UPDATE: 00:00 PST 3/13/11 Japanese Met Agency has upgraded the magnitude of the quake to 9.0 — up from 8.8, their previous estimate.
UPDATE: 14:20 PST 3/11/11 Additional graphs and data added to end of post h/t Eco Tretas
UPDATE: 4:05 am PST Tsunami Warning continues for much of the US Pacific Coast and British Columbia.
UPDATE: Compared to quakes since 1900, this appears to be the sixth largest on record, see table added below from USGS data.
Tsunami Warning for the entire Pacific basin coastline including California, impact at 7:42 -8:15 AM local time e.g. San Francisco.
UPDATE: One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded. Hawaii under Tsunami Warning. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center Updates / Warning Website Link. Aftershocks continuing. Tsunami Watch issued for California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Canada…
UPDATE: Here’s a screencap from live streaming from Japan via news helicopter showing the Tsunami as it strike s the north coast:
UPDATE: NHK TV in Japan reports Tsunami hit. Massive damage, reports below.
8.9 quake at Friday, March 11, 2011 at 05:46:00 UTC. Preliminary estimate was 7.9 and was upgraded to 8.8, now 8.9. Current details from USGS. Tsunami warning issued.
We’ll have more on this as it develops.
If you know of webcams in the area in Japan, leave a comment.
(AP) – JAPAN’S METEOROLOGICAL AGENCY NOW WARNS THAT A TSUNAMI AS HIGH AS 20 FEET (6 METERS) COULD STRIKE THE COAST NEAR MIYAGI PREFECTURE, CLOSEST TO THE EPICENTER.
WEHW40 PHEB 110557
TSUHWX
HIZ001>003-005>009-012>014-016>021-023>026-110757-
/O.NEW.PHEB.TS.A.0001.110311T0557Z-000000T0000Z/
BULLETIN
TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER 1
NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI
756 PM HST THU MAR 10 2011
TO - CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF HAWAII
SUBJECT - TSUNAMI WATCH
A TSUNAMI WATCH IS ISSUED FOR THE STATE OF HAWAII EFFECTIVE AT
0756 PM HST.
AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS
ORIGIN TIME - 0746 PM HST 10 MAR 2011
COORDINATES - 38.0 NORTH 142.9 EAST
LOCATION - NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU JAPAN
MAGNITUDE - 7.9 MOMENT
EVALUATION
BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA A TSUNAMI MAY HAVE BEEN GENERATED BY
THIS EARTHQUAKE THAT COULD BE DESTRUCTIVE ON COASTAL AREAS EVEN
FAR FROM THE EPICENTER. AN INVESTIGATION IS UNDERWAY TO DETERMINE
IF THERE IS A TSUNAMI THREAT TO HAWAII.
IF TSUNAMI WAVES IMPACT HAWAII THE ESTIMATED EARLIEST ARRIVAL OF
THE FIRST TSUNAMI WAVE IS
0259 AM HST FRI 11 MAR 2011
MESSAGES WILL BE ISSUED HOURLY OR SOONER AS CONDITIONS WARRANT.
From Fox News :
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said a tsunami warning was in effect for Japan, Russia, Marcus Island and the Northern Marianas. A tsunami watch has been issued for Guam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and U.S. state of Hawaii.
The quake struck at 2:46 p.m. at a depth of 10 kilometers, about 80 miles (125 kilometers) off the eastern coast, the meteorological agency said. The area is 240 miles (380 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.
In downtown Tokyo, large buildings shook violently and workers poured into the street for safety. TV footage showed a large building on fire and bellowing smoke in the Odaiba district of Tokyo.
From CBS News:
Japanese television showed video of serious damage caused by a tsunami along the nation’s northern coast. Public broadcaster NHK showed cars, trucks, houses and buildings being swept away by the tsunami in Onahama city, Fukushima prefecture.
A tsunami warning was in effect for Japan, Russia, Marcus Island and the Northern Marianas. A tsunami watch has been issued for Guam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and U.S. state of Hawaii.
There were reports that evacuations were underway along the Russian coast.
===================================================================
| Rank Location | Date | Magnitude2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Chile | May 22, 1960 | 9.5 |
| 2. | Prince William Sound, Alaska | March 28, 19643 | 9.2 |
| 3. | Andreanof Islands, Aleutian Islands | March 9, 1957 | 9.1 |
| 4. | Kamchatka | Nov. 4, 1952 | 9.0 |
| 5. | Off western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia | Dec. 26, 2004 | 9.0 |
| 6. | Off the coast of Ecuador | Jan. 31, 1906 | 8.8 |
| 7. | Offshore Maule, Chile | Feb. 27, 2010 | 8.8 |
| 8. | Rat Islands, Aleutian Islands | Feb. 4, 1965 | 8.7 |
| 9. | Northern Sumatra, Indonesia | March 28, 2005 | 8.7 |
| 10. | India-China border | Aug. 15, 1950 | 8.6 |
http://www.ioc-sealevelmonitoring.org/station.php?code=ofun
Hanasaki (almost also 4 meters max variation)
http://www.ioc-sealevelmonitoring.org/station.php?code=hana
Omaezaki
http://www.ioc-sealevelmonitoring.org/station.php?code=omae
Wake Island (little variation)
http://www.ioc-sealevelmonitoring.org/station.php?code=wake
Guam (little variation)
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Amino Acids in Meteorites says:
March 11, 2011 at 12:14 am
R John says:
March 11, 2011 at 12:07 am
Not sure if it is related, but my internet connection just flaked out for about 5 minutes.
—————————————————————————————-
That’s funny, mine did too,
I’m on an oil rig offshore Indonesia. Our satellite internet connnection has been coming and going since the exact moment the quake hit.
live video feed from Breitbart tv,
click play button on video player at link, an advertisement will play first,
then is continuous feed starts
extensive damage, many missing
http://www.breitbart.tv/live-stream-8-9-earthquake-and-tsunami-hit-japan/
Byz says:
March 10, 2011 at 11:59 pm
I hope all people around the pacific rim can get away from the coast.
There are reports of waves 10 metres high.
——————————————————————
preliminary report is it was 33 feet high
Japan earthquake occurred at the end of the latest geomagnetic storm, the longest and strongest in the latest series, still going on 23 hours after it started.
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/gms.htm
video, so many cars caught in tsunami
I hope this is the last big quake.
My thoughts and prayers are with everyone in the effected areas.
I am unable to contact my friends in Asia via internet texting. I am wondering how tokyoboy still has connection
Pete H says: Wait for the “Moon at its Perigee” disaster comments in the MSN!
This article came to fruition just minutes before the quake hit, which places them ahead of the news cycle.
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/i-see-a-supermoon-rising-but-do-i-see-trouble-on-the-way-20110311-1bqrw.html
From a book I read some 40 years ago, it seems that earthquakes are clustered around solar minima, maybe some link between now increasing solar activity and geomagnetic events, which may influence tectonic plate movements?
Terrible. It wasn’t even on the news when I got up this morning, then wham. I’m following the aftershocks with xearth, and note that quite a few of those have been over 6.0 – bad enough in their own right. Best of luck to eneryone there.
> Pete H says:
> March 10, 2011 at 10:29 pm
> Wait for the “Moon at its Perigee” disaster comments in the MSN!
Hold your horses, Pete – perigee is next weekend … wonder what’s lined up for then.
Les Francis:
Which coast?
Just been watching the videos, seeing the cars on the road with the wave just relentless approaching felt to me just like watching 911. You could see the massive devastation, but …
New Zealand, Alaska and Chili are now included in tsnmami danger
Jimmy Haigh said on March 11, 2011 at 12:20 am
Do you have found an explanation for this? Is the satellite antenna signal itself fading? Or is it simply a traffic spike jamming the line somewhere else?
The trains are a real mess. Nothing is running. People are flooding into the streets because the sidewalks are full of commuters trying to walk home. Total chaos. I was supposed to go into the office for a meeting this evening but my manager emailed me to say not to come in and that he’s going to head home. He said he has a 3.5 hour walk ahead of him!
I noticed that during the quake many of the big, modern, ‘eco-friendly’ buildings were swaying the most violently. Maybe they dissipate seismic energy more efficiently.
I read somewhere in a posting on a UK based site someone predicted earthquakes this weekend because the moon was so close.
I’ll try and dig it out
Terrible to watch, I hope that people manage to get awat, although it looks like it could end up with tens of thousands dead. A sad day.
Hugo M says:
March 11, 2011 at 1:12 am
Jimmy Haigh said on March 11, 2011 at 12:20 am
I’m on an oil rig offshore Indonesia. Our satellite internet connnection has been coming and going since the exact moment the quake hit.
Do you have found an explanation for this? Is the satellite antenna signal itself fading? Or is it simply a traffic spike jamming the line somewhere else?
_______________________________________________
I can’t think of one. I contacted the IT guy in town shortly after we started losing the signal. I’ll get in touch with him later and see what the cause was.
I’m pretty sure about the timing as a mate of mine is in Kuala Lumpur and he sent me a picture he had taken of him with his hands on the European Champions League trophy which is on exhibition there. He sent the e-mail at 14:52, , about 5 minutes after the quake. I remember the internet had been down for about 10 minutes when it came back on again at about 14:55. Interesting…
All out comms have been back on for about an hour now – local time here is now 18:26 – same as Japan.
Here’s my link on the quakes.
I’m just waiting for them to say it’s because the ice melted and it tipped the plate again, they started that last time after Iceland erupted last year !
At this stage Oregon and Alaska
http://english.samaylive.com/nation-news/676483755/super-moon-caused-japan-quake.html
Here they come
Damn, that’s not good. The Ring of Fire seems to be waking up, and with global cooling already setting in….
Best wishes to the people of Japan, and everywhere that the tsunamis hit.
Let’s pray that as little life is lost as possible, & that the Japanese authorities were on the ball with this one, which I expect they were! Awesome pictures.
Now, just how are we going to regulate nature’s temperatures again?
It is disasters such as this that scientists should be looking at to increase warning time of earthquakes and mitigation of damage and threat to life not some invented climate problem. This has put all climate alarmism where it should be, in the bin.
I wish everyone in Japan, and the Pacific rim and islands, the very best of luck.