NASA ARIA map showing measured ground displacement along the Kamchatka Peninsula after the 2025 earthquake.

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Preparing the 3D view

Preparing lighting and the first complete frame…

Model scale

One geometric scale. 1 scene unit = 50 km. hypocentre marker enlarged.

10.0 s · P: 60.0 km · S: 35.0 km. Station arrivals: P 8.98 s; S 15.39 s.

How to read these results

Transparent rock reveals the wave fronts. The violet front begins after the S wave reaches the epicentre; each arrival activates the station trace.

Earthquakes

Locate the focus and epicentre of an earthquake and compare how different seismic waves travel through Earth.

Drag to rotate. Hold Ctrl and scroll to zoom, or pinch on a touch screen.

Why it happens

An earthquake releases energy when rock slips along a fault. The focus is the source at depth and the epicentre lies above it; different seismic waves transmit the disturbance through and along Earth.

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NASA ARIA displacement mapping after the 2025 Kamchatka earthquake. Colours encode surface movement, rather than the colour of the ground.

Try a comparison

Scrub Process through both arrivals and read the times. Increase depth, then explain the longer ray path.

Reading the result

The wave illustration separates propagation mechanisms; shaking and damage also depend on the source, distance, ground and buildings.

A common misunderstanding

Earthquake magnitude and shaking intensity are the same measurement.

Magnitude describes the earthquake’s size at its source. Intensity describes shaking and effects at a particular place, so it varies with distance, local ground and buildings. One earthquake can therefore have a single reported magnitude but many different local intensities.

Cases

Process0.40Focus depth20 km