Making the Sumatra Movies

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Snapshot from a spectral-element simulation of the Great 2004 Sumatra- Andaman earthquake. Shown is the vertical component of velocity 15.8 minutes after the initiation of the rupture. Red colors denote upward motion and blue colors denote downward motion. Stations in the Global Seismographic Network are denoted by the yellow triangles. The yellow seismogram shows the actual-size vertical component of displacement at GSN station PALK.

Dramatic new data from the December 26, 2004, Sumatran-Andaman earthquake that generated deadly tsunamis show the event created the longest fault rupture and the longest duration of faulting ever observed, according to three reports by an international group of seismologists published Thursday in the journal ” Science .”

The visualization was prepared by Santiago Lombeyda ( CACR ), Vala Hjorleifsdottir (Caltech Seismological Laboratory), and Richard Aster (New Mexico Tech). The simulation was performed on the Caltech Division of Geological & Planetary Sciences Dell cluster.

Further information about the simulation can be found on Santiago Lombeyda’s website , including links to a CNN news item and a Caltech press release .