 3.9, and eight other events reached magnitude 3 and above. The largest earthquakes were felt locally.
Figure 1. Epicenter map as of December 30 14:17 MST (UTC = MST + 7 hours). For a current map, go to http://www.quake.utah.edu/req2webdir/recenteqs/Maps/Yellowstone.html.
The Yellowstone region is currently in the middle of EarthScope's transportable USArray (http://www.earthscope.org/current_status/). H17A, at the western edge of the Yellowstone Lake, is the TA station closest to the swarm.
Figure 2: Earthquake swarm activity recorded by closest seismic station LKWY on December 30 for period 0:00 – 10:00 MST. For today's activity, go to http://www.quake.utah.edu/helicorder/lkwy_webi.htm.
For more information, see:
University of Utah Press Release: http://www.seis.utah.edu/EQCENTER/PRESS/yell_press.htm
Associated Press: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hklq5saMBlMynv31EbfNSka-SpOwD95COBD00
livescience.com: http://www.livescience.com/environment/081230-yellowstone-earthquake-swarm.html
Helena Independent Record: http://www.helenair.com/articles/2008/12/29/top/45lo_081229_quakes.txt
Scientific American http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=multiple-tiny-earthquakes-rattle-ye-2008-12-30
Update on other recent swarms:
Seismicity in other notable earthquake swarm areas that were active 2008 in the western United States also continues. A magnitude 3.6 earthquake occurred on December 27 southeast of the central Oregon town of Maupin (http://www.ess.washington.edu/recenteqs/Quakes/uw12272332.htm). The Maupin swarm is ongoing since December 2006 (http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2008/Dec08/maupin.html). The earthquake swarm west of Reno, Nevada, active since February 2008, experienced the latest recorded earthquake on December 21 (http://www.seismo.unr.edu/feature/2008/mogul.html). For more information about both swarms visit special reports at http://www.earthscope.org/highlights.