Posted by Lowell on September 19, 2001 at 20:54:26:
Kate, In response to your general question on the effect of hurricanes on plate motion and seismicity see the post above. In response to your specific question regarding seismicity associated with the Passage of Hurricane Andrew: Hurricane Andrew was a strong but powerful hurricane which made landfall on the eastern Coast of Florida on the morning of August 24, 1992. A general summary can be found at: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/1992andrew.html OR http://water.usgs.gov/nwsum/WSP2425/andrew.html Within minutes of Andrew's hit in Florida an earthquake of Ml 4.3 occurred in Southern California in the Angelus Oaks area. It was felt at intensity IV. The earthquake occurred at 6:51 am PDT at 34.2N 116.8W. More interesting was the effect of Andrew on the east coast, however. As Andrew was approaching the east Coast on 21 August, the first reference above states: "Significant changes in the large-scale environment near and downstream from Andrew began by 21 August. Satellite imagery in the water vapor channel indicated that the low aloft to the east-southeast of Bermuda weakened and split. The bulk of the low opened into a trough which retreated northward. That evolution decreased the vertical wind shear over Andrew. The remainder of the low dropped southward to a position just southwest of Andrew where its circulation enhanced the upper-level outflow over the tropical storm. At the same time, a strong and deep high pressure cell formed near the U.S. southeast coast. A ridge built eastward from the high into the southwestern Atlantic with its axis lying just north of Andrew. The associated steering flow over the tropical storm became easterly. Andrew turned toward the west, accelerated to near 16 kt, and quickly intensified." The high pressure cell that formed over the U.S. southeast coast was associated with the strongest earthquake in South Carolina in the 26 year period 1975 - 2001 - a Ml 4.4 which was strongly felt at North Charleston on the 21st of August. After Hurricane Andrew unleashed it's destructive power on Florida, it moved into the Gulf of Mexico and made a second landfall in southern Louisiana between 5 and 8:30 UTC. on August 25, 1992. At the moment of landfall at 05:41 UT on August 26, 1992, a Ml 3.5 occurred in the New Madrid region, the largest earthquake in that area in more than a year - a Ml 5.0 had occurred in the area on May 4, 1991. Coincidence - I leave that up to you ...
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