Posted on 07/15/2006 2:39:15 PM PDT by BenLurkin
PASADENA - The drums are gone. The quivering lines on huge rolls of white paper that have come to represent the strength of an earthquake are a thing of the past, according to scientists at the California Institute of Technology and the U.S. Geological Survey. When the next big one hits - and scientists emphasize there is no good way of knowing when that will be - the temblor will be converted into a digital animation showing waves ripple across Southern California like the disturbed surface of an otherwise quiet pond.
"The drums represent outdated technology," said Jeroen Tromp, director of the Caltech Seismological Lab. "In fact, we have not used their data for decades. We had maintained them solely as a visual aid for the media."
Where the seismographs were, there is now a 10- by 16-foot video wall to display more graphical representations of California's infamous quakes. Seismologists used the oversized screen and new animations recently to show reporters just how the shocks of an earthquake move through the Southland.
On Feb. 22, 2003, a magnitude-5.0 quake hit near Big Bear at 8:19 p.m. In the new representations - dubbed Shake Movies - seismic waves flow down the mountains and quickly across the hard desert floor of the Antelope Valley.
The Los Angeles and Ventura basins and the Imperial Valley near the Salton Sea aren't so lucky. They're built on softer sediment, what one scientist called "the geological equivalent of Jell-O." When seismic waves hit these areas, the waves slow down, fragment and amplify. Long after the shaking stops in the high desert, streets are still trembling from the San Fernando Valley to Long Beach.
(Excerpt) Read more at avpress.com ...
She explains that the frequency of earthquakes is much like freeway traffic. While cars may be on average two seconds apart, the distance between any two specific cars can vary greatly, and vehicles tend to move in clusters. "There is some evidence that earthquakes do clump," Hough said.
It's all about how "graphics" are better and cutting edge.
And not a graphic in sight...
Or a snapshot of one.
Nothing.
As for the graphics -- that's the 'Valley Press" for you (kind of a low budget thing)
The misspelling - that's mine.
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