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August 17, 2015
Wake-up call from the Hayward Fault
During a brief visit to California this week, I, along with a metroregionfull of people, was treated to a rattling little temblor from the Hayward Fault. The quick jolt struck conveniently just before everyone’s morning alarms went off, serving as a wakeup call for the day, and as this season’s broader “wakeup call” reminder that there are big active seams in the crust inching along around and below our cities. …
April 18, 2014
What would the 1906 earthquake look like today?
Today is the 108th anniversary of the devastating M7.8 San Francisco earthquake. As with any “quakiversary” it’s a ripe opportunity for reflection on how earthquake knowledge and engineering have progressed since we learned from that disaster, and to consider how we would fare if faced with the same catastrophe today. One powerful way to consider how modern-day San Francisco would fare in a repeat of the 1906 quake is by …
December 9, 2013
AGU 2013: Earth Science-palooza
After braving excruciating cold, ice-bound airports, and snow-covered mountain passes to get here, some 21,000 Earth Scientists have descended on San Francisco for the annual AGU Fall Meeting. They’ll all be happy to know that the National Weather Service calls for freezing temperatures in all areas except San Francisco tonight. So everyone from Back East can still pretend they’re having a balmy California vacation while we locals wrap our heads …
September 24, 2012
San Francisco 1906 + Today
Photographer Shawn Clover, whose clever and chilling project “The Earthquake Blend” I’ve posted about before, has expanded the project with a second installment. Shawn describes the delay, explaining the exacting standards he strives for when recreating the photos. His perfectionism regarding vantage, lighting, and lack of new obstructions is what makes the photography so chilling. As in Part I, the juxtaposition of modern life in SF with scenes of the same …
June 26, 2012
Fantastic Cal Academy Earthquake exhibit
Earlier this month the California Academy of Sciences–the superb science museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park that efficiently and gracefully combines a natural history museum, science museum, aquarium, zoo/rain forest biodome, and immersive planetarium dome, all under one prairie-covered roof–unveiled its summer 2012 exhibit all about earthquakes. The exhibit, titled Earthquake, Life on a Dynamic Planet, premiered on May 25, so naturally I was among the first in line at the museum’s …
April 11, 2012
Earthquake photo mash-ups
San Francisco-based photographer Shawn Clover came up with a creative project: not only did he re-create classic photos of the 1906 earthquake’s destruction from the same vantage points as the original shots, but he’s blended the old and new together in surreal, oddly amusing, and moderately alarming photo stitches. From the photographer’s website: Where was the exact spot the photographer stood? What was the equivalent focal length of his camera’s …
April 18, 2011
105th Anniversary of SF’s 1906 quake
5:12 a.m. PDT this morning marked the 105-year anniversary of “the San Francisco earthquake,” the >400 km rupture of the northern San Andreas fault that began just offshore and propagated along the fault in both directions for several minutes, all the while churning and twisting the blossoming city above it. It’s helpful to take a moment and reflect upon the reality of the event. I get the impression that such …
March 15, 2011
Footage of the March 11 tsunami around the Pacific
Plenty of news organizations have been collecting the extensive footage of last week’s tsunami generated by the M8.9 earthquake in Japan, so following along with them is a great way to keep up with the utterly humbling images from the interface between humanity and this planet’s powerful nature. In particular the BBC has compilations of video from Japan, CNN has a scary view, and the L.A. Times has some footage …
