MS 6.0 EARTHQUAKE STRIKES NEW BRITAIN AFTER M1.0 CLASS SOLAR FLARE

SUMMARY

A Ms 6.0 (NEIS) earthquake occurred this evening following a strong M1.0 class solar
flare. The New Britain event occurred at 00:35 a few minutes following a Ml 3.3 in the
region of Calexico, California, the first event of Ml>=3 in California in more than a
week. Since commentary has been previously made suggesting a linkage between
earthquakes in these two regions, I thought it might be interesting to note this coincidence.
Both occurred shortly after the M-class solar flare and both represented a sudden
escalation in regional and global seismic activity.
It is clear that the New Britain event did not trigger the Calexico event since the former
occurred 5 minutes later than the Calexico event. Perhaps there is no relation or
there is an external triggering common to both.
Data on the New Britain event can be found at:
http://seismo.ethz.ch/redpuma/redpuma_ami_list.html

GLOBAL

With the exception of the Ms 6.0 in New Britain tonight, global seismicity
was relatively quiet today. A Ml 3.7 was reported shortly after the New Britain
earthquake in eastern Turkey and earthquake of Ml 3.7 and 3.8 occurred in
Panama and Costa Rica during the flare. NORSAR is also locating a Mb 4.2 in
Pakistan at the time of the flare and an event in the North Sea about the time
of the New Britain earthquake.

U.S./CANADA

Most seismic networks were closed today because of the President's Day holiday.
Fifteen earthquakes of Ml>=2 were reported in California including events of
Ml 3.3 near Calexico; 2.6 near Ocotillo; 2.7 near Covello; 2.7 SE of the
Pinnacles and a Ml 2.6 near Punta Gorda, northern California.
An unusual event of Ml 2.9 occurred near New Madrid on Feb. 17, the largest
in that area in more than a half year.
No regionally significant events were reported from other areas of the
U.S. or Canada today.

NEW ZEALAND

The IGNS on-line seismometer shows a series of moderate regional events
perhaps a continuation of recent activity in the Taupo region of North
Island.

The IGNS on-line Seismometer can be found at:

http://www.gns.cri.nz/news/earthquakes/latest_drum.html

GEOMAGNETIC/SOLAR FIELDS

A M1.0 class solar flare erupted on the sun, maximizing at about 21:15 UT
last night. This was the largest solar flare since an M1.6 on February 10, more than a week
ago. Information on that flare can be found at:

http://sec.noaa.gov/ftpdir/indices/events/20020210events.txt

The flare was followed by a series of light earthquakes in the California region
which was nearly sub-solar (i.e. it was local noon) at the time of the flare. Four
earthquakes of Ml>=2.5 occurred in the California-Nevada region in the five hours
after the flare (including one of Ml 3.3 in the Calexico area), ending a week-long
drought of events of Ml>=3 in the western U.S. Five minutes before the Calexico
event an earthquake of Ms 6.0 occurred in the New Britain area.

Flare # START MAX END CLASS

6390 2018 2115 2158 M1.0

For general space weather conditions see:
http://sec.noaa.gov/today.html
For Solar flare data see:
http://sec.noaa.gov/ftpdir/indices/events/20011119events.txt