Strong mag. 5.4 earthquake - South Atlantic Ocean, South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands, on Wednesday, May 18, 2022 at 6:23 pm (GMT -2) -
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Strong magnitude 5.4 earthquake at 32 km depth
18 May 20:32 UTC: First to report: GFZ after 9 minutes.
18 May 20:33: Epicenter location corrected by 1.3 km (0.8 mi) towards SSW.
24 May 21:16: Magnitude recalculated from 5.5 to 5.4. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 29.8 to 32.0 km (from 18.5 to 19.9 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 3.1 km (1.9 mi) towards N.
18 May 20:33: Epicenter location corrected by 1.3 km (0.8 mi) towards SSW.
24 May 21:16: Magnitude recalculated from 5.5 to 5.4. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 29.8 to 32.0 km (from 18.5 to 19.9 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 3.1 km (1.9 mi) towards N.
Earthquake details
Date & time | May 18, 2022 20:23:49 UTC - |
Local time at epicenter | Wednesday, May 18, 2022 at 6:23 pm (GMT -2) |
Status | Confirmed |
Magnitude | 5.4 |
Depth | 32.0 km |
Epicenter latitude / longitude | 58.7503°S / 25.3666°W ![]() |
Antipode | 58.75°N / 154.633°E |
Shaking intensity | Moderate shaking near epicenter |
Felt | 0 reports |
Primary data source | USGS (United States Geological Survey) |
Nearest volcano | Montagu Island (67 km / 42 mi) |
Nearby towns and cities | |
Weather at epicenter at time of quake | Overcast Clouds ![]() |
Estimated seismic energy released | 7.9 x 1012 joules (2.21 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 1898 tons of TNT or 0.1 atomic bombs!) | about seismic energy |
Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies
Info: The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.
Mag. | Depth | Location | Source |
5.4 | 32 km | South Sandwich Islands Region | USGS |
5.5 | 30 km | SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION | EMSC |
5.5 | 30 km | South Sandwich Islands Region | RaspberryShake |
5.5 | 96 km | Near Mar Del Plata | RENASS |
5.3 | 38 km | South Sandwich Islands Region | GFZ |
5.3 | 99 km | South Sandwich Islands Region | GeoAu |
User reports for this quake
User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
Aftershocks
[More info]
Recorded aftershocks, latest first (4 quakes)
Date and time![]() | Mag Depth | Location | Details |
Jun 25, 2022 19:10 7 days ago | 4.5 25 km | South Atlantic Ocean, South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands | More |
Jun 21, 2022 04:10 12 days ago | 5.0 10 km | South Atlantic Ocean, South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands | More |
Jun 4, 2022 02:59 4 weeks ago | 5.6 47 km | South Atlantic Ocean, South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands | More |
May 19, 2022 02:24 6 weeks ago | 5.0 35 km | South Atlantic Ocean, South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands | More |
Earlier earthquakes in the same area
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