Information message about the earthquake on September 25, 2003 in the North of Japan near Hokkaido Island

      Destructive earthquake with magnitude M=8.4 has happened on 25 September, 2003 in northern part of the Japanese region, near island Hokkaido. Earthquake was accompanied a tsunami on all coast of the Japanese islands. It was felt also in Russia, in the south of Kuriles.
     Parameters of the earthquake have been determined in the Alert Service (AS) of Information Processing Center (IPC) of Geophysical Survey of RAS in Obninsk with station data obtained from digital and analog seismic stations of Russia, countries of CIS and from abroad. Alert message on this earthquake has been delivered in 39 min after registration to the Ministry of Emergency of the Russian Federation (EMERCOM).
     Preliminary processing has been done with data from 23 stations, accurate processing - with data 34 stations.
     IPC GS RAS also has obtained information with parameters of this event from some seismological centers, these data are given in table 1:
Table 1
NN Time in origin h-min-s (GMT) Lat degr. Lon degr. Depth km N s/st Ms/ N mb/ N I0 calc GAP Center
1 19-50-09.60 42 143  40  34  8.40/127.30/109.5-10 IPC GS RAS (accurate)
2 19-50-13.10 43 143  33  23  8.5/117.3/910-11 IPC GS RAS (preliminary)
3 19-50-05.9 42 143  10  343  8.2 6.9  57 CSEM
4 19-50-09.52 42 143  33  145   6.3/78 27 NEIC (preliminary)
5 19-50-07.43 41 143  33  185  8.1/1066.5/100 33 NEIC (accurate)
6 19-50-14.00 42 143  30  322  8.1 7.2/43  ORFEUS (accurate)
7 19-50-14.00 42 143  30  322   7.2/43  ORFEUS (preliminary)
  • IPC GS RAS - Informational Processing Center, Geophysical Survey, Russian Academy of Sciences
  • CSEM - European - Mediterranean seismological center
  • NEIC - National Earthquakes Information Center of US Geological Service
  • ORFEUS - Observatories and Research Facilities for EUropean Seismology
  • Aftershock
          By 16 hours of Moscow time (12pm GMT) on September 26 Alert Survey of GS RAS registered 12 aftershocks for this earthquake, most of them with magnitude 5.
    N Date   &   Time (GMT)
    yy-mm-dd hh:mm:sec
    Lat
    degr.
    Lon
    degr.
    Depth
    km
    N
    station
    Ms/ N mb/ N Io
    calc.
    Region
    200313912003-09-25 20:10:04.042.2143.573316-6.0/ 66 Hokkaido, Japan region
    200313922003-09-25 20:57:15.042.2143.513317-6.1/ 6-Hokkaido, Japan region
    200313932003-09-25 21:02:55.042.38144.173312-5.9/ 55.5-6 Hokkaido, Japan region
    200313942003-09-25 21:08:03.042.34143.494019-6.4/ 76.5-7 Hokkaido, Japan region
    200313952003-09-25 22:20:20.042.06143.733315-5.8/ 45.5 Hokkaido, Japan region
    200313962003-09-25 23:11:38.042.32145.013312-5.2/ 4-Hokkaido, Japan region
    200313982003-09-26 01:39:15.042.03143.785013-5.0/ 43 Hokkaido, Japan region
    200313992003-09-26 02:35:18.042.68144.2750135.7/ 86.0/ 55.5-6 Hokkaido, Japan region
    200314002003-09-26 03:29:22.042.94143.4713013-4.6/ 9-Hokkaido, Japan region
    200314012003-09-26 03:51:48.043.07144.5311013-5.6/ 5-Hokkaido, Japan region
    200314032003-09-26 06:26:58.042.56144.5533196.0/ 115.9/ 76.5-7 Hokkaido, Japan region
    200314042003-09-26 10:11:05.042.32144.45807-4.5/ 5-Hokkaido, Japan region
    Historical records
         The earthquake on September 25, 2003 has happened in seismic active region. This is depicted on map downloaded from WEB site of NEIC, USA (fig.1). The strongest earthquakes have been registered here on March 4, 1952 with М=8.6; May 16, 1968 with М=7.9; January 15, 1993 with М=7.6 (according to NEIC)

    Figure 1
    Focal mechanism and seismic moment of the earthquake
          Focal mechanism solutions for origin place of the earthquake 25.09.2003 have been calculated with CMT method in different centers - National Earthquakes Information Center of Geological Service of the USA (NEIC) and in Harvard Center HARVARD (USA). They are presented in table 3 and shown on figures 2-3. Solutions obtained in different centers are similar. Motion in the earthquake’s origin occurred under the action of expansion and compression strengths oriented to the North-West - South-East directions. Plane NP1 has near to latitudinal direction and is flat-lying, motion along this plane is characterized by right sided over thrust; plane NP2 is steep falling, oriented to the North-East, motion along this plane is thrust. Averaged value of seismic moment Мо determined in IPC GS RAS from Р-wave spectra at seismic stations "Arti" (delta 54 degrees),"Obninsk" (delta 65 degrees) and "Kislovodsk" (delta 69 degrees), makes 1.2* 10** 21 n*m. Moment magnitude from this sources of data makes Mw = 8.0 . According to NEIC seismic moment Мо makes 1.6* 10** 21 n*m, moment magnitude - Mw = 8.1. According to HARVARD seismic moment Мо makes 3.0* 10** 21 n*m, moment magnitude - Mw = 8.3.
    Table 2
    Axes of main strengths Nodal planes Center
    T P N NP1 NP2
    Pl Azm Pl Azm Pl Azm Stk Dp Slip Stk Dp Slip
    5131938126 622117894742 8396NEIC
    5228637123 8272521113625 8382HARVARD
  • NEIC - National Earthquakes Information Center of US Geological Service
  • HARVARD - Harvard Geophysical Center (USA)

  • Figure 2

    Figure 3


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