Science and engineering of earthquakes and tsunamis at Scientific American

With the earthquake and tsunami hitting Japan earlier today, the crew at Scientific American got busy – putting together stories, old and new, about the underlying science and engineering.

Article from the upcoming issue of the magazine was posted early, due to its timeliness – Seconds Before the Big One: Progress in Earthquake Alarms

Our partners at Nature have a correspondent in Japan so we reposted the articles so far: Nature: Earthquake dispatches from the correspondent in Japan

We put together an In-Depth report, collecting in one place a lot of what SciAm has published on the topic over the years: A Guide to Earthquakes

In our ‘Ask the Experts’ sections: How Does an Earthquake Trigger Tsunamis Thousands of Kilometers Away? and How to Cool a Nuclear Reactor

John Horgan blogs about the history of earthquake prediction in Japan earthquake demonstrates the limits—and power—of science.

And I edited and reposted a piece cautioning about believing all the stories about animals “predicting” earthquakes – ‘Sixth sense’ for earthquake prediction? Give me a break!

You can also see some videos, e.g., Devastating quake hits Japan, Buildings crumble in Japan quake and Japan devastated after massive quake.

More will be posted as new information comes up…

Update:

A Visual Tour of the Massive Earthquake and Tsunami That Hit Japan [Slide Show]

All of today’s SciAm articles are now collected in one place: The Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

Update 2:

Beware the fear of Nuclear….FEAR! By David Ropeik

The essential lesson from the Japan earthquake for the U.S. By Richard Allen

Failure of Imagination Can Be Deadly: Fukushima is a Warning by Rita J King

Nuclear Experts Explain Worst-Case Scenario at Fukushima Power Plant By Steve Mirsky

Signs, signs, everywhere signs: Seeing God in tsunamis and everyday events By Jesse Bering

Japan earthquake: The Explainer By Chris Rowan

Fast Facts about the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami