With data recorded by a deep-ocean hydrophone array centrally located in the Northwestern Pacific Basin near Wake Island, significantly large earthquakes were found to have their epicenters within the interior of the Pacific plate. The signal/noise ratio of the largest is about 40/1 at a distance of 2268 km. Although all of these earthquakes were unreported in National Earthquake Information Service (NEIS) listings, comparisons with the Po/So phases of other earthquakes reported by NeIS indicate that these earthquakes could have body-wave magnitudes in excess of 5.0. |