8.0 Magnitude Earthquake Causes Tsunami Warning For Alaskan Islands
What was originally a 7.1 magnitude earthquake was upgraded to an 8.0. It seems to be too deep to pose a threat to Hawaii, according to the National Weather Service. Other areas of the US and Canadian Pacific coasts could be impacted, but they are still evaluating the risk. We will update as we know more.
Here's what the preliminary tsunami forecast looks like:
The tsunami watch alert from NOAA says there could be "widespread and dangerous coastal flooding accompanied by powerful currents.... may continue for many hours after tsunami arrival." It also notes that "The first wave may not be the largest."
The alert says to move inland, listen for local emergency instructions, and stay away from coastal areas.
The Aleutian arc extends approximately 3,000 km from the Gulf of Alaska in the east to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the west. It marks the region where the Pacific plate subducts into the mantle beneath the North America plate. This subduction is responsible for the generation of the Aleutian Islands and the deep offshore Aleutian Trench.
Here are the details from NOAA:
Location: 30 miles NW of Amchitka, Alaska
Magnitude:7.1,Depth:57.8 (Mi.)
Lat:51.9 ° NLon:178.8 ° E
Origin Time: 6/23/2014 4:53:10 PM
Nearby Cities include:
1. 21km (13mi) ESE of Little Sitkin Island, Alaska
2. 1370km (851mi) E of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia
3. 1387km (862mi) E of Yelizovo, Russia
4. 1387km (862mi) E of Vilyuchinsk, Russia
5. 2948km (1832mi) W of Whitehorse, Canada
Unsurprisingly, this wasn't the only earthquake that happened today. There was another relatively large earthquake in New Zealand.
Here's what the earth-shaking pattern looked like from Norway: