Earthquake Details Magnitude 6.3
Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 01:39:09 AM at epicenter
SOUTHEAST INDIAN RIDGE
Location 53.029°S, 106.762°E
Depth 10 km (6.2 miles)below the surface of the ocean
2460 km (1520 miles) SSW of PERTH, Western Australia
Parameters NST=251, Nph=251, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=1.55 sec, Gp= 32°,
M-type=regional moment magnitude (Mw), Version=8
Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)Event ID us2008aibb
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This quake happened at one in the morning in water over 4,000 meters deep. The epicenter appears to be a hundred kilometers off the axis of the Southest Indian Ridge and not near any seamounts of other features that might attact squid to the area.
The odds are about 1 in 15 that this event injured whales. We only post an alert here because there seems to be some doubt as to whether or not there are any uncharted seamounts in the area.
The epicenter is located at the lower left corner of the chart below. Surface currents in the area would carry any injured pod towards Tasmania. The whales could move west or east of Tasmania. They could even go on to strand at Golden Bay on the tip of South Island.
Predicted stranding date: First week in January 2009.
