CALIFORNIA AND NEW ZEALAND AREAS EXPERIENCE UNUSUAL EARTHQUAKES

SUMMARY

Both study areas of California and New Zealand saw unusual earthquakes
strike today. Off the coast of Northern California, the largest event
within 50 km of today's Mb 4.7 within the past 5 years (since 1996)
occurred.
In the New Zealand area, unusual earthquakes occurred west of
Te Anau (Ml 4.7)- the largest in that area since 1993; in the Balleny
Islands (Mb 4.8) - the largest within 200 km of that epicenter since
1999 and two moderately large events south of the Kermadec Islands
(Mb 5.5, 5.5).
Global seismicity, especially in such areas as high latitudes
(Balleny Islands lie near the Antarctic Circle) and in the California
region where effects from the New Britain quake of Oct. 31; the
geomagnetic storm of Nov. 24, 2001 and FFA from the Kunlun Mts.
event. Large global events were expected in this report to maximize
between 28 November and 02 December.

GLOBAL

In other global activity, earthquakes of Mb>=4.5 since last report
have occurred in the Tonga Islands (Mb 5.0, 4.8); Sulawesi, Indonesia
(Mb 4.8); Qinghai, China (Mb 4.2); Santa Cruz Islands (Mb 4.7);
Pakistan (Mb 4.6) and off the coast of Northern Chile (Mb 4.2).

U.S./CANADA

The largest event in the U.S./Canada region today occurred off the
Coast of Northern California (Mb 4.7 (NEIS)). This event was incorrectly
located in western Oregon with Ml 2.9 by PNSN. Although three similar-sized
events of Ml 4.5-4.8 have occurred within 50 km of this epicenter since 1995,
the last event in this region which was clearly larger occurred as a Mb 5.3 on
Dec 5, 1995. The similar events occurred on Feb 28, 1999 (Mb 4.5);
July 16, 1996 (Mb 4.8) and Jan 17, 1996 (Mb 4.7). It is the largest
earthquake recorded in this area in more than 5 years by the most
conservative estimate.
Seismicity was returning to background rates from the very quiet
conditions California has experienced over the past several days when
this event occurred off the coast of Northern California. Since the
last report there have been 11 events of Ml>=2 in 10 separate regions
reported from the California/ Nevada area. These events occurred near
the Geysers (Ml 2.0); Bishop (Ml 2.9, 2.2); Boron (Ml 2.0); Pine
Flat (Ml 2.0); Pinnacles (Ml 2.2); Coso Junction (Ml 2.7); Banning (Ml 2.2)
and Ocotillo Wells CA. (Ml 2.2) and Dixie Valley NV (Ml 2.7) in addition
to the Ml 4.7 off the northern coast. This constitutes a substantial
regional activation over the past 24 hours in the area.
The swarm of events in the Yellowstone, WY/MT area has ceased and
a new swarm has emerged in the Mount Pleasant UT area including events
in the past two days of Ml 2.2, 2.0 and a number of lesser magnitude
events. This swarm appears to have begun about an hour after the
Yellowstone swarm ended although several events occurred during the
Yellowstone sequence. Both areas may have been affected by the
geomagnetic storm of Nov. 24 as they are in volcanic/hydrothermal
areas and within the seismic watch region from that storm's commencement.
No significant activity was reported from Western Canada, Alaska,
Hawaii, Central or Southern U.S. of the eastern U.S. or Canada today.

NEW ZEALAND

Moderate to strong earthquake occurred in several portions of New
Zealand over the past 24 hours. The most unusual occurred off the
west coast of South Island near Te Anau and was reported by IGNS to
have Ml 4.7. This is the largest earthquake we have on file within
50 km of this epicenter since August 11, 1993 when a mainshock of Mb 5.7
and aftershocks occurred. The last events of Ml>=4.5 was listed for
Dec 21, 1999 (Ml 4.5) and Sept. 10, 1993 (Ml 4.5).
The current swarm of earthquakes south of the Kermadec Islands
also intensified today with at least two earthquakes of Mb 5.5+ in
that region today. These events are probably related to the Kunlun
Mts. great shock as they lie on the S-wave shadow zone boundary
from that event.
The third active area was the Balleny Islands region south of
New Zealand where a Mb 4.7 occurred. This is the second earthquake
in the Balleny Islands since the geomagnetic storm. These islands
saw their last significant activity on March 14, 2000 with earthquakes
of Mb 5.7, 5.6 and 5.6. The Balleny Islands also lie near the S-
wave shadow zone from the great Kunlun Mts. earthquake of Nov. 14.

The IGNS on-line Seismometer can be found at:
http://www.gns.cri.nz/news/earthquakes/latest_drum.html

GEOMAGNETIC/SOLAR FIELDS

The geomagnetic field remained quiet today, however two moderate
M-class solar flares were observed with the following parameters:

Flare # START MAX END CLASS

7980 + 0100 0106 0111 M3.5
8110 + 1402 1418 1434 M1.5

Flare #7980 was near maximum output when a Ml 2.2 event occurred
near Bishop California with the following parameters:

O: 30NOV2001 1:04:34 37.3N 118.5W ML=2.2 NCSN W of Bishop, CA

Likewise, flare # 8110 was in progress when a Ml 2.7 earthquake occurred
near Coso Junction, the largest in the state of California today.
This event had the following parameters:

O: 30NOV2001 14:07:09 36.1N 117.9W ML=2.7 NCSN NE of Coso Junction, CA

For general space weather conditions see:
http://sec.noaa.gov/today.html
For Solar flare data see:
http://sec.noaa.gov/ftpdir/indices/events/20011130events.txt

TROPICAL STORMS

OLGA

Tropical Depression Olga continues to approach the Carribean
from the northeast today. She is currently located north of the
Island of Hispaniola at about 24N 66W. Landfall from the current
direction could reduce normal stress across the Caribbean/No. American
subduction zone sufficiently to generate a sizable earthquake. Even
the strike-slip faults along the northern boundary of Haiti/Puerto
Rico/Dominican Republic are susceptible to seismicity from forces
generated through this rare storm path. Current forecasts suggest
Olga will take a turn to the west tonight and tomorrow and pass
between Cuba and Florida, although the current path was also expected
to be more westerly than it is. The northeastern Caribbean has
not had a large earthquake since 1946 when the last large tsunami
also occurred in the area. Since the interevent time between large
events in this area is between 35 and 55 years, a large earthquake
is overdue. A repeat of the 1946 event, which killed more than
2000 people at this time could be quite disastrous to the region.
For more on TD Olga's path see:

http://www.wunderground.com/auto/HurricaneSite/tropical/tracking/at200117.html

BESSI

Tropical Cyclone Bessi continues in the South Indian Ocean near
Cocos Island. This storm is not expected to impact regional seismicity
significantly. For more details see:

http://www.wunderground.com/auto/HurricaneSite/tropical/sp200101.public.html

TIDAL TRIGGERING (LUNAR)

Statistics have been done on many regions of the world in terms of
relationship of significant regional earthquakes with respect to lunar cycle.
Each report will summarize the most likely areas for tidal triggering
for the next day based on these statistics. It is expected
that tidal triggering will add an additional 0.5 - 1.0 units of
magnitude to events which are about to occur or will move these
events forward in time by up to seven days in the regions where
there is a statistical correlation between lunar phase and
earthquakes.

December 01 is the seventeenth day after the beginning of the lunar month.
Regions most likely to experience tidal triggering
on this day (With associated magnitude ranges; the percent change in
seismicity rate over background seismicity rate on this
day of the lunar month; statistical z-value and
significance level) are:

Region Magnitude range %change z-value Significance level

Kermadec MB>=4.0 13 1.9 0.05

Regions expected to experience reverse triggering (i.e. they are
unlikely to experience a significant event at this period of the
lunar cycle) are:

Region Magnitude range %change z-value Significance level

Arctic MB>=4.0 -30 -1.9 0.05
Greece MB>=4.0 -9 -2.3 0.05
N Indonesia MB>=4.0 -35 -1.9 0.05
Utah MB>=0.0 -10 -2.0 0.05
Caribbean MB>=4.0 -22 -2.5 0.04

EARTHQUAKE LISTINGS

GLOBAL

NEW ZEALAND/AUSTRALIA

O: 30Nov2001 11:36 45.1S 166.9E ML=4.6 IGNS NW of Te Anau, N.Z.
Note: (IGNS) Likely to have been felt around Doubtful Sound.

O: 30NOV2001 18:02:08 33.0S 178.2W MB=5.5 NEIS SOUTH OF KERMADEC ISLANDS

O: 30Nov2001 05:52:32 62.0S 160.1E MB=4.7 NEIS BALLENY ISLANDS REGION

SOUTH PACIFIC ISLANDS

O: 29Nov2001 21:59:24 10.7S 164.2E MB=4.7 NEIS SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS REGION

O: 29NOV2001 19:37:34 15.1S 173.3W MB=5.0 NEIS TONGA ISLANDS

O: 30Nov2001 06:15:13 15.1S 173.6W MS=4.8 NEIS TONGA ISLANDS

ASIA

O: 30Nov2001 15:22:12 1.0S 120.2E MB=4.8 NEIS SULAWESI, INDONESIA

O: 30Nov2001 09:19:06 53.3N 153.7E MB=3.7 NEIS SEA OF OKHOTSK

O: 30Nov2001 05:19:58 36.1N 92.2E MB=4.2 NEIS QINGHAI, CHINA

O: 30NOV2001 10:43:16 35.9N 91.1E Ms=4.3 GSSA QINGHAI, CHINA

O: 29NOV2001 17:02:00 8.6S 107.1E SR=6.1 AEIC1 S of Sumatera, INDONESIA

O: 29Nov2001 20:37:01 29.4N 69.2E MB=4.6 NEIS PAKISTAN

O: 29Nov2001 04:28:55 29.9N 68.3E MB>4.0 NEIS PAKISTAN

O: 30Nov2001 02:11:19 37.2N 70.9E MS=3.4 GSR AFGHANISTAN-TAJIKISTAN BOR
O: 30nov2001 02:11:19 37.2N 70.9E MS=3.4 ASC ENE of Fezyabad, Afghanistan

O: 30Nov2001 01:19:45 43.4N 146.8E MS=3.6 GSR KURIL ISLANDS

O: 29Nov2001 07:34:16 24.4N 122.4E MB=4.8 NEIS TAIWAN REGION
O: 28NOV2001 10:19 24.9N 123.3E Mj=3.5 NIED NW_OFF_ISHIGAKIJIMA_IS, JAPAN
O: 28NOV2001 02:53 23.4N 122.2E Mj=3.9 NIED TAIWAN_REGION, JAPAN

CENTRAL/SOUTH AMERICA

O: 30NOV2001 08:23:07 16.4N 99.0W ML=3.7 SSN COSTA GUERRERO-OAXACA, MEXICO

O: 30NOV2001 01:47:06 17.6N 97.1W ML=3.8 SSN OAXACA, MEXICO

O: 30NOV2001 02:28:12 16.9N 98.2W ML=3.7 SSN COSTA GUERRERO-OAXACA, MEXICO
O: 29NOV2001 23:02:54 16.0N 98.2W ML=4.0 SSN COSTA DE OAXACA, MEXICO

O: 29NOV2001 19:52:37 16.9N 100.2W ML=4.1 SSN COSTA DE GUERRERO, MEXICO
O: 29NOV2001 16:04:03 16.9N 100.2W ML=3.7 SSN COSTA DE GUERRERO, MEXICO

CARIBBEAN

O: 29NOV2001 06:00:12 16.1N 98.1W ML=4.0 SSN COSTA GUERRERO-OAXACA, MEXICO

O: 28NOV2001 23:27:31 15.4N 93.6W ML=4.0 SSN COSTA DE CHIAPAS, MEXICO
O: 28NOV2001 17:13:57 15.8N 93.5W ML=4.0 SSN COSTA DE CHIAPAS, MEXICO
O: 28NOV2001 14:06:14 15.3N 93.5W ML=4.0 SSN COSTA DE CHIAPAS, MEXICO
O: 28NOV2001 12:03:27 15.4N 93.5W ML=4.0 SSN COSTA DE CHIAPAS, MEXICO

O: 28NOV2001 20:53:28 16.9N 100.2W ML=3.9 SSN COSTA DE GUERRERO, MEXICO
O: 28NOV2001 15:17:30 16.9N 100.1W ML=3.5 SSN COSTA DE GUERRERO, MEXICO

O: 28NOV2001 18:40:35 19.3N 105.0W ML=3.8 SSN COSTA JALISCO-COLIMA, MEXICO

O: 29NOV2001 05:54:10 18.4S 71.1W ML>4.0 DGF WSW of ARICA, CHILE
O: 29NOV2001 05:54:09 18.4S 71.1W MB=3.9 IGP SW OF Tacna, Peru

O: 29Nov2001 19:42:14 22.7S 71.3W MB=4.2 NEIS OFF COAST OF N CHILE

EUROPE/AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST

O: 29NOV2001 19:55:39 39.9N 41.6E ML=3.4 KAN ERZURUM,TURKEY
O: 29NOV2001 19:36:44 39.9N 41.9E ML=3.9 KAN ERZURUM,TURKEY

O: 29NOV2001 19:48:33 35.3N 26.6E ML=3.8 NOA CRETE

O: 29NOV2001 6:15:41 56.9N 4.2W ML=1.4 BGS DALWHINNIE HIGHLAND, ENGLAND

O: 29NOV2001 15:59:46 43.2N 1.6W ML=2.2 STR SE HENDAYE, FRANCE

O: 30NOV2001 03:17:18 41.9N 16.1E ML=4.2 MIX SOUTHERN ITALY
O: 30NOV2001 03:17:37 42.6N 14.6E ML=4.6 STR CENTRE MER ADRIATIQUE

OCEANIA

O: 30Nov2001 05:52:32 62.0S 160.1E MB=4.7 NEIS BALLENY ISLANDS REGION

U.S/CANADA

CALIFORNIA/NEVADA

O: 30Nov2001 07:46:56 40.5N 126.8W MB=4.7 NEIS OFF COAST OF N CALIFORNIA
Note: Although three similar-sized events of Ml 4.5-4.8 have occurred
within 50 km of this epicenter since 1995, the last event in this region
which was clearly larger occurred as a Mb 5.3 on Dec 5, 1995.

O: 29NOV2001 22:21:25 35.0N 117.6W ML=2.0 SCSN N of Boron, CA

O: 29Nov2001 22:00:53 37.4N 118.5W ML=2.9 NEIS CALIFORNIA-NEVADA BORDER
O: 29NOV2001 22:00:53 37.3N 118.5W ML=2.9 NCSN W of Bishop, CA

O: 30NOV2001 14:36:22 33.9N 116.8W ML=2.2 SCSN E of Banning, CA

O: 30NOV2001 5:33:04 36.0N 118.3W ML=2.0 SCSN ENE of Pine Flat, CA

O: 30NOV2001 14:07:09 36.1N 117.9W ML=2.7 NCSN NE of Coso Junction, CA

O: 30NOV2001 12:44:18 36.6N 121.2W ML=2.2 NCSN NNW of Pinnacles, CA

O: 30NOV2001 1:04:34 37.3N 118.5W ML=2.2 NCSN W of Bishop, CA

O: 30NOV2001 3:43:31 38.5N 118.5W ML=1.4 NCSN ESE of Hawthorne, NV

O: 30NOV2001 3:20:07 38.8N 122.8W ML=2.0 NCSN N of The Geysers, CA

O: 30NOV2001 14:38:17 39.4N 118.3W ML=2.7 NCSN SSW of Dixie Valley, NV

PACIFIC NORTHWEST/CANADA

B: 30NOV2001 7:47:55 43.8N 123.2W ML=2.9 PNSN W of Roseburg, OR
Note: This is a bogus report from PNSN for the event that occurred
off the Coast of Northern California last night.

O: 29NOV2001 02:02:19 52.8N 132.2W ML=2.3 PGC WEST COAST MORESBY ISLAND, B.C
O: 29NOV2001 04:59:17 53.9N 133.6W ML=2.0 PGC WEST COAST GRAHAM ISLAND, B.C.

: 29NOV2001 09:49:25 52.7N 132.1W ML=1.6 PGC WEST COAST MORESBY ISLAND, B.C

O: 28NOV2001 16:17:55 48.9N 123.1W ML=2.2 PGC SOUTH OF POINT ROBERTS, WASHIN

O: 28NOV2001 22:04:11 61.6N 132.4W ML=2.9 PGC PELLY MOUNTAINS, Y.T.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN AREA

O: 28NOV2001 5:55:26 39.2N 111.5W ML=2.0 UUSN SE of Manti, UT
O: 28NOV2001 10:09:46 39.5N 111.2W ML=1.9 UUSN ESE of Mount Pleasant, UT
O: 28NOV2001 5:44:24 39.5N 111.2W ML=1.6 UUSN ESE of Mount Pleasant, UT
O: 28NOV2001 2:14:19 39.5N 111.2W ML=1.7 UUSN ESE of Mount Pleasant, UT
O: 27NOV2001 17:09:15 39.5N 111.2W ML=2.1 UUSN ESE of Mount Pleasant, UT
O: 28NOV2001 21:11:18 39.5N 111.2W ML=1.4 UUSN ESE of Mount Pleasant, UT
O: 29NOV2001 5:31:42 39.5N 111.2W ML=1.5 UUSN ESE of Mount Pleasant, UT
O: 27NOV2001 4:17:16 39.5N 111.2W ML=1.6 UUSN ESE of Mount Pleasant, UT
O: 29NOV2001 8:38:39 39.5N 111.2W ML=1.8 UUSN ESE of Mount Pleasant, UT
O: 29NOV2001 17:56:22 39.5N 111.2W ML=2.2 UUSN ESE of Mount Pleasant, UT
O: 29NOV2001 1:43:36 39.6N 111.2W ML=2.0 UUSN E of Fairview, UT

O: 27NOV2001 18:27:46 44.7N 111.0W ML=1.4 UUSN ENE of W. Yellowstone, MT
O: 29NOV2001 7:32:43 44.8N 111.2W ML=0.8 UUSN NW of W. Yellowstone, MT
O: 28NOV2001 1:00:18 44.8N 111.0W ML=1.6 UUSN NNE of W. Yellowstone, MT
O: 27NOV2001 19:19:19 44.8N 111.0W ML=2.5 UUSN NNE of W. Yellowstone, MT
O: 27NOV2001 6:41:06 44.8N 111.0W ML=0.9 UUSN NNE of W. Yellowstone, MT
O: 27NOV2001 15:14:41 44.8N 111.0W ML=1.1 UUSN NNE of W. Yellowstone, MT

EASTERN U.S./CANADA

O: 28NOV2001 06:40:20 72.3N 75.9W ML=3.0 PGC NORTHERN BAFFIN ISLAND, NUNAVU