Surface-wave magnitude

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The surface wave magnitude (${\displaystyle M_{s}}$) scale is one of the magnitude scales used in seismology to describe the size of an earthquake. It is based on measurements of Rayleigh surface waves that travel along the uppermost layers of the Earth. This magnitude scale is related to the local magnitude scale proposed by Charles Francis Richter in 1935, with modifications from both Richter and Beno Gutenberg throughout the 1940s and 1950s.^[1][2] It is currently used in People's Republic of China as a national standard (GB 17740-1999) for categorising earthquakes.^[3]

The successful development of the local-magnitude scale encouraged Gutenberg and Richter to develop magnitude scales based on teleseismic observations of earthquakes. Two scales were developed, one based on surface waves, ${\displaystyle M_{s}}$, and one on body waves, ${\displaystyle M_{b}}$. Surface waves with a period near 20 s generally produce the largest amplitudes on a standard long-period seismograph, and so the amplitude of these waves is used to determine ${\displaystyle M_{s}}$, using an equation similar to that used for ${\displaystyle M_{L}}$.

— William L. Ellsworth, The San Andreas Fault System, California (USGS Professional Paper 1515), 1990–1991

Recorded magnitudes of earthquakes through the mid 20th century, commonly attributed to Richter, could be either ${\displaystyle M_{s}}$ or ${\displaystyle M_{L}}$.