Replaying earthquakes in the browser, and checking the waves against 3,933 real picks

Description and use

Rumbleback is a static web app that visualises seismic wave propagation and compares modelled arrival times with real USGS picks.

Problem

Users want to visualize how seismic waves propagate from an earthquake and compare modelled arrival times with real station picks, but lack an interactive, browser‑based tool.

Outcome

Rumbleback accurately reproduces P‑wave arrivals with a median error of 0.66 s across 3,933 picks from 14 quakes, and 90 % within 1.75 s. The tool visualises S‑wave arrivals and alert lead times, aiding rapid assessment of seismic alerts.

Workflow

• 1. Load Rumbleback static page.
• 2. Drop a pin on the map to set a location.
• 3. Use the slider to set an alert time.
• 4. Observe P and S arrival rings and station pick dots.
• 5. Compare modelled arrivals with real seismograms displayed below the timeline.

Evidence

Travel times come from the iasp91 Earth model. A small Python script asks ObsPy TauP for the first P and S arrival on a grid of 34 source depths and about 900 distances, then stores a 166 KB table.

Source

The median error is 0.66 s, and 90 percent are within 1.75 s.

Source

It's a static page with MapLibre and a canvas overlay for the waves. The pin lives in the browser. Shared links keep it after the #, so no server sees it.

Source