south of Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 2.3 earthquake was recorded south of Alaska at 05:00 UTC on 2022-12-28, 20 km deep.

2022-12-28 05:00 UTC · 20 km deep · released about 85 lb of TNT

Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.

When: 2022-12-28 05:00 UTC
Magnitude: M 2.3 (ml)
Depth: 20 km below the surface
Felt: no reports yet
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 1400 days ago · we first saw it 1400 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 85 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 180,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130,000× the energy of this one
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 11× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 2.3 about 85 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log₁₀E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 6.9 on 2021-08-14 — about 7,900,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 10 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

8.2 1938 Semidi Islands, Alaska Earthquake · 33 km NNW of this epicentre Nov 10, 1938
6.6 104 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska · 42 km WNW of this epicentre Nov 11, 1938
6.2 143 km SE of Perryville, Alaska · 17 km E of this epicentre Mar 25, 1927
5.5 160 km SE of Perryville, Alaska · 44 km E of this epicentre Mar 10, 2012
5.4 139 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska · 17 km SW of this epicentre Jan 1, 1991

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Map loads when it scrolls into view

Aftershocks so far

57 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

3.5 141 km SE of Perryville, Alaska 08:17 UTC
2.0 95 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska 06:45 UTC
2.1 123 km SE of Perryville, Alaska 21:49 UTC
2.7 170 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska 09:03 UTC
2.5 115 km SE of Perryville, Alaska 10:41 UTC
2.5 135 km SE of Perryville, Alaska 10:51 UTC
2.4 118 km SE of Perryville, Alaska 07:06 UTC
2.4 138 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska 13:23 UTC
2.8 136 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska 13:18 UTC
2.6 155 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska 16:33 UTC
3.0 161 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska 15:43 UTC
2.7 161 km SSE of Perryville, Alaska 08:47 UTC
2.3 130 km SE of Perryville, Alaska 03:00 UTC
2.4 163 km SE of Perryville, Alaska 21:29 UTC
2.5 120 km SE of Perryville, Alaska 23:59 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 16:05 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.