The 3D WebGL Globe is a data visualization of all earthquakes on our tiny planet.
The globe displays all global earthquakes which occurred in the last hour, day, week and month, with a separate option to view significant quakes which had noticable impact on humanity and neighboring communities. You can filter by magnitude to show only those of a certain magnitude or higher. A daytime lighting mode is also provided. Responds to touch on mobile and tablets.
Mobile devices, smartphones, and tablets will react to touch gestures and rotate the globe. A separate "pinch" control ( for zooming in and out ) will need to be added so the globe knows the difference. To scroll on mobile, touch any area outside the universe.
Members who specify an optional city, state (or even an address) to their private profile can see an additional "add me" button. This converts their location to latitude and logitude coordinates and adds a large white location marker on the globe for their personal interest. It is only visible to them.
Epoch time is also commonly known as "computer time", or "unix time". On January 1st - at 12:00 AM - in the year 1970, computers began counting time. Every second since then has a number. As of this moment, 1732171443 seconds have elapsed since 1970.01.01 at 00:00:00 AM.
A Unix timestamp can programmitcally be converted to readable English.
So, the Unix timestamp for 1732171443 now becomes 2024-11-20 22:44:03 PM UTC
"UTC "is the successor to Greenwich Meridian Time (GMT) and is widely used among scientists. The timestamp for an earthquake is always UTC - which can then be converted to your local time. For example, to translate UTC into Atlantic local time, subtract 3 hours from UTC. This can get confusing, so when viewing earthquake details, we include "time ago" to let you know "how long ago" the earthquake occurred in plain English - no matter where in the world you are.
The time picker (currently in testing) allows you to transport to any specific date or exact second in the past. Then you can see all earthquakes which occurred in the day, week and month prior to that moment in time. The 3D globe view shows an overview of seismic activity which may be able to determine which areas are experiencing more activty than "normal". Can this be used to predict earthquakes? At least to a certain extent?
During the month of December, 2018, increased sesmic activity was noticable in Alaska. ( We will provide a direct link for you to see the globe for that timestamp ). Not long after, a significant earthquake occurred in Alaska on Jan 5th, 2019. Interestingly, on Dec 20th, 2018, a M7.3 also occurred not far away in Russia. You will also notice Guam sits in the middle of the Pacific Ocean at the very tip of a visible crest in the ocean floor. Sometimes, an entire cluster of 4+ earthquakes will appear in that spot. Could this indicate a 6+ may be on the way? As of Jan 9th 2019, Guam is showing some activity, but nothing major.
The epoch time picker is currently in development and testing. It allows you to transport through time for a global overview of all earthquakes at that moment in time - and the day / week / month prior. This feature may be turned on (or off) intermittently. To experience the most of WebGL, a modern browser is strongly recommended, so please consider taking a moment to download the latest version of Chrome or your favorite browser.
