AGU: Do typhoons cause earthquakes?
Sometimes a couple of scientific instruments, in just the right place, can trigger all sorts of new investigations. Take the three strainmeters that the Carnegie Institution of Washington placed along the eastern coast of Taiwan starting in 2003. Alan Linde and Selwyn Sacks, working with their Taiwanese colleagues, were trying to figure out why the area didn't seem to have as many large earthquakes as it should - being located on the boundary of two tectonics plates and all.
Instead, the scientists arrived at a whole new theory. Typhoons passing over the island, the team argues, release pressure on the land and allows the faults there to slip at very high, but very slow and non-dangerous, rates. In essence, tropical storms enable a lot of very small earthquakes and prevent the large and dangerous ones.
It's a very cool concept that, unfortunately, may not apply other areas of the world. The US Gulf Coast, for instance, is not at high risk of killer earthquakes and thus could conceivably be saved by hurricanes. But Japanese scientists are interested in extending the work to their country, Sacks told me at his poster session this morning.
"This is a big surprise for us," he said. "It's the kind of finding that is driven by data, not by insight."
Comments
It is another one successful experiment that corresponds well with the theory originally presented at the 27-th IGC in 1984.
Posted by: Anatoliy Koshulko | December 18, 2006 09:57 PM
These relations though interesting may or may not be true, but before we could jump in to conclusions we must do a thorough check...
One location prone to earth quake may not have typhoons... that does'nt mean that its because of lack of typhoons that we have earth quakes out there... so i would plainly say that unless convincing evidence of these corelations can be brought out... we should work hard in our labs and bring out fool proof evidence!
It is really an interesting aspect to be pondered upon...
Posted by: Vinoj V | December 19, 2006 05:36 AM
Sun-earth connection may be responsible for Typhoon,Tsunami and Earthquakes.
It is now well established that before the occurrence of Typhoon,Tsunami and Earthquakes,substantial changes in the Sun has been noticed.Changes in Kp,E-flux and P-flux (Helioseismological parameters) has been observed before the changes in thermosphere,ionosphere, atmosphere and lithosphere of the Earth (1). These changes has been observed before the catastrophic earthquake of Gujarat India,on 26th January 2001, Tsunami of Indonesia 24th December 2004, and Earthquake of Pakistan on 8th October 2005 (2).
References:
1.Mukherjee,S. (2006). Changes in Heliophysical Parameter Influence on Environment of the Earth. www.iiap.res.in/ihy/participants.html
2.Mukherjee, S. (2006). Earthquake Prediction Published by Brill Academic Publishers Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden (The Netherlands) & Boston (USA). ISBN-10:90 6764 450 1 and ISBN-13 (i) 978 9067644 50 www.brill.nl/default.aspx?partid=10&mcid=8&pid=25855
Posted by: Dr.Saumitra Mukherjee | December 19, 2006 07:32 AM