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BIG quake prediction for California caused by...
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A massive earthquake predicted for California in early March did not occur, although scientists now know what set off the alarm among so many scientists. The answer is, a glitch in satellite data.
Highlights
CALIFORNIA NETWORK (https://www.youtube.com/c/californianetwork)
3/14/2016 (8 years ago)
Published in Green
Keywords: California, earthquake, carbon monoxide, prediction
LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - In late February, California was rattled by a series of small and medium quakes which shook up and down the state, particularly in Southern California. This shaking was then accompanied by a massive spike in carbon monoxide emissions, which suggested something natural -and very big, was happening.
A NASA satellite registered a massive spike in carbon monoxide over California, tens of times more than could be emitted by cars, even if every Californian drove every car they had. Furthermore, the spike appeared over just a few hours.
Quake enthusiasts then picked up news of the spike. Many were familiar with a hypothesis that carbon monoxide is given off by the Earth just a few days before massive quakes. Although the hypothesis is unproven, that did not prevent people from asking the question. Is California going to suffer a major quake?
Between March 2 and March 4, the window of time for the quake as predicted by the hypothesis, Californians wondered if something violent and devastating were about to occur. However, as March 4 passed and no quake shook the Golden State, Californians breathed a sigh of relief.
Scientists however, still wanted to know why their carbon monoxide readings were so terribly high.
Research into the GOES 5 satellite, which collected the data, revealed that a computer algorithm appears to be the culprit behind the scary reading.
Dr. Gavin Schmidt from NASA, who is head the the department responsible for the data confirmed:
"The Elevated Carbon Monoxide concentrations in the GEOS 5 products since February 25 of 2016 are incorrect. They are the consequence of unrealistic CO emissions computed by our biomass burning algorithm, which is based on satellite observation of fires. GMAO is working to correct this problem."
The good news is it means a massive quake isn't necessarily imminent. That's a comfort. However, it also means that the carbon monoxide hypothesis will need more evidence before it can be confirmed. This means that earthquake prediction remains in the realm of pseudoscience and that the next big quake could strike California at any minute, and without any warning at all.
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