Welcome to ShakeMovie: Caltech's Near Real Time Simulation of
Southern California Seismic Events Portal. This portal has
been designed to present the public with near real time
visualizations of recent significant seismic events in the
Southern California Region. These movies are the results of
simulations carried out on a large computer cluster.
Earthquake movies will be available for download approximately
45 mins after the occurrence of a quake of magnitude 3.5
or greater.
FACTS
When an earthquake occurs, seismic waves are generated which propagate
away from the fault rupture.
Here we see the up-and-down velocity of
the Earth's surface. Strong blue waves indicate the surface is moving
rapidly downward. Strong red waves indicate rapid upward motion.
When the waves pass through soft soils (sediments) they slow down and
amplify. Waves speed up when they pass through hard rock.
The color of the waves oscillates between red and blue indicating
alternating up and down motion.