A massive earthquake off the coast of Russia was detected more than 4,700 miles away in Upstate New York, highlighting the incredible reach of seismic waves.
Data from the US Geological Survey (USGS) showed the tremor struck about 84 miles east-southeast of Kamchatska at around 7:24pm EST.
With a magnitude of 8.8, it ranks as the sixth strongest earthquake ever recorded.
Meteorologist Howard Mange revealed that shockwaves from the megaquake were picked up by a seismometer in Binghamton, New York.
The first waves to arrive were the primary waves, or P-waves, reaching the seismometer about 11 minutes after the initial quake.
These are the fastest seismic waves, traveling in the same direction as the wave itself, similar to sound waves, and are typically the first to be recorded following an earthquake.
These are the fastest seismic waves, moving in the same direction as the wave itself, similar to a sound wave, and are the first to be recorded after an earthquake.
Approximately 22 minutes after the event, the seismometer detected secondary waves, or S-waves. These slower waves move particles side-to-side and cannot travel through liquids.
Finally, around 36 minutes after the quake, the slowest but often most powerful surface waves arrived in New York.
A meteorologist in New York revealed shockwaves from the megaquake that hit Russia were picked up by a seismometer in Binghamton
‘These waves travel as a group around the surface of the earth and are usually the largest waves seen on the seismogram,’ Mange shared on Facebook.
‘The further away the earthquake, the more spread out the surface waves are in time.’
Alex Nikulin, associate professor at Binghamton University, explained that an earthquake that powerful is capable of sending waves around the world multiple times.
‘Importantly, they are not felt at that point by humans because you’ve attenuate out most of the frequencies that would have been felt, but they’re felt by sensors.
He told local 12News that ‘it was the largest recorded in the region since 1952,’ referring to the 9.0 magnitude that hit in Kamchatka, Russia – the same location as the tremor that struck this week.
Scientists also collected the data from earthquake sensors across the US, showing how the seismic energy rippled out from the epicenter like waves from a stone thrown into water and traveled through the entire nation.
Within the first second, seismic stations closest to the epicenter, primarily in Alaska and western coastal Canada, began detecting the earthquake’s P-waves.
Between one and five seconds after the quake, the seismic waves surged eastward, reaching stations throughout the western US, including California, Oregon and Washington.
The first waves to arrive were the primary waves, or P-waves, reaching the seismometer about 11 minutes after the initial quake
Scientist created an animation showing how shockwaves from the earthquake spread through the US
From five to ten seconds, the waves extended into central states such as Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas, covering a vast swath of the continent.
Although wave intensity started to decrease, the shaking remained noticeable. Some wave energy even traveled along global paths, reaching stations from opposite directions.
Between ten and twenty seconds, the seismic activity reached the Midwest and East Coast, including Minnesota, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania and the Carolinas.
Surface waves dominated this phase, responsible for the lateral shaking felt over wide areas, despite a gradual decline in wave amplitude.
In New York, seismometers lit up across the state.
The Adirondacks and Catskills likely experienced slightly different wave propagation due to the terrain, scientists saw a uniform spread across the area.
The seismic waves would have traveled through the Hudson Valley, potentially affecting areas like Poughkeepsie and Kingston, though with diminishing intensity.
Large earthquakes, like the one that hit this week, are known to redistribute stress along fault lines, sometimes increasing the strain on already vulnerable zones.
The waves were detected on the East Coast within a matter of seconds after the earthquake struck
If those areas are near their breaking point, the added pressure could trigger aftershocks or even fresh quakes, not just locally, but potentially in distant regions connected by geological stress transfer.
In rare cases, shifting stress can also activate entirely separate fault systems, making this kind of global disturbance more than a geological curiosity.
This happened in 1992, when a major 7.3 magnitude earthquake hit California and within hours, of the mainshock, seismic activity increased in places of the mainshock, seismic activity increased in places up to 750 miles away, including in Yellowstone National Park and western Nevada.
When an 8.8 magnitude quake rocked Chile in 2010, the seismic waves triggered activity in Mexico and Southern California.
