5 ms·
Earthquake magnitude usually changes a bunch in the first hour or two as new data comes in. For example some of the data comes from stations on the other side
by jedberg 3y ago
Earthquake magnitude usually changes a bunch in the first hour or two as new data comes in.
For example some of the data comes from stations on the other side of the planet, and it takes a while for the wave to propagate that far.
- neogodless 3y agoThat's one possible explanation, though I've been on usgs.gov a lot from the first I heard of this, and I've only ever seen 4.8 on it. Odd, also that the OP sharing this shared a link to 4.8 but put 4.7 in the title. But the text on that page might trick your eye, between "M 4.8 - 7 km N" and "Magnitude 4.8 mwr Depth 4.7 km".
- asveikau 3y agoThose of us in California are used to this. We feel the shake and look it up, and see one number. News articles get written with one of those numbers. After a while it changes, possibly a few times, to some number close to the initial report.