VOLCANO MADNESS: [CaliforniaDisasters] On The Subject of Naming Notable Earthquakes

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

[CaliforniaDisasters] On The Subject of Naming Notable Earthquakes

Susan Hough@SeismoSue opines on Quake Naming:

"#RidgecrestEarthquake brought up the issue, so let's talk about #EarthquakeNames. Seismologists have never been as organized as meteorologists; there has never been an actual system for naming quakes.

What happens in SoCal is, @Caltech and @USGS people gather at the Seismo Lab after a significant earthquake and someone eventually says, what are we calling this one? On April 23, 1992, I believe it was Kate Hutton who suggested Joshua Tree, which I seconded, and it stuck.

In 1989, the @USGS wanted "Loma Prieta," others pointed out that Santa Cruz Mountains would have been more apt. Loma Prieta won in scientific circles, but for the public it was the World Series earthquake.

Many years ago, earthquakes used to be named after what newspapers quaintly called the "seat of the disturbance." In recent times we tend to go with the closest town to the epicenter. Often there's an obvious best choice, but sometimes there isn't.

Oh, and if you're familiar with @USGS NEIC locations, you know their algorithm pulls the closest place from their database, which is where the "X km NW of Searles Valley" locations came from. Sometimes NEIC sticks to their guns & does not ever adopt the generally accepted name.

#RidgecrestEarthquake was an unusually complicated case in scientific circles, even as Ridgecrest stuck immediately for the public, due to the remote location. Arguments could have (and were) made for China Lake, Indian Wells Valley, even Trona.

Anyway, the point is that there is no formal process & often no one absolute best name. We all just give it our best shot. In this case I'd say the ad hoc process worked pretty well, with high-level consideration after the dust started to settle & the right decision in the end.

If the same kind of coordination had happened after Loma Prieta, I suspect that Santa Cruz Mountains would have won out, which would have also given a nod to the closest big city impacted by the quake. But '89 was a different time: much less technology to facilitate coordination."

~ Communicated via series of tweets 7/17/2019-AM

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