Here you go ... visual proof of significant increase in large magnitude earthquakes

Hi all,

Like many of you here, I also believe that there is something unusual happening globally with respect to the frequency of, and magnitude of, earthquakes being reported. I know that there are also many in the opposite camp that would have us believe that nothing out of the ordinary is happening and that we're experiencing no more and no less than the so-called "average number" of earthquakes in any given year ... and that we're simply being scaremongers and reading/interpreting the reports incorrectly.

However, it's quite easy to show that this increasing trend in recent earthquake number and severity is factual and NOT just a figment of our overactive imaginations.

Below is a graph that was produced by a query to the Wolfram Alpha Computational Engine. This is a brilliant piece of software that allows the interrogation of multiple global data bases using simple and plain English query commands.

I was interested in seeing the overall pattern of earthquakes that have occurred over the last 11 years as I believed that would be a sufficiently long period of time in which to see if any trends were becoming apparent.
So I entered a search query to display all earthquakes that had occurred since 1 January 2001 AND that had a magnitude greater than 6.5 ... the following is the result and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words ! Just take a look at the overcrowding happening on the right hand side of the graph.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/20e388ae44e2.jpg[/atsimg]

As is clearly obvious, there has been a significant increase in the number and strength of earthquakes in the last 5 year period since 2005 - 2006. I believe this clearly validates the "gut feeling" that many of us have that earthquakes ARE on the increase. The increase is so large that since 2009, it's getting hard to make out the individual earthquake "dots" as there are so many of them that they're merging and blending into a red mass !

In fact, here's yet another high mag quake that just happened ...Vanuatu is reporting a 7.0 mag quake right now !

Surely this can't be "normal" earthquake activity ?

reply to post by tauristercus


Here is another, I think your on to something. I hope its not a super volcano eruption coming.

reply to post by tauristercus


Thank you for the illustration, it should be useable in other threads where people ignore or even argue against the fact that the number of eathquakes is increasing.

I don't remember seeing so many 6+ mag earthquakes in a year in my lifetime(I'm 24) this week alone theres been 3, and several over 5........the ring of fire is very active right now, i'm in california and i'm just waiting for ours.....

In a similar graph, can you show the number of EQ monitoring stations for the same period of time?

Love your research. Thanks for sharing

It is our time. The wait is over. They are returning.

..whoa sorry I blackout sometimes. Yeah it seems the earth is pretty pissed.

I inputted the search term "magnitude 7 earthquakes 2002" and got 3 results.

Searched USGS for the same timeframe and got 13 hits.

Missing date in the years preceding 05-06?

If so it will give the results you're seeing in your graph.

I completely agree. It's hard when people supply information like the following which directly contradicts what seems to be apparent.

earthquake.usgs.gov...

I'm not sure if they are choosing to be selective with their data source or whether the earthquakes are being increasingly reported by media and twitter/facebook type sites so we are noticing more.

en.wikipedia.org...

and

en.wikipedia.org...


Is it just me or are we out doing the 20th century here?

Originally posted by Chadwickus
I inputted the search term "magnitude 7 earthquakes 2002" and got 3 results.

Searched USGS for the same timeframe and got 13 hits.

Missing date in the years preceding 05-06?

If so it will give the results you're seeing in your graph.

I am also wondering how OP came to his conclusions.

A partial explanation may lie in the fact that in the last twenty years, we have definitely had an increase in the number of earthquakes we have been able to locate each year. This is because of the tremendous increase in the number of seismograph stations in the world and the many improvements in global communications. In 1931, there were about 350 stations operating in the world; today, there are more than 8,000 stations and the data now comes in rapidly from these stations by electronic mail, internet and satellite. This increase in the number of stations and the more timely receipt of data has allowed us and other seismological centers to locate earthquakes more rapidly and to locate many small earthquakes which were undetected in earlier years. The NEIC now locates about 20,000 earthquakes each year or approximately 50 per day. Also, because of the improvements in communications and the increased interest in the environment and natural disasters, the public now learns about more earthquakes

Are Earthquakes Really on the Increase?

Originally posted by Chadwickus
I inputted the search term "magnitude 7 earthquakes 2002" and got 3 results.

Searched USGS for the same timeframe and got 13 hits.

Missing date in the years preceding 05-06?

If so it will give the results you're seeing in your graph.

Hard to explain the discrepancy as Wolfram lists USGS as one of it's additional sources ...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5547c4c4d9f6.jpg[/atsimg]

reply to post by sqlqueery


You could argue they use misguiding data, but it depends on the purpose of the graph. The fact is that earthquakes are concidered small untill they get close to 6 in magnitute.

reply to post by Deja`Vu


That graph is a selection of deadly and destructive earthquakes.

They need to fit a criteria to be recorded on that graph.

There is a big jump in modern times because of improving recording methods as well as a huge increase in population and infrastructure.

reply to post by tauristercus


Heres some more data to look at also.

Earthquake Facts and Statistics


Dr. Michael Blanpied

He serves as executive secretary to the National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council (NEPEC)

He explains it this way...........

There are really three main reasons why we're seeing more news about deadly earthquakes. First is that the quality of reporting is much higher. Second is that we're able to record them better due to global digital seismic networks that report data in real time. Third is that more and more people live in quake-prone areas, so earthquakes are more likely to strike vulnerable populations than was the case decades ago.


Seismic Science: Is number of earthquakes on the rise?

Originally posted by Chadwickus
I inputted the search term "magnitude 7 earthquakes 2002" and got 3 results.

Searched USGS for the same timeframe and got 13 hits.

Missing date in the years preceding 05-06?

If so it will give the results you're seeing in your graph.

And I just did a similar mag 7 (2002) GLOBAL search using USGS and got [Color=Yellow]ZERO[/Color] hits ... talk about inconsistent !

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ac540e2249b0.jpg[/atsimg]

reply to post by tauristercus


Clear the maximum range...you've searched for 7.0-7.0 magnitude.

Originally posted by sonnny1
reply to post by tauristercus

 

Heres some more data to look at also.

Earthquake Facts and Statistics


Dr. Michael Blanpied

He serves as executive secretary to the National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council (NEPEC)

He explains it this way...........

There are really three main reasons why we're seeing more news about deadly earthquakes. First is that the quality of reporting is much higher. Second is that we're able to record them better due to global digital seismic networks that report data in real time. Third is that more and more people live in quake-prone areas, so earthquakes are more likely to strike vulnerable populations than was the case decades ago.


Seismic Science: Is number of earthquakes on the rise?

And this means therefore that in the last 5 years or so, we've had what can only be described as a "quantum leap" in our ability to detect MAJOR and SIGNIFICANT earthquakes around the world and that therefore, we must have been missing many of them (especially 6+ and higher) prior to 2005/2006 ?

Seems quite a simplistic type of explanation in my opinion. I'm more than certain that the reporting technology/hardware in use between say 2000 and 2005 was more than up to the task of detecting EVERY 6+ earthquake.

Originally posted by Chadwickus
reply to post by tauristercus

 

Clear the maximum range...you've searched for 7.0-7.0 magnitude.

Ok, sorry as I misunderstood your post and thought you specified ONLY mag 7.0 earthquakes.

Yep, just re-ran and confirmed 13 hits ... confusing

reply to post by tauristercus


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/721adc25d028.jpg[/atsimg]

Sorry if the pic is a bit long,or cut off. But this kinda puts it in perspective..