The Dynamics

Historically, efforts in understanding and forecasting earthquakes focused on pinpointing the locations of previous earthquakes and then measuring accumulating stresses along those tectonic faults to predict the likelihood of a future temblor. The reasoning was that if the historical record showed a large-magnitude quake struck a specific region every 100 years and it had been, say, 90 years since the last earthquake, there was a good chance another quake was likely within the next decade.

The challenge with such forecasting is that it is of no practical use. Being told an earthquake potentially could strike years in the future is one thing; being told it will strike within the next week or two is  quite another.

Earthquake Warnings Inc. has learned that as seismic pressures increase along plate boundaries, they emit unseen geophysical signals that propagate upward and outward through the Earth’s atmosphere. As those signals reach the upper stretches of earth’s magnetosphere known as the ionosphere, they produce very distinct anomalies that stand apart from the normal “plasmic” behavior. It is these perturbations that the QuakeCasts system monitors and models to determine the likelihood of a magnitude-5 or higher earthquake.

There are many theories as to the causative factors behind these anomalies – radon gas, pholes, gravity waves, etc. – but the key from our perspective is that the ionosphere is exhibiting telltale signals to suggest an earthquake is coming for a specific region. By associating our monitoring equipment with GPS geolocating, we are able to give our subscribers advanced warning into the possibility of an earthquake in their specific location. Online subscriptions are free and SMS alerts are just $20 per year.

Do we guarantee our prediction services? No. But we are convinced that the science is there and that with time and the continued study of these phenomena earthquake prediction soon will be as commonplace as any other form of forecasting.

Click here to learn more about how QuakeCasts recognizes the likelihood of an earthquake.