Revised report: Not a quake, a “false reading”

REVISED AT 10:26 PM: The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network has taken the 9 pm Kitsap County earthquake reading off its map. “False reading,” according to this Twitter update from NWCN, which is where we heard first word of the alleged quake (and then checked it out on the PNSN site before posting anything here). Have never seen a report “canceled” like that but we’ll just go back to not reporting quakes until our inbox is full of “we felt it” reports … (Eric B explains further in this comment.)

k February 1, 2009 (9:39 pm)

Could this all be related to the volcano in Alaska?

Roger February 1, 2009 (9:39 pm)

Hmmm…didn’t feel it here either…not gonna be pattern, right? (He asks for reassurance…)

hutch February 1, 2009 (9:57 pm)

I think it does tie into the Alaska volcano…we’re close enough in proximity.

robert February 1, 2009 (10:07 pm)

USGS hasn’t anything on it as of the time of this post.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/

WSB February 1, 2009 (10:15 pm)

Funny, wouldn’t think the USGS has a lag but maybe they have a different verification procedure. The PNSN (links above) is the gold standard around here.

Eric B February 1, 2009 (10:19 pm)

It apparently was an error, and has been removed after review. This sort of thing happens when noise (such as trucks going by a seismometer) happen to hit at close to the same time for two or more seismic stations.

WSB February 1, 2009 (10:29 pm)

I just updated after seeing that elsewhere. I have NEVER seen that happen but probably wouldn’t have mentioned a 3.6 in Kitsap County anyway if not for the Friday quake … next time (as I wrote in the revised post above) I’m not saying anything until the e-box overflows with “felt it!!!!” Sorry – TR

Eric B February 1, 2009 (10:33 pm)

BTW, there is an interesting fact about earthquakes and West Seattle. We tend to feel earthquakes more strongly than a lot of other places because we are sitting on top of a part of the Seattle fault called the West Seattle fault. The fault tends to focus seismic energy from these deep earthquakes and was responsible for the fact that we had a lot of chimney damage both in the 2001 and in the 1965 earthquakes – much more than areas that were closer to the epicenter. It is particularly notable within a few blocks of Hanford.

WSB February 1, 2009 (10:39 pm)

Possibly Avalon too – had the most notable “felt it” reports from Friday, from that area. Former tidelands, perhaps. P.S. Also thanks to Robert re: USGS link. Will save that for further checking if “just happened” earthquake reports emerge again.