Re: Japanese papers reveal huge quake

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
 Skywise <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> "George" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]: 
> 
> > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3247142.stm
> > 
> > Scientists say old Japanese papers show a huge magnitude nine earthquake
> > struck north-western America 300 years ago.
> > The writings report damage from a five-metre-high tsunami that washed on
> > to the Japan coast on 26 January, 1700.
> <Snipola>
> 
> And this is NEW news? I'd have thought the BBC was more
> on top of things than that. Nothing in that news article
> is new to me anyway. I learned of this years ago and I'm
> no pro, just a quake junkie.

What is new is the additional analysis. The BBC picked up on the latest 
issue of JGR (probably prompted by a press release) which has an article 
by Satake, Kelin Wang, and Brian Atwater. The paper is an attempt to 
work out rupture dimensions and moment, guided by the shoreline 
geological evidence (Atwater), the GPS and plate locking evidence 
(Wang), and computer modeling (Satake).

True, the determination that there was a giant earthquake on Jan 26 1700 
is not news, but there were plenty of sceptics (including me) waiting 
for stronger evidence. The new compilation further justifies the giant 
earthquake hypothesis, and imposes valuable constraints on what the 
event was really like. This follow-up work was essential, and this paper 
will not be the end of it--the earthquake hazard assessment for the 
Pacific Northwest deserves no less.