Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 07/15/2007 - 18:11
Forums
Kuril Islands Biocomplexity

Misty,

I assume you have heard about or felt the 7.2 quake in northern Japan. How much of a concern or issue is the seismic activity in the area wrt the expedition?

Thought I would say hello from the other side of the ring o'fire (Bellingham, Washington) and wish you and the team all the best.

Allen Stoneberg

Mon, 07/16/2007 - 01:11

Misty Nikula

I did not know about the earthquake (which apparently only happened about 5 hours ago at a local time of 12 noon according to the USGS site), nor did I feel it. This is not surprising, though, since last year I didn't feel any of the magnitude 2 or 3 quakes that hit while we were on the islands....Seismic activity is especially a concern. The Kuril Islands are in a very active area and there are frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity. Tsunamis associated with local earthquakes are our primary concern, since these will happen very quickly. We would feel the earthquake and move to high ground as quickly as possible. Tsunami associated with earthquakes from farther away (like South America) we would not feel and would have to rely on tsunami warning systems.
Also, this summer when we make our camps we won't camp on the beach, but rather always up on the terraces, which are typically 50-70 meters high and well above any tsunami range.
There isn't any data up on the website about it, yet, but the earthquake near Honshu might have created tsunamis in Japan and Korea of noticeable size.
Misty