1.
Coordinated Universal Time
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Coordinated Universal Time, abbreviated to UTC, is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about 1 second of mean time at 0° longitude. It is one of closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. For most purposes, UTC is considered interchangeable with GMT, the first Coordinated Universal Time was informally adopted on 1 January 1960. This change also adopted leap seconds to simplify future adjustments, a number of proposals have been made to replace UTC with a new system that would eliminate leap seconds, but no consensus has yet been reached. Leap seconds are inserted as necessary to keep UTC within 0.9 seconds of universal time, see the Current number of leap seconds section for the number of leap seconds inserted to date. The official abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time is UTC and this abbreviation arose from a desire by the International Telecommunication Union and the International Astronomical Union to use the same abbreviation in all languages. English speakers originally proposed CUT, while French speakers proposed TUC, the compromise that emerged was UTC, which conforms to the pattern for the abbreviations of the variants of Universal Time. Time zones around the world are expressed using positive or negative offsets from UTC, the westernmost time zone uses UTC−12, being twelve hours behind UTC, the easternmost time zone, theoretically, uses UTC+12, being twelve hours ahead of UTC. In 1995, the nation of Kiribati moved those of its atolls in the Line Islands from UTC-10 to UTC+14 so that the country would all be on the same day. UTC is used in internet and World Wide Web standards. The Network Time Protocol, designed to synchronise the clocks of computers over the internet, computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC as it is more specific than GMT. If only limited precision is needed, clients can obtain the current UTC from a number of official internet UTC servers, for sub-microsecond precision, clients can obtain the time from satellite signals. UTC is also the standard used in aviation, e. g. for flight plans. Weather forecasts and maps all use UTC to avoid confusion about time zones, the International Space Station also uses UTC as a time standard. Amateur radio operators often schedule their radio contacts in UTC, because transmissions on some frequencies can be picked up by many time zones, UTC is also used in digital tachographs used on large goods vehicles under EU and AETR rules. UTC divides time into days, hours, minutes and seconds, days are conventionally identified using the Gregorian calendar, but Julian day numbers can also be used. Each day contains 24 hours and each hour contains 60 minutes, the number of seconds in a minute is usually 60, but with an occasional leap second, it may be 61 or 59 instead
2.
International Seismological Centre
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1900–1912 J. Milne 1912–1917 H. H. Turner 1918–1931 H. H. Turner 1931–1939 H. Plaskett 1939–1952 Sir Harold Jeffreys 1952–1960 R. Stoneley 1960–1963 P. L. Willmore 1964–1970 P. L. Willmore 1970–1977 E. P. Willeman 2004–2007 A. Shapira 2008–present D. A. Storchak The main scientific goal of the Centre is the compilation of earthquake information. Since 1957 the manipulation of the volume of data has been mainly carried out by computer. Up until then ISS locations were determined manually with the help of a large globe, the ISC now uses a network of workstations accessing a relational database of nearly 50 Gbytes of online data. The analysis of the data is undertaken in monthly batches. During analysis the computer program first groups origin estimates from different agencies, in a typical month more than 200,000 station readings are analysed leading to an average of 10,000 events per month being identified, of which some 4,000 require manual review. Misassociations and other discrepancies are rectified and the remaining unassociated readings are searched for new events, the total number of events listed each month is several times greater than those obtained by any other worldwide location service and results from ISCs goal to provide a fully comprehensive list. This global instrumental earthquake catalogue, covering events for the period 1900–2009, was released in 2013 by the International Seismological Centre, the catalogue was prepared at the request of the GEM Foundation. Epicentral locations and hypocentral depths were recalculated from original travel time using a consistent velocity model. Sources Official website International Seismological Centre Bulletin – IRIS Consortium
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Turkey
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Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
5.
1942 Guatemala earthquake
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The 1942 Guatemala earthquake occurred at 17,37 local time on August 6 and had ratings of 7.7 on the moment magnitude scale and 7.9 on the surface wave magnitude scale. The epicenter was located off the southern coast of Guatemala, the earthquake caused widespread damage in the west-central highlands of Guatemala. Thirty-eight people died in the earthquake, landslides caused by the combination of the earthquake and the heavy seasonal rains destroyed roads, the Inter-American Highway, and telegraph lines. In Tecpán Guatemala, more than 60% of the houses were demolished, damage was reported in some buildings in Antigua Guatemala, including the Palacio de Los Capitanes Generales and some catholic churches. The earthquake could also be strongly in Mexico and El Salvador. This earthquake was a lower crustal intraplate earthquake with a focal mechanism. Tensional activity has been dominant along the edge along the 1942 rupture zone. It was estimated that earthquakes near the Middle America Trench with magnitudes of about 7. 5~8.0 occurred at intervals of 94 ±54 yrs in southwestern Guatemala, such historical earthquakes included the earthquakes in 1765,1902, and 1942. List of earthquakes in 1942 List of earthquakes in Guatemala Sources
6.
1942 Peru earthquake
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The 1942 Peru earthquake occurred on August 24 at 17,50 local time and was located near the border of the departments of Ica and Arequipa, Peru. It had a magnitude of Mw 8.2 or Ms 8.4 and this is a megathrust earthquake which ruptured part of the boundary between the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate. In this area, the Nazca Plate is subducting beneath the South America Plate with a vector of about 7.6 cm/yr. Much of the zone of the 1942 earthquake overlapped with that of the 1996 Nazca earthquake. The rupture zone of the 1942 earthquake was about 40 km longer than that of the 1996 earthquake, the epicenter of the 1942 earthquake was very close to, but slightly southeast of, that of the 1996 earthquake. The energy released by the 1942 earthquake was about 2. 5×1017 Nm, the earthquake caused 30 deaths and 25 injuries. Building damage was noteworthy in the epicentral area, about 30% of the buildings in the city of Nazca were ruined. There were slides in the hills, in Callao, the amplitude of the oscillations of the tsunami was 1.6 m. In Lomas, the sea receded more than 200 m, List of earthquakes in 1942 List of earthquakes in Peru
7.
AD 17 Lydia earthquake
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The AD17 Lydia earthquake caused the destruction of at least twelve cities in the region of Lydia in the Roman province of Asia in Asia Minor. The earthquake was recorded by the Roman historians Tacitus and Pliny the Elder, Pliny called it the greatest earthquake in human memory. The city of Sardis, the capital of the Lydian Empire, was the most affected. Of these, Pergamon, Ephesus and Kibyra are not mentioned by Tacitus, the record of damage at both Ephesus and Kibyra may refer instead to an earthquake in AD23. In Pergamon the Heroon of Diodoros Pasparos was remodelled after the earthquake, there are very few extant details for this earthquake. It is known that it occurred during the night, in AD17, a variety of epicenters have been used in catalogues, near Ephesus in the NGDC database, at Sardis in the CFTI4MED database and near Magnesia in the IISEE catalogue. The Roman Emperor, Tiberius, agreed to all taxes due from Sardis. He further sent Sardis ten million sesterces and appointed Marcus Aletius, two additional figures were added later, representing Kibyra and Ephesus as they had also received aid from Tiberius. A copy of this statue, with the transferred to a frieze around the base, was erected in Puteoli where it can still be seen. A statue was raised in Tiberius honour at Sardis in AD43, another incomplete inscription, found at Sardis, is thought to have been a copy of a formal document from the cities to the emperor expressing their gratitude. The surviving part includes signatories from representatives of eight of the cities, commemorative coins were struck in AD 22–23 in Rome, showing Tiberius with the inscription CIVITATIBVS ASIAE RESTITVTIS or cities of Asia restored. Provincial coins were struck, including one from the city of Magnesia. Some of the changed their names in honour of the emperor. Hierapolis became Hierocaesarea, Kibyra added Caesarea after its name, Philadelphia was renamed Neocaesarea, List of earthquakes in Turkey List of historical earthquakes
8.
1509 Constantinople earthquake
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The 1509 Constantinople earthquake, referred to as The Lesser Judgment Day by contemporaries, occurred in the Sea of Marmara on 10 September 1509 at about 10pm. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.2 ±0.3 on the surface wave magnitude scale. A tsunami and forty-five days of aftershocks followed the earthquake, over a thousand houses and 109 mosques were destroyed, and an estimated 10,000 people died. The Sea of Marmara is a basin formed at a releasing bend in the North Anatolian Fault. This local zone of extension occurs where this boundary between the Anatolian Plate and the Eurasian Plate steps northwards to the west of Izmit from the Izmit Fault to the Ganos Fault. The pattern of faults within the Sea of Marmara basin is complex, to the west, the fault trends west-east and is pure strike-slip in type. To the east, the fault is NW-SE trending and shows evidence of both normal and strike-slip motion, movement on this fault, which bounds the Çınarcık Basin, was the most likely cause of the 1509 event. The area of significant damage extended from Çorlu in the west to Izmit in the east, galata and Büyükçekmece also suffered severe damage. In Constantinople many houses collapsed, chimneys fell and walls cracked, the newly built Bayezid II Mosque was badly damaged, the main dome was destroyed and a minaret collapsed. The Fatih Mosque suffered damage to its four columns and the dome was split. The former church of Hagia Sophia survived almost unscathed, although a minaret collapsed, inside the mosque, the plaster that had been used to cover up the Byzantine mosaics inside the dome fell off, revealing the Christian images. The number of dead and injured is hard to estimate, with different sources giving accounts varying from 1,000 to 13,000 and it is believed that some members of the Ottoman dynasty died in this earthquake. Earthquake shocks continued for 45 days after the big earthquake, from the area and intensity of shaking, a 70 km fault rupture has been estimated. A tsunami is mentioned in sources with a run-up of greater than 6.0 m. A turbidite bed whose deposition matches the date of the earthquake has been recognised in the Çınarcık Basin, List of earthquakes in Turkey List of historical earthquakes
9.
1881 Chios earthquake
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The 1881 Chios earthquake occurred at 11,30 UTC on 3 April. It caused severe damage on the island of Chios and also affected Çeşme, the earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.3 and there were an estimated 7,866 casualties. The devastation from the earthquake was the last of the three catastrophes that affected the island of Chios in the 19th century, the Aegean Sea is an area of mainly extensional tectonics caused by the subduction of the African Plate beneath Aegean Sea Plate. The town of Chios was devastated, causing casualties, partly due to the narrowness of the streets. In the rest of the island,25 out of the 64 villages were destroyed with another 17 badly damaged, in both Çeşme and Alaçatı about 40% of the houses were destroyed. The number of casualties on the Turkish mainland was low, possibly due to most of the inhabitants leaving their houses to watch the passage of the passenger ship Aya Evangelistra from the shore. The epicenter of the earthquake was in the part of Chios where intensities reached IX on the Mercalli intensity scale. Isoseismal maps show an elongation west to east with an area of intensity VIII affecting the end of the Karaburun Peninsula of the Turkish mainland. Vertical movements of up to 2.5 m were observed, magnitudes ranging from Mw =6.5 to Ms=7.3 have been estimated for this event. A minor tsunami was reported, based on the presence of sand in a garden in Chios. There were many aftershocks, the most damaging being on 5 April,11 April,12 April,13 April,18 April,20 May,9 June and 26 August. After the earthquake many of the inhabitants of Chios left the island and this followed the trend set by the other two catastrophes of the 19th century that devastated the island, the massacre of Chios in 1822 and the failure of the orange crop in 1833. Together these events left most of Chios in a state of poverty, List of earthquakes in Greece List of historical earthquakes
