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Data.gov is
providing links to mapped data for people interested in worldwide earthquake
activity, tsunami warnings and radiation monitoring. The RadNet map offers atmospheric
radiation monitoring data collected by the Environmental Protection Agency. TheWorldwide
Earthquake Interactive Map shows earthquakes within the last week with a
force of 3.0 or more on the Richter scale. The Tsunami Warning Center shows alerts of
earthquake-caused waves that could affect the U.S. West Coast and Alaska.
The RadNet data, from a national network of air monitoring
stations, covers a period ranging form the 1970s to today. Current data is
presented in nearly real-time, updated approximately once every hour. Data is
shown as air radiation in counts per minute from monitoring stations.
RadNet monitors also collect precipitation, drinking water,
and milk samples for analysis of radioactivity. The organization has operations
in every state and has been used to track radiation emitted by nuclear weapons
testing as well as nuclear accidents. RadNet monitors help officials make
decisions about what is necessary to protect public health in the event of a
release of radiation. For instance, it can help determine population exposure,
and radiation trends.
The Worldwide Earthquake Interactive Map uses data drawn
from the U.S. Geological Survey. In addition to only tracking tremors stronger
than 3.0 Richter, it is restricted to those occurring at 50 kilometers or less
below the earth’s surface.
On a recent date, the earthquake map showed recent tremors
off Japan’s hard-hit eastern coast, as well as in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands,
Myanmar and Baja California. Some of the locations were surprising, including a
pair of quakes registering between 3 and 4 Richter that occurred in Central
Arkansas and Nevada.
The Tsunami Warning Center is operated by the National
Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service. The
Alaska-based West Coast and Alaska center and a similar center in Hawaii
detect, locate and size earthquakes worldwide and, when a tsunami is deemed
likely, analyze sea levels to confirm a wave has formed, then alert emergency
management officials.
The online data recently showed no current
tsunami warnings. The most recent bulletin was to the effect that a 6.5-Richter
quake off Honshu, Japan, on March 27 was not expected to generate a wave that
would reach the U.S. The data also showed dates, times and expected size upon
arrival at various western U.S. coastal locations of the tsunami from the March
11 Japan earthquake measuring approximately 9.0 Richter. That quake devastated
homes, businesses and other property and badly damaged a nuclear energy
generating plant in Fukushima.
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