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In the news: 13

bobs — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:44:58 GMT

Afghans get first national park

Afghanistan has established its first national park in a spectacular region of deep blue lakes separated by natural dams of travertine, a mineral deposit.

Band-e-Amir is visited by thousands of Afghans and pilgrims, though foreign tourism stalled with the increase in violence since 1979.

Declaring Band-e-Amir a park should help protect its fragile environment.

The new park is near the Bamyan Valley, where 1,500-year-old giant Buddha statues were destroyed by the Taleban.

Afghanistan's National Environmental Protection Agency (Nepa) said the creation of the park would help the region attract international tourism and obtain World Heritage Status.

"The park will draw people from Herat to Kabul to Jalalabad... to be inspired by the great beauty of Afghanistan's first national park, Band-e-Amir, " said Mostapha Zaher, Nepa's director-general.

Hand grenades

In the stillness of the high, thin air, the blue and turquoise waters are often like glass, perfectly reflecting the slopes around them, says the BBC's Alan Johnston, who has visited Band-e-Amir.

However, this quietness may be occasionally punctured by the damaging local practice of fishing by blasting the lake waters with hand grenades, he adds.

Much of the park's wildlife has been lost, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

But recent WCS surveys show it still contains ibex, a species of wild goat, and urial, a type of wild sheep.

Other wildlife include wolves, foxes, smaller mammals and fish, and various bird species including the Afghan snow finch, which is believed to be the only bird found exclusively in Afghanistan.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8013017.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 36 replies

Volcano Research: 4

bobs — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:10:06 GMT

CAT scan reveals inner workings of volcano island

On the ground and in the water, an international team of researchers has been collecting imaging data on the Soufriere Hills Volcano in Montserrat to understand the internal structure of the volcano and how and when it erupts.

"Using land-based measurement, we can see that over the time periods when the magma is erupting, the ground surface deflates into a bowl of subsidence and when the magma is sealed underground, the ground surface inflates like a balloon," says Barry Voight, professor emeritus of geosciences, Penn State. "The interesting thing is that much more magma is erupting than appears represented by the subsiding bowl."

Voight suggests a simple model to explain this discrepancy seen through the various eruptive phases and pauses of the volcano.

In 1995, Soufriere Hills volcano began the current series of eruptions and pauses, with each episode lasting from one to three years. The November 1995 event lasted until March 1998, during which time a thick dome of sticky andesite lava -- a volcanic rock -- grew continuously within the crater, punctuated by occasional and lethal explosions. From March 1998 until November 1999, there was a pause in above-ground volcanic activity and the lava dome collapsed from its own weight and inactivity.

Beginning in December 1999, the second eruptive episode continued until mid-July 2003 followed by a pause until October 2005. The third episode began then and ended in April 2007, followed by a pause, which still continues -- although, according to Voight, "a series of explosions started just a few days ago (early December) and this might mark the onset of the next eruptive period. We will need to wait and see if continuous lava extrusion follows."

The measurements taken during the on-going CALIPSO project, the ground-based phase of this study, uses Global Positioning Systems and strain meters to measure the exact up-and-down and sideways movements of numerous points over the volcano island. However, the volume changes represented by those measurements did not match measured volumes of the actual lava flows during the various eruption episodes, raising an intriguing puzzle.

The SEA CALIPSO project, involving a research consortium directed by Voight and S. Sparks, professor, earth sciences, University of Bristol, UK, used seismic waves caused by underwater air gun explosions at sea to map inside and under the volcano island in the same way as images inside the human body are revealed by a hospital CAT scan.

"In SEA-CALIPSO, we are using a variety of research tools to image the internal structure of the Earth's crust under the volcano island," says Voight. "Our knowledge of the deeper structure under any of the Caribbean Islands is very limited and the internal structure of an active volcano is one of the most puzzling questions in the Earth sciences. It is nearly impossible to get direct measurements inside the volcano, so we rely largely on remote sensing methods."

The researchers used seismic wave arrivals at over 200 land and sea floor seismometers to give CAT-scan like images of structure to about 5 miles deep. They were also able to map how the seismic energy bounces off key reflecting layers near the crust-mantle boundary, around 20 miles down. The basalt at those depths forms horizontal layers that partly crystallize and generate residual melts enriched in silica, water and sulfur. These melts rise in pulses to shallower levels, where they define magma chambers of andesite composition – the lava now erupting on Montserrat.

The researchers are able to image the location of these chambers by their pressure centers, which are approximately 6 miles deep and defined by continuously measured GPS surface stations.

Reporting in three sessions beginning today (Dec. 19), at the American Geophysical Union Conference in San Francisco, CALIPSO researchers discussed many aspects of the project. Voight's model of the Soufriere Hills Volcano accounts for the volume mismatch in erupted magma and ground movement by suggesting an elongated magma chamber beginning below 3 miles and centered about 6 miles beneath the mountain. This chamber fills with magma, but the magma already in the chamber is rich in water, carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide gases, making it very compressible.

As the chamber fills, part of the new magma pushes against the chamber walls, elevating the island surface, as detected by GPS; but most of the magma fits into the existing space by squeezing the bubbly resident magma. When the volcano erupts, the magma stuffed into the chamber decompresses and the amount of magma erupted is greater than the amount implied by ground subsidence.

"The magma volume in Montserrat eruptions is much larger than anyone would estimate from the surface deformation, because of the elastic storage of magma in what is effectively a huge magma sponge," says Voight. "Magma is continually fed into the chamber from below at a rate of about two cubic meters per second -- about the volume of a large refrigerator every second."

In the long term, the magma released in the eruptive periods is approximately balanced by the accumulated input during the eruptive episode and the preceding inflation. There is no evident depletion of the chamber, so the eruption could be long lasting.

Source: Penn State

http://www.physorg.com/news148906924.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 11 replies

Geology Rocks! 2

bobs — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:42:39 GMT

Journey to the center of the earth: Discovery sheds light on mantle formation

Uncovering a rare, two-billion-year-old window into the Earth’s mantle, a University of Houston professor and his team have found our planet’s geological history is more complex than previously thought.

Jonathan Snow, assistant professor of geosciences at UH, led a team of researchers in a North Pole expedition, resulting in a discovery that could shed new light on the mantle, the vast layer that lies beneath the planet’s outer crust. These findings are described in a paper titled “Ancient, highly heterogeneous mantle beneath Gakkel Ridge, Arctic Ocean,” appearing recently in Nature.

These two-billion-year-old rocks that time forgot were found along the bottom of the Arctic Ocean floor, unearthed during research voyages in 2001 and 2004 to the Gakkel Ridge, an approximately 1,000-mile-long underwater mountain range between Greenland and Siberia. This massive underwater mountain range forms the border between the North American and Eurasian plates beneath the Arctic Ocean, where the two plates diverge.

These were the first major expeditions ever undertaken to the Gakkel Ridge, and these latest published findings are the fruit of several years of research and millions of dollars spent to retrieve and analyze these rocks.

The mantle, the rock layer that comprises about 70 percent of the Earth’s mass, sits several miles below the planet’s surface. Mid-ocean ridges like Gakkel, where mantle rock is slowly pushing upward to form new volcanic crust as the tectonic plates slowly move apart, is one place geologists look for clues about the mantle. Gakkel Ridge is unique because it features – at some locations – the least volcanic activity and most mantle exposure ever discovered on a mid-ocean ridge, allowing Snow and his colleagues to recover many mantle samples.

“I just about fell off my chair,” Snow said. “We can’t exaggerate how important these rocks are – they’re a window into that deep part of the Earth.”

Venturing out aboard a 400-foot-long research icebreaker, Snow and his team sifted through thousands of pounds of rocks scooped up from the ocean floor by the ship’s dredging device. The samples were labeled and cataloged and then cut into slices thinner than a human hair to be examined under a microscope. That is when Snow realized he found something that, for many geologists, is as rare and fascinating as moon rocks – mantle rocks devoid of sea floor alteration. Analysis of the isotopes of osmium, a noble metal rarer than platinum within the mantle rocks, indicated they were two billion years old. The use of osmium isotopes underscores the significance of the results, because using them for this type of analysis is still a new, innovative and difficult technique.

Since the mantle is slowly moving and churning within the Earth, geologists believe the mantle is a layer of well-mixed rock. Fresh mantle rock wells up at mid-ocean ridges to create new crust. As the tectonic plates move, this crust slowly makes its way to a subduction zone, a plate boundary where one plate slides underneath another and the crust is pushed back into the mantle from which it came.

Because this process takes about 200 million years, it was surprising to find rocks that had not been remixed inside the mantle for two billion years. The discovery of the rocks suggests the mantle is not as well-mixed or homogenous as geologists previously believed, revealing that the Earth’s mantle preserves an older and more complex geologic history than previously thought. This opens the possibility of exploring early events on Earth through the study of ancient rocks preserved within the Earth’s mantle.

The rocks were found during two expeditions Snow and his team made to the Arctic, each lasting about two months. The voyages were undertaken while Snow was a research scientist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, and the laboratory study was done by his research team that now stretches from Hawaii to Houston to Beijing.

Since coming to UH in 2005, Snow’s work stemming from the Gakkel Ridge samples has continued, with more research needed to determine exactly why these rocks remained unmixed for so long. Further study using a laser microprobe technique for osmium analysis available only in Australia is planned for next year.

Source: University of Houston

http://www.physorg.com/news127124384.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 33 replies

observing the borealis

SolSpitz — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:47:21 GMT

have any of you seen the borealis ?

what is the best time of year and place,,,

is alska better than norway or does it matter ?

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 0 replies

Earthquake research: 4

bobs — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:20:11 GMT

Large earthquake “bounces” are stronger than Earth’s gravity
Posted on November 6, 2008 | Category: Other News

A new study that documented unusually strong vertical “bouncing” motions during a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in Japan in June 2008, which was four times stronger than Earth’s gravity.

According to a report in National Geographic News, the study suggests that side-to-side shaking during earthquakes can also be accompanied by up-and-down jolts, which may increase the threat to buildings and other structures.

“Having a vertical acceleration is not unexpected. What’s unusual about this is how large it is,” said Bill Leith, an earthquake program manager at the U.S. Geological Survey.

“It’s unusual for quakes to have more than the force of Earth’s gravity, and records of two times that force are very rare,” he added.

The vertical motions were also noteworthy because they packed nearly twice as much energy as the earthquake’s sideways shaking.

Study author Shin Aoi, a seismologist at the National Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention in Tsukuba, Japan, noted that sideways shaking is usually twice as strong as vertical movements.

To explain the anomalies, Aoi and his team speculate that a layer of loosely packed soil bounces up and down on a quivering rock layer below it, much like a person jumping on a trampoline.

The vertical earthquake waves detected in the study did not actually cause buildings or loose rocks to bounce up and down, because they were very high frequency waves and thus relatively weak.

If the waves had been low frequency, damage to overlying structures could have been severe, commented Dan O’Connell, a senior geophysicist at the California consulting firm William Lettis and Associates.

Most earthquake-reinforced buildings today are designed to withstand mostly horizontal shaking.

“A large vertical movement really changes the equation,” said O’Connell. “It could locally compress a building and make it feel a much higher effect of gravity,” he added.

“This in turn can increase the potential for damage,” he further added. (ANI)

http://www.entertainmentandshowbiz.com/large-earthquake-bounces-are-stronger-than-earths-gravity-200811064670

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 35 replies

The 2009 Leonid Meteor Shower

rob — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:48:37 GMT

November 10, 2009: This year's Leonid meteor shower peaks on Tuesday, Nov. 17th. If forecasters are correct, the shower should produce a mild but pretty sprinkling of meteors over North America followed by a more intense outburst over Asia. The phase of the Moon will be new, setting the stage for what could be one of the best Leonid showers in years.

"We're predicting 20 to 30 meteors per hour over the Americas, and as many as 200 to 300 per hour over Asia," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "Our forecast is in good accord with independent theoretical work by other astronomers."1

Leonids are bits of debris from Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Every 33 years the comet visits the inner solar system and leaves a stream of dusty debris in its wake. Many of these streams have drifted across the November portion of Earth's orbit. Whenever we hit one, meteors come flying out of the constellation Leo.

"We can predict when Earth will cross a debris stream with pretty good accuracy," says Cooke. "The intensity of the display is less certain, though, because we don't know how much debris is in each stream." Caveat observer!

The first stream crossing on Nov. 17th comes around 0900 UT (4 a.m. EST, 1 a.m. PST). The debris is a diffuse mix of particles from several old streams that should produce a gentle display of two to three dozen meteors per hour over North America. Dark skies are recommended for full effect.

"A remarkable feature of this year's shower is that Leonids will appear to be shooting almost directly out of the planet Mars," notes Cooke.

It's just a coincidence. This year, Mars happens to be passing by the Leonid radiant at the time of the shower. The Red Planet is almost twice as bright as a first magnitude star, so it makes an eye-catching companion for the Leonids: sky map.

The next stream crossing straddles the hour 2100-2200 UT, shortly before dawn in Indonesia and China. At that time, Earth will pass through a pair of streams laid down by Comet Tempel-Tuttle in 1466 and 1533 AD. The double crossing could yield as many as 300 Leonids per hour.

http://science.nasa.gov

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The Next Megaquake?

bobs — Sat, 21 May 2005 18:04:42 GMT

Sunday 22nd May 2005: BBC 2. 21:00hrs

Horizon programme: The next megaquake.

On Boxing Day 2004 the world was shocked by one of the worst natural disasters of all time. The cause of so much devastation was the most powerful kind of earthquake on the planet - a megathrust. Megathrust earthquake only occur on a particular kind of fault. Scientists have now discovered that just such a fault could cause a huge megathrust earthquake and tsunami right off the coast of North America.

The subduction zones
The surface of the earth is divided into giant plates of rock - and most earthquakes occur at faults where two of the plates meet. Where the plates are colliding one of the plates usually gets pushed down under the other - this is subduction.

Not surprisingly, the process of subduction can be very violent. The two plates can get stuck together and the result is that the area where subduction is occurring (the subduction zone) gets compressed. Eventually the strain on the fault becomes too much. The plates suddenly slip past each other. The result is a megathrust earthquake.

Subduction zones are mainly found in South East Asia (like the subduction zone that caused the Indian Ocean Tsunami) and around the Pacific Rim. It had long been known that a subduction zone runs along the Pacific north-west coast, from northern California all the way to Vancouver Island in Canada. It's called the Cascadia Subduction Zone, and is linked to the Cascade Range of volcanoes that includes Mt St Helens.

Quiet in Cascadia
No one, however, thought that this area was at significant risk from earthquakes, largely because there was no historical record of large earthquakes there. The first suggestion of a problem came when plans were drawn up to build a number of nuclear power stations near the Washington Coast.

Tom Heaton, a geophysicist and engineer from the California Institute of Technology, was brought in to examine the proposal from a geohazards perspective. Heaton pointed out the possibility that the Cascadia Subduction Zone might be capable of producing a megathrust earthquake.

The lack of historical record might be explained if the last such earthquake had occurred before Europeans arrived in the region during the 18th century. Heaton pointed to the existence of Native American legends that might be describing a megathrust earthquake that had happened before written records began. In the end, the nuclear power station project ran out of money and the reactors were never completed. Heaton's concerns were still just theoretical - there was no scientific evidence that such earthquakes had actually occurred.

When Brian Atwater, a specialist in marshes and estuaries, heard about Heaton's theory he decided to take a look himself. He started investigating in the very areas where the Native Legends had been recorded. He found evidence that some time in the past there had been a sudden change in land level. The coast had dropped down, drowning forests under layers of mud. Other geologists soon found similar evidence all along the Pacific Northwest Coast. The simplest explanation was that there had been a huge megathrust earthquake in the past. This evidence, however, still wasn't enough to convince.

The orphan tsunami
The most intriguing piece of evidence came from Japan. As the Indonesian earthquake has shown, megathrust earthquakes can create tsunamis capable of crossing entire oceans. If there had been a giant earthquake in Cascadia it should have sent a tsunami across to Japan. So Japanese geologist Kenji Satake looked in old Japanese texts for any record of such a tsunami.

What he was looking for was an "orphan tsunami", a wave the comes out of nowhere, with no local earthquake recorded. Satake and his colleagues found several such records from January 1700. The final proof came when scientists in America were able to date the land level change there by looking at the tree rings of drowned red cedar trees. They found that entire forests had been killed in the winter of 1699/1700, matching the Japanese records perfectly.

This evidence enabled scientists to put together a picture of the last Cascadia megathrust earthquake. It occurred around 9pm on 26 January 1700, and would have had a devastating effect on over 600 miles of coast. It's little wonder that the Native people of the region passed on legends of that event that survive to this day.

A deadly warning
Before the 1700 event was discovered, the people of the Pacific north-west would have had little awareness of the threat of earthquakes and even less of tsunamis. Now that is starting to change. Tsunami evacuation signs are being installed along the coast. The region's building codes are now some of the strictest in the world. All new buildings are designed to withstand a powerful earthquake.

However, building to survive a megathrust earthquake is a major challenge. These earthquakes tend to last several minutes - much longer than other quakes - and there is little knowledge about how modern buildings will react to such shaking.

As the events of Boxing Day 2004 showed, the tsunami unleashed by the sudden movement of the sea floor can be even more devastating than the earthquake. Unlike the Indian Ocean, the Pacific has a warning system that should give the other nations of the Pacific Rim many hours of warning.

On the Pacific north-west coast, however, a tsunami from Cascadia will arrive in some places in under half an hour. In such regions the key to saving lives is education. People there have to know that if they feel an earthquake they should move inland and to high ground. This knowledge could save many lives.

The terrible events of 26 December are a warning to the world that we should be better prepared for these huge geological catastrophes. This message has particular significance for the people of the Pacific north-west. One day that region will be hit by a megathrust that will probably be very similar to the Indonesian earthquake. At least, thanks to the work of many scientists, they have been forewarned.

Programme transcript: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/megaquake_trans.shtml

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 4 replies

Supervolcanoes

bobs — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 09:49:55 GMT

Supervolcanoes Cluster in S. America
By Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery News

April 7, 2006 — Geologists have uncovered a whole herd of supervolcanoes hidden in the remote Argentina-Bolivia-Chile highlands. One that's been getting a closer look by Argentine geologists may have matched or exceeded the explosive fury and pyroclastic volume of the Yellowstone eruptions.

It appears that 10- by 24-mile Vilama Caldera coughed up some 500 cubic miles of molten rock in a single gigantic eruption 8.4 million years ago, said geologist Miguel Soler of the National University of Jujuy in San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina.

Like other calderas worldwide, the eruption began when the roof of a shallow chamber of molten rock suddenly collapsed, causing molten rock to burst from the edges. The result is a broad ring of simultaneous eruptions that puts to shame "single vent" volcanoes like Mount St. Helens.

"The volume of the Vilama Ignimbrite and the size of the associated caldera put it in the category of a 'Supervolcano,' said Soler, who describes some of his recent Vilama work at a meeting in Mendoza, Argentina, organized by the Geological Society of America, the Asociación Geológica Argentina and the Sociedad Geolóica de Chile.

The molten rock that erupted to create what's called the Vilama "ignimbrites," probably got its start when the crust of the Andes was first made thicker by the collision of the South American plate with the Nazca Plate in the Pacific Ocean, explained Andean geologist Shan de Silva of the University of North Dakota.

The Nazca Plate was shoved under the South American Plate, and then fell away, rapidly exposing the underside of the crust to the heat of the Earth's mantle. That heat caused rock in the crust to melt and buoy well up to the surface, where it fed a series of supervolcanic caldera eruptions.

"It's probably one of the most intense episodes of volcanism on the planet," said de Silva.

There may have been many others like it, he said, but evidence of them has long been washed away by erosion. Vilama and its siblings, however, are geologically young and in one of Earth's most arid regions.

"We're estimating that over 10 million years over 30,000 cubic kilometers (7,200 cubic miles) of magma erupted," said de Silva of the entire gaggle of supervolcanoes.

Despite the impressive volcanoes, however, Vilama and some of its even bigger sister calderas have been incredibly hard to study, said geologist Michael Ort of Northern Arizona University. There are few paved roads to the area, some long, unreliable dirt tracts and burros are necessary for some travel.

What's more, most of the calderas are more than 13,000 feet above sea level, which makes the work extra demanding, both for man and beast. If that wasn't bad enough, there are some areas in the region still containing landmines from the Pinochet area, de Silva.

"It's probably one of the most remote places to get to," he said.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060403/supervolcano_pla.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 7 replies

Global warming/ Climate research articles 4

bobs — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:38:21 GMT

Changes 'amplify Arctic warming'
By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News

Scientists say they now have unambiguous evidence that the warming in the Arctic is accelerating.

Computer models have long predicted that decreasing sea ice should amplify temperature changes in the northern polar region.

Julienne Stroeve, from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center, told a meeting of the American Geophysical Union that this process was under way.

Arctic ice cover in summer has seen rapid retreat in recent years.

The minimum extents reached in 2007 and 2008 were the smallest recorded in the satellite age.

"The sea ice is entering a new state where the ice cover has become so thin that no matter what happens during the summer in terms of temperature or circulation patterns, you're still going to have very low ice conditions," she told the meeting.

Autumn return

Theory predicts that as ice is lost in the Arctic, more of the ocean's surface will be exposed to solar radiation and will warm up.

When the autumn comes and the Sun goes down on the Arctic, that warmth should be released back into the atmosphere, delaying the fall in air temperatures.

Ultimately, this feedback process should result in Arctic temperatures rising faster than the global mean.

Dr Stroeve and colleagues have now analysed Arctic autumn (September, October, November) air temperatures for the period 2004-2008 and compared them to the long term average (1979 to 2008).

The results, they believe, are evidence of the predicted amplification effect.

"You see this large warming over the Arctic ocean of around 3C in these last four years compared to the long-term mean," explained Dr Stroeve.

"You see some smaller areas where you have temperature warming of maybe 5C; and this warming is directly located over those areas where we've lost all the ice."

Wider changes

If this process continues, it will extend the melting season for Arctic ice, delaying the onset of winter freezing and weakening further the whole system.

These warming effects are not just restricted to the ocean, Dr Stroeve said. Circulation patterns could then move the warmth over land areas, she added.

"The Arctic is really the air conditioner of the Northern Hemisphere, and as you lose that sea ice you change that air conditioner; and the rest of the system has to respond.

"You start affecting the temperature gradient between the Arctic and equator which affects atmospheric patterns and precipitation patterns.

"Exactly how this is going to play out, we really don't know yet. Our research is in its infancy."

The study reported by Dr Stroeve will be published in the journal Cryosphere shortly.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7786910.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 14 replies

Hurricane research:

bobs — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 21:34:19 GMT

Scientists catch a hurricane transforming itself.

Hurricanes can completely re-structure themselves inside, and that presents forecasters with great uncertainty when predicting their effects on the general population.

Recently, scientists used data from NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite to analyze transformations that take place inside a hurricane. Stephen Guimond, a graduate research assistant at Florida State University, Tallahassee, Fla., lead a study that used TRMM data to view the height at which ice melts near the core of several tropical cyclones (the generic name for hurricanes or tropical storms), including Hurricane Ophelia in 2005.

"The temperature structure of a tropical cyclone is directly related to a storm's wind speed and rainfall, which indirectly affects the storm surge," Guimond said. It is important to monitor a storm's thermal structure because this information assists meteorologists in estimating the impact on threatened areas of high winds, flash flooding and large storm surge.

Many tropical cyclones transform into what are called "extra-tropical storms" as they move northward out of the tropics and into the mid-latitudes. During this stage, the storm's cloud structure and high winds spread out over a wide area. As a result, the potential for heavy rainfall and large storm surge increases far from the center, potentially affecting life and property of more areas in the hurricane's path.

When Guimond and his colleagues at the Naval Research Laboratory in Monterey, Calif. looked at the data from TRMM's Precipitation Radar instrument, they could see the temperature changes inside a tropical cyclone. One piece of information that gave researchers a clue that a storm was becoming extra-tropical was that ice particles, which are found high up in the cold regions of thick clouds surrounding the eye of the storm, melted at lower levels. Usually, when a tropical cyclone is still in the "tropical stages," ice particles melt higher in the clouds.

By analyzing when and where ice particles are melting in tropical cyclones, researchers can better understand the various stages of an extra-tropical storm. This knowledge will help scientists re-create storms on computer forecast models, which can assist in the forecasting of future tropical cyclone transformations.

There is another benefit to using the data from NASA's TRMM radar. Guimond said that the thermal or heat data inferred from the satellite reveals information on storm intensity and also gives clues about how a storm formed. This will help hurricane forecasters and researchers gain a better sense of how the tropical cyclone will develop in the future.

These findings were presented at the American Meteorological Society's 86th Annual Meeting in Atlanta.

Source: NASA

http://www.physorg.com/news10352.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 26 replies

Lightning research:

bobs — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 21:10:28 GMT

Ice Lightning
By Randolph E. Schmid
Associated Press
posted: 12 August 2005
07:41 am ET

WASHINGTON (AP) ---- Poet Robert Frost once pondered whether the world would end in fire or in ice. Weather researchers say where you find ice you find fire -- at least in the form of lightning.

Whether the storm was over land, ocean or coastal areas, clouds with more ice produced more lightning, researchers studying satellite radar images report in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

"The new thing is that when you look at different areas of the planet ... the hypothesis about the importance of ice holds up,'' Walter A. Petersen of the University of Alabama at Huntsville said Thursday.

He said weather scientists have known there was a relationship between ice and lightning, but were learning new details by studying the National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellite images which can look at both the number of lightning strikes and the volume of ice in a cloud at the same time.

Crucial is what is called precipitation-sized ice, particles of a millimeter or so which sometimes can be seen falling as small hail. "Where you have more of that, you tend to have more lightning,'' Petersen said.

These particles crash into smaller ice particles in the swirling winds inside storm clouds, resulting in a separation of electrical charge.

The charge separated between smaller and larger particles, with the smaller carrying a positive charge to the top of the thundercloud and the larger ones with the negative charge sinking to the bottom, he explained in a telephone interview.

"You effectively make a big battery with positive and negative ends,'' he said, with the charge building up until it is discharged as lightning.

The relationship between ice volume and lightning held true over such varied locations as the Himalaya Mountains, Central Africa, Madagascar, northern Australia and Florida, the researchers reported.

They found small areas of subtropical South America where lightning flash density seemed slightly less than would have been expected for the measured ice amount. Since they could find no physical reason for this the researchers said it may be a sampling error. They are doing more research on those areas.

The work was funded by the NASA's Earth Observing System and Earth Science Enterprise programs.

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Perseid Meteors

bobs — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 12:34:15 GMT

Sky-watchers await celestial show

The Earth is to make its annual rendezvous with the Perseid meteors this weekend.
The meteor shower will peak on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, producing as many as 100 shooting stars an hour.

The Perseids are tiny particles, ranging in size from a match-head to a dried pea, shed by the comet Swift-Tuttle.

Sky-watchers should look north-east, where the sky will be darkest, to get the best chance of seeing them.

Claire Gilby, from the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, London, said that unlike many astronomical objects, meteors are visible to the naked eye and observers need no special equipment to view them.

"Weather permitting, the sensitivity and wide field of view of the human eye are perfect for watching the Perseids," she said.

"So, to see the Perseids, all you need to do is sit back and watch the night sky."

This year there is a chance that the bright Moon will drown out the glow from the fainter Perseids, as has happened in previous years.

Saint's 'tears'

Meteors are streaks of light in the sky caused by blazing pieces of dust drawn into the Earth's atmosphere from near space.

The Perseids are caused when the Earth passes through debris shed by Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. This comet travels through the inner planets every 130 years, most recently in 1992.

The Perseids are so called because tracing their tails back in the night sky mostly leads to the constellation Perseus.

This contains a point called the Perseus radiant - the perspective point from which the meteors would appear to come if they could be seen approaching from interplanetary space.

The Perseids are sometimes called the Tears of St Lawrence because the Saint's feast day falls on 10 August.

The dust itself consists of particles that are travelling at around 50km (31 miles) per second.

As they enter the Earth's atmosphere, they burn up with a short-lived burst of light, heat and ionisation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4784645.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 3 replies

Freak Waves.

bobs — Tue, 24 Aug 2004 18:50:11 GMT

Freak waves spotted from space ( From BBC news)

Esa tasked two of its Earth-scanning satellites to monitor the oceans with their radar
The shady phenomenon of freak waves as tall as 10 storey buildings has finally been proved, the European Space Agency (Esa) said on Wednesday.
Sailors often whisper of monster waves when ships sink mysteriously but, until now, no one quite believed them.

As part of a project called MaxWave - which was set up to test the rumours - two Esa satellites surveyed the oceans.

During a three week period they detected 10 giant waves, all of which were over 25m (81ft) high.

Strange disappearances

Over the last two decades more than 200 super-carriers - cargo ships over 200m long - have been lost at sea. Eyewitness reports suggest many were sunk by high and violent walls of water that rose up out of calm seas.

But for years these tales of towering beasts were written off as fantasy; and many marine scientists clung to statistical models stating monstrous deviations from the normal sea state occur once every 1,000 years.

The waves exist in higher numbers than anyone expected

Wolfgang Rosenthal, GKSS Research Centre, Germany
"Two large ships sink every week on average," said Wolfgang Rosenthal, of the GKSS Research Centre in Geesthacht, Germany. "But the cause is never studied to the same detail as an air crash. It simply gets put down to 'bad weather'."

To prove the phenomenon or lay the rumours to rest, a consortium of 11 organisations from six EU countries founded MaxWave in December 2000.

As part of the project, Esa tasked two of its Earth-scanning satellites, ERS-1 and ERS-2, to monitor the oceans with their radar.

The radars sent back "imagettes" - pictures of the sea surface in a rectangle measuring 10 by 5km (6 by 2.5 miles), which were taken every 200km (120 miles).

Around 30,000 separate imagettes were produced by the two satellites during a three-week period in 2001 - and the data was mathematically analysed.

Esa says the survey revealed 10 massive waves - some nearly 30m (100 ft) high.

"The waves exist in higher numbers than anyone expected," said Dr Rosenthal.

Wave map

Ironically, while the MaxWave research was going on, two tourist liners endured terrifying ordeals. The Breman and the Caledonian Star cruisers had their bridge windows smashed by 30m waves in the South Atlantic.

Sailors often whisper of monster waves when ships sink mysteriously
The Bremen was left drifting for two hours after the encounter, with no navigation or propulsion.

Now that their existence is no longer in dispute, it is time to gain a better understanding of these rogues.

In the next phase of the research, a project called WaveAtlas will use two years' worth of imagettes to create a worldwide atlas of freak wave events.

The goal is to find out how these strange cataclysmic phenomena may be generated, and which regions of the seas are most at risk.

Dr Rosenthal concluded: "We know some of the reasons for the rogue waves, but we do not know them all."

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 8 replies

Ocean research:

bobs — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 09:15:00 GMT

Wind Patterns Could Mask Effects Of Global Warming In Ocean

by Staff Writers
Liverpool, UK (SPX) Feb 08, 2008
Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that natural variability in the earth's atmosphere could be masking the overall effect of global warming in the North Atlantic Ocean. Scientists have previously found that surface temperatures around the globe have risen over the last 30 years in accord with global warming.
New data, however, shows that heat stored in the North Atlantic Ocean has a more complex pattern than initially expected, suggesting that natural changes in the atmosphere also play a role.

The Liverpool team, in collaboration with the University of Duke in the US, analysed 50 years of North Atlantic temperature records and used computer models to assess how the warming and cooling pattern was controlled. They found that the tropics and mid-latitudes have warmed, while the sub-polar regions have cooled.

Professor Ric Williams, from the University's School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, explains: "We found that changes in the heat stored in the North Atlantic corresponded to changes in natural and cyclical winds above the North Atlantic. This pattern of wind movement is called the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), which is linked to pressure differences in the atmosphere between Iceland and The Azores.

"The computer model we used to analyse our data helped us to predict how wind and heat exchange with the atmosphere affects the North Atlantic Ocean's heat content over time. We found that the warming over the mid latitudes was due to the wind redistributing heat, while the gain in heat in the tropics and loss in heat at high latitudes was due to an exchange of heat with the atmosphere.

Related Links
University of Liverpool
Climate Science News - Modeling, Mitigation Adaptation

"These local changes in heat storage are typically 10 times larger than any global warming trend. We now need to look at why changes are occurring in wind circulation, as this in itself could be linked to global warming effects."

Although natural variability appears to be masking global warming effects in the ocean, scientists still believe that global warming is occurring, as evident through a wide range of independent signals such as rising surface and atmospheric temperatures, reduced Arctic summer sea ice and the reduced extent of many glaciers showing changes in the environment.

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Wind_Patterns_Could_Mask_Effects_Of_Global_Warming_In_Ocean_999.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 24 replies

Lightning

bobs — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 12:36:00 GMT

China lightning kills record 141

Lightning killed almost 150 people last month across China, the highest number since records began in 2000, a state body has said.
According to the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), 141 people died in lightning strikes in July.

China's top meteorological official blamed global warming for the extreme seasonal weather.

More than 700 people have died in floods in central China, while millions of others have been hit by drought.

"Extreme weather has incurred frequent natural disasters such as rainstorms, floods and droughts across the country this year," CMA chief Zheng Guoguang said on Wednesday.

Heatstroke warning

In the latest incidents, about 50 people are feared dead in Shaanxi province in the north-west, following floods triggered by heavy rain, Xinhua news agency reported.

Twenty-three people have been confirmed dead and another 26 are missing, the agency said, citing local government officials.

Almost 40,000 people have been evacuated and power supplies have been cut in some areas.

Elsewhere in China, meteorologists issued their first heatstroke warning of the year.

Forecasters said temperatures in southern China and the western Xinjiang region could hit 40 degrees Celsius.

They urged residents to try to stay out of the sun during the hottest parts of the day.

The warning came as the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters warned that severe drought had left some 7.53 million people short of drinking water.

Hardest hit were the northern provinces of Heilongjiang and Jilin, and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, while the southern provinces of Jiangxi, Hunan and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were also affected.

Millions of hectares of arable land have been affected, the office said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6927184.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 5 replies

Historical Tsunamis

bobs — Mon, 04 Apr 2005 08:59:06 GMT

Tsunami theory of flood disaster

A tsunami in the Bristol Channel could have caused the deaths of up to 2,000 people in one of Britain's greatest natural disasters, experts have said.
For centuries, it has been thought that the great flood of January 1607 was caused by high tides and severe storms.

It is estimated that 200 square miles of land in south Wales and south west England were covered by water.

In Timewatch on BBC2 on Sunday, two experts argue a tsunami could have caused the devastation.

Eyewitness accounts of the disaster, published in six different pamphlets of the time, told of "huge and mighty hills of water" advancing at a speed "faster than a greyhound can run" and only receding 10 days later

Professor Simon Haslett, from Bath Spa University College, said: "There is an overall theme running through the pamphlets of a destructive event, very violent, disastrous, on a scale that is unprecedented."

Australian geologist Ted Bryant, from the University of Wollongong, agreed: "The waves are described as mountainous - that's a description of a tsunami."

During the programme, Mr Haslett and Mr Bryant revealed evidence from all around the Severn Estuary backing up their theory.

This included a layer of sand in mud deposits at Cardiff's Rumney Wharf, in which pebbles and pieces of broken-up shell can be found.

They claimed that these deposits were brought in from the open ocean around 400 years ago, possibly by a tsunami.

And they argued that boulders lying on the shore in Dunraven Bay in south Wales could have been carried into their positions by the force of the onrushing waters.

Professor Simon Haslett, from Bath Spa University College, said: "There is an overall theme running through the pamphlets of a destructive event, very violent, disastrous, on a scale that is unprecedented."

Australian geologist Ted Bryant, from the University of Wollongong, agreed: "The waves are described as mountainous - that's a description of a tsunami."

During the programme, Mr Haslett and Mr Bryant revealed evidence from all around the Severn Estuary backing up their theory.

This included a layer of sand in mud deposits at Cardiff's Rumney Wharf, in which pebbles and pieces of broken-up shell can be found.

They claimed that these deposits were brought in from the open ocean around 400 years ago, possibly by a tsunami.

And they argued that boulders lying on the shore in Dunraven Bay in south Wales could have been carried into their positions by the force of the onrushing waters.

"Whether it is sand on the marsh, or it's pebbles in the clay, or it's erosion on the headland or boulders piled up in key spots, you go for the simplest explanation, and I can put down most of the signatures we have seen by one wave," said Mr Bryant.

However, Dr Devin Horsburgh, from the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory in Liverpool, said some of the phenomena found could have been caused by a massive storm surge, formed by a combination of high tides and hurricane winds.

"A storm surge is going to provide some billions tonnes of water rushing across the flood plain and is more than capable of picking up enormous rocks and large amounts of sediment and depositing them a long way away," he said.

Further evidence supporting the tsunami theory came from Dr Roger Musson, head of seismic hazards at the British Geological Survey, who said there were other examples of earthquakes in the area caused by an ancient fault off south-west Ireland.

One quake, measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale, was recorded there on 8 February 1980.

"The idea of putting a large historical earthquake in this spot is not so fanciful," he said.

"We know from seismological evidence, that we have actually had an earthquake here - so there is a fault and it is moving, it is active."

Other UK tsunamis include a 70ft high wave that hit Scotland 7,000 years ago, following a massive landslip in Norway.

Three months ago, a tsunami triggered by a submarine earthquake near northern Indonesia killed nearly 300,000 people.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4397679.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 9 replies

Earth's magnetic field

bobs — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:05:37 GMT

Watching solar activity muddle Earth's magnetic field

Scientists have found that extreme solar activity drastically compresses the magnetosphere and modifies the composition of ions in near-Earth space. They are now looking to model how these changes affect orbiting satellites, including the GPS system.

The results were obtained from coordinated in-situ measurements performed by ESA’s four Cluster satellites along with the two Chinese/ESA Double Star satellites.

Under normal solar conditions, GPS satellites orbit within the magnetosphere—the protective magnetic bubble carved out by Earth’s magnetic field. But when solar activity increases, the picture changes significantly: compressed and particles become energized, exposing satellites to higher doses of radiation that can perturb signal reception.

Such increased solar activity affects all satellites, not only the GPS system. This is why monitoring and forecasting its impact on near-Earth space is becoming increasingly critical to safeguarding daily life on Earth. One way to do this is by studying the physics of near-Earth space and observing the impact of such activity in time.

During two extreme solar explosions, or solar flares, on 21 January 2005 and 13 December 2006, the Cluster constellation and the two Double Star satellites were favourably positioned to observe the events at a large scale. The satellites carried out coordinated measurements of the response of the magnetosphere to these events.

During both events, the velocity of positively charged particles in the solar wind was found to be higher than 900 km/s, more than twice their normal speed. In addition, the density of charged particles around Earth was recorded as five times higher than normal. The measurements taken in January 2005 also showed a drastic change in ion composition.

These factors together caused the magnetosphere to be compressed. Data show that the ‘nose’ of the dayside magnetopause (the outer boundary of the magnetosphere), usually located about 60 000 km from Earth, was only 25 000 km away.

The second explosion in December 2006 released extremely powerful high-energy X-rays followed by a huge amount of mass from the solar atmosphere (called a coronal mass ejection). During the event, GPS signal reception on ground was lost.

Typical nose-like ion structures in near-Earth space were washed out as energetic particles were injected into the magnetosphere. These nose-like structures, that had formed earlier in the ‘ring current’ in the equatorial region near Earth, were detected simultaneously on opposite sides of Earth. Measurements of the ring current showed that its strength had increased.

About five hours after the coronal mass ejection hit Earth’s magnetosphere, a Double Star satellite observed penetrating solar energetic particles on the night side. These particles are hazardous to astronauts as well as satellites.

“With these detailed observations, we’ll be able to plug in data and better estimate what happens to the inner magnetosphere and near-Earth space during such explosions on the Sun”, said Iannis Dandouras, lead author of the results published recently, and Principal Investigator of the Cluster Ion Spectrometer.

“Looking at such a large-scale physical phenomena with a single satellite is akin to predicting the impact of a tsunami with a single buoy,” added Matt Taylor, ESA’s Project Scientist for Cluster and Double Star. “With Cluster and Double Star we have monitored both sides of Earth simultaneously, and obtained valuable in-situ data.”

More information: These results appear in Dandouras, I.S., Rčme, H., Cao, J. & Escoubet, P. (2009). Magnetosphere response to the 2005 and 2006 extreme solar events as observed by the Cluster and Double Star spacecraft. Advances in Space Research. Vol.43,618-623.

Provided by European Space Agency

http://www.physorg.com/news160223027.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 0 replies

Mega Tsunami

bobs — Tue, 24 Aug 2004 19:07:45 GMT

Mega-tsunami: Wave of Destruction
BBC Two 9.30pm 12 October 2000
Revisited: BBC Four 7pm 24 May 2003

Scattered across the world’s oceans are a handful of rare geological time-bombs. Once unleashed they create an extraordinary phenomenon, a gigantic tidal wave, far bigger than any normal tsunami, able to cross oceans and ravage countries on the other side of the world. Only recently have scientists realised the next episode is likely to begin at the Canary Islands, off North Africa, where a wall of water will one day be created which will race across the entire Atlantic ocean at the speed of a jet airliner to devastate the east coast of the United States. America will have been struck by a mega-tsunami.

Back in 1953 two geologists travelled to a remote bay in Alaska looking for oil. They gradually realised that in the past the bay had been struck by huge waves, and wondered what could have possibly caused them. Five years later, they got their answer. In 1958 there was a landslide, in which a towering cliff collapsed into the bay, creating a wave half a kilometre high, higher than any skyscraper on Earth. The true destructive potential of landslide-generated tsunami, which scientists named "Mega-tsunami", suddenly began to be appreciated. If a modest-sized landslide in Alaska could create a wave of this size, what havoc could a really huge landslide cause?

Scientists now realise that the greatest danger comes from large volcanic islands, which are particularly prone to these massive landslides. Geologists began to look for evidence of past landslides on the sea bed, and what they saw astonished them. The sea floor around Hawaii, for instance, was covered with the remains of millions of years’ worth of ancient landslides, colossal in size.

But huge landslides and the mega-tsunami that they cause are extremely rare - the last one happened 4,000 years ago on the island of Réunion. The growing concern is that the ideal conditions for just such a landslide - and consequent mega-tsunami - now exist on the island of La Palma in the Canaries. In 1949 the southern volcano on the island erupted. During the eruption an enormous crack appeared across one side of the volcano, as the western half slipped a few metres towards the Atlantic before stopping in its tracks. Although the volcano presents no danger while it is quiescent, scientists believe the western flank will give way completely during some future eruption on the summit of the volcano. In other words, any time in the next few thousand years a huge section of southern La Palma, weighing 500 thousand million tonnes, will fall into the Atlantic ocean.

What will happen when the volcano on La Palma collapses? Scientists predict that it will generate a wave that will be almost inconceivably destructive, far bigger than anything ever witnessed in modern times. It will surge across the entire Atlantic in a matter of hours, engulfing the whole US east coast, sweeping away everything in its path up to 20km inland. Boston would be hit first, followed by New York, then all the way down the coast to Miami and the Caribbean.

For more information go to;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/mega_tsunami_transcript.shtml

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 5 replies

Mexican quake?

MickD — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:44:49 GMT

Wasn't there a Mexican quake today?

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 1 reply

Snow Bales!

bobs — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:07:54 GMT

The amazing self-rolling 'snow bales' that show Mother Nature also likes to play
By Julian Gavaghan

To some they are evidence of alien activity and to others proof that Mother Nature has a sense of humour.
But one thing is certain: these snow rollers seen on the prairies of southern Idaho are not man-made.
Firefighter Tim Tevebaugh was lucky enough to spot a field full of them while on his way home from work in the evening.

‘I hadn’t seen them on my morning drive, so they must have formed in the space of a few hours,’ said Mr Tevebaugh, who witnessed the scene eight miles east of Craigmont.
Each frozen hay bale-like formation was up to about 2ft high and not a single footprint could be seen surrounding them.
But despite claims of alien interference, snow rollers are understood by experts to be an extremely rare naturally occurring phenomenon.
They require just the right combination of temperature, humidity, wind speed, terrain and of course, snow.

The formation can only be created on flat or slightly rolling open ground that is covered with a smooth layer of ice or crusty snow.
Then, for the rollers to form, more snow should fall or drift on to the land The air temperature should remain at or slightly above freezing, from 0C to 1C.
Finally, they need a sustained spell of strong, gusty winds, at least 25mph, to form.
A gust of wind then scoops up a chunk of snow and rolls it a bit.
The new, wet snow clings together, while the icy surface below allows the chunk of snow to slide and roll easily.

Repeated gusts will move the new snowball again and again, allowing it to pick up more snow with each roll.
Eventually, it will either become too heavy for the wind to move, or it will encounter an obstacle such as vegetation or a slight rise in the terrain, at which point the snow roller will stop moving, leaving a trail behind it to mark its journey.
Given the precise set of conditions required, it’s easy to see why people rarely spot snow rollers.
In fact, many professional meteorologists have never seen one.
And not only do they form infrequently, they're pretty fragile. If the temperature should fall or rise, they’ll collapse.
Like the Idaho ones pictured at the end of last month, most snow rollers are believed to form on the plains of North America where the weather can change abruptly due to competing masses of cold and dry Arctic air and warmer, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1171573/The-amazing-self-rolling-snow-bales-Mother-Nature-likes-play.html#

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 0 replies

Sonic Superflare may bode disaster in 2012

windwaterclear — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:41:33 GMT

This scientific report culled from a UK newspaper suggests we could be just 3 years off a 'doomsday' scenario caused by the awesome power of our cosmos.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1171951/Meltdown-A-solar-superstorm-send-dark-ages--just-THREE-years.html

with love and blessings
Sunny and Pierre Soleil

Harmonic Emergence - Return to Earth
H.E.R.E.

http://people.tribe.net/windwaterclear H.E.R.E BLOG
http://harmonicemergence.org/ - OUR FOUNDATION SITE
http://www.panoramio.com/user/2861230 A photographic tribute to the hallowed forests we roam
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/justcamping/ SMALL INFORMAL FOREST GATHERINGS and FACILITATED PERSONAL EVOLUTION COURSES More than just camping
http://www.everytrail.com/
http://tribes.tribe.net/harmonicemergence We invite you to the Harmonic Emergence tribe

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 0 replies

Links of interest

Sun, 24 Jul 2005 18:21:50 GMT

I didn't see any of these posted. If I'm reposting something, appologies in advance

David A. Johnston Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver WA -
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov

National Hurricane Center, Coral Gables FL -
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml

Storm Prediction Center (was National Severe Storms Center), Norman, OK
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/

National Weather Service -
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/

Space Environment Center, Boulder CO -
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/

Vents Program(monitors acoustic events using old SOSUS network) -
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/

Aviation Weather (radar, computer predictions), Kansas City, MO-
http://adds.aviationweather.noaa.gov/

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 26 replies

In the news: 12

bobs — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 19:57:55 GMT

Iconic stone arch collapses in southern Utah park

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK, Utah: One of the largest and most photographed stone arches in Arches National Park in the U.S. has collapsed.

Wall Arch fell sometime late Monday or early Tuesday, though no one has reported seeing it collapse, said Paul Henderson, the park's chief of interpretation.

He said the arch, located along the popular Devils Garden Trail, was claimed by forces that will eventually destroy other arches in the park: gravity and erosion.

"They all let go after a while," he said Friday. Nevertheless, it was the first collapse major arch in the park since nearby Landscape Arch fell in 1991.

For years, Wall Arch had been a favorite stopping point for photographers. Like others, it was formed by entrada sandstone being whittled over time into its distinctive formation.

Measuring more than 33 feet (10 meters) tall and 71 feet (22 meters) across, Wall Arch ranked 12th in size among the park's estimated 2,000 arches. It was first reported and named in 1948.

Rock fall from the remaining arms of the arch has forced the closure of a portion of the trail. Henderson said it would reopen when it was deemed safe and debris had been cleared.

Officials from the National Park Service and the Utah Geological Survey visited the site Thursday, noting stress fractures in the remaining formation.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/10/america/NA-US-Utah-Arch-Collapses.php

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 44 replies

Mt Redoubt, Alaska, Looking like eruption is iminent

Will The Dancer — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 01:48:11 GMT

Things are busy at Redoubt Volcano in the Cook Inlet, Alaska.

http://www.avo.alaska.edu/

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 3 replies

TOP 10 VOLCANOES IN GEOLOGIC HISTORY

bobs — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:19:15 GMT

by Michael Reilly

Last year, 72 volcanoes erupted around the world -- that's a lot of fire, and slightly above average. So far 2009 looks like it's off to a fast start, too, with Mount Redoubt letting loose in Alaska, Japan's Mount Asama raining ash on Tokyo and an undersea volcano in Tonga breaching the surface and growing an island. But none of these is likely to break into our list of Top 10 Volcanoes in Geologic History. Most of these come with signs that read "Danger: Keep Back at Least One Continent." But if this list of past catastrophe teaches us anything, it's that the biggest, baddest volcanoes can erupt anywhere and at any time. And they will again -- it's just a matter of when.

10. Ontong-Java Plateau, South Pacific

This is the biggest volcano you've never heard of.

When it erupted 125 million years ago, it covered a region of the south Pacific Ocean the size of Alaska with basalt, in some places as much as 30 kilometers thick. It was so big, the eruption itself is thought to have lasted 6 million years.

Scientists call this type of volcano a large igneous province (LIP). They are highly mysterious, and appear to form when huge amounts of hot magma well up from thousands of miles deep in the mantle, near Earth's core.

There's a lot of debate as to whether LIPs erupt in huge explosions, or just ooze out in massive sheets of lava. Either way, mass extinctions have a tendency to occur whenever one of these things go off, so it's probably a good thing we've never seen one in action.

Credit: Larry O'Hanlon

9. Mount St. Helens, Washington, USA

May 18, 1980 was a bad day in Washington State.

Silent for over 100 years, the picturesque 9,677-foot peak had by late April grown into a bloated, trembling blister of rock and magma. And like a blister, it popped early on a Sunday morning, rocketing fiery ash out to the north at close to the speed of sound.

The eruption killed 57 people and did almost $3 billion in damage when all was said and done. It also lopped 1,314 off the height of the mountain, which was reduced to a smoldering crater.

This was the most deadly volcanic eruption in Unites States history - and it was just a pipsqueak, really.

Credit: USGS

8. Grimsvotn, Iceland

Nothing says "explosion" quite like mixing of searing hot magma with ice from a glacier.

It's a common circumstance at Grimsvotn, a volcano buried underneath the Vatnajokull glacier in Eastern Iceland that last erupted in 2004.

Each time Grimsvotn erupts, huge amounts of liquid build up under the glacier until the pressure becomes so great that the water literally lifts up the glacier and escapes in catastrophic floods, called "jokulhlaups."

You don't want to be around for a jokulhlaup.

The flood that came after the 1996 Grimsvotn eruption discharged 50,000 cubic meters of water per second, making it briefly the second largest river in the world. But that kind of thing doesn't faze Icelanders – these are the same folks who once sprayed sea water on a lava flow to keep it from engulfing a nearby harbor town.

Credit: USGS

7. Mauna Kea, Hawaii, USA

Given the violent company it's in, Mauna Kea is pretty chill.

Dormant for the last 4,500 years, it was never much of an exploder even in its heyday. That's because the lava that comes out of volcanoes in Hawaii is a low-viscosity basalt – it tends to ooze and flow like a river.

Shown here with snowy peaks in the foreground, the mountain has erupted a lot of lava over the eons. It is only 13,796 feet above sea level, but from its base at the bottom of the Pacific, it measures 33,476 feet high, making it the tallest mountain in the world. Its upper reaches used to have enough snow for skiing (and further back, glaciers).

Credit: NASA

6. Krakatau, Indonesia

In 1883, humanity witnessed what scientists call a "caldera-forming eruption" in Indonesia. In plain English, we call that a mountain blowing itself apart.

At 200 megatons of explosive power, the eruption was four times more powerful than the biggest nuclear bomb ever detonated.

Since the volcano and island were one in the same, there wasn't much left after the explosion rocked the Sunda Strait and sent 100-foot high tsunamis and scalding ash flows ashore up to 25 miles away. In the ruined void the volcano left behind, a new island has been growing back (through a series of much smaller eruptions) and is now around 1,000 feet high.

Credit: NASA

5. Ra Patera, Io, Jupiter's Moon

Thanks to space exploration, the list of greatest volcanoes can no longer be restricted to Earth. In 1979 the Voyager space probe made a shocking discovery -- Jupiter's moon Io was pock-marked with active volcanoes.

Voyager's snapshot of Ra Patera was the first discovery of an active extraterrestrial volcano, though the bigger vents Loki and Pele were discovered soon after.

But it didn't make sense.

Io is about same the size as Earth's moon, which long ago froze in the vacuum of space. So why was it still active? As scientists soon learned, Jupiter's intense gravity was tugging on Io's innards, creating such heat that the moon was literally disemboweling itself, spewing sulfur-rich lavas all over the surface of the moon, and out into space.

Credit: NASA

4. Santorini, Greece

Look at the small group of five islands known as Santorini, and it's clear something bad once happened there. In fact, the islands all were one, until an eruption bigger than Krakatau blew the place apart about 3,600 years ago. Ash deposits 100 feet thick have been found 19 miles in all directions from the caldera.

Shown here is a wall of the volcano where you can see layers of ash, lava flows, pyroclastic deposits and other volcanic products.

The ancient eruption is thought to have spawned the tales of the "Lost City of Atlantis" and perhaps even hastened the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the nearby island of Crete.

Credit: NOAA/Dimitris Sakellariou, Hellenic Center for Marine Research

3. Olympus Mons, Mars

The biggest volcano in the solar system is also the quietest.

It's the size of Arizona, and close to 90,000 feet high, but this gentle giant hasn't erupted in millions of years. When it did it was probably a lot like Mauna Kea, leaking rivers of liquid rock rather than exploding into the Martian skies.

Credit: NASA

2. Tambora, Indonesia

Between dozens of volcanoes, the biggest earthquakes in the world, and devastating tsunamis, Indonesia's got a lot of geology to worry about. And Mount Tambora, a huge volcano on the island of Sumbawa, is no exception.

The mountain produced a gargantuan eruption in 1815 that produced an ash cloud so big, it canceled the summer of 1816 in North America and Europe.

The eruption also killed between 70,000 and 90,000 people, making it the deadliest in human history.

And the number ONE volcano in geologic history is... (you saw this one coming)...

Credit: NASA

1. Siberian Traps, Siberia

A LIP just like Ontong-Java, the Siberian Traps supervolcano has one distinct difference: it is by far the deadliest volcano the planet has ever seen.

The traps erupted at the end of the Permian era, 250 million years ago. It was the worst mass extinction the planet has ever seen; 90 percent of all life on Earth was wiped out.

The massive traps basalts appear to be the smoking gun. They seeped into huge coal deposits on their way to the surface and their enormous heat baked the coal, sending billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The global warming that followed was catastrophic - it took millions of years for life on Earth to recover.

Credit: NASA

Article posted February 27, 2009.

http://dsc.discovery.com/earth/slideshows/top-10-volcanoes/index.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 1 reply

Geomagnetism

ionamiller — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:05:04 GMT

http://ionamiller2009.iwarp.com/whats_new_32.html

GEOMAGNETISM
Iona Miller 2009 Arete Testimonials Project Archive Blog Paranoia Party Covers Covers 2 Ascension Meme Alchemical Essays Review Dune Meme 09 Intelligence Reform Science-Art Hope Is Dope Art Manifesto 06 Digital Cymatics Chronovision Presto Manifesto Multiverse Para-Noids Sedona Vortex Parapsychology As Above, So Below Dark Biology Shaman-Therapist Paranoia #50 Photo 2 Geomagnetism & You Alchemy Laboratory & Oratory Weird Oregon Oregon Vortex Ancient Metrology Anima Mundi 09
Iona Miller's EARTH WORKS SERIES: GEOMAGNETISM -- Is the Earth Driving You Crazy? It's far more likely you will flip out than the Earth but we need to reaclimate our thinking.

Also see, Nexus Magazine, Vol. 12, No. 2 Feb/Mar ’05, Int’l; Mar/Apr ‘05 North America. “SIREN SONG OF THE EARTH: Investigating Vortex Theory & EM Signals with Ben Lonetree,” Ben Lonetree and Iona Miller, May 2004 ionamiller2009.iwarp.com/whats...8.html

Earth's geomagnetic field makes the compass work and protects the biosphere from cosmic radiation. The field has existed at least three billion years, although it fluctuates in strength and at times reverses polarity. When the field strength drops too low, life on Earth is imperiled by radiation. Substantial changes in the field happen as quickly as within only a thousand years at times, although stable periods of hundreds of thousands of years also occur. Temperature patterns within the lower mantle influence both the stability and intensity of the field. Complete geomagnetic reversals on average occur every 200 thousand years-- but the last one was 780,000 years ago. Massive changes in or on the Earth, including extinction events, follow a 26.6 million to 30 million year cycle over the last 250 million years. The solar system crosses the relatively dense galactic plane every 30 million years.

Electromagnetic fields are a fundamental aspect of reality. For humans, fluctuating geomagnetic effects lead to increased liminality and anomalous experiences. Field effects include hallucination and temporal lobe microseizures. As Earth’s field continues to weaken in certain areas, we can expect more reports of dramatic psychophysical phenomena emerging at an increasing rate.

Pioneering biophysics work has shown that DNA and living tissues interact with electric and magnetic fields in unexpected and dramatic ways. Sedlak discusses how a living organism is not only an information detector and generator, but is also a transformer of electromagnetic energy. Biological systems generate their own magnetic mediums through a process he calls "dia-par", or diamagnetic to paramagnetic transition. Sedlak proposes that the science of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) can be used to model living bioplasma. A wide spectrum of genetic mechanisms now appear to be under the influence of surrounding electromagnetic fields. (Roffey) Is there a correlation between the effects of electromagnetic fields and those of paranormal experience, mental intent on genetic regulation and living tissues?

Under certain conditions humans affect local geomagnetic fields. Field codes are context dependent. Local geomagnetic field fluctuations are seen to dramatically change as a function of directed mental protocols. These same fields are also changed and uniquely altered when measured in close coupling to the human body. It appears that mental protocols that send out thoughts and energy, even from distant points around the world, directly affect the local geomagnetic fields in accordance with intentions. Mankind is closely tied to Earth's geomagnetic fields, as quantum entanglement vehicles of information transfer, fields that underlie extraordinary forms of communication such as telepathy. (Chouinard). We might even find evidence that dark matter is charged (Pitkanen).

(1) We are complex electrodynamic, rather than merely chemical beings, sensitive to natural and artificial EM fields; (2) SR frequencies coincide with human brain waves, affecting subtle and gross brain-wave generation, regulating homoeostasis, healing and psi; (3) there is strong correlation between human behavioral disturbance and geomagnetic field turbulence or isolation from Schumann Wave frequencies. (Miller)

Keywords: geomagnetics, bioplasma, EMFs, coherence, resonance, liquid crystals, interference grids, photon polarization, psycho-physiological remodeling, nonlocal communication, temporal lobe transients

IS EARTH DRIVING US CRAZY? FLIPPING OUT OVER GEOMAGNETISM
Geomagnetic Field Effects,
Paranormal Potential & the Biophysics of Anomalous Experiences

By Iona Miller, March 2009

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 0 replies

Maybe only interesting to me

Will The Dancer — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 03:04:19 GMT

http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/latestfault.htm

I follow the patterns that I see, and try to figure out what they mean. I think that it is significant that there is a matching line of EQ's about 50 or 75 miles north of the Garlock fault zone in this map today. You will have to look soon after this post to see it because the quakes drop off of the map after they are a week old.

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 0 replies

Parkfield California

Will The Dancer — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:01:37 GMT

I see three small earthquakes in the locked section of the San Andreas fault today. I have not seen that until now, and have been watching for several years. May bear watching.

http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/FaultMaps/Parkfield.htm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 0 replies

Anyone feel anything (4)?

bobs — Sat, 27 May 2006 15:50:17 GMT

== PRELIMINARY EARTHQUAKE REPORT ==

California Integrated Seismic Network
http://www.cisn.org
USGS/Caltech/CGS/UCB/UCSD/UNR

Version 1: This report supersedes any earlier reports about this event.

This is a computer-generated message and has not yet been reviewed by a
seismologist.

PRINCIPAL EARTHQUAKE PARAMETERS
_______________________________

Magnitude : 4.2 Ml (A light quake)
Event Date & Time : 5/27/2006 03:21:34 AM PDT
5/27/2006 10:21:34 UTC
Coordinates : 32.2392 N, 115.2087 W
: (32 deg. 14.35 min. N, 115 deg. 12.52 min. W)
Depth : 9.9 miles ( 15.8 km)
Location Quality : Fair
34 mi. ( 54 km) SSE of Calexico, CA
43 mi. ( 69 km) SSE of El Centro, CA
43 mi. ( 70 km) SW of PLT (quarry)

More Information about this event and other earthquakes is available at
http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/latestfault.htm

ADDITIONAL EARTHQUAKE PARAMETERS
________________________________
rms misfit : 0.28 seconds
horizontal location error : 3.4 km
vertical location error : 21.9 km
maximum azimuthal gap : 279 degrees
distance to nearest station : 67.0 km
event ID : 10185301

SOURCE OF INFORMATION/CONTACTS
________________________________

CISN Southern California Management Center

Caltech Seismological Laboratory
U.S. Geological Survey

http://www.cisn.org/scmc.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 9 replies

Heatwave

bobs — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 12:04:23 GMT

Australia counts heatwave deaths
By Nick Bryant
BBC News, Sydney

The Australian authorities fear about 20 people have died as a result of one of the worst heatwaves in 100 years to hit the south-east of the country.

Most of them were elderly people who had been struggling in the heat.

The heatwave has also caused power outages in Melbourne, Australia's second biggest city.

Extreme temperatures of more than 40C (104F) have hit the south-eastern states of Victoria and South Australia in the past three days.

If the high temperatures continue into Sunday, it will equal the worst heatwave that south-eastern Australia has witnessed in 100 years.

Already, it has caused disruption, destruction and death.

In Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, health officials reported more than 20 sudden deaths, most of them elderly people overcome by the baking temperatures of over 40C who had suffered strokes and heart attacks.

Raging wildfires have ripped through the Gippsland region of neighbouring Victoria, and at least 10 homes have been destroyed near the rural town of Boolarra.

In Melbourne, the state capital, the heatwave has meant disruption to transportation services and power outages.

Trains have been cancelled because the rail lines have buckled in the heat.

An explosion at an electrical substation left over 300,000 homes without power.

Some traffic lights in the city have stopped working, so too the signals in parts of the rail network.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7862260.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 0 replies

Global warming/ Climate research articles 3

bobs — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:18:23 GMT

Without its insulating ice cap, Arctic surface waters warm to as much as 5 C above average

Record-breaking amounts of ice-free water have deprived the Arctic of more of its natural "sunscreen" than ever in recent summers. The effect is so pronounced that sea surface temperatures rose to 5 C above average in one place this year, a high never before observed, says the oceanographer who has compiled the first-ever look at average sea surface temperatures for the region.

Such superwarming of surface waters can affect how thick ice grows back in the winter, as well as its ability to withstand melting the next summer, according to Michael Steele, an oceanographer with the University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory. Indeed, since September, the end of summer in the Arctic, winter freeze-up in some areas is two months later than usual.

The extra ocean warming also might be contributing to some changes on land, such as previously unseen plant growth in the coastal Arctic tundra, if heat coming off the ocean during freeze-up is making its way over land, says Steele, who is speaking Wednesday at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.

He is lead author of "Arctic Ocean surface warming trends over the past 100 years," accepted for publication in AGU's Geophysical Research Letters. Co-authors are physicist Wendy Ermold and research scientist Jinlun Zhang, both of the UW Applied Physics Laboratory. The work is funded by the National Science Foundation.

"Warming is particularly pronounced since 1995, and especially since 2000," the authors write. The spot where waters were 5 C above average was in the region just north of the Chakchi Sea. The historical average temperature there is -1 C – remember that the salt in ocean water keeps it liquid at temperatures that would cause fresh water to freeze. This year water in that area warmed to 4 C, for a 5-degree change from the average.

That general area, the part of the ocean north of Alaska and Eastern Siberia that includes the Bering Strait and Chukchi Sea, experienced the greatest summer warming. Temperatures for that region were generally 3.5 C warmer than historical averages and 1.5 C warmer than the historical maximum.

Such widespread warming in those areas and elsewhere in the Arctic is probably the result of having increasing amounts of open water in the summer that readily absorb the sun's rays, Steele says. Hard, white ice, on the other hand, can work as a kind of sunscreen for the waters below, reflecting rather than absorbing sunlight. The warming also may be partly caused by increasing amounts of warmer water coming from the Pacific Ocean, something scientists have noted in recent years.

The Arctic was primed for more open water since the early 1990s as the sea-ice cover has thinned, due to a warming atmosphere and more frequent strong winds sweeping ice out of the Arctic Ocean via Fram Strait into the Atlantic Ocean where the ice melts. The wind effect was particularly strong in the summer of 2007.

Now the situation could be self-perpetuating, Steele says. For example, he calculates that having more heat in surface waters in recent years means 23 to 30 inches less ice will grow in the winter than formed in 1965. Since sea ice typically grows about 80 inches in a winter, that is a significant fraction of ice that's going missing, he says.

Then too, higher sea surface temperatures can delay the start of freeze-up because the extra heat must be discharged from the upper ocean before ice can form. "The effect on net winter growth would probably be negligible for a delay of several weeks, but could be substantial for delays of several months," the authors write.

Source: University of Washington

http://www.physorg.com/news116693281.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 42 replies

Big rock flying by

Will The Dancer — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:21:25 GMT

Courtesy of spaceweather.com

NASA's Goldstone Radar in the Mojave Desert is trained on asteroid 1998 CS1. The 1.3 km-wide space rock is flying past Earth today only 2.5 million miles away. Radar images should reveal much about the asteroid including its shape, spin, and precise location. This information will help astronomers better forecast future encounters with the asteroid, which is considered potentially hazardous.

http://www.spaceweather.com/

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 0 replies

Tsunami research;

bobs — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 09:43:37 GMT

The Math Of Deadly Waves

by Staff Writers
Hamilton, Canada (SPX) Feb 21, 2006
When Walter Craig saw the images of the devastating 2004 Boxing Day Indian Ocean tsunami he felt compelled to act. So he grabbed a pencil and envelope and started calculating. A little more than a year later, the mathematical analyst says that mathematics has a role to play in washing away misconceptions and myths about these deadly waves – and potentially saving lives.
"Predicting earthquakes is a grand challenge problem that's presently beyond us. But predicting a tsunami's potential based on these earthquakes is a doable problem and I think mathematicians can play an important role in this," says Dr. Craig, the Canada Research Chair for Mathematical Analysis and its Applications, at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada.

"Mathematics is particularly well suited to defining the possibilities and limitations for a tsunami early warning system," says Dr. Craig. It's a conviction that's prompted him to co-organize the symposium on Tsunamis: Their Hydrodynamics and Impact on People at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in St. Louis, on Sunday, February, 19.

Dr. Craig studies the mathematical theory of wave equations that are derived from physics. In collaboration with colleagues he has applied these theories to scientific problems large and small, from the quantum mechanical oscillations of electrons to the cosmic waves that rippled through the newborn universe. But rarely, he says, does the mathematics of wave propagation meet a subject so full of immediate human importance as with understanding rogue waves.

Mathematics, he says, has a key role to play in dispelling mistaken assumptions about these waves. One such popular belief is that a tsunami's first wave surge is always the biggest.

"It's not necessarily the biggest crest in front," he cautions. "For example, in Sri Lanka the biggest crest was the third or fourth." In one case, he says, a vacationing British geologist at one Sri Lankan resort noted the initial modest, non-destructive surge and warned staff and tourists to clear the beach before the arrival of the larger, deadly surges.

Dr. Craig says that mathematical modelling of the Indian Ocean tsunami showed it to be close to what he calls a "classical wave packet" – the wave behaved in a manner very close to that predicted by mathematical theory. It followed the pattern of a group of waves travelling together as well as evolving in form as they crossed the ocean basin.

Because of differences in depth, the evolution of a tsunami is different in different ocean basins. For example, the Boxing Day tsunami travelled twice as fast in the deeper Indian Ocean than in the Andaman Basin. Tsunami waves are distinguished from ordinary wind-generated ocean waves by their great length between peaks, often exceeding 200 kilometres in the deep ocean, and by the long amount of time between these peaks, ranging from 15 minutes to an hour.

It's the length and width of tsunamis, rather than their at-sea height that reveals their massive power. The Indian Ocean tsunami had a crest length of about 1,200 kilometres. The surges that inundated the Sri Lankan coast were parts of waves that were a stunning 100 kilometres from crest to trough, but in mid-ocean were less than one metre in amplitude.

"It's amazing to think about this. Even if the wave is only a metre high at mid-sea, this is a huge amount of water and it gives a sense of how much energy it's carrying," says Dr. Craig.

Another widely held belief about tsunamis that gets washed away with mathematical modelling is that the surge is always preceded by the tide going abnormally far out.

"This only happens about half the time," explains Dr. Craig. "It depends on the wavelength and whether it's the trough or crest of the wave that reaches shore first. In half the cases it's the surge that arrives first."

Dr. Craig acknowledges that for the most part geologists and tsunami experts have a strong practical understanding of how these giant waves behave. But, he says, given the paucity of real-world data on tsunamis, there are still many outstanding questions.

"To a first order of approximation the current modelling of a tsunami's evolution in mid ocean is very good," says Dr. Craig. "Nonetheless, there is much less known about the generation of tsunami waves, and about the amplification effects as they impact on coastal areas. These are not easy mathematical problems. Experimentally they're not seen very often, so it's still a question as to whether we're using the right equations to study them."

He's presently begun work with McMaster University mathematics colleagues Drs. Bartosz Protas and Nicholas Kevlahan to apply mathematical tools from meteorological forecasting to understand the generation of large tsunamis from major earthquakes. For example, some earthquakes generate large waves, while others of the same magnitude produce little or no wave response. Their approach will use hindcasting techniques – looking back over previous patterns to understand how we arrived at present conditions – to develop predictive computational models for tsunami sources.

While better advanced warning systems can help in many cases, Dr. Craig says his immersion in tsunami science has shown him that a tsunami's speed and power sometimes can defy an early warning system. With a wave traveling at 700 kilometres an hour, his advice is, "If you feel an earthquake, go to higher ground."

Related Links
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
McMaster University

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/The_Math_Of_Deadly_Waves.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 13 replies

Quake swarm in progress at Yellowstone

Will The Dancer — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 16:15:06 GMT

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Maps/US2/44.46.-111.-109_eqs.php

A substantial earthquake swarm is in progress at Yellowstone National Park, under Yellowstone Lake.

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 5 replies

The latest from NASA's Earth Observatory : 7

bobs — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:35:18 GMT

The latest from NASA's Earth Observatory (18 March 2008)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the News:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/

* Latest Images:
Rabaul Volcano, New Britain
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17969

Spitsbergen, Svalbard
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17968

La Nina Greenup Patterns
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17967

Lake Fucine, Italy
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17966

Serra da Cangalha Crater, Brazil
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17965

Chorabari Glacier, India
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17964

Lunar Eclipse from Orbit
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17963

Smoke Over the Amazon in 2005 and 2006
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17962

* NASA News
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NasaNews/
- Researchers Say Arctic Sea Ice Still at Risk Despite Cold Winter
- NASA Satellite Measures Pollution From East Asia to North America
- Scientists Solve 50-Year-Old Mystery of Oceans' Seismic 'Buzz'
- Spring is Aurora Season
- Improving Weather Forecasts, One Storm – and One Partner – at a Time
- Greenland's Rising Air Temperatures Drive Ice Loss at Surface and Beyond
- NASA Co-Sponsors Ocean Voyage to Probe Climate-Relevant Gases
- Greenland's Rising Air Temperatures Drive Ice Loss at Surface and Beyond
- Greenland's Rising Air Temperatures Drive Ice Loss at Surface and Beyond
- 2007 Hurricane Season Starts Early, Ends Late
- Ocean-Observing Satellites Help Break Current Records
- CALIPSO Takes Its One-Billionth Measurement
- NASA Scientist Leads International Expedition to Antarctica In Search of Extreme Organisms

* Media Alerts
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/MediaAlerts/
- Increased Carbon Dioxide in Atmosphere Linked to Decreased Soil Organic Matter|
- Stratospheric Ozone Chemistry Plays an Important Role for Atmospheric Airflow Patterns
- 'Breath' of the Ocean Links Fish Feeding, Reefs, Climate
- New Method to Estimate Sea Ice Thickness
- Rock Studies Help Crack Questions of Glacier Thinning in West Antarctica

* Headlines from the press, radio, and television:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/Headlines/
- Earthquake Activity is Frozen by Ice Sheets
- Global Warming Hits Tropical Glaciers in the Andes
- 2007 Floods 'No Link to Climate'
- Global Warming Not Always to Blame for Extreme Winters
- Map Sheds Light on Hothouse World
- It Took Eons to Make Grand Canyon Grand
- Outlook for Oceans Bleak as Sea 'Deserts' Grow
- Only Zero Emissions Can Prevent a Warmer Planet
- Climate Secrets of Marine Snail
- Gas Releases Helped End Ice Ages
- Heavy Rain Can Trigger Earthquakes
- Backyard Gardeners Keep Tabs on Warming
- Antarctic Glaciers Surge to Ocean
- Study Debunks Global Cooling Concern of '70s
- Avalanche Forecast Worsens with Warming
- Scientists Read Antarctic Mud for Climate Change Insight
- Support for a Theory as to Why Land Sinks Along the Gulf Coast
- How Satellites Saved the World
- Corals May Get Help Adapting to Warmer Waters
- Book Takes Wide-Angle View of a Changing Planet
- Warming Risks Antarctic Sea Life
- Research Shows Southern Ocean Wind Currents Weakening
- Study into Intense Rain Patterns
- Map Shows Toll on World's Oceans
- Sea's Thermostat Protects Reefs
- Lava and Water Battled at Grand Canyon
- King Penguin Could be Wiped Out by Warming
- Ancient Global Warming Gave Bugs the Munchies
- 'Ocean Thermostat' can Save Coral
- Experts Challenge Ice Shelf Claim
- Nevada Supervolcano's Flesh Exposed
- The Race to Chase Sahara's Sand

* New Research Highlights
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/Research/

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 22 replies

Volcano research 3

bobs — Tue, 01 May 2007 19:54:20 GMT

Why Supercontinents Self-Destruct
Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery News

May 1, 2007 — Earth's mega-volcanic eruptions may be the direct result of mega continents getting in the way.

A new computer simulation that looks at how heat moves out from the center of our planet confirms the idea that the supercontinent Pangea could have acted like a thermal dam to that heat flow.

When the dam burst, Pangea experienced a gigantic, continent-melting flood of basalt lava that not only busted the place up, but likely vented enormous amounts of carbon into the atmosphere and caused rapid global warming — all at the time of the dinosaurs' demise.

"(Pangea) was sort of a blanket that prevented cooling," said Ben Phillips, a geophysical modeler at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. "It was insulating almost a hemisphere." Phillips coauthored a paper on the new simulation in the May issue of the journal Geology.

What's more, when there are many land masses, there is more cooling in the mantle because there's more crust being pushed into the mantle, explained Phillips. It's a lot like dropping ice cubes in hot tea. But when there's just one big continent, he said, there's less cooling in the mantle.

The big question, of course, is whether the big continental blanket and fewer ice cubes could build up enough heat to melt a lot of rock and split up Pangea. The computer simulation indicates it could.

If it's correct, then supercontinents are their own worst enemies — literally creating the conditions which lead to their own demise.

On the other hand, the biggest breach in Pangea — today’s Atlantic Ocean — may hold clues to another continent-wrecker. The Atlantic has quite a few volcanic hot spots that indicate that there are plumes of extra heat rising from deeper in the Earth, says geochemist Kent Condie of New Mexico State University in Socorro.

These hot spots — like the Azores, Bermuda and Iceland — might be the leftovers of a much larger plume and upwelling that was the cause of the continental break-up.

This plume and upwelling idea is the way geologists have previously explained the massive flood basalt eruptions that wrenched the continent apart and might have led to global warming that killed the dinosaurs.

"(Phillips and his colleagues) have suggested that you don't need to have a mantle plume to have flood basalt," said Condie. What seems more likely, he said, is that there was a combination of things going on — including plumes.

More evidence that plumes are at work is the fact that parts of Pangea are still in the process of breaking up, said Condie. Places like the east African Rift or the ever-widening Red Sea are examples of the continuing break up of Pangea.

Either way, figuring out what ended Pangea is important because its story could help explain other massive events. A billion years ago there was another supercontinent, Rodinia, which didn't last either, said Phillips.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/05/01/supercontinent_pla.html?category=earth&guid=20070501094500

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 30 replies

Avalanche Research

bobs — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:23:03 GMT

Avalanches - Triggered From The Valley

by Staff Writers
Frieburg, Germany (SPX) Dec 05, 2008
When slab avalanches thunder into the valley, winter sports fans are in danger. Researchers have now gained amazing insights into the formation of these avalanches - especially regarding how they are remotely triggered by skiers in more gently inclined areas.
Everybody knows that skiers swishing down steep slopes can cause extensive slab avalanches. But there is a less well known phenomenon: A person skiing a gentle slope in the valley triggers a slab avalanche on a steeper slope, sometimes several hundred meters further uphill. This scenario doesn't seem to make sense - yet it claims human lives year after year.

But what exactly happens when an avalanche is remotely triggered? "In a slab avalanche, the upper layer of snow slides down into the valley. For that to be able to happen, it first has to become detached from the layer beneath it," says Prof. Dr. Peter Gumbsch, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM in Freiburg.

The view commonly held until now assumes that the layers of snow are separated by shear cracks - the upper layer shifts within a limited area. If the two layers of snow were two hands placed palm to palm, a shear crack would be equivalent to rubbing one hand against the other.

The layers of snow can only shift if the slope is steep enough. Shear cracks may be a satisfactory explanation for the breakaway of snow slabs in steep terrain. But how can they be triggered from a distance?

Gumbsch and his colleagues Michael Zaiser and Joachim Heierli at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, have developed a physical model that explains this phenomenon.

"The boundary layer that connects the upper and lower layers of snow is made of ice crystals with fairly large interstices," explains Heierli. The pressure exerted by a skier can cause the ice crystals to break, separate from one another and slip into the interstices - the layer collapses.

The layer on top of it subsides. This mass collapse, which can be described as an anti-crack, releases energy that has not previously been taken into account. This energy enables the crack to propagate. To return to our previous analogy, the anti-crack would be like pressing the two hands together.

Experiments carried out by Canadian researchers at the University of Calgary confirm the theory: Whether the slope is gentle or steep, it is equally difficult to trigger the collapse. Once it has started, it propagates as an anti-crack.

It can move up or down the mountain and grow to a length of several hundred meters within a few seconds: The layers of snow lose their cohesion. Only the forces of friction can then prevent the snow from slipping. If these are insufficient, the upper layer slides off and a slab avalanche begins.

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Avalanches_Triggered_From_The_Valley_999.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 0 replies

Oh wow!

bobs — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:54:31 GMT

Meteor lights up Canada's skies

Footage of a large meteor streaking across western Canada has been broadcast on Canadian television.

The video filmed from a local police car on patrol, showed a small light turning into a massive and blindingly bright fireball as it fell from the sky and appeared to hit the Earth in the distance.

Scientists are now searching for its remains.

Film footage at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7744207.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 2 replies

Freak Weather Stories

bobs — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:28:42 GMT

'Freak' hail causes flood chaos

Severe flooding, which left a Devon town virtually cut off, was caused by a "freak" overnight hailstorm, the Met Office has said.

Devon and Somerset Fire Service described the situation after 1ft (0.3m) of hail fell in the Ottery St Mary area as "absolute chaos".

A woman in labour was one of the dozens of people rescued from flooded homes and cars, said police.

They warned motorists that road conditions were "treacherous".

Rail services have also been affected.

Cars in the town were left tightly packed in ice after about 1ft (0.3m) of hail fell in just two hours between 0100 and 0300 GMT.

The storm has been described as a "freak event" by the Met Office, which said the weather which hit the town was "hugely localised".

"It seemed to be centred on Ottery St Mary," a spokesman said.

Rhianne Thorneywood, whose house had flooded in minutes, told BBC News: "I've never seen lightning like it, and rain.

"We didn't realise it was hail and snow until I looked out and saw what I thought was foam floating on the water, but it was ice."

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said 25 people were rescued from flooded homes in Ottery St Mary and Feniton.

They were taken to the hospital in Ottery St Mary, which is being used as a shelter for people who have nowhere else to go.

Susanne Reed, from the fire control centre, said it was the worst flooding she had seen in 25 years.

"It has been absolute chaos, it started just after midnight when we were out rescuing people stuck in their cars in flood water.

"It got worse and worse and one crew got stuck in a 6ft (1.8m) [hail] drift," she said.

Juliet Hall, who was pregnant, was in labour and on her way to hospital when she was rescued by police and coastguards from the flooded A30 near Ottery St Mary.

She was taken to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital by ambulance and gave birth earlier to her son, Nathan.

The hospital said both mother and child are doing well.

The Environment Agency said two vehicles fell into Ottery St Mary's Firs Brook, one getting wedged on top of the other, which may have exacerbated the flooding.

Car owner Martin Ashfield said: "I woke up this morning and the car was missing. It had obviously floated away.

"The Environment Agency called me and told me where it was."

Elizabeth Devay, who was staying with five members of her family in a caravan near Ottery St Mary, said: "We heard a lot of rain and huge hailstones hitting the caravan roof.

"When we opened the door there were floods outside the caravan knee deep with the hail floating on top. By the time we got out of the door it was up to our waist."

John and Joan Burrows, who farm nearby, lost about 30 sheep. Joan said: "Others are sheltering on the old railway line and we're hoping they don't try and jump in the water."

The town had been preparing for a carnival this weekend, ahead of its annual Tar Barrel Rolling festival on 5 November.

Devon and Cornwall Police warned motorists that roads in the area were "treacherous" and a number of routes have been closed because of flooding or ice.

Rail services in Devon have also been disrupted.

In Boscastle in Cornwall six premises were flooded overnight because of a blocked storm drain.

The Environment Agency has flood warnings in place on the Rivers Otter, Axe, Clyst, Coly, Culm, Isle and Yarty in Devon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7700167.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 1 reply

6.4 earthquake kills many in Pakistan

bobs — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:57:02 GMT

At least 160 people have been killed after an earthquake of 6.4 magnitude hit Balochistan province in south-western Pakistan, officials say.

Officials in Balochistan say they expect the toll to rise.

The tremor struck 70km (45 miles) north of Quetta at 0409 (2309GMT Tuesday) at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles), the US Geological Survey said.

Many houses collapsed during the quake and some were destroyed in landslides that followed it, officials said.

See a map of the affected area
Reports say teams of army and paramilitary Frontier Corps troops are in the area, helping to rescue the injured and retrieve bodies.

Senior army official Major General Salim Nawaz said the area remained accessible for convoys carrying relief material.

However, the mountainous region is thinly populated and local infrastructure is poor, making it difficult to get a clear picture of the casualties.

Provincial Revenue Minister Zamrak Khan told Reuters news agency that many affected areas had still not yet been reached.

And a local television correspondent reported that some people in villages outside Quetta were angry that no rescue teams had arrived on the scene.

Mud homes

There were two tremors, striking at about 0409 and then 0510. Officials say there have also been at least three aftershocks.

Many stunned survivors spent the rest of the night in the open, with little more than the clothes in which they had been sleeping.

The worst-hit area appeared to be Ziarat, about 50km north of Quetta, where hundreds of mostly mud and timber houses had been destroyed in five villages, mayor Dilawar Kakar said.

Some homes were buried in a landslide triggered by the quake, he said.

"Our rescuers are still working but we've recovered 160 bodies from various villages in Ziarat," he said.

"There is great destruction. Not a single house is intact," he added.

He said hundreds more people had been injured and some 15,000 made homeless.

"I would like to appeal to the whole world for help. We need food, we need medicine. People need warm clothes, blankets because it is cold here," he said.

Another senior official in Ziarat, Sohail-ur-Rehman, said that the authorities were also scrambling to bury the dead.

"Graves are being dug with excavators as we can't keep dead bodies in the open," he told the Reuters news agency.

In the village of Sohi, a reporter for AP Television News saw the bodies of 17 people killed in one collapsed house and 12 from another.

Distraught residents were digging a mass grave in which to bury them.

"We can't dig separate graves for each of them, as the number of deaths is high and still people are searching in the rubble," village elder Shamsullah Khan said.

In the nearby town of Kawas, dozens of dead and injured were brought to a hospital in Kawas in Ziarat district.

A doctor there, Mohammed Irfan, told the Associated Press news agency that the hospital was unable to cope with the number of injured.

Nearby Pishin district was also hit, and at least five people died there.

"We were fast asleep when the tremor struck. We grabbed the children and ran outside. The earth continued shaking for more than a minute," said resident Habibullah.

The quake was also felt in Quetta itself.

"There were two tremors, the second one was serious and people rushed out of their houses," said resident Amjad Hussain.

Quetta suffered almost complete destruction in an earthquake in 1935, with the death of about 30,000 people.

More than 73,000 people were killed in an earthquake in north-west Pakistan in October 2005 and almost an equal number were seriously injured.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7696639.stm

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Earthquake research: 3

bobs — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:02:23 GMT

Supercomputer Unleashes Virtual 9.0 Megaquake In Pacific Northwest

By Paul Tooby
La Jolla CA (SPX) Feb 27, 2008
On January 26, 1700, at about 9 p.m. local time, the Juan de Fuca plate beneath the ocean in the Pacific Northwest suddenly moved, slipping some 60 feet eastward beneath the North American plate in a monster quake of approximately magnitude 9, setting in motion large tsunamis that struck the coast of North America and traveled to the shores of Japan.
Since then, the earth beneath the region - which includes the cities of Vancouver, Seattle and Portland -- has been relatively quiet. But scientists believe that earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 8, so-called "megathrust events," occur along this fault on average every 400 to 500 years.

To help prepare for the next megathrust earthquake, a team of researchers led by seismologist Kim Olsen of San Diego State University (SDSU) used a supercomputer-powered "virtual earthquake" program to calculate for the first time realistic three-dimensional simulations that describe the possible impacts of megathrust quakes on the Pacific Northwest region. Also participating in the study were researchers from the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego and the U.S. Geological Survey.

What the scientists learned from this simulation is not reassuring, as reported in the Journal of Seismology, particularly for residents of downtown Seattle.

With a rupture scenario beginning in the north and propagating toward the south along the 600-mile long Cascadia Subduction Zone, the ground moved about 1 ½ feet per second in Seattle; nearly 6 inches per second in Tacoma, Olympia and Vancouver; and 3 inches in Portland, Oregon. Additional simulations, especially of earthquakes that begin in the southern part of the rupture zone, suggest that the ground motion under some conditions can be up to twice as large.

"We also found that these high ground velocities were accompanied by significant low-frequency shaking, like what you feel in a roller coaster, that lasted as long as five minutes - and that's a long time," said Olsen.

The long-duration shaking, combined with high ground velocities, raises the possibility that such an earthquake could inflict major damage on metropolitan areas -- especially on high-rise buildings in downtown Seattle. Compounding the risks, like Los Angeles to the south, Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia sit on top of sediment-filled geological basins that are prone to greatly amplifying the waves generated by major earthquakes.

"One thing these studies will hopefully do is to raise awareness of the possibility of megathrust earthquakes happening at any given time in the Pacific Northwest," said Olsen.

"Because these events will tend to occur several hundred kilometers from major cities, the study also implies that the region could benefit from an early warning system that can allow time for protective actions before the brunt of the shaking starts." Depending on how far the earthquake is from a city, early warning systems could give from a few seconds to a few tens of seconds to implement measures, such as automatically stopping trains and elevators.

Added Olsen, "The information from these simulations can also play a role in research into the hazards posed by large tsunamis, which can originate from such megathrust earthquakes like the ones generated in the 2004 Sumatra-Andeman earthquake in Indonesia." One of the largest earthquakes ever recorded, the magnitude 9.2 Sumatra-Andeman event was felt as far away as Bangladesh, India, and Malaysia, and triggered devastating tsunamis that killed more than 200,000 people.

In addition to increasing scientific understanding of these massive earthquakes, the results of the simulations can also be used to guide emergency planners, to improve building codes, and help engineers design safer structures -- potentially saving lives and property in this region of some 9 million people.

Even with the large supercomputing and data resources at SDSC, creating "virtual earthquakes" is a daunting task. The computations to prepare initial conditions were carried out on SDSC's DataStar supercomputer, and then the resulting information was transferred for the main simulations to the center's Blue Gene Data supercomputer via SDSC's advanced virtual file system or GPFS-WAN, which makes data seamlessly available on different - sometimes distant - supercomputers.

Coordinating the simulations required a complex choreography of moving information into and out of the supercomputer as Olsen's sophisticated "Anelastic Wave Model" simulation code was running. Completing just one of several simulations, running on 2,000 supercomputer processors, required some 80,000 processor hours - equal to running one program continuously on your PC for more than 9 years!

"To solve the new challenges that arise when researchers need to run their codes at the largest scales, and data sets grow to great size, we worked closely with the earthquake scientists through several years of code optimization and modifications," said SDSC computational scientist Yifeng Cui, who contributed numerous refinements to allow the computer model to "scale up" to capture a magnitude 9 earthquake over such a vast area.

In order to run the simulations, the scientists must recreate in their model the components that encompass all the important aspects of the earthquake. One component is an accurate representation of the earth's subsurface layering, and how its structure will bend, reflect, and change the size and direction of the traveling earthquake waves.

Co-author William Stephenson of the USGS worked with Olsen and Andreas Geisselmeyer, from Ulm University in Germany, to create the first unified "velocity model" of the layering for this entire region, extending from British Columbia to Northern California.

Another component is a model of the earthquake source from the slipping of the Juan de Fuca plate underneath the North American plate. Making use of the extensive measurements of the massive 2004 Sumatra-Andeman earthquake in Indonesia, the scientists developed a model of the earthquake source for similar megathrust earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest.

The sheer physical size of the region in the study was also challenging. The scientists included in their virtual model an immense slab of the earth more than 650 miles long by 340 miles by 30 miles deep -- more than 7 million cubic miles -- and used a computer mesh spacing of 250 meters to divide the volume into some 2 billion cubes. This mesh size allows the simulations to model frequencies up to 0.5 Hertz, which especially affect tall buildings.

"One of the strengths of an earthquake simulation model is that it lets us run scenarios of different earthquakes to explore how they may affect ground motion," said Olsen. Because the accumulated stresses or "slip deficit" can be released in either one large event or several smaller events, the scientists ran scenarios for earthquakes of different sizes.

"We found that the magnitude 9 scenarios generate peak ground velocities five to 10 times larger than those from the smaller magnitude 8.5 quakes."

The researchers are planning to conduct additional simulations to explore the range of impacts that depend on where the earthquake starts, the direction of travel of the rupture along the fault, and other factors that can vary.

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Southern California Earthquake Center, and computing time on an NSF supercomputer at SDSC.

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Supercomputer_Unleashes_Virtual_9_0_Megaquake_In_Pacific_Northwest_999.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 31 replies

Halloween Sky Show

rob — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:31:48 GMT

Use the link below to see NASA's sky map.(the picture from the 2007 event is posted in pictures)

Oct. 28, 2008: Stop! Take your finger off that doorbell. Something spooky is happening behind your back. Turn around, tip back your mask, and behold the sunset.
It's a Halloween sky show.
On Oct. 31st, the crescent Moon will sneak up on Venus for a close encounter of startling beauty. The gathering is best seen just after sunset when the twilight is pumpkin-orange and Halloween doorbells are chiming in earnest. Venus hovers just above the southwestern horizon, the brightest light in the sky, while the exquisitely slender Moon approaches just a few degrees below

One night later, you can give the sequel your undivided attention. On Nov. 1st, Venus and the Moon emerge from the twilight side-by-side, Venus on the right, the Moon on the left: sky map. Look carefully at the Moon. Can you see a ghostly image of the full Moon inside the bright horns of the crescent? That’s called "Earthshine" or sometimes "the da Vinci glow" because Leonardo da Vinci was the first person to explain it: Sunlight hits Earth and ricochets to the Moon, casting a sheen of light across the dark lunar terrain. A crescent Moon with Earthshine is one of the loveliest sights in the heavens.
The show continues on Nov. 2nd with Venus, the still-slender crescent Moon, and Jupiter arrayed in a broad line across the southwestern skyThis linear arrangement attracts attention almost as much as the luminosity of its points: Venus, the Moon and Jupiter are the brightest objects in the heavens, visible from light-polluted cities even before the twilight sky fades to black.

Trace your finger upward along the line—that is where the Moon is going. Nightfall on Nov. 3rd reveals the Moon transported to Jupiter: sky map. The two form a pair so tight and eye-catching, it may take your breath away.

As hard as it may be to believe, these nights of dark beauty are just a hint of things to come. The real show begins one month after Halloween when Venus, the Moon, and Jupiter converge on a tiny patch of sky no bigger than the end of your thumb held at arm's length: sky map. Dec. 1st is the best night to look, even better than Halloween.

Now that's scary.

http://science.nasa.gov

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Tornado research

bobs — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:40:33 GMT

Cool Weather Twisters Strike in the Dark
Michael Reilly, Discovery News

Oct. 28, 2008 -- Though commonly thought of as a product of hot spring afternoons on the plains of North America, tornadoes have a deadly habit of wintering over in the Southeastern United States.

Last year, 471 tornado outbreaks were reported in the region, setting a record over the past 50 years. According to new research, the uptick is indicative of a trend of increasing tornado outbreaks that dates back at least 50 years.

Pound for pound the cool season is also more dangerous -- over the past 20 years in Georgia, more than 50 percent of tornado-related deaths and damage have come between November and February, according to a database maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/10/28/tornado-night-cool.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 1 reply

Mud volcano

bobs — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:12:59 GMT

Mud volcano in Java may continue to erupt for months and possibly years

The first scientific report into the causes and impact of Lusi, the Indonesian mud volcano, reveals that the 2006 eruption will continue to erupt and spew out between 7,000 and 150,000 cubic metres of mud a day for months, if not years to come, leaving at least 10 km2 around the volcano vent uninhabitable for years and over 11,000 people permanently displaced.

The paper by a Durham University-led team and published in the February issue of GSA Today, reveals that the eruption was almost certainly manmade and caused by the drilling of a nearby exploratory borehole looking for gas, reinforcing the possible explanation in a UN report from July last year.

The mud volcano, known locally as ‘Lusi’, has been erupting for 2394 days and has continued to spew between 7,000 and 150,000 cubic metres of mud out every day, destroying infrastructure, razing four villages and 25 factories. Thirteen people have also died as a result of a rupture in a natural gas pipeline that lay underneath one of the holding dams built to retain the mud. It first erupted on 29 May 2006 in the Porong subdistrict of Sidoarjo in Eastern Java, close to Indonesia’s second city of Surabaya.

The team of mud volcano and pressure experts, who analysed satellite images of the area for their study, propose that a local region around the central volcano vent will collapse to form a crater. In addition an area of at least the dimensions of the flow (10km2) will probably sag over the next few months and years.

Seepage of mud and water are common on earth but usually a preventable hazard when exploring for oil and gas.

Mud volcano expert, Professor Richard Davies of Durham University’s Centre for Research into Earth Energy Systems (CeREES) comments: "It is standard industry procedure that this kind of drilling requires the use of steel casing to support the borehole, to protect against the pressure of fluids such as water, oil or gas. In the case of Lusi a pressured limestone rock containing water (a water aquifer) was drilled while the lower part of the borehole was exposed and not protected by casing. As a result rocks fractured and a mix of mud and water worked its way to the surface. Our research brings us to the conclusion that the incident was most probably the result of drilling."

"Lusi is similar to a 'blow-out' (eruption of water at the surface) that happened offshore of Brunei in 1979. Just as is most probably the case with Lusi, the Brunei event was caused by drilling and it took an international oil company almost 30 years and 20 relief wells and monitoring before the eruption stopped."

Prof. Davies continued: "Up to now scientists have known relatively little about mud volcanoes and Lusi has provided the first opportunity for experts to study one from birth onwards. Our work offers a clearer understanding of how they are created and what happens when they erupt. We hope that the new insights will prove useful to the oil and gas industry, which frequently encounters pressurised fluid in rock strata that could, if not controlled, force their way to the surface during exploration drilling. Ultimately we hope that what we learn about this incident can help insure it is less likely to happen again."

The team from Durham, Cardiff and Aberdeen Universities and GeoPressure Technology Ltd, an Ikon Science company, has essentially discounted the effect of an earthquake which occurred in the region two days prior to the mud volcano as the cause of the eruption. This is based on the time-lapse between the earthquake and the eruption, the fact that there were no other mud volcanoes in the region following the earthquake and through comparison with other geological examples.

Source: Geological Society of America

http://www.physorg.com/news88841643.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 4 replies

Climate research:

bobs — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 17:50:39 GMT

Ocean current links northern and southern hemisphere during Ice Age

Even if climate records from Greenland and Antarctic ice cores show different patterns climate of Arctic and Antartica are connected directly. Recent investigations on an Antarctic ice core now published in nature indicate a general connection between both hemispheres by a 'bipolar seesaw.'

Even short and weak temperature changes in the south are connected to fast changes in temperature in the north by change of currents in the Atlantic ocean. Antarctica warmed several times in the period 20,000 to 55,000 years before present whilst the North was cold and export of warm water from the southern ocean was reduced. In contrast, the Antarctic started to cool every time more warm water started to flow into the North Atlantic during warm events in the north.

This result suggests a general link between long-term climate changes in both hemispheres via this 'bipolar seesaw' as a result of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation changes.

In the current issue of Nature, a joint effort of scientists from 10 European nations working together in the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) established a precise link between climate records from Greenland and Antarctica using data on global changes in methane concentrations derived from trapped air bubbles in the ice. The ice core analyses were performed on the new EDML ice core, which due to its higher snow accumulation rate allows for reconstruction of higher resolution atmospheric and climate records than previous ice cores from the East Antarctic plateau; a prerequisite for precise synchronisation with the Greenland counterpart.

Based on the new synchronized time scale the scientists were able to compare high-resolution temperature proxy records from the EPICA ice core in Dronning Maud Land and the North Greenland Ice core Project (NGRIP). Based on the new synchronized time scale the scientists were able to directly compare high-resolution temperature proxy records from Antarctica and Greenland.This showed that the Bipolar Seesaw occurred throughout and most probably beyond the last glacial period.

"It is really astounding" says paleoclimatologist and corresponding author of the study Dr. Hubertus Fischer from the Alfred-Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Bremerhaven, “how systematic this process worked also for smaller temperature changes in the Antarctic. Our data shows that the degree of warming in the South is linearly related to the duration of cold periods in the North Atlantic."

The study now published in Nature synchronises the work of EPICA scientists from 10 European countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

"This study is a good example for scientist from different disciplines of ice core research collaborating internationally. Ocean modeller, isotope specialists and glaciologists are bringing together their expertise," says Prof. Dr Heinz Miller, scientific leader of EPICA.

Source: Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research

http://www.physorg.com/news82217874.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 58 replies

In the news 11

bobs — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:22:26 GMT

China dust storm hits East Asia

A huge cloud of choking dust is passing over South Korea as the first sand storm of the year blows in from China.
South Korea has ordered schools to close and drivers in south-west Japan have been warned about low visibility from the dust clouds.

Every spring brings "yellow dust" storms which blow sand from China's Gobi Desert over the Koreas and Japan.

The dust storms have become more deadly each year as they pass over China's industrial zones picking up toxins.

South Korea blames dozens of deaths every year on the storms, mostly of elderly people and those with respiratory problems.

South Korean authorities advised parents to keep younger children at home to avoid the dust.

"We have advised the closure because kindergarten, primary school students have weaker immune systems," Min Eyu-gi, an education official in the southern city of Busan, told Reuters news agency.

Seasonal winds lasting from late February to April or May combine with dry winter weather to pick up millions of tonnes of sand from China's northern deserts.

The storms turn the sky a yellow colour and coat everything in a layer of fine dust.

Watch: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_7270000/newsid_7274700?redirect=7274739.stm&news=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1&nbram=1&asb=1

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7274718.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 44 replies

How Round is the Sun ?

rob — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:10:13 GMT

Oct. 2, 2008: Scientists using NASA's RHESSI spacecraft have measured the roundness of the sun with unprecedented precision, and they find that it is not a perfect sphere. During years of high solar activity the sun develops a thin "cantaloupe skin" that significantly increases its apparent oblateness. Their results appear the Oct. 2nd edition of Science Express.

"The sun is the biggest and smoothest natural object in the solar system, perfect at the 0.001% level because of its extremely strong gravity," says study co-author Hugh Hudson of UC Berkeley. "Measuring its exact shape is no easy task."

The team did it by analyzing data from the Reuven Ramaty High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, RHESSI for short, an x-ray/gamma-ray space telescope launched in 2002 on a mission to study solar flares. Although RHESSI was never intended to measure the roundness of the sun, it has turned out ideal for the purpose. RHESSI observes the solar disk through a narrow slit and spins at 15 rpm. The spacecraft's rapid rotation and high data sampling rate (necessary to catch fast solar flares) make it possible for investigators to trace the shape of the sun with systematic errors much less than any previous study. Their technique is particularly sensitive to small differences in polar vs. equatorial diameter or "oblateness."

"We have found that the surface of the sun has rough structure: bright ridges arranged in a network pattern, as on the surface of a cantaloupe but much more subtle," describes Hudson. During active phases of the solar cycle, these ridges emerge around the sun's equator, brightening and fattening the "stellar waist." At the time of RHESSI's measurements in 2004, ridges increased the sun's apparent equatorial radius by an angle of 10.77 +- 0.44 milli-arcseconds, or about the same as the width of a human hair viewed one mile away.

"That may sound like a very small angle, but it is in fact significant," says Alexei Pevtsov, RHESSI Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters. Tiny departures from perfect roundness can, for example, affect the sun's gravitational pull on Mercury and skew tests of Einstein's theory of relativity that depend on careful measurements of the inner planet's orbit. Small bulges are also telltale signs of hidden motions inside the sun. For instance, if the sun had a rapidly rotating core left over from early stages of star formation, and if that core were tilted with respect to its outer layers, the result would be surface bulging. "RHESSI's precision measurements place severe constraints on any such models."

The "cantaloupe ridges" are magnetic in nature. They outline giant, bubbling convection cells on the surface of the sun called "supergranules." Supergranules are like bubbles in a pot of boiling water amplified to the scale of a star; on the sun they measure some 30,000 km across (twice as wide as Earth) and are made of seething hot magnetized plasma. Magnetic fields at the center of these bubbles are swept out to the edge where they form ridges of magnetism. The ridges are most prominent during years around Solar Max when the sun's inner dynamo "revs up" to produce the strongest magnetic fields. Solar physicists have known about supergranules and the magnetic network they produce for many years, but only now has RHESSI revealed their unexpected connection to the sun's oblateness.

Right: In this diagram, the sun's oblateness has been magnified 10,000 times for easy visibility. The blue curve traces the sun's shape averaged over a three month period. The black asterisked curve traces a shorter 10-day average. The wiggles in the 10-day curve are real, caused by strong magnetic ridges in the vicinity of sunspots. [larger image]

"When we subtract the effect of the magnetic network, we get a 'true' measure of the sun's shape resulting from gravitational forces and motions alone," says Hudson. "The corrected oblateness of the non-magnetic sun is 8.01 +- 0.14 milli-arcseconds, near the value expected from simple rotation."

"These results have far ranging implications for solar physics and theories of gravity," comments solar physicist David Hathaway of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. "They indicate that the core of the sun cannot be rotating much more rapidly than the surface, and that the sun's oblateness is too small to change the orbit of Mercury outside the bounds of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity."

Further analysis of RHESSI oblateness data could also help researchers detect a long-sought type of seismic wave echoing through the interior of the sun: gravitational oscillations or "g-modes." The ability to monitor g-modes would open a new frontier in solar physics—the study of the sun's internal core.

"All of this," marvels Hathaway, "comes from clever use of data from a satellite designed for something entirely different. Congratulations to the RHESSI team!"

The paper reporting these results, "A large excess in apparent solar oblateness due to surface magnetism," was authored by Martin Fivian, Hugh Hudson, Robert Lin and Jabran Zahid, and appears in the Oct. 2nd issue of Science Express
http://science.nasa.gov

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Noctilucent clouds:

bobs — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 06:45:29 GMT

An Explanation For Night-Shining Clouds At The Edge Of Space

by Staff Writers
Pasadena CA (SPX) Sep 29, 2008
An explanation for a strange property of noctilucent clouds--thin, wispy clouds hovering at the edge of space at 85 km altitude--has been proposed by an experimental plasma physicist at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), possibly laying to rest a decades-long mystery.
Noctilucent clouds, also known as night-shining clouds, were first described in 1885, two years after the massive eruption of Krakatoa, a volcanic island in Indonesia, sent up a plume of ash and debris up to 80 km into Earth's atmosphere. The eruption affected global climate and weather for years and may have produced the first noctilucent clouds.

The effects of Krakatoa eventually faded, but the unusual electric blue clouds remain, nestled into a thin layer of Earth's mesosphere, the upper atmosphere region where pressure is 10,000 times less than at sea level. The clouds, which are visible during the deep twilight, are most often observed during the summer months at latitudes from 50 to 70 degrees north and south--although in recent years they have been seen as far south as Utah and Colorado.

Noctilucent clouds are a summertime phenomenon because, curiously, the atmosphere at 85 km altitude is coldest in summer, promoting the formation of the ice grains that make up the clouds.

"The incidence of noctilucent clouds seems to be increasing, perhaps because of global warming," says Paul M. Bellan, a professor of applied physics at Caltech.

Twenty-five years ago, researchers at Poker Flat, Alaska, discovered that the clouds were highly reflective to radar. This unusual property has long puzzled scientists. Bellan, reporting in the August issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, now has an explanation: the ice grains in noctilucent clouds are coated with a thin film of metal, made of sodium and iron. The metal film causes radar waves to reflect off ripples in the cloud in a manner analogous to how X-rays reflect from a crystal lattice.

Sodium and iron atoms collect in the upper atmosphere after being blasted off incoming micrometeors. These metal atoms settle into a thin layer of vapor that sits just above the altitude at which noctilucent clouds occur. Astronomers recently have been using the sodium layer to create laser-illuminated artificial guide stars for adaptive optics telescopes that remove the distorting affects of atmospheric turbulence to produce clearer celestial images.

Measurements of the density of sodium and iron atomic vapor layers show that the metal vapor is depleted by over 80 percent when noctilucent clouds are present. "Noctilucent clouds have been shown to act very much like a flycatcher for sodium and iron atoms," Bellan says.

Indeed, in laboratory experiments, other researchers have found that at the frigid temperatures (-123 degrees Celsius) within noctilucent clouds, atoms in sodium vapor quickly become deposited on the surface of ice to form a metallic film.

"If you have metal-coated ice grains in noctilucent clouds, the radar reflectivity can become enormous" he says. "This reflectivity is not the sum of reflections from individual ice grains, which would not produce a very large reflection. Instead, what happens is that ripples in the cloud of metal-coated ice grains reflect in unison and reinforce each other, somewhat like an army marching in step across a bridge causes the bridge to vibrate."

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/An_Explanation_For_Night_Shining_Clouds_At_The_Edge_Of_Space_999.html

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Want to help?

bobs — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:05:35 GMT

Scientists seek volunteers to monitor for quakes
By ALICIA CHANG , AP Science Writer, Space & Earth science / Earth Sciences

Earthquake scientists want to borrow your laptop or maybe a little space in your basement or garage. Researchers don't have enough high-tech monitoring stations to track every instance of ground shaking, so they are enlisting help from ordinary people to document quakes and pinpoint areas of possible damage.

Almost anyone can participate by equipping laptop computers with special software or installing quake sensors at home.

"If they can provide scientific data that can prepare us for events in the future, then that's extremely important," said Tom Jordan of the Southern California Earthquake Center at the University of Southern California.

The epicenter of the movement is in California, the most quake-prone state in the continental United States. Each year, some 10,000 temblors rattle Southern California alone, though most are too small to be felt.

The Quake-Catcher Network was launched earlier this year to tap into the computing power of some 300 participants worldwide, including 50 volunteers in California.

The network relies on a sensor called an accelerometer that is built into many newer laptops to detect sudden motion. If the computer is dropped, for instance, the sensor can alert the hard drive, shielding it from potential damage and preventing data from being lost.

Volunteers download software that links their computers to others in the network and sends information about shaking to scientists through the Internet.

Since any movement - passing trucks, neighbors moving furniture or a pet jumping on the desk - can trigger a laptop's internal sensor, scientists scan incoming data only when the U.S. Geological Survey determines that an actual quake has occurred, based on readings from its field stations.

"If there's a bunch of laptops that trigger in one location, there's probably an earthquake," said seismologist Elizabeth Cochran of the University of California, Riverside, who is a leader of the project.

In the past, people could only report ground shaking in their neighborhood by logging onto the USGS Web site and filling out a questionnaire.

The computer network, run by Stanford University and UC Riverside, supplements data from about 800 permanent monitoring stations in California that beam readings to the USGS, the chief federal agency in charge of monitoring for quakes.

Emergency personnel use the data to locate potentially hard-hit areas. The more sensors that can record shaking, the more accurate the picture about possible damage.

The volunteer system is similar to the one already used by the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence project at the University of California, Berkeley. Started in 1999, the SETI system harnesses shared PC power to analyze radio-telescope data for sounds of alien intelligence. It now boasts more than 1 million volunteers.

The Quake-Catcher system was put to the test in July during a magnitude-5.4 quake that was centered in the hills east of Los Angeles. The temblor rattled a large swath of Southern California, but caused little damage. Fewer than a half-dozen laptops with the software sensed the quake, and only three sent back clean signals seven seconds after the fault ruptured.

While scientists were pleased that some laptops detected motion, they acknowledged the system needed work.

Seismology graduate student Julian Lozos of UC Riverside was among those whose laptop sent back good data. Since installing the program last winter, he has kept it running except when he sleeps and has not noticed any slowing of his computer's performance.

The project was initially limited to Apple computer users but was expanded this summer to include Lenovo Thinkpads. Scientists are also developing software compatible with other PCs.

Scientists who are not involved in Quake-Catcher said it could be helpful to detect low rumblings, but might run into problems involving larger events.

"When the ground really gets going, a recording instrument needs to stay well-connected to the ground to record the motion, but a laptop will be jumping all over the place," USGS seismologist Susan Hough said in an e-mail.

The USGS is embarking on its own volunteer program by tapping homeowners willing to donate space in their basement or garage for a portable seismometer. As part of its NetQuakes project, the agency plans to begin deploying the devices as early as this year in the San Francisco Bay area on a test basis. Public participation could start next year.

The USGS and its partners operate a network of permanent stations, but it is limited by cost and other factors. For example, a seismic station on the southern San Andreas Fault, which has not ruptured in more than three centuries, cost about $70,000 to install and another $3,000 a year to maintain, the agency said.

To participate, residents must have a wireless Internet connection to allow the device to communicate with the USGS network.

Like Quake-Catcher, the USGS will only scan volunteer data from NetQuakes after an actual quake.

"Someone stomping on the instrument isn't going to cause us to analyze the data," said project leader David Oppenheimer, a USGS scientist.

---

On the Net:

U.S. Geological Survey: http://www.usgs.gov

Quake-Catcher Network: http://qcn.stanford.edu

http://www.physorg.com/news141578393.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 2 replies

Global warming/ Climate change articles 3

bobs — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 11:38:13 GMT

February was sunniest on record

The UK has had the sunniest February on record, the Met Office has revealed.
Sunshine totals up to 27 February reveal the UK-wide figure for the month was 106.1 hours - the previous record was 94.4 hours in 1970.

BBC forecaster Alex Deakin said "particularly long-lived" high pressure for much of the month had brought with it clear skies.

But, he said, the sunny spells were set to end, with windy weather likely to start in March.

Temperature high

The amount of sunshine hours in both England and Wales were the highest since records began in 1929.

However, Scotland failed to beat its 1963 record of 92.6 hours, and Northern Ireland its record of 101.2 hours in 2004.

In addition, average temperatures across the UK are also on course to exceed the long-term average.

The provisional UK mean temperature for the meteorological winter - 1 December to 27 February - is 4.8C, which is 1.1C above the long-term average.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7270165.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 36 replies

Climate research : 2

bobs — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:54:26 GMT

Ice core studies confirm accuracy of climate models

An analysis has been completed of the global carbon cycle and climate for a 70,000 year period in the most recent Ice Age, showing a remarkable correlation between carbon dioxide levels and surprisingly abrupt changes in climate.

The findings, to be published this week in the online edition of the journal Science, shed further light on the fluctuations in greenhouse gases and climate in Earth's past, and appear to confirm the validity of the types of computer models that are used to project a warmer climate in the future, researchers said.

"We've identified a consistent and coherent pattern of carbon dioxide fluctuations from the past and are able to observe the correlation of this to temperature in the northern and southern hemispheres," said Ed Brook, an associate professor of geosciences at Oregon State University. "This is a global, interconnected system of ocean and atmosphere, and data like these help us better understand how it works."

The analysis was made by studying the levels of carbon dioxide and other trace gases trapped as bubbles in ancient ice cores from Antarctica.

In the last Ice Age, as during most of Earth's history, levels of carbon dioxide and climate change are intimately linked. Carbon dioxide tends to rise when climate warms, and the higher levels of carbon dioxide magnify the warming, Brook said. These natural cycles provide a "fingerprint" of how the carbon cycle responds to climate change.

In contrast to the relatively low levels of carbon dioxide in the Ice Age, the burning of fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution has led to levels of greenhouse gases that by comparison are off the charts. The level of atmospheric carbon dioxide today is about 385 parts per million, or more than double that of some of the lower levels during the Ice Age. These changes have taken place at a speed and magnitude that has not occurred in hundreds of thousands of years, if not longer. Past studies of ice cores have suggested that Earth's temperature can sometimes change amazingly fast, warming as much as 15 degrees in some regions within a couple of decades.

The question everyone wants to know is what all this will mean in terms of future climate change.

"Before humans were affecting the Earth, what we are finding is regular warm and cold cycles, which both began and ended fairly abruptly," Brook said. "This study supports the theory that a key driver in all this is ocean currents and circulation patterns, which create different patterns of warm and cold climates depending on the strength of various parts of the global ocean circulation system."

This issue is of more than academic interest – one of the primary circulation patterns is referred to scientifically as "meridional overturning circulation." When that current is moving large amounts of warm water from the equator to the north, it helps to warm the high latitude parts of the Northern Hemisphere, and particularly the North Atlantic region. When the system stops or dramatically slows, as it has repeatedly in the past, Greenland and Europe get much colder while the Antarctic regions become warmer, Brook said.

"In every historic sequence we observed, the abrupt warming of Greenland occurred about when carbon dioxide was at maximum levels," Brook said. "And that was during an Ice Age, and at levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide that are far lower than those we have today."

Source: Oregon State University

http://www.physorg.com/news140359867.html

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Yellowstone 2

bobs — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:46:55 GMT

Yellowstone's ancient supervolcano: Only lukewarm?

The geysers of Yellowstone National Park owe their eistence to the "Yellowstone hotspot"--a region of molten rock buried deep beneath Yellowstone, geologists have found. But how hot is this "hotspot," and what's causing it?

In an effort to find out, Derek Schutt of Colorado State University and Ken Dueker of the University of Wyoming took the hotspot's temperature.

The scientists published results of their research, funded by the National Science Foundation's division of earth sciences, in the August, 2008, issue of the journal Geology.

"Yellowstone is located atop of one of the few large volcanic hotspots on Earth," said Schutt. "But though the hot material is a volcanic plume, it's cooler than others of its kind, such as one in Hawaii."

When a supervolcano last erupted at this spot more than 600,000 years ago, its plume covered half of today's United States with volcanic ash. Details of the cause of the Yellowstone supervolcano's periodic eruptions through history are still unknown.

Thanks to new seismometers in the Yellowstone area, however, scientists are obtaining new data on the hotspot.

Past research found that in rocks far beneath southern Idaho and northwestern Wyoming, seismic energy from distant earthquakes slows down considerably.

Using the recently deployed seismometers, Schutt and Dueker modeled the effects of temperature and other processes that affect the speed at which seismic energy travels. They then used these models to make an estimate of the Yellowstone hotspot's temperature.

They found that the hotspot is "only" 50 to 200 degrees Celsius hotter than its surroundings.

"Although Yellowstone sits above a plume of hot material coming up from deep with the Earth, it's a remarkably 'lukewarm' plume," said Schutt, comparing Yellowstone to other plumes.

Although the Yellowstone volcano's continued existence is likely due to the upwelling of this hot plume, the plume may have become disconnected from its heat source in Earth's core.

"Disconnected, however, does not mean extinct," said Schutt. "It would be a mistake to write off Yellowstone as a 'dead' volcano. A hot plume, even a slightly cooler one, is still hot."

Source: National Science Foundation

http://www.physorg.com/news139071134.html

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Hubble Sees Magnetic Monster In Erupting Galaxy

wyrinth — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:42:21 GMT

Hubble Sees Magnetic Monster In Erupting Galaxy

by Staff Writers Cambridge, UK (SPX) Aug 21, 2008

The Hubble Space Telescope has found the answer to a long- standing puzzle by resolving giant but delicate filaments shaped by a strong magnetic field around the active galaxy NGC 1275. It is the most striking example of the influence of these immense tentacles of extragalactic magnetic fields, say researchers.

NGC 1275 is one of the closest giant elliptical galaxies and lies at the centre of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies. It is an active galaxy, hosting a supermassive black hole at its core, which blows bubbles of radio-wave emitting material into the surrounding cluster gas.

Its most spectacular feature is the lacy filigree of gaseous filaments reaching out beyond the galaxy into the multi-million degree X-ray emitting gas that fills the cluster.

These filaments are the only visible-light manifestation of the intricate relationship between the central black hole and the surrounding cluster gas. They provide important clues about how giant black holes affect their surrounding environment.

A team of astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys have for the first time resolved individual threads of gas which make up the filaments. The amount of gas contained in a typical thread is around one million times the mass of our own Sun.

They are only 200 light-years wide, are often surprisingly straight, and extend for up to 20 000 light-years. The filaments are formed when cold gas from the galaxy's core is dragged out in the wake of rising bubbles blown by the black hole.

It has been a challenge for astronomers to understand how the delicate structures withstood the hostile high-energy environment of the galaxy cluster for more than 100 million years.

They should have heated up, dispersed, and evaporated over a very short period of time, or collapsed under their own gravity to form stars. Even more puzzling is the fact that they haven't been ripped apart by the strong tidal pull of gravity in the cluster's core.

A new study led by Andy Fabian from the University of Cambridge, UK, published in Nature on 21 August 2008 proposes that the magnetic fields hold the charged gas in place and resist forces that would distort the filaments.

This skeletal structure has been able to contain and suspend these peculiarly long threads for over 100 million years. "We can see that the magnetic fields are crucial for these complex filaments - both for their survival and for their integrity", said Fabian.

The new Hubble data also allowed the strength of the magnetic fields in the filaments to be determined from their size. Thinner filaments are more fragile, requiring stronger magnetic fields for support. However, the finer the filaments, the more difficult they are to observe.

The filamentary system in NGC 1275 provides the most striking example of the workings of extragalactic magnetic fields so far and is a spectacular by-product of the complex interaction between the cluster gas and the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's heart.

Similar networks of filaments are found around many other, even more remote, central cluster galaxies. They cannot be observed in anything like the detail of NGC 1275, so the team will apply the understanding gained here to interpret observations of these more distant galaxies.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Hubble_Sees_Magnetic_Monster_In_Erupting_Galaxy_999.html

[there's a pic of the perseus cluster in the photo album]

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 0 replies

Tornado

bobs — Sun, 11 May 2008 09:50:15 GMT

My thoughts and prayers are with any of you that have been affected.

Tornado wrecks central US towns

Tornadoes and severe storms have swept across the central part of the United States, causing destruction and killing at least 18 people.

A tornado severely damaged the north-eastern Oklahoma town of Picher before hitting the Missouri town of Seneca 15 miles (24km) away.

At least six people died in Picher and a total of 12 in Missouri.

An emergencies official in Picher said a 24-street area of the town had been "virtually destroyed".

Michelann Ooten warned that the death toll could climb as rescuers sifted through the rubble looking for survivors.

Television images showed overturned cars, homes ripped from their foundations and trees stripped of their leaves.

'Thoughts and prayers'

Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry has ordered National Guard troops to arrive in Picher by Sunday morning to help in rescue and recovery operations, Ms Ooten added.

At least three of the people killed in Missouri died in Seneca.

"The last two years we've had floods and tornadoes - it's just one right after another," said Susie Stonner of the State Emergency Management Agency.

Mr Henry, who plans to visit the area later on Sunday, said a major emergency response was under way.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Picher and all of the other Oklahoma communities that have been impacted by the latest wave of severe weather," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7394402.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 2 replies

SI/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report: 8

bobs — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:05:43 GMT

(Formerly GVP/USGS Weekly volcanic activity report)

*******************************************************
SI/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report
2-8 April 2008
********************************************************

Sally Kuhn Sennert - Weekly Report Editor
kuhns@si.edu
URL: http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/

New Activity/Unrest: | Kilauea, Hawaii (USA) | Manam, Northeast of New
Guinea (SW Pacific) | Nevado del Huila, Colombia

Ongoing Activity: | Colima, México | Karymsky, Eastern Kamchatka |
Krakatau, Indonesia | Llaima, Central Chile | Rabaul, New Britain (SW
Pacific) | Santa María, Guatemala | Shiveluch, Central Kamchatka
(Russia) | Soufrière Hills, Montserrat | Tungurahua, Ecuador | Ubinas,
Perú

The Weekly Volcanic Activity Report is a cooperative project between
the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program and the US Geological
Survey's Volcano Hazards Program. Updated by 2300 UTC every Wednesday,
notices of volcanic activity posted on these pages are preliminary and
subject to change as events are studied in more detail. This is not a
comprehensive list of all of Earth's volcanoes erupting during the
week, but rather a summary of activity at volcanoes that meet criteria
discussed in detail in the "Criteria and Disclaimers" section.
Carefully reviewed, detailed reports on various volcanoes are
published monthly in the Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network.

Note: Many news agencies do not archive the articles they post on the
Internet, and therefore the links to some sources may not be active.
To obtain information about the cited articles that are no longer
available on the Internet contact the source.

New Activity/Unrest

KILAUEA Hawaii (USA) 19.421°N, 155.287°W; summit elev. 1222 m

Based on observations during helicopter overflights, visual
observations from HVO and National Park Service (NPS) crews, and web
camera views, HVO reported that during 2-8 April lava flow activity
from Kilauea's Thanksgiving Eve Breakout (TEB) shield was mostly
concentrated at the E Waikupanaha, W Waikupanaha, and Ki ocean
entries. Spattering and small steam explosions were intermittently
reported. Occasionally, incandescence from a skylight adjacent to the
TEB vents and from breakouts along the lava-tube system was noted.
Diffuse incandescence was seen on the web camera at Pu'u 'O'o crater
during 2-4 and 7-8 April.

During the reporting period, Kilauea summit earthquakes were located
beneath Halema`uma`u Crater, beneath the summit to the S and W, along
the S-flank faults, and along the SW and E rift zones. The eruption
from the vent in Halema'uma'u Crater continued to produce brown or
white ash plumes that drifted mainly SW. During most nights
incandescence was seen at the base of the plume and incandescent
fragments were ejected from the vent. Based on pilot observations, the
Washington VAAC reported that the plumes rose to altitudes of 3.4-3.8
km (11,200-12,500 ft) a.s.l. on 5 and 7 April. Seismic tremor was
elevated.

Sulfur dioxide emission rates from the summit area have been elevated
at 2-4 times background values since early January. The emission rate
fluctuated between 480-800 tonnes per day during 2-7 April, compared
to a background rate of 150-200 tonnes per day. At Pu'u 'O'o crater
the emission rate was 1,300 tonnes on 5 April.

According to a news report, the Hawaii County Civil Defense issued a
health advisory on 7 April for those living downwind of Halema'uma'u
and Pu'u 'O'o craters. Residents of specified areas were then advised
by the State Department of Health to evacuate because of projected
dangerous level of sulfur dioxide. Residents of other areas were put
on alert.

Geologic Summary. Kilauea, one of five coalescing volcanoes that
comprise the island of Hawaii, is one of the world's most active
volcanoes. Eruptions at Kilauea originate primarily from the summit
caldera or along one of the lengthy E and SW rift zones that extend
from the caldera to the sea. About 90% of the surface of Kilauea is
formed of lava flows less than about 1,100 years old; 70% of the
volcano's surface is younger than 600 years. A long-term eruption from
the East rift zone that began in 1983 has produced lava flows covering
more than 100 sq km, destroying nearly 200 houses and adding new
coastline to the island.

Sources: US Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO)
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/,
Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/messages.html,
Honolulu Advertiser
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080408/BREAKING01/80408015/-1/LOCALNEWSFRONT

MANAM Northeast of New Guinea (SW Pacific) 4.080°S, 145.037°E; summit
elev. 1807 m

Based on observations of satellite imagery and reports from RVO, the
Darwin VAAC reported that a low-level plume from Manam drifted SW on 2
April.

Geologic Summary. The 10-km-wide island of Manam, lying 13 km off the
northern coast of mainland Papua New Guinea, is one of the country's
most active volcanoes. Four large radial valleys extend from the
unvegetated summit of the conical 1807-m-high basaltic-andesitic
stratovolcano to its lower flanks. These "avalanche valleys,"
regularly spaced 90 degrees apart, channel lava flows and pyroclastic
avalanches that have sometimes reached the coast. Two summit craters
are present; both are active, although most historical eruptions have
originated from the southern crater, concentrating eruptive products
during much of the past century into the SE avalanche valley. Frequent
historical eruptions, typically of mild-to-moderate scale, have been
recorded at Manam since 1616. Occasional larger eruptions have
produced pyroclastic flows and lava flows that reached flat-lying
coastal areas and entered the sea, sometimes impacting populated
areas.

Source: Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC)
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/OTH/AU/messages.html

NEVADO DEL HUILA Colombia 2.93°N, 76.03°W; summit elev. 5365 m

According to news articles, communities surrounding Nevado del Huila
responded to the raised Alert Level of Orange, established by
INGEOMINAS on 29 March. The Local Committee of Disaster Prevention
ordered the closing of a school with a student population of 1,100,
declared the maximum alert for a local hospital, and facilitated
meetings of multiple groups. Residents bought supplies and repaired
roads that were key evacuation routes, and sirens were tested each
day. Several populations in high-risk areas did not have systems of
communication. On 7 April, residents in high-risk areas near the Páez
river were evacuated to shelters as a precautionary measure.

On 8 April, INGEOMINAS lowered the Alert Level to Yellow due to
decreased seismicity during 2-8 April. In addition, no superficial
changes associated with the recent activity were observed during an
overflight on 5 April.

Geologic Summary. Nevado del Huila, the highest active volcano in
Colombia, is an elongated N-S-trending volcanic chain mantled by a
glacier icecap. The andesitic-dacitic volcano was constructed within a
10-km-wide caldera. Volcanism at Nevado del Huila has produced six
volcanic cones whose ages in general migrated from south to north. Two
glacier-free lava domes lie at the southern end of the Huila volcanic
complex. The first historical eruption from this little known volcano
took place in the 16th century. Two persistent steam columns rise from
the central peak, and hot springs are also present.

Sources: Instituto Colombiano de Geología y Minería (INGEOMINAS)
http://www.ingeominas.gov.co//,
El Tiempo http://www.eltiempo.com/nacion/2008-04-05/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR-4075672.html,
El Pais http://www.elpais.com.co/paisonline/notas/Abril042008/huilavolcanriesgo.html

Ongoing Activity

COLIMA México 19.514°N, 103.62°W; summit elev. 3850 m

During 1-2 April, ash plumes from Colima rose to altitudes of 4.2-6.4
km (13,800-21,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted NW, W, and SW. Incandescent
avalanches descended the SW flank. On 4 April, incandescent material
was propelled 150 m above the summit. An ash plume rose to an altitude
of 4.5 km (14,800 ft) a.s.l. Based on observations of satellite
imagery, the Washington VAAC reported that a brief puff of ash drifted
SE on 7 April.

Geologic Summary. The Colima volcanic complex is the most prominent
volcanic center of the western Mexican Volcanic Belt. It consists of
two southward-younging volcanoes, Nevado de Colima (the 4,320 m high
point of the complex) on the N and the historically active Volcán de
Colima on the S. Volcán de Colima (also known as Volcán Fuego) is a
youthful stratovolcano constructed within a 5-km-wide caldera,
breached to the S, that has been the source of large debris
avalanches. Major slope failures have occurred repeatedly from both
the Nevado and Colima cones, and have produced a thick apron of
debris-avalanche deposits on three sides of the complex. Frequent
historical eruptions date back to the 16th century. Occasional major
explosive eruptions (most recently in 1913) have destroyed the summit
and left a deep, steep-sided crater that was slowly refilled and then
overtopped by lava dome growth.

Sources: Gobierno del Estado de Colima
http://www.colima-estado.gob.mx/2006/seguridad/indvolcan.php,
Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/messages.html

KARYMSKY Eastern Kamchatka 54.05°N, 159.45°E; summit elev. 1536 m

KVERT reported that seismic activity at Karymsky was above background
levels during 28-29 March and slightly above background levels during
30 March-4 April. Pilots observed ash plumes to altitudes of 5-7 km
(16,400-23,000 ft) a.s.l. during 28-29 March. Based on seismic
interpretation, ash plumes possibly rose to an altitude of 2.5 km
(8,200 ft) a.s.l. on 2 April and weak ash explosions or avalanches may
have occurred daily during the reporting period. Observations of
satellite imagery revealed that a thermal anomaly was present in the
crater on 28 March and 1, 2, and 3 April; an ash plume drifted S on 3
April. Ash deposits were noted in areas about 20 km E, 70 km SW, and
45-50 km S. The Level of Concern Color Code remained at Orange.

Geologic Summary. Karymsky, the most active volcano of Kamchatka's
eastern volcanic zone, is a symmetrical stratovolcano constructed
within a 5-km-wide caldera that formed about 7,600-7,700 radiocarbon
years ago. Construction of the Karymsky stratovolcano began about
2,000 years later. The latest eruptive period began about 500 years
ago, following a 2,300-year quiescence. Much of the cone is mantled by
lava flows less than 200 years old. Historical eruptions have been
Vulcanian or Vulcanian-Strombolian with moderate explosive activity
and occasional lava flows from the summit crater. Most seismicity
preceding Karymsky eruptions has originated beneath Akademia Nauk
caldera, which is located immediately S of Karymsky volcano and
erupted simultaneously with Karymsky in 1996.

Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/index_eng.php

KRAKATAU Indonesia 6.102°S, 105.423°E; summit elev. 813 m

CVGHM lowered the Alert Level for Anak Krakatau to 2 (on a scale of
1-4) on 1 April. Seismicity declined in early February, and eruption
plumes and propelled incandescent material were not seen after 4
February. Visitors and residents were advised not to go within a
1.5-km radius of the summit.

Geologic Summary. Renowned Krakatau volcano lies in the Sunda Strait
between Java and Sumatra. Collapse of the ancestral Krakatau edifice,
perhaps in 416 AD, resulted in a 7-km-wide caldera. Remnants of this
volcano formed Verlaten and Lang Islands; subsequently Rakata, Danan
and Perbuwatan volcanoes were formed, coalescing to create the
pre-1883 Krakatau Island. Caldera collapse during the catastrophic
1883 eruption destroyed Danan and Perbuwatan volcanoes, and left only
a remnant of Rakata volcano. The post-collapse cone of Anak Krakatau
(Child of Krakatau), constructed within the 1883 caldera at a point
between the former cones of Danan and Perbuwatan, has been the site of
frequent eruptions since 1927.

Source: Center of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (CVGHM)
http://portal.vsi.esdm.go.id/joomla/

LLAIMA Central Chile 38.692°S, 71.729°W; summit elev. 3125 m

SERNAGEOMIN reported that during 28 March-4 April, fumarolic plumes
from Llaima drifted several tens of kilometers mainly to the SE.
Explosions produced ash and gas emissions. An overflight on 2 April of
the main crater revealed that gas, pyroclastic material, and ash
emissions, occasionally accompanied by small explosions, originated
from three cones. On 4 April, several explosions were heard and
incandescence was reflected in a gas-and-ash plume.

Geologic Summary. Llaima, one of Chile's largest and most active
volcanoes, contains two main historically active craters, one at the
summit and the other to the SE. The massive 3,125-m-high,
glacier-covered stratovolcano has a volume of 400 cu km. A Holocene
edifice built primarily of accumulated lava flows was constructed over
an 8-km-wide caldera that formed about 13,200 years ago, following
eruption of the 24 cu km Curacautín Ignimbrite. More than 40 scoria
cones dot the volcano's flanks. Following the end of an explosive
stage about 7,200 years ago, construction of the present edifice
began, characterized by Strombolian, hawaiian, and infrequent
subplinian eruptions. Frequent moderate explosive eruptions with
occasional lava flows have been recorded since the 17th century.

Source: Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería (SERNAGEOMIN)
http://www.sernageomin.cl/

RABAUL New Britain (SW Pacific) 4.271°S, 152.203°E; summit elev. 688 m

RVO reported that during 1-9 April ash and steam-and-ash plumes rose
to altitudes of 0.9-1.7 km (3,000-5,600 ft) a.s.l. and drifted E and
SE. Ashfall was reported in Kokopo (about 20 km SE) on 2 April and in
areas downwind during 4-7 April. Incandescence at night at the summit
and occasional explosions were reported. Roaring noises were reported
and sometimes rhythmic during 2-3 and 8-9 April.

Geologic Summary. The low-lying Rabaul caldera on the tip of the
Gazelle Peninsula at the NE end of New Britain forms a broad sheltered
harbor. The outer flanks of the 688-m-high asymmetrical pyroclastic
shield volcano are formed by thick pyroclastic-flow deposits. The 8 x
14 km caldera is widely breached on the E, where its floor is flooded
by Blanche Bay.Two major Holocene caldera-forming eruptions at Rabaul
took place as recently as 3,500 and 1,400 years ago. Three small
stratovolcanoes lie outside the northern and NE caldera rims.
Post-caldera eruptions built basaltic-to-dacitic pyroclastic cones on
the caldera floor near the NE and western caldera walls. Several of
these, including Vulcan cone, which was formed during a large eruption
in 1878, have produced major explosive activity during historical
time. A powerful explosive eruption in 1994 occurred simultaneously
from Vulcan and Tavurvur volcanoes and forced the temporary
abandonment of Rabaul city.

Source: Steve Saunders, Rabaul Volcano Observatory (RVO)

SANTA MARIA Guatemala 14.756°N, 91.552°W; summit elev. 3772 m

Based on observations of satellite imagery, the Washington VAAC
reported that ash puffs from Santa María's Santiaguito lava dome
complex drifted W on 2 April. During 3-7 April, INSIVUMEH reported
that small explosions produced ash plumes; ashfall was reported in
surrounding areas.

Geologic Summary. Symmetrical, forest-covered Santa María volcano is
one of a chain of large stratovolcanoes that rises dramatically above
the Pacific coastal plain of Guatemala. The stratovolcano has a
sharp-topped, conical profile that is cut on the SW flank by a large,
1-km-wide crater, which formed during a catastrophic eruption in 1902
and extends from just below the summit to the lower flank. The
renowned Plinian eruption of 1902 followed a long repose period and
devastated much of SW Guatemala. The large dacitic Santiaguito
lava-dome complex has been growing at the base of the 1902 crater
since 1922. Compound dome growth at Santiaguito has occurred
episodically from four westward-younging vents, accompanied by almost
continuous minor explosions and periodic lava extrusion, larger
explosions, pyroclastic flows, and lahars.

Sources: Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia,
e Hidrologia (INSIVUMEH) http://www.insivumeh.gob.gt/,
Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/messages.html

SHIVELUCH Central Kamchatka (Russia) 56.653°N, 161.360°E; summit elev. 3283 m

KVERT reported that seismic activity at Shiveluch was slightly above
background levels during 28 March-4 April and hot avalanches possibly
descended the growing lava dome daily. According to video footage and
visual observations, fumarolic activity from the lava dome was
observed during 28-29 March and 1-3 April. Observations of satellite
imagery revealed that a thermal anomaly was present in the crater
during the reporting period. The Level of Concern Color Code remained
at Orange.

Geologic Summary. The high, isolated massif of Shiveluch volcano (also
spelled Sheveluch) rises above the lowlands NNE of the Kliuchevskaya
volcano group and forms one of Kamchatka's largest and most active
volcanoes. The currently active Molodoy Shiveluch lava-dome complex
was constructed during the Holocene within a large breached caldera
formed by collapse of the massive late-Pleistocene Strary Shiveluch
volcano. At least 60 large eruptions of Shiveluch have occurred during
the Holocene, making it the most vigorous andesitic volcano of the
Kuril-Kamchatka arc. Frequent collapses of lava-dome complexes, most
recently in 1964, have produced large debris avalanches whose deposits
cover much of the floor of the breached caldera. During the 1990s,
intermittent explosive eruptions took place from a new lava dome that
began growing in 1980. The largest historical eruptions from Shiveluch
occurred in 1854 and 1964.

Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/index_eng.php

SOUFRIERE HILLS Montserrat 16.72°N, 62.18°W; summit elev. 915 m

MVO reported that during 1-4 April the lava dome at Soufrière Hills
changed very little, based on measurable parameters. Seismic activity
was very low and one rockfall signal was recorded. The Alert Level
remained elevated at 4 (on a scale of 0-5).

Geologic Summary. The complex dominantly andesitic Soufrière Hills
volcano occupies the southern half of the island of Montserrat. The
summit area consists primarily of a series of lava domes emplaced
along an ESE-trending zone. English's Crater, a 1-km-wide crater
breached widely to the E, was formed during an eruption about 4,000
years ago in which the summit collapsed, producing a large submarine
debris avalanche. Block-and-ash flow and surge deposits associated
with dome growth predominate in flank deposits at Soufrière Hills.
Non-eruptive seismic swarms occurred at 30-year intervals in the 20th
century, but with the exception of a 17th-century eruption that
produced the Castle Peak lava dome, no historical eruptions were
recorded on Montserrat until 1995. Long-term small-to-moderate ash
eruptions beginning in that year were later accompanied by lava-dome
growth and pyroclastic flows that forced evacuation of the southern
half of the island and ultimately destroyed the capital city of
Plymouth, causing major social and economic disruption.

Source: Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) http://www.mvo.ms/

TUNGURAHUA Ecuador 1.467°S, 78.442°W; summit elev. 5023 m

The IG reported that although visual observations were limited due to
cloud cover, ash and ash-and-steam plumes from Tungurahua were spotted
and rose to altitudes of 5.5-9 km (18,000-30,000 ft) a.s.l. during 2-8
April. Ash plumes drifted in almost all directions; ashfall was
reported in areas downwind during 4-8 April. Explosions were
occasionally registered by the seismic network and roaring and "cannon
shot" noises were reported. Incandescent material rolled 0.5-1 km down
the flanks during 2-4 and 6-7 April and Strombolian activity at the
summit was noted during 3-4 April.

Geologic Summary. The steep-sided Tungurahua stratovolcano towers more
than 3 km above its northern base. It sits ~140 km S of Quito,
Ecuador's capital city, and is one of Ecuador's most active volcanoes.
Historical eruptions have all originated from the summit crater. They
have been accompanied by strong explosions and sometimes by
pyroclastic flows and lava flows that reached populated areas at the
volcano's base. The last major eruption took place from 1916 to 1918,
although minor activity continued until 1925. The latest eruption
began in October 1999 and prompted temporary evacuation of the town of
Baños on the N side of the volcano.

Source: Instituto Geofísico-Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG)
http://www.igepn.edu.ec/

UBINAS Perú 16.355°S, 70.903°W; summit elev. 5672 m

Based on pilot observations, the Buenos Aires VAAC reported that an
ash plume from Ubinas rose to altitudes of 5.5-6.7 km (18,000-22,000
ft) a.s.l. and drifted E on 6 April.

Geologic Summary. A small, 1.2-km-wide caldera that cuts the top of
Ubinas, Peru's most active volcano, gives it a truncated appearance.
Ubinas is the northernmost of three young volcanoes located along a
regional structural lineament about 50 km behind the main volcanic
front of Peru. The upper slopes of the stratovolcano, composed
primarily of Pleistocene andesitic lava flows, steepen to nearly 45
degrees. The steep-walled, 150-m-deep summit caldera contains an ash
cone with a 500-m-wide funnel-shaped vent that is 200 m deep.
Debris-avalanche deposits from the collapse of the SE flank of Ubinas
extend 10 km from the volcano. Widespread Plinian pumice-fall deposits
from Ubinas include some of Holocene age. Holocene lava flows are
visible on the volcano's flanks, but historical activity, documented
since the 16th century, has consisted of intermittent minor explosive
eruptions.

Source: Buenos Aires Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/OTH/AG/messages.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 14 replies

LA area quake

bobs — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:28:04 GMT

I hope none of you sustained any damage and that you're all OK.

Region: GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIF.
Geographic coordinates: 33.959N, 117.752W
Magnitude: 5.6 Ml
Depth: 12 km
Universal Time (UTC): 29 Jul 2008 18:42:15
Time near the Epicenter: 29 Jul 2008 11:42:15
Local standard time in your area: 29 Jul 2008 18:42:15

Location with respect to nearby cities:
3 km (2 miles) SW (235 degrees) of Chino Hills, CA
8 km (5 miles) SE (127 degrees) of Diamond Bar, CA
9 km (5 miles) NNE (23 degrees) of Yorba Linda, CA
11 km (7 miles) S (178 degrees) of Pomona, CA
47 km (29 miles) ESE (103 degrees) of Los Angeles Civic Center, CA

ADDITIONAL EARTHQUAKE PARAMETERS
________________________________
event ID : CI 14383980

This is a computer-generated message and has not yet been reviewed by a
seismologist.
For subsequent updates, maps, and technical information, see:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Quakes/ci14383980.php
or
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

CISN Southern California Management Center
Caltech Seismological Laboratory
U.S. Geological Survey

http://www.cisn.org/scmc.html
DISCLAIMER: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/ens/help.html#disclaimer

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 0 replies

Just watched Mt St Helens Belch

Mon, 04 Oct 2004 17:29:24 GMT

http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/

amazing to watch it with the above cam almost "live"

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 31 replies

Climate stories in the news: 7

bobs — Fri, 18 May 2007 10:59:10 GMT

Source: University of Arizona
Date: May 18, 2007

Colorado River Streamflow History Reveals Megadrought Before 1490
Science Daily — An epic drought during the mid-1100s dwarfs any drought previously documented for a region that includes areas of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The six-decade-long drought was remarkable for the absence of very wet years. At the core of the drought was a period of 25 years in which Colorado River flow averaged 15 percent below normal.

The new tree-ring-based reconstruction documents the year-by-year natural variability of streamflows in the upper Colorado River basin back to A. D. 762, said the tree-ring scientists from The University of Arizona in Tucson who led the research team.

The work extends the continuous tree-ring record of upper Colorado streamflows back seven centuries earlier than previous reconstructions.

"The biggest drought we find in the entire record was in the mid-1100s," said team leader David M. Meko, an associate research professor at UA's Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. "I was surprised that the drought was as deep and as long as it was.

Colorado River flow was below normal for 13 consecutive years in one interval of the megadrought, which spanned 1118 to 1179. Meko contrasted that with the last 100 years, during which tree-ring reconstructed flows for the upper basin show a maximum of five consecutive years of below-normal flows.

The Colorado supplies water for cities and agriculture in seven western states in the U.S. and two states in northwestern Mexico. Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Denver, Phoenix, Tucson and Albuquerque are among the many cities dependent on Colorado River water.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted in a recent report that the southwestern U.S. will become hotter and drier as the climate warms.

Co-author Connie A. Woodhouse said, "We have natural variability that includes this time in the 1100s. If we have warming it will exacerbate these kinds of droughts."

The newly documented droughts "could be an analogue for what we could expect in a warmer world," said Woodhouse, a UA associate professor of geography and regional development and dendrochronology.

Meko, who was asked by the California Department of Water Resources to pursue the research, said understanding more about natural variability in the Colorado is important to the region's water managers. "Water managers rely on wet years to refill reservoirs," he said.

The team's research article, "Medieval drought in the upper Colorado River Basin," is scheduled to be published online in the American Geophysical Union's journal Geophysical Research Letters on May 24.

Meko and Woodhouse's co-authors are Christopher A. Baisan, a UA senior research specialist; Troy Knight, a UA graduate student; Jeffrey J. Lukas, of the University of Colorado at Boulder; Malcolm K. Hughes, a UA Regents' Professor of dendrochronology; and Matthew W. Salzer, a UA research associate. The California Department of Water Resources, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation funded the work.

Just about a year ago, Woodhouse and Meko and colleagues published a continuous tree-ring record for the upper Colorado River Basin that went back to 1490, the longest record for the area until now.

Other paleoclimatic research had suggested that epic droughts occurred in much of the western U.S. during the Medieval Climate Anomaly of about 900 to 1300, a time when some parts of the world were warmer than now. In addition, tree-ring data from a large network of sites showed that the areal extent of drought in western North America peaked prior to 1400.

Meko, Woodhouse and their colleagues wanted to take a closer look at what happened in the upper Colorado River basin during that time.

For the record back to 1490, the scientists took cores from old, living trees and looked at the rings' tell-tale pattern of thick and thin that indicates wet years and dry years.

Extending the record further required an underutilized technique, the analysis of logs, stumps and standing dead trees, known as remnant wood.

Baisan said, "Everyone was surprised that we could do this."

Woodhouse said, "It's so arid that wood can remain on the landscape for hundreds of years. The outside of some of our remnants date to 1200, meaning the tree died 800 years ago."

The scientists took pencil-thin cores from the living trees and cross-sections of the remnant wood from 11 different sites. The researchers then pieced together the long-term record by matching up the patterns from the cores to those from the cross-sections.

Baisan said, "This is part of ongoing work to try to understand the climate system that creates these patterns. You need the basic data about what happened before you can ask questions such as 'Why were there 60 years of low-flow on the Colorado"'"

The team's next step is collecting additional samples from the study sites and adding additional study sites in the upper Colorado River basin.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University of Arizona.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070517152428.htm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 13 replies

'Snowball Earth'

bobs — Tue, 24 Aug 2004 19:10:04 GMT

Snowball Earth
BBC2 9.00pm Thursday 22nd February 2001

There is a controversial theory that for millions of years the Earth was entirely smothered in ice, up to one kilometre thick. The temperature hovers around -40ºC everywhere, even in the tropics and the equator. If it did, then virtually nothing could survive this ferocious climate. There are some tantalising geological clues that show this theory may be true but the problem is, the clues and the Snowball Earth theory defy the laws of nature.

For over fifty years a group of scientists has been trying to prove this incredible period of Earth history. Struggling against scepticism and disbelief, now finally the many mysteries have been solved and the scientific community is slowly coming around to the extraordinary idea not just of the dramatic freeze, but of an equally dramatic thaw. Scientists across the world are starting to believe that in the past the Earth froze over completely for ten million years... then warmed up rapidly about 600 million years ago. Almost all life was wiped out. But out of the freeze emerged the first complex creatures on Earth. Scientists now believe that the so-called Snowball Earth theory could hold the key to the evolution of complex life on this planet.

The discovery of this theory is a classic scientific detective story. For decades there had been a growing 'X-File' of geological anomalies haunting the scientific community. Telltale signs of past glaciation have been found in places that should have been much too hot - very near the equator. Even during the most severe ice age, scientists believed that the ice only reached as far down as Northern Europe and the middle of the USA. So what could these tropical deposits mean?

Back in the 1960s one of the first climate modellers, Mikhail Budyko, stumbled on an ingenious answer. Through some simple mathematical formulae, he calculated that if the polar ice caps had spread past a crucial point, a runaway freezing process would have followed, eventually freezing over the whole of the planet. The idea fascinated scientists, but no one thought his runaway glaciation was anything more than a theoretical result. Surely it had never actually happened on planet Earth?

The idea foundered because according to the model, once the Earth was frozen there was no way out - the Earth would remain frozen forever. The big freeze would wipe out all life; we would not exist today. It seemed patently absurd. But then came a series of insights and inspirations from a geologist in California, Joe Kirschvink, who came up with a brilliant solution - that volcanoes, protruding above the frozen landscape, would have carried on pumping out carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas, even though the world had entered the deep freeze. On Snowball Earth there was no rain to wash this carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Instead it would have built up to higher and higher concentrations - until eventually it sparked off not just global warming but global meltdown.

From the baking landscape of Africa to ice-covered Antarctica, Horizon follows the tale of a theory which, if true, would have huge implications. Because scientists now believe this cycle of freezing and frying may have created the unique conditions needed for the evolution of complex life, including our own.

For more information go to;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/snowballearth_transcript.shtml

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 3 replies

Drought:

bobs — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 11:42:33 GMT

Australians warned of water cuts

Australian PM John Howard has warned that irrigation of much of the nation's farmland will be banned unless there is heavy rainfall in the next month.

Mr Howard said there would only be enough water in the huge Murray-Darling river system for drinking purposes.

He acknowledged that this would have a "potentially devastating" impact on many horticultural, crop and dairy industries around the river basin.

But he said there was no choice, and he described the situation as "grim".

Irrigators are already warning that if they cannot water their land, there will be huge crop losses and Australian consumers will face large price rises.

Praying for rain

Australia is suffering from its worst drought on record, and the lack of rainfall has already severely reduced the production of major irrigated crops in the Murray-Darling river basin.

The basin, which covers an area the size of France and Spain combined, accounts for 41% of Australian agriculture and usually provides about 85% of the nation's irrigation supply.

"If it doesn't rain in sufficient volume over the next six to eight weeks, there will be no water allocations for irrigation purposes in the basin" until May 2008, Mr Howard told reporters in Canberra.

There would be water only for "critical urban supplies" and farmers' own domestic use, he said.

"It is a grim situation, and there is no point in pretending to Australia otherwise," he said. "We must all hope and pray there is rain."

Mr Howard acknowledged that banning irrigation for crops and livestock in the Murray-Darling basin would have a "critical" impact on many industries in the area.

Farmers are warning that Australians could face major food price rises if no water is allocated to irrigators in the Murray-Darling Basin.

National Farmers' Federation head Ben Fargher said that thousands of farmers could lose their citrus, almond and olives trees if they cannot be watered this year.

"If those ... trees do die, then it takes a number of years to recover - maybe five to six years of lost production," he told ABC radio.

Australia may not have a rice crop at all this season if it gets no irrigation allocations, Laurie Arthur, president of the Ricegrowers Association, told Reuters news agency.

"If it stays dry there will potentially be catastrophic losses," he said.

Australia's wine grape production and the farming of stone fruits is also likely to be affected.

Election issue

Mr Howard's government is anxious to tackle the country's drought - which is now in its sixth year.

In January, he announced a A$10bn ($7bn) package to tackle the country's water problems, including a plan to overhaul irrigation pipes along the Murray-Darling river system.

He also introduced plans for the federal government to assume regulatory control of the river system from the four states that currently administer irrigation rights.

All states but one - Victoria - have so far agreed to the plan.

Water scarcity is likely to be a key issue in Australia's elections later this year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6570589.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 9 replies

Tunguska

bobs — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:48:35 GMT

Fire in the sky: Tunguska at 100
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News

At 7:17am on 30 June 1908, an immense explosion tore through the forest of central Siberia.

Some 80 million trees were flattened over an area of 2,000 square km (800 square miles) near the Tunguska River.

The blast was 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and generated a shock wave that knocked people to the ground 60km from the epicentre.

The cause was an asteroid or comet just a few tens of metres across which detonated 5-10km above the ground, 100 years ago today.

Eyewitnesses recalled a brilliant fireball resembling a "flying star" ploughing across the cloudless June sky at an oblique angle.

The plume of hot dust trailing the fireball gave rise to descriptions of a "pillar of fire", which was quickly replaced by a giant cloud of black smoke rising over the horizon.

"The sky split in two and fire appeared high and wide over the forest. The split in the sky grew larger, and the entire northern side was covered with fire," one local remembered.

"At that moment I became so hot that I couldn't bear it, as if my shirt was on fire… I wanted to tear off my shirt and throw it down, but then the sky slammed shut. A strong thump sounded, and I was thrown a few yards."

This eyewitness was lucky, but an elderly hunter who was much closer to the explosion died after being flung against a tree by the blast. That the airburst did not cause more casualties was in large part due to the remoteness of the area.

Bright light

To many, this event - the biggest space impact of modern times - serves as a reminder of the continuing threat posed to our planet by objects from space.

If the Tunguska "impactor" had exploded over a major city such as London, the death toll would have been up in the millions.

"Everything within the M25 would have been wiped out," Dr Mark Bailey, director of the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland, told BBC News.

The effects of Tunguska were not limited to Siberia. In London, it was possible to read newspapers and play cricket outdoors at midnight. This is now thought to have been due to sunlight scattered by dust from the fireball's plume.

The Russian mineralogist Leonid Kulik visited the region in 1921, interviewed local eyewitnesses and soon realised that a meteorite must have been the cause.

He persuaded the Russian authorities to fund an expedition to the region in 1927, during which he was able to explore the vast zones of fallen trees.

An aerial survey was carried out in 1938, revealing how the flattened trees were angled away from the epicentre of the explosion over a 50km-wide zone which formed a butterfly shape.

Trees at the epicentre were charred and stripped of their branches and bark, but were left standing, which would lead to them being coined "telegraph poles".

Some researchers think a comet would have been too fragile to have caused the Tunguska event, and that an asteroid is therefore the most likely candidate.

But Mark Bailey thinks some comets could contain chunks of tough material that could survive the plunge through Earth's atmosphere.

Meteor shower

Indeed, one theory proposes that the Tunguska object was a fragment of Comet Encke. This ball of ice and dust is responsible for a meteor shower called the Beta Taurids, which cascade into Earth's atmosphere in late June and July - the time of the Tunguska event.

The absence of any crater connected with the Tunguska event has left the door open for some outlandish alternatives to the meteorite theory. A lump of anti-matter, a colliding black hole and - inevitably - an exploding alien spaceship have all been proposed as the possible source of the blast.

But in 2007, Giuseppe Longo, from the University of Bologna, Italy, and his colleagues, suggested they might have found something Leonid Kulik had missed all those years ago.

Lake Cheko does not appear on any maps of the area made before 1908; it also happens to lie North-West-West of the epicentre, on the general path taken by the impactor as it plummeted to Earth.

To Dr Longo, a radar signal from beneath the lake is suggestive of a dense object, possibly part of the Tunguska meteorite, buried about 10m down. The team plans to conduct an expedition to the area in 2009, to investigate this possibility.

"We have no positive proof it is an impact crater, we have come to this conclusion [about Lake Cheko] through the negation of other hypotheses," Dr Longo told BBC News last year.

But other researchers, including Gareth Collins and Phil Bland of Imperial College London, cast doubt on the idea Lake Cheko has anything to do with the Tunguska event.

They point to trees older than 100 years which are still standing around the rim of the lake (and, they say, should have been levelled by the impact) and the features of the lake itself, which, the researchers argue, are inconsistent with an impact origin.

Rock search

One hundred years on, the Tunguska event remains a vibrant area for study, especially in Russia. Last week, researchers gathered in Moscow for a scientific conference arranged to coincide with the anniversary.

Topics on the agenda were the continuing search for pieces of the space rock, the comet vs asteroid debate and the relationship of the event to the Beta Taurid meteor shower.

Dr Longo and colleagues presented a new tree-fall map, which they say is suggestive of two separate objects exploding in the atmosphere over Tunguska on 30 June.

The conference also heard presentations on other historic and prehistoric cosmic impacts and current strategies for tackling an asteroid headed for Earth.

An asteroid on the order of one kilometre in diameter hits the Earth roughly once every 100,000 years.

Space rocks about 10m across - roughly the size of the Tunguska object - are thought to hit our planet about once every 3,000 years.

But Mark Bailey suspects they might be more frequent than that. He has investigated another event in 1930 known as the "Brazilian Tunguska".

This little-known event was apparently caused by three large meteorites in the upper reaches of the Amazon. The fires it caused continued uninterrupted for weeks and depopulated hundreds of kilometres of jungle.

And in June 2002, US military satellites detected an explosion in the Earth's atmosphere with the energy of 12 kilotonnes of explosive. The event has been attributed to an asteroid which remained undetected as it approached our planet and plummeted through the atmosphere.

'Nuclear winter'

The international Spaceguard survey programme has been working to identify the Near-Earth Objects larger than 1km - the class of object could cause a "nuclear winter" if one were to strike the planet, possibly threatening civilisation.

Objects the size of the one that caused the Tunguska impact are too small to be seen by present-day surveys.

But there is no guarantee the next object will explode over the sea or a sparsely populated wilderness. This raises an obvious question: how prepared are we for the next one?

Dr Richard Crowther is head of the United Nations Near Earth Object (Neo) programme. He told the BBC News website: "Tunguska reminds us that these impact events have occurred in the relatively recent past.

"The surveys suggest that objects of this size are numerous enough to anticipate similar events in the relatively near future."

Many observers are concerned by what they regard as a lack of action to counter the threat posed by near-Earth asteroids.

California-based space advocacy group the Planetary Society recently awarded an Atlanta-based aerospace company $50,000 (£25,000) to design a spacecraft which could rendezvous with and track the path of the asteroid 99942 Apophis.

In 2029, this 270m-wide chunk of cosmic debris will closely approach the Earth - so close, in fact, it will be visible with the naked eye.

If this primordial behemoth passes through a precise region in space, or "keyhole", several hundred metres wide during this pass, it will strike Earth in 2036.

The Planetary Society initiated its tagging mission because, it says, Earth-based observations might not be sufficient to rule out an impact in 2036.

There are several technologies that could be used currently to tackle an asteroid heading on a collision course with Earth. One proposal is to use nuclear weapons to completely vapourise the object.

Another is to use a spacecraft to "push" the asteroid off course. This would involve a craft either slowing down or speeding up the object to ensure that it misses its appointment with the Earth's surface.

If, for some reason, the asteroid is not spotted in time, or the deflection mission arrives at its target too late, it might be necessary to nudge the space rock just enough so that it strikes the ocean, or a remote, thinly populated area on Earth.

Dr Crowther, who is based at the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), comments that Neos "do not recognise national boundaries".

For this reason among others, he said, it was important that any policy framework established to counter the asteroid threat "should encourage nations to work together to share data, expertise and resources to assess and mitigate the risk of a future impact".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7470283.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 0 replies

7.8 Earthquake Rocks China

bobs — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:59:10 GMT

'Hundreds buried' by China quake

Almost 900 students have been buried by collapsed buildings during an earthquake in south-western China, state media reports.

President Hu Jintao urged "all-out" efforts to rescue victims of the quake, which hit 92km (57 miles) from Chengdu, Sichuan's provincial capital.

Premier Wen Jiabao is travelling to the area and troops are being sent to help with disaster relief efforts.

At least 107 people are reported to have died, but figures could rise.

Children killed

Full details of the incident which buried 900 students are not yet clear.

They were buried in buildings at Juyuan Middle School in Dujiangyan city, about 100km (60 miles) from the epicentre in Wenchuan County, state news agency Xinhua reports.

Earlier, four schoolchildren were reported to have died, and more than 100 others were injured, when primary school buildings collapsed in the Chongqing area near Sichuan province, the news agency added.

Another person is reported to have died when a water tower collapsed in the city of Mianyang, in Santai county.

There are fears of further casualties.

At least 10 people are reported to have been injured in Dujiangyan city when rows of houses collapsed.

A spokesman for the provincial seismological bureau told Xinhua more people were feared injured or dead.

Forty-four aftershocks have been reported since the quake, which was the strongest to hit Sichuan province in more than 30 years, Xinhua reports.

Troops and helicopters have been sent to help with relief work.

The BBC's Quentin Somerville says the Chinese army has a good record of mobilising and getting people to safety.

State television said the quake had not caused major damage to Chengdu, which has a population of more than 10 million people, or to the nearby Three Gorges Dam.

In Chengdu, residents streamed on to the streets, cracks were reported in some buildings and water pipes burst.

"Some building are cracked, but nothing major, from what we can see in the area near our hotel," Gilles Barbier in Chengdu told the BBC News website.

"The quake was really strong, continuous. Two aftershocks could be felt."

Workers were evacuated from swaying buildings in several cities across China. Workers in Beijing - about 930 miles from Chengdu - said buildings shook for about two minutes.

In the city's financial district, people poured out of buildings, but there were no visible signs of damage.

China's tallest building, the Jinmao Tower in Shanghai, was also evacuated, Reuters news agency said.

Panic

Tremors were also felt as far afield as Beijing, the Thai capital, Bangkok, and Hanoi in Vietnam.

Bobby Silby in Zhengzhou in Henan province said he was having lunch in a restaurant when he felt the tremors.

"It felt like the floor was moving all around me, everyone started running outside in a panic," he told the BBC news website. "The streets are still filled with people who haven't gone back into their buildings."

Telephone lines to the affected areas were jammed.

The area where Monday's earthquake struck lies on the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau.

Wenchuan county is home to the Wolong Nature Reserve, China's leading research and breeding base for endangered giant pandas.

Earthquakes are common in China - in March a 7.2 magnitude quake struck in western Xinjiang province.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7395496.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 6 replies

Blue shadows

Gary the No-Trash Cougar — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:29:01 GMT

We're having a lot of wildfires here in Northern California and it's really raising hell with the atmosphere. Yesterday I was out walking and happen to notice that the shadows being cast were blue! They had a blue tint to them that was really weird. And the light being cast has a reddish-orange hue to it. Both are due to all of the smoke in the air acting like a filter for the sun.

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 0 replies

A dream job:

bobs — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:32:12 GMT

Please forward the following advertisement to anyone who might be
interested. Deadline is August 7.

Volcano Seismologist/U.S. Geological Survey (Announcement WR-2008-0410).

The USGS Volcano Hazards Team seeks a seismologist to work with its
Long Valley and Yellowstone Volcano Observatories, working out of the
Menlo Park (CA) Science Center. The successful candidate will monitor
volcanic seismicity, conduct research in volcanic and seismic
processes, and develop new techniques for understanding volcanic
seismicity in regions of tectonic complexity. Investigations are
focused on Long Valley caldera, the Mono-Inyo system, Yellowstone
caldera, and northern California Cascade volcanoes. The research may
involve deployment of temporary seismic networks, seismic tomography,
stress tensor inversion to interpret earthquake source mechanisms or
analysis of shear-wave splitting to identify structure of the crust
and mantle. In addition, the successful candidate will participate
regularly in multi-organization planning for emergency response.

Qualifications are listed at
http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/SEC-IV/B/GS1300/1313.HTM and include
experience in seismology and seismic monitoring, authorship of
scientific publications, and contributions that have advanced the
field of volcano and/or earthquake seismology. Completion of a Ph.D.
is desirable. Fieldwork and meetings may normally require 4-6 weeks
of travel per year. Though the appointment is initially made for 24
months, it can be extended noncompetitively up to a 4 year limit. This
is a Federal Civil Service position with full benefits. Starting
salary is either $76,482 or $90,949 depending on qualifications.

Applicants must apply online at http://www.usajobs.opm.gov to be
considered. After entering a resume, further application information
plus a questionnaire of knowledge, skills and abilities can be found
under USGS announcement number WR-2008-0410. Complete applications
must be received online via USAJOBS BEFORE midnight EDT on the closing
date. All applicants MUST submit a complete online resume. Requests
for extensions will not be granted. If applying online poses a
hardship, please request assistance PRIOR TO THE CLOSING DATE.
Additional questions may be referred to David Hill (hill@usgs.gov) at
650-329-4795, Rose Wheeler at 650-329-5497 or Margaret Mangan
(mmangan@usgs.gov) at 650-329-5738. Closing date for application is
August 7, 2008. Applicants must be United States citizens. The USGS
is an equal opportunity employer.

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 7 replies

7.2 hits northern Japan

bobs — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 13:05:13 GMT

At least four people have been killed and about 60 hurt by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake which struck the north of Japan's main island.

The epicentre was in Akita prefecture, 100km (60 miles) north of the city of Sendai, at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles), according to the US Geological Survey.

The tremor rattled buildings in nearby towns and in the capital, Tokyo, 390km (240 miles) to the south.

All high-speed bullet trains in the area were automatically shut down.

Several gallons of radioactive water leaked from two pools storing spent fuel at the Fukushima nuclear plant, but the operator said this posed no risk to the environment.

Two other nuclear power plants in the area were being inspected but there were no immediate signs of damage, officials said.

Several people were reportedly buried under mud at a hot spring hit by a landslide, with up to 100 more reportedly trapped.

Advance warning

Seismologists had issued advance warning of the earthquake moments before it struck around 0845 (2343 GMT on Friday).

Footage from NHK television showed surveillance cameras in Sendai being shaken violently for about 30 seconds.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told reporters in Tokyo that one person had been killed by a landslide triggered by the earthquake in Iwaki City in Fukushima prefecture.

Another death occurred in Iwate prefecture, close to the epicentre, when someone ran out of a building in panic and was hit by a lorry.

A third victim was a construction worker hit by a rock at a dam in Iwate, according to the National Police Agency.

A fourth body is reported to have been found in the mountains.

Four people were badly injured near the airport in Sendai when a bus in which they were travelling was jolted by the tremors, Japanese television reported.

Children and at least one teacher were also reportedly hurt when window panes broke at a child care centre in Oshu, it added.

Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries and experiences thousands of minor tremors each year.

An earthquake last year in central Japan caused a small radioactive leak from the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7454283.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 1 reply

Non tectonic tremors research

bobs — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:53:25 GMT

Tiny tremors can track extreme storms in a warming planet
Data from faint earth tremors caused by wind-driven ocean waves—often dismissed as “background noise” at seismographic stations around the world—suggest extreme ocean storms have become more frequent over the past three decades, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the Seismological Society of America.

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other prominent researchers have predicted that stronger and more frequent storms may occur as a result of global warming trends. The tiny tremors, or microseisms, offer a new way to discover whether these predictions are already coming true, said Richard Aster, a geophysics professor at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.

Unceasing as the ocean waves that trigger them, the microseisms show up as five- to 30-second oscillations of Earth’s surface at seismographic stations around the world. Even seismic monitoring stations “in the middle of a continent are sensitive to the waves crashing all around the continent,” Aster said.

As storm winds drive ocean waves higher, the microseism signals increase their amplitude as well, offering a unique way to track storm intensities across seasons, over time, and at different geographical locations. For instance, Aster and colleagues Daniel McNamara from the U.S. Geological Survey and Peter Bromirski of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography recently published analysis in the Seismological Society of America journal Seismological Research Letters showing that microseism data collected around the Pacific Basin and throughout the world could be used to detect and quantify wave activity from multi-year events such as the El Niño and La Niña ocean disruptions.

The findings spurred them to look for a microseism signal that would reveal whether extreme storms were becoming more common in a warming world. In fact, they saw “a remarkable thing,” among the worldwide microseism data collected from 1972 to 2008, Aster recalled. In 22 of the 22 stations included in the study, the number of extreme storm events had increased over time, they found.

While the work on evaluating changes in extreme storms is “still very much in its early stages”, Aster is “hoping that the study will offer a much more global look” at the effects of climate change on extreme storms and the wind-driven waves that they produce. At the moment, most of the evidence linking the two comes from studies of hurricane intensity and shoreline erosion in specific regions such as the Pacific Northwest Gulf of Mexico, he noted.

The researchers are also working on recovering and digitizing older microseism records, potentially creating a data set that stretches back to the 1930s. Aster praised the work of the long-term observatories that have collected the records, calling them a good example of the “Cinderella science”—unloved and overlooked—that often support significant discoveries.

“It’s absolutely great data on the state of the planet. We took a prosaic time series, and found something very interesting in it,” he said.

Source: Seismological Society of America

http://www.physorg.com/news127649990.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 2 replies

Geyser!

bobs — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:09:35 GMT

What Makes an Old Geyser Faithful?

New research suggests that how often Old Faithful and other Yellowstone geysers erupt may depend on annual rainfall patterns.

Geysers are rare hot springs that periodically erupt bursts of steam and hot water. Old Faithful has remained faithful for at least the past 135 years, showering appreciative tourists every 50 to 90 minutes (most recently an average of 91 minutes).

USGS researcher Shaul Hurwitz and his colleagues from Stanford University and Yellowstone National Park have discovered that changes of water supply to a geyser’s underground plumbing may have a large influence on eruption intervals; that is, the time between eruptions. For example, geysers appear to lengthen and shorten their intervals on cycles that mimic annual dry and wet periods.

Multi-year precipitation records also strongly correlate with geyser behavior. Based on these results, the study proposes that an extended drought should result in longer intervals between eruptions, and perhaps even cessation of activity in some geysers. In contrast, in years with high precipitation, eruption intervals should be more frequent. The new research paper, “Climate-Induced Variations of Geyser Periodicity in Yellowstone National Park, USA,” is published in the June issue of the journal Geology http://www.gsajournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1130%2FG24723A.1.

Additional information: Geysers are extremely rare; perhaps less than 1000 exist worldwide, with more than half of them in Yellowstone National Park. The famous Old Faithful Geyser was named in 1870 during the Washburn-Langford-Doane Yellowstone expedition and was the first geyser in the Park to be named. Old Faithful eruptions can be viewed on any computer on Earth via a video camera deployed by the National Park Service (http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/oldfaithfulcam.htm). Instrumental data which records geyser eruption times is available at http://www.geyserstudy.org/. Long-term meteorological trends can be inferred from seasonal streamflow trends like those in the Madison River (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wy/nwis/uv/?site_no=06037500&agency_cd=USGS).

This study is a cooperative effort involving the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service.

The USGS provides science for a changing world. For more information, visit www.usgs.gov.

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 1 reply

Etna's off again!

bobs — Wed, 08 Sep 2004 16:16:18 GMT

From: Sonia Calvari <calvari@ct.ingv.it>

Etna: start of a new effusive eruption

On 7 September 2004 at about 10:30 local time a new effusive eruption
started from the summit of Mt. Etna. A N110°E eruptive fissure about
230 m long opened at the base of the SE-Crater without any significant
seismic activity. A degassed lava flow poured out from the base of the
fissure, spreading towards the Valle del Bove. The lava flow had very
low output rate (between 0.2 and 0.5 m3/s), was about 1 m thick, 10 m
wide and up to 250 m long. In the morning of 8 September the flow
appeared no longer fed, but the eruptive fissure is still spreading
down slope. The eruptive event is not accompanied by seismicity and
explosive activity. However, the situation is still evolving. Other
news and updates will be given as soon as available. The INGV-CT
website publishes (in Italian) updates of the eruption at
www.ct.ingv.it

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 16 replies

An interesting read:

bobs — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:21:51 GMT

The unusual suspects
Jul 1, 2000 12:00 PM

Larry Collins

When you hear the word "unconventional" used to describe swiftwater and flood hazards, you might think that they're rare enough not to worry about. Unfortunately, the only thing rare about these dangers is how often they're considered by emergency planners and responders, not to mention the public. The threat they represent is very real in many regions of North America.

Unconventional hazards include dam failure, hurricane-induced flooding, mud and debris flows, and even tsunamis. At first glance, these events may appear so unlikely that you may wonder whether they warrant separate discussion. But if history is taken as a whole, it's apparent that they occur with startling regularity. In fact, new evidence indicates some of these phenomena are far more likely than previously thought.

The nation's fire and rescue services are increasingly being held accountable for maintaining readiness even for unlikely emergencies, especially if they carry the potential for massive loss of life and property. If any of the hazards discussed herein are recognized as "potentials" within your agency's jurisdiction, prudence dictates active planning and development of realistic consequence management capabilities.

Problems of biblical proportions Dam failure certainly falls under the heading of unconventional hazard, even though history is filled with instances in which manmade or natural dams have failed, causing massive destruction and loss of life.

Some scholars and scientists are convinced that even the biblical Flood of Noah is a veiled reference to an actual flood that occurred centuries ago in what is now Turkey. New evidence indicates that the Mediterranean Sea had slowly risen to a level equal with the top of a natural land bridge that separated the Mediterranean from the Black Sea, near the Bosporus.

The Mediterranean overtopped the land bridge and began rushing over into the Black Sea, the surface of which was hundreds of feet lower in elevation. As the Mediterranean began draining into the former landlocked sea, the natural land bridge was rapidly eaten away. Finally, the land bridge failed, causing an epochal flood that swept away or inundated all of the area's settlements while raising the level of the Black Sea by dozens of meters.

The recent discovery of flood debris and alluvial material on the submerged floor of the Black Sea indicates it was once an ancient lakeside shoreline. This and other evidence support the theory of a true Great Flood in the Middle East, caused in part by the failure of a natural dam.

Natural dams develop under a variety of conditions, including landslides and rock slides that block rivers, volcanic eruptions, and the slow elevation of land masses due to earthquakes and other tectonic forces. They're inherently unstable, and their sudden failure can prove catastrophic.

Manmade dam mistakes Manmade dams fail from a number of causes, including faulty engineering, poor siting in relation to geologic hazards, sabotage and even earthquakes. During this century alone, thousands of people have been killed by collapsing dams in the Americas.

It's a little-known fact that the second-greatest life-loss incident in California history was the 1928 collapse of the St. Francis Dam. Engineered by the legendary William Mulholland in the deep San Francisquito canyon north of Los Angeles County's Santa Clarita Valley, the St. Francis Dam collapsed during the night, sending forth a 90-foot wall of water that killed more than 500 people. The exact toll of this flood will never be known because some victims were never found. Thirty miles away, when the flood met the Pacific Ocean, it was still 8 feet high and half a mile wide.

Since then, another large dam has been built in the vicinity of the original, and the population in the inundation zone has grown from thousands to well over 100,000 people. A similar event today could easily become the nation's worst disaster in terms of life loss.

The potential for manmade dam failure in that region is particularly chilling when one considers the potential damage from earthquakes. Scientists from the California State Division of Mines and Geology released a report predicting that up to 20,000 fatalities from earthquake-related dam failures could be expected in the greater Los Angeles area. With more than 200 dams in L.A. County alone, the potential for failure during earthquakes - not to mention other causes like engineering problems or terrorist acts - is ever-present.

With the exception of evacuation, almost nothing can be done for victims caught in the direct path of a dam failure inundation. However, many may be trapped and in need of rescue from the perimeters of such a flood. This is where water and debris can create conventional swiftwater rescue predicaments, such as people trapped in trees, or on homes, hillsides, bridges and automobiles.

Hurricane-induced flooding Test question: What's the most common cause of death resulting from hurricanes in the Americas?

a) The storm surge

b) Structural collapse

c) Flying debris

d) Sickness and disease

Surprisingly, the answer is none of the above. In hurricane after hurricane, the prevalent cause of death is drowning due to the intense deluge of rain and its attendant flash floods, dam failures, fast-rise flooding and other swiftwater rescue emergencies that accompany these storms.

Now, this isn't meant to downplay the danger posed by the storm surge or any other effects of hurricanes, but it's important for fire and rescue managers and emergency responders to understand that most people who die in these events are swept away by fast-moving water or trapped by fast-rising floods. This is especially true where mountains, canyons, foothills and other terrain features concentrate water in highly destructive flash floods and torrents.

Therefore, hurricane consequence management is largely a swiftwater rescue issue, complicated by the effects of storm surge, extremely high winds, structural collapse, fires and other typical hurricane problems. This was clearly demonstrated during the past couple of years on the East Coast and in South America, where tens of thousands perished in floods, landslides, and mud and debris flows.

Mud and debris flows Mud and debris flows are some of the deadliest natural events. They caused tens of thousands of fatalities when Hurricane Mitch slammed into South America in 1998. In the Venezuelan coastal city of La Guaira, mountains of rock, mud, trees and other water-borne debris roared through the downtown streets for days. The mud and debris flows were so immense that high-rise buildings acted much like boulders in a stream, creating eddies downstream while forcing millions of tons of debris to pile upstream.

In his book "The Control of Nature," John McPhee writes a simple but eloquent description of a 1978 mud and debris flow that buried a neighborhood in the Los Angeles suburb La Canada, which is nestled below the San Gabriel Mountains.

"It was not a landslide, not a mudslide, not a rock avalanche; nor by any means was it the front of a conventional flood.... In geology, it would be known as a debris flow. Debris flows amass in stream valleys and more or less resemble fresh concrete. They consist of water mixed with a good deal of solid material, most of which is above sand size. Some of it is Chevrolet size. Boulders bigger than cars ride long distances in debris flows. Boulders grouped like fish eggs pour downhill in debris flows.... It was not only full of boulders; it was so full of automobiles it was like bread dough mixed with raisins."

The La Canada mud and debris flow buried several homes to their roofs. One family and most of their furniture were floated to the ceiling by the invading mud. They were trapped for several hours, faces to the ceiling with precious little breathing room, until L.A. County firefighters tore through the roof of the house to rescue them.

Debris flows are a little-known phenomenon endemic to places where steep mountains and foothills rise above valleys and flood plains. They often occur where the mountains are cracked and fractured by earthquakes and tectonic forces, which makes them more vulnerable to erosion.

If the mountains are covered with highly flammable vegetation, the probability of debris flows increases exponentially, because vegetation is sometimes all that keeps boulders and soil clinging to the slopes. When fire denudes the vegetation, the rock and soil begin sliding and falling into the canyon bottoms. (See sidebar, page 50.) During intense rains, tremendous amounts of debris can be quickly turned to a slurry and mobilized into a huge flood.

Mud and debris flows in steep terrain commonly move faster than 20mph, and they have been known to travel faster than 100mph. Debris flows have moved rocks measuring more than 2,400 cubic feet. One debris flow in the Tujunga area of Los Angeles County transported a boulder weighing 15 tons into a residential area two miles from the San Gabriel Mountains. In places like the Santa Monica Mountains, which hug the Pacific Coast of Southern California, conditions are ripe for debris flows. The mountains there are fractured and unstable, and ancient landslides cause mudslides nearly every time it rains.

Tall waves, tall tales There's yet another earthquake-related hazard emerging in coastal zones and even large lakes: The possibility that a series of tsunamis could wipe out extensive areas of densely-populated land within minutes of a large quake.

Almost universally, the threat of tsunamis in the United States has been considered to emanate from Northern California, Oregon, Washington State, British Columbia and Alaska, all of which sit on the Cascadia Subduction Zone. It's the site of one of the world's largest earthquakes, which caused the coastline to drop nearly 30 feet in places and generated huge tsunamis that wreaked havoc across the entire Pacific Ocean.

However, that quake occurred long before Europeans had settled on the West Coast, and until recently the Native American account of a giant shaking followed by the sea rushing in to destroy all the villages was treated as a myth.

But recent findings are a chilling reminder that myths are often based on actual events. In the late 1980s, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist from Seattle set out looking for evidence to prove or disprove the legends. Working waist-deep in a marsh far from the coast, Brian Atwater sliced into peat with chain saws, discovering a thick layer of sand where there should only have been sedimentary deposits. Nearby were dead forests of cedar and spruce trees that he suspected of having been drowned in salt water - an ominous sign many miles from the coast.

By counting the tree rings, scientists estimated that the trees died en masse, possibly in a single event, sometime between 1680 and 1720. A search of historical records showed that a series of large tsunamis struck the coast of Japan at midnight Jan. 27, 1700. Knowing that tsunamis move through the ocean at more than 500mph, the researchers worked backward, determining that a magnitude 9+ earthquake occurred at 9 p.m. on Jan. 26, 1700.

From archeological excavations performed at coastal Indian village sites, scientists like Robert Losey of the University of Oregon are piecing together the effects of the quake and the tsunami. Some of the sites are accessible now only at low tide, indicating that the land itself dropped some 30 feet during the quake. Tsunamis washed across large swaths of land, flooding places that had previously been beyond the reach of the sea.

"There's an explicit tale of a mythological character called Earthquake traveling along the coast, sinking Prairie into Ocean," Losey recently said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. "That's exactly what happened geologically."

Surprise near-source hazards In Southern California, emergency officials have long been assured that the threat of tsunamis rested with distant sources, leaving plenty of time for warning and evacuation. But that's changing as a result of the newly discovered threat of near-source tsunamis in Southern California and even Lake Tahoe.

To understand why near-source tsunamis are a serious concern, one need look no farther than Turkey. A rarely discussed effect of the recent earthquake there was the devastation caused by tsunamis, which practically wiped out portions of several coastal cities. Spawned by the 7.4 main shock, tsunamis struck land within minutes of the shaking, just as some people were emerging from their homes in the pre-dawn darkness to assess the damage and begin rescuing those trapped within.

Each tsunami, pushed by the mass of the unsettled Sea of Marmara, rushed inland like a flash flood in the dark. Walls of black water up to two stories high carried automobiles, boats and debris. As each wave receded, buildings, vehicles and people were washed back to the sea. It was a cruel blow, piling more misery on a population that had just been struck by one of the worst natural calamities of the century.

It also complicated search and rescue operations by denying or delaying access by firefighters and other rescuers. Many victims, some of whom might otherwise have survived until rescue teams reached them, drowned as sea water swept into quake-damaged buildings.

In Southern California, it was generally assumed that locally generated tsunamis were a non-issue, because there are no subduction zones along this stretch of coast. Until recently, reliable information about local tsunami hazards was difficult to find. The prevailing view was that most offshore faults in Southern California were of the strike/slip variety, which were considered incapable of generating large tsunamis.

However, the 1992 Mendocino Earthquake, which surprised seismologists by generating a small tsunami in Northern California, prompted a re-evaluation of near-source tsunami hazards in California. This was soon followed by the disastrous Northridge Earthquake that originated from a previously unidentified "hidden thrust fault," surprising scientists and beginning a quest to quantify the threat posed by thrust faults.

In the intervening years, a number of previously unknown thrust faults have been identified beneath the waters of the Pacific, off the shores of Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Researchers have also discovered evidence that large underwater landslides in deep offshore canyons pose a major tsunami risk, even before earthquakes are factored in.

New theories hold that populated coastal areas of Los Angeles County and other parts of Southern California are at moderate to high risk from large tsunamis generated by local earthquakes and underwater landslides. According to scientific researchers, the potential for heavy damage and loss of life from these events is significant. Perhaps most disturbing are new findings that local offshore faults are capable of generating large tsunamis that can strike the coast of Los Angeles County within as few as eight minutes, leaving little time for warnings or evacuation.

The message for fire/rescue personnel is clear: If tsunamis are preceded by earthquakes that cause fires, structural collapses, hazmat releases and injuries along the coast, emergency responders will be exposed to significant hazards that they may not anticipate.

Considering the potential effects of so-called "unconventional" swiftwater and flood rescue hazards, it's apparent that they deserve attention in places where there's an indication of true risk. Although it's true that we'd be hard-pressed to address all the rescue problems that would accompany some of these worst-case scenarios, it's also true that rational preparation begins with recognizing their potential and assessing the impact that something of this magnitude might have.

Wildfires play a pivotal role in creating conditions for mud and debris flows. In California, for example, chaparral litter piles up thick in the years between fires. As this debris decomposes, it gives up its high amounts of internal oils, in the form of waxy, long-chain hydrocarbons, to the soil.

When intense fires sweep the area, fed explosively by the oil-laden plants, the waxy compounds are vaporized and condense in a layer a few inches below the ground. During this reaction, the layer of soil just below this surface condensation essentially becomes hard and waterproof.

After the fire, dry unconsolidated particles of soil, rock, ashes and other material are left in thick layers on steep canyon walls. Without plants and roots to hold this material to the slopes, it cascades down hillsides in a steady dry stream, "pre-loading" the canyons for debris flows. Earthquakes add to the problem, causing tremendous landslides that rain down into the canyons.

Rain is the trigger that can literally move large portions of mountains. The top soil quickly becomes saturated with water, increasing the pore pressure just above the hydrophobic, or waterproof, layer. Soon, the topsoil liquefies and begins moving downhill.

Seeking the path of least resistance, as a stream would, the mud flow creates small canals called "rills" across the hydrophobic layer. The rills speed the water downslope, sometimes increasing the velocity threefold - while increasing the transport capacity a thousandfold. As rills develop across the face of the burned slopes, they connect, forming small tributaries leading to the bottom drainages. Massive loads of debris can now be mobilized by relatively small amounts of rainfall.

With the onset of intense rainfall, the trigger is set, the trap is sprung, and anyone down canyon is vulnerable to the unannounced arrival of huge walls of mud, rock, water, trees, and sometimes homes and cars.

For reasons still not entirely understood, wildfire burn areas seem to attract tremendously intense rain. Amazingly, the burned areas appear to act as separate microclimates, attracting or possibly creating storm cells that concentrate directly over the denuded terrain. This creates one type of worst-case scenario (denuded soil) overlaid by another (intense rain in steep topography).

As noted by John McPhee in "The Control of Nature," an inch of rain on a 10-by 10-mile area of mountain is about 7.2 million tons of water. Mix that amount of water with millions of tons of rock, soil and other debris, add the runoff factor caused by the hydrophobic layer, and the stage is set for disaster.

Tsunami hazards are widely misunderstood, not only by the general public, but also by many members of the emergency services. Contrary to common perceptions, seismic sea waves are not simply larger versions of what's generated by normal oceanographic and meteorological conditions. Tsunamis are very different - and far more dangerous - due to their inertia and their ability to sweep ashore for great distances.

While it's true that tsunamis may be quite tall, the true danger is related to the mass of energy that propels them through the ocean at great speeds. This "thrust" is generally caused by significant vertical movement of large blocks of the earth's crust during earthquakes, the occurrence of large underwater landslides or both.

When such a mass of waterborne energy strikes the coast, it may suddenly raise the level of the sea and drive walls of water far inland, causing a flash flood that can pick up ships and large buildings and carry them inland. This effect can be multiplied by common coastal zone topographic features, such as bays, inlets, and river mouths.

Consider the example of Los Angeles County's Marina Del Rey. Current studies by Prof. Costa Synolakis, University of Southern California School of Engineering, demonstrate that a large portion of this coastal community may be inundated by even a moderate 6-foot tsunami and sea rise, almost certainly causing a large loss of life.

Such a tsunami would carry with it boats, yachts and floating docks as it moved across the water. Upon striking the inland edge of the marina, the wave would come ashore, adding automobiles and buildings to its debris load as it moved onto land. Part of the wave would run up Ballona Creek, causing further damage in adjacent neighborhoods.

Although smaller in size and power, such an event would not be entirely unlike the tsunami that struck Papua, New Guinea, earlier this year. As in that event, Marina Del Rey could be the target of multiple waves, some larger than the first, that could endanger rescuers for 15 to 20 minutes. Aftershocks could cause repeated tsunamis for hours after the main shock. According to researchers, similar effects could occur at Malibu Creek and other local coastal sites.

As the waves subside, equally destructive events can occur when the water rushes back toward the ocean, carrying homes, cars, boats and other debris. For victims caught in the inundation zone, the overall effect of the incoming and outgoing waves is not dissimilar to that of multiple flash floods that completely - and repeatedly - reverse course.

http://firechief.com/rescue/firefighting_unusual_suspects/

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 0 replies

Burmese storm toll 'tops 10,000'

bobs — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:06:29 GMT

More than 10,000 people were killed in a devastating cyclone that hit western Burma on Saturday, Foreign Minister Nyan Win has said on state TV.

He said his government was ready to accept international assistance, and aid shipments were now being prepared.

Thousands of survivors of Cyclone Nargis are lacking shelter, drinking water, power and communications, but in many regions help has not yet arrived.

Five regions, in which 24m people live, have been declared disaster zones.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was "very saddened" by the news of the disaster.

He said UN officials were meeting Burmese government representatives to discuss how to respond.

Toll multiplies

Nargis hit the south-east Asian country on Saturday with wind speeds reaching 190km/h (120mph).

Earlier on Monday, the death toll was put at just 351, but later reports from state media increased the known death toll more than 10-fold to nearly 4,000.

The toll soared again when Nyan Win spoke at a news conference, also attended by the country's prime minister and information minister, and broadcast on state television.

"According to the latest information, more than 10,000 people were killed," he said.

He said information about the scale of the disaster was still being collected, and warned the toll could yet rise.

"We will welcome help like this from other countries, because our people are in difficulty," Nyan Win said.

The towns of Bogalay and Laputta, in the region of Irrawaddy, are among those locations particularly badly hit, state media reported earlier.

None of the casualty figures have been independently confirmed.

The BBC is not permitted to report from Burma, also known as Myanmar.

Houses 'skeletal'

But reports from the storm-hit region say thousands of buildings have been flattened, power lines downed, trees uprooted, roads blocked and water supplies disrupted.

A Rangoon resident who spoke to relatives in Laputta has told BBC Burmese that 75% to 80% of the town was destroyed.

He said houses along the coast had been reduced to skeletal structures while, further along the coast, 16 villages had been virtually wiped out.

No help had yet reached Laputta, he said.

Pictures on state TV showed security services working to clear roads to allow help through, but in Rangoon and elsewhere there were complaints that the response to the disaster was weak.

"Where are the soldiers and police? They were very quick and aggressive when there were protests in the streets last year," a retired government worker complained to Reuters news agency.

He was referring to protests led by Buddhist monks last year that were quickly put down.

Earlier, a BBC journalist monitoring the situation in Burma from Bangkok, Soe Win, said the shortages of power and water were particularly critical.

"What [people] are saying is that if the situation continues for another two or three days, that will be really, really difficult for them," he said.

Aid assessment

UN disaster response official Richard Horsey confirmed that several hundred thousand people were in need of shelter and clean drinking water.

However, he said it was impossible to tell exactly how many people had been affected because of damage to the roads and telephone systems.

The UN and international aid agencies have sent assessment teams to the worst-hit areas and shipments are being prepared as more offers of help come in.

Aid agencies had brought some emergency supplies into Burma ahead of the cyclone season - but nowhere near enough to cope with the devastation inflicted by Cyclone Nargis.

Thailand has announced it is flying in a transport plane loaded with nine tonnes of food and medicines.

Meanwhile, India says it is dispatching two naval ships carrying food, tents, blankets, clothing, and medicines immediately from Port Blair.

In a statement, the military junta said a referendum on a proposed new national constitution scheduled for next Saturday would still go ahead, insisting Burmese people were "eagerly looking forward to voting".

If the toll is confirmed, Nargis is now the world's deadliest storm since a 1999 cyclone in India killed 10,000 people.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7384041.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 4 replies

General Research:

bobs — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 09:34:17 GMT

Understanding What Causes Rain
Science Daily — Weather models are not good at predicting rain. Particularly in hilly terrain, this can lead to great damage arising from late warnings of floods, or even none at all. From June 1 to September 1, 2007 Delft University of Technology is participating in a major international experiment in Germany’s Black Forest, to learn more about what causes rain. Aircraft and an airship are to be used alongside ground-based observatories. Satellites will be used to gather the large-scale information.

The creation of rain is the result of a variety of physical processes. These processes influence each other and play out both at an extremely small scale (several micrometres) and on a very large one (100 kilometres). The spatial scale of weather models is a few kilometres, and physical processes which occur at a smaller scale have to be approximated. Cloud formation is an example of this. The complexity and differences in scale make weather modelling inaccurate in predicting the time and place of a downpour, and the quantity of rain which will ultimately fall.

Black Forest

The Black Forest has a lot of thunderstorms in summer, and the discrepancies between predictions and actual rainfall are enormous. This makes it an ideal natural ‘laboratory’. Spread over an area of 100 by 100 km, five temporary observatories are being set up with state-of-the-art remote sensing equipment to measure the atmosphere continuously. In July nine aircraft and an airship will also be deployed to carry out detailed measurements above, below and in the clouds. Satellites will be used to gather the large-scale data.

TU Delft

On June 4 TU Delft moved the TARA (Transportable Atmospheric RAdar) atmosphere radar to Germany. The instrument will be sited atop the Hornisgrinde (one of the highest peaks in the Black Forest). There it will measure the atmosphere together with other instruments (LIDARs [Light Detection And Ranging], radiometers, cloud radars).

The TU Delft will also have access to two research aircraft (one French, the other German) which will fly through the clouds to measure their physical properties. These aircraft have been specially assigned to two Delft PhD candidates.

Within this international Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study (COPS), TU Delft will be mainly concerned with the question as to how cloud and rain formation is influenced by dust particles in the atmosphere.

Climate models

The influence of the aerosol-cloud interaction on the earth’s radiation balance is also one of the greatest unknowns in climate models. The data collected during COPS will be suitable for improving models describing the relationship between atmospheric dynamics and cloud formation.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Delft University of Technology.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070605121053.htm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 6 replies

Articles on historical eruptions:

bobs — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 07:57:26 GMT

The summer of acid rain
Dec 19th 2007

Molten iron raining down like cowpats; ice floes at New Orleans. The weather of 1783 was an extraordinary case of sudden climate change driven by atmospheric gases

“AROUND mid-morning on Pentecost, June 8th of 1783, in clear and calm weather, a black haze of sand appeared to the north of the mountains. The cloud was so extensive that in a short time it had spread over the entire area and so thick that it caused darkness indoors. That night, strong earthquakes and tremors occurred.”

Thus begins the eyewitness account of one of the most remarkable episodes of climate change ever seen. It was written by a Lutheran priest, Jon Steingrimsson, in the Sida district of southern Iceland. At nine o'clock that morning, the earth split open along a 16-mile fissure called the Laki volcano. Over the next eight months, in a series of vast belches, more lava gushed through the fissure than from any volcano in historic times—15 cubic kilometres, enough to bury the whole island of Manhattan to the top of the Rockefeller Centre.

Pentecost is the Christian festival celebrating the appearance of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles with the sound, the Bible says, “as of a mighty rushing wind” and an appearance “like as of fire”. But there was nothing metaphorical or festive about the winds and fire of the Laki eruption. It was the greatest calamity in Iceland's history.

“The flood of fire”, Steingrimsson writes, “flowed with the speed of a great river swollen with meltwater on a spring day.” It was rather as if the world's largest steelworks had begun pouring molten metal all over the neighbourhood. When the lava stream ran into water or marshes, “the explosions were as loud as if many cannon were fired at one time.” When it hit an obstacle, such as older lava fields, great gouts of molten metal were flung in the air, splashing back to earth, he says, “like cowpats”. But the damage to Iceland was only the start of a much greater trail of destruction that was eventually to reach halfway round the world, from the Altai mountains of Siberia to the Gulf of Mexico.

There are two sorts of volcanic eruptions, explosive and effusive. The well-known sort is explosive. It has the greater force. Explosions of this sort destroyed Pompeii and star in Hollywood films. Their sheer power throws volcanic gases and ash far into the stratosphere (the higher reaches of the atmosphere), where they absorb incoming radiation and cool the earth until they dissipate after two or three years. The eruption of Krakatoa caused record snowfalls round the world.

Effusive volcanic eruptions are different. They simmer with less force, but produce a greater volume of debris. Laki belched out clouds of volcanic gases 80 times greater than Mount St Helens, though Mount St Helens had much greater explosive power. But because Laki was weaker, three-quarters of the gas reached only as far as the lower atmosphere (the troposphere), the level at which rain, ordinary clouds and surface winds are carried. The gases included enormous quantities of sulphur dioxide; at its peak, the eruption produced as much in two days as European industry produces in a year. Part of this dissolved in the vapour of the clouds to form sulphuric acid. Within a few hours, the Laki volcano had produced a vast plume of acid rain, brooding over the skies of southern Iceland.

In the normal course of events, the prevailing winds would have blown this poisonous plume northwards, towards the Arctic Circle. But the summer of 1783 was not normal. A stable ridge of high pressure had settled over north-east Europe, pulling the winds, and the Laki cloud, south-east, towards the European mainland.

What happened next can be recreated in great detail because in the late 18th century diaries were fashionable among the newly literate middle classes and the circulation of newspapers was rising even in small towns; there was also growing scientific interest in the natural world, with educated amateurs keeping detailed notes of natural phenomena. From such records, one can track the course of the Laki cloud literally day by day (see map).

On June 10th wrote Sæmundur Magnusson Holm at the University of Copenhagen, falling ash coloured black the deck and sails of ships travelling to Denmark. The same day, a Lutheran priest in Norway, Johan Brun, reported that falling ash had withered the grass and leaves in Bergen. Six days later, Anton Strnadt reported that “the dry fog” came up over the river Moldau into Prague while Nicolas von Beguelin reported its first appearance in Berlin the day afterwards. “The sun”, he wrote, “was dull in its shine and coloured as if it had been soaked in blood.”

By June 18th the winds seem to have been blowing the cloud south and west. Robert de Lamanon, a French botanist and explorer, wrote from Laon, in northern France, that “the fog was cold and humid, with the wind coming from the south, and one could with ease look at the sun with a telescope without a blackened lens.” De Lamanon said fog—“such as the oldest men here have not seen before”—first appeared that day in Paris, Turin and Padua, from where Giuseppe Toaldo wrote that the whole of northern Italy was covered by the haze and smelled of sulphur.

The first mention of the haze in Britain came on June 22nd when Henry Bryant wrote to the Norfolk Chronicle that “there was an uncommon gloom in the air, with dead calm and very profuse dew.” Gilbert White, a Hampshire clergyman, noted in his diaries for the 23rd that “the blades of wheat in several fields are turned yellow and look as if scorched with frost.”

By June 26th Leonhard Euler, a Swiss mathematician, reported a “dry fog” in St Petersburg. By the end of the month, the cloud had reached Moscow and Tripoli in Syria, according to a Dutch professor, S.P. van Swinden, whose “Observations on the Cloud which Appeared in 1783” says that “a very thick haze covered both land and sea; the sun could be seen rarely, and always with a bloody colour, which was rare in Syria.” Finally, on July 1st, the haze appeared at Baghdad and in the Altai mountains, according to a geologist, Ivan Michaelovich Renovantz, who reported unseasonable frosts in Central Asia.

By then, back in Europe, the cloud had thickened. This was not a plume like that from Chernobyl, which appeared in one vast belch, spread over Europe and blew away. After its initial effusion, Laki erupted again, more violently, on June 11th and with still greater force on the 14th. Ferenc Weiss, a Hungarian meteorologist, was right to speculate that “the thick fog was being continually replenished”. There were to be ten big eruptions between June 8th and the end of October, followed by a series of rumblings that exhausted themselves only in February 1784.

As the cloud approached western Europe, it was sucked down in a spiral pattern towards the Earth's surface, producing a thick haze near ground level. By mid-summer, the “dry fog” had settled on Europe like a blanket; it was to stay there throughout the summer.

Europeans reacted in different ways. Steingrimsson was in no doubt: the eruption was “the Lord's chastisement”. On the fourth Sunday after Pentecost, with the lava advancing down the valley towards his church “which was shaking and quaking from the cataclysm”, he gathered his flock for Sunday service, as usual. “Both myself and all the others in the church were completely unafraid,” he writes. “No one showed any signs of leaving during the service, which I had made slightly longer than usual.” On emerging, the congregation found that two rivers, blocked by the lava flow, had changed course and poured down, dousing the lava and stopping it yards from the church door. (Two centuries later, Icelanders created the same obstacle by artificial means to save a town threatened by another eruption.) “From this day onwards the fire did no major damage to my parish in any way.”

“The miracle of the fire sermon” became well known and sermons on the freakish cloud common. “You stare at the sky and at the horizon veiled in dark exhalations,” Johann Georg Gottlob Schwarz admonished his audience in Alsfeld, Germany. “The Lord speaks daily to us and reveals in Nature his omniscience.”

The end is nigh
The expressions of faith were driven partly by alarm, even terror. “Some fear to go to bed, expecting an Earthquake; some declare that [the sun] neither rises nor sets where he did, and assert with great confidence that the day of judgment is at hand,” wrote an English poet, William Cowper. Parishioners near Broué, in northern France, dragged their priest out of bed and forced him to perform a rite of exorcism on the cloud. After rains brought temporary relief in Antwerp, the Gazette van Antwerpen reported that public prayers were held to bring more.

Alarm and misapprehension were not confined to the illiterate. The British government, fearing a plague outbreak, drew up plans to close the ports to traffic from the continent. Nor were popular fears mere superstition. The parish records of the English midlands reveal a spike in the number of deaths during July and August 1783, though summer is normally the time of lowest mortality in agricultural societies. Around 23,000 more English people died than would have been expected that year, doubling the normal death toll. In France, on some estimates, 5% of the population died that summer. Unusually, the deaths included young men and women working in the fields, breathing polluted air in stifling heat.

In general, though, “the Connoscenti”, (Cowper's term) sought rational explanations for the haze, rather than the consolations of religion. A French naturalist was the first to connect the fog to volcanic activity in Iceland in a lecture at Montpellier as early as August 7th. In Paris, meteorologists “desirous of making some observations of the atmosphere, had a sort of kite flown to a great height after which it was drawn in, covered with innumerable small black insects.” In an apparent attempt to allay panic, a French astronomer, Jerome de Lalande, wrote a paper arguing the unusual weather was “nothing more than the very natural effect from a hot sun after a long supersession of heavy rain” (he was wrong). Everywhere, educated men left detailed descriptions of the cloud cover; of the unusual appearance of the sun (“ferruginous” said White; “the face of a hot salamander” said Cowper); and of the scorching of leaves and grass and the state of the harvest and livestock.

By the end of October, the last of the big eruptions at Laki was over, and the haze began to dissipate, blown by the autumn winds. It was the end of the cloud but not the end of the damage. One of the gases the volcano threw up was fluorine, which fell quickly back to earth as hydrofluoric acid. In Iceland, this had horrible results. “The horses lost all their flesh,” Steingrimsson wrote, “the skin began to rot off along the spines. The sheep were affected even more wretchedly. There was hardly a part on them free of swellings, especially their jaws, so large that they protruded through the skin...Both bones and gristle were as soft as if they had been chewed.”

Half the horses and cattle and three-quarters of the sheep on the island died. As famine took hold, social bonds began to fray. To protect his remaining cattle, Steingrimsson slept in the cowshed “since thieves were on the prowl.” In all, a quarter of Iceland's population was to die of starvation, including Steingrimsson's beloved wife of 31 years. “When I lost my wonderful wife”, he writes, “everything, so to speak, collapsed around me.”

In Europe, the summer of 1783 had been unusually warm, the warmest recorded in England before 1995. White called the season “an amazing and portentous one, full of horrible phenomena”, and complained of the abnormal number of wasps. The heat may have been a short-term greenhouse-gas effect from high concentrations of sulphur dioxide. Or it may have just been natural variation.

What is more certain is that, high in the atmosphere, the volcanic gases reflected away some of the sun's radiation even after the cloud had dissipated at lower levels. This back-scattering was to have a bigger impact on the climate than the summer cloud itself. The winters that followed the Laki eruption were freakishly cold.

At the time, some people suspected the volcano might be to blame. Benjamin Franklin, then America's ambassador to Paris, wrote to the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester that “[the sun's] effect of heating the Earth was exceedingly diminished. Hence the surface was early frozen. Hence the first snows remained on it unmelted. Hence the air was more chilled. Hence perhaps the winter of 1783-84 was more severe than any that had happened for many years.” In speculating upon the cause, he wondered “whether it was the vast quantity of smoke, long continuing to issue during the summer from Hecla in Iceland [near Laki]”. It was.

On average, temperatures in Europe during 1784 were about 2°C below the norm of the second half of the 18th century; and the closer to Iceland, the bigger the impact. Iceland itself was almost 5°C colder than normal and saw the longest period of sea ice around the island ever recorded. Berlin and Geneva, about 1,300 miles away, were 2ºC below normal, whereas the anomaly in Vienna, 1,700 miles from Laki, was only 1.5°C. Stockholm and Copenhagen, the nearest cities at just over 1,000 miles distant, saw temperatures drop by over 3°C.

Beyond Europe Laki's biggest influence seems to have operated over the greatest distances. The light-scattering effects of volcanic gases in the upper atmosphere reduced the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth and disrupted the normal relationship between temperatures both at the upper and lower levels of the atmosphere, and between the poles and the equator. These are the engines of the weather. Disruptions to them weakened the westerly jet streams, altered the monsoons and affected the weather throughout the northern hemisphere.

The eastern United States suffered one of its longest and coldest winters, with temperatures almost 5°C below average. George Washington, who had just disbanded his victorious army and retired to Mount Vernon, complained that he was “locked up” there by snow and ice between Christmas Eve and early March, while James Madison wrote from his home in Virginia that “we have had a severer season and particularly a greater quantity of snow than is remembered to have distinguished any preceding winter.” The St Lawrence river froze for a dozen miles far inland. In Charleston, South Carolina, which nowadays grinds to a halt with a light dusting of snow, the harbour froze hard enough to skate on. Most extraordinary of all, ice floes floated down the Mississippi, past New Orleans and out into the Gulf of Mexico.

The eastern United States recovered fairly quickly, but places farther afield were not so lucky. Japan suffered one of the three worst famines in its history in 1783-86, when exceptional cold destroyed the rice harvest and as many as 1m people died. Special crews had to be hired to clear the roads of the dead. In Japan this famine is usually attributed to another volcanic eruption, that of Mount Asama, but its impact was small compared with Laki's.

Tree-ring evidence from the Urals, the Yamal peninsula in Siberia and Alaska all suggests northern areas had their coldest summer for 400 to 500 years. The oral history of the Kauwerak tribe of north-western Alaska calls 1783 “the year summer did not come”; the tribe was almost wiped out.

Because of disruption to the monsoons, rainfall in the Nile watershed was down by almost a fifth and in the Niger watershed by more than a tenth. In his “Travels through Syria and Egypt”, Count Constantine Volney, a French orientalist, wrote that “the [Nile] inundation of 1783 was not sufficient, great part of the lands therefore could not be sown for want of being watered. In 1784, the Nile again did not rise to favourable height, and the dearth immediately became excessive. Soon after the end of November, the famine carried off, at Cairo, nearly as many as the plague.” By January 1785, he says, a sixth of Egypt's population had either perished or fled.

In Europe, the Laki eruption was not to leave an indelible mark. Within a few years, weather patterns returned to normal and Europeans had forgotten the extraordinary “dry fog”. But in retrospect, the eruption can be seen to exemplify certain truths about climate change.

Polluting gases can change global temperatures a lot (in this case by cooling, not warming). Volcanic gases can do as much damage as any amount of human activity. But the poisonous cloud was only part of the story. Weather patterns mattered too. Stable anti-cyclones brought the gas to earth in Europe and stratospheric currents then spread it over a third of the globe. And the connections between pollution and weather are complex and unpredictable: people at the time understood the link between the volcano and the haze, but not the connection with events the other side of the globe. Societies are hit very differently: the impact was modest in most of Europe, but devastating in Egypt, Japan and Alaska. Lastly, people react to environmental disruption in ways that are themselves disruptive.

As the Icelanders struggled to return to normal in the summer of 1785, the country's superintendent ordered the paupers of neighbouring districts to be moved to Steingrimsson's area, though there was no food. In desperation, he says, “we held counsel and decided to head east to the beaches. A single man who was there ahead of us, a farmer from Stapafell called Eirikur, had on that day clubbed 70 adult seals and 120 pups on the beaches. I held a service in Kalfafell in the finest weather we experienced during that time where all of us gladly thanked God for His mercy in so richly providing for us in this barren land and so agreeably removing all the famine and death which otherwise awaited.”

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10311405

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 2 replies

The Aurora

bobs — Tue, 24 Aug 2004 20:47:58 GMT

The Northern Lights, or 'Aurora Borealis', are a natural light show that can be seen at the North Pole. They also occurs at the South Pole, where they are called the 'Southern Lights' or 'Aurora Australis'. They are a spectacular display of different shades and colours of light rapidly moving in the night sky.

The lights occur when particles from the sun interact with the Earth's atmosphere. These particles are what's know as 'solar wind', and are quickly moving charged particles that are emitted from the Sun. The solar wind is very closely linked to the 11 year solar sunspot cycle and to solar flares. Most of the world is protected from these particles by the magnetic field of the earth, except the Poles. Here the solar wind can interact with the Earth's atmosphere.

When the charged particles collide with the Earth's air molecules, their energy is emitted as light. As the solar wind only interacts with the air at the Poles, this is where we see the lights, in a ring around the Poles called the 'auroral ovals'. When there are more particles travelling from the sun, the ring expands and northern lights have been reported in the UK. They are more common in the north of Scotland, as it is further north.

The lights occur very high above the Earth, usually over 40 miles high. This is even higher than jet planes fly, but the lights have been seen as high as 600 miles above Earth, which is even higher than space shuttles fly.

The solar wind can also have an effect on our telecommunications. Many radio signals are 'bounced' around the Earth using the top of the atmosphere. The charged particles of the solar wind disturb parts of the atmosphere, which causes interference.

Long ago, weather forecasts were predicted using the aurora. Countries could not agree on what they indicated though. In Greenland they were believed to forecast storms, but elsewhere they were believed to foretell fine weather. We now use more sophisticated methods of forecasting weather, but the there is some indication that the overall climate may have some link with the amount of aurora activity.

The Earth is not alone in experiencing this light show. Aurora have also been reported on Jupiter, it just seems a waste that no one is able to witness it!

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 2 replies

El Nino

bobs — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 11:51:23 GMT

New El Nino sparks weather fears
By Corinne Podger
BBC News

The periodic phenomenon known as El Nino has developed in the Pacific Ocean threatening extreme weather in many parts of the world, US scientists say.

El Ninos begin with a warming of waters in the eastern Pacific, and there has been a steep rise in water temperature in recent weeks, they say.

This El Nino is likely to strengthen towards the end of the year and early into 2007, the researchers add.

However it is not expected to reach the strength of the 1997 phenomenon.

In that year El Nino brought drought to parts of Asia and Australia, and heavy rains and floods to Latin America.

Scientists from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) say there has been drier-than-average weather in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines - countries which are often the first to show the effects of a new El Nino.

But the early indications are that weather changes will be milder than in some previous events.

"What happens is that the cool current over the eastern Pacific, which brings cold waters from the Antarctic, up the South American coast towards the equator - the Humboldt currrent - weakens, and this allows El Nino to develop off South America, and the temperatures rise quite considerably," commented Dr Harvey Sterne from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

"In some years we've had four or five degrees Celsius above normal; now, this year, they're about one or two degrees above normal, so it's nothing like we had in the early 1980s."

Noaa says this latest phenomenon may explain why this year's Atlantic hurricane season has so far been weaker than expected - winds associated with El Nino events disrupt and weaken storm formation.

The researchers are also predicting a milder-than-average winter for much of North America, and wetter weather for the US Gulf Coast and Florida.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5345184.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 17 replies

The Jet Stream stories and research

bobs — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:31:49 GMT

America's Jet Stream Creeping North

Seth Borenstein, Associated Press

April 18, 2008 -- The jet stream -- America's stormy weather maker -- is creeping northward and weakening, new research shows. That potentially means less rain in the already dry South and Southwest and more storms in the North.

And it could also translate into more and stronger hurricanes, since the jet stream suppresses their formation. The study's authors said they have to do more research to pinpoint specific consequences.

From 1979 to 2001, the Northern Hemisphere's jet stream moved northward on average at a rate of about 1.25 miles a year, according to the paper published Friday in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The authors suspect global warming is the cause, but have yet to prove it.

The jet stream is a high-speed, constantly shifting river of air about 30,000 feet above the ground that guides storm systems and cool air around the globe. And when it moves away from a region, high pressure and clear skies predominate.

Two other jet streams in the Southern Hemisphere are also shifting poleward, the study found.

The northern jet stream "is the dominant thing that creates weather systems for the United States," said study co-author Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Stanford, Calif. "Bascially look south of where you are and that's probably a good guess of what your weather may be like in a few decades."

The study looked at the average location of the constantly moving jet stream and found that when looked at over decades, it has shifted northward. The study's authors and other scientists suggest that the widening of the Earth's tropical belt -- a development documented last year -- is pushing the three jet streams toward the poles.

Climate models have long predicted that with global warming, the world's jet streams would move that way, so it makes sense to think that's what happening, Caldeira said. However, proving it is a rigorous process, using complex computer models to factor in all sorts of possibilities. That has not been done yet.

A rate of 1.25 miles a year "doesn't sound like much, but that works out to about 18 feet per day," Caldeira said. "If you think about climate zones shifting northward at this rate, you can imagine squirrels keeping up. But what are oak trees going to do?

"We are seeing a general northward shift of all sorts of phenomena in the Northern Hemisphere occurring at rates that are faster than what ecosystems can keep up with," he said.

Dian Seidel, a research meteorologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who wrote a study about the widening tropical belt last year, said she was surprised that Caldeira found such a small shift. Her study documented that the tropical belt was bulging at a much faster rate. Caldeira said his figures represent the minimum amount of movement.

The jet stream also factors into bumpy air travel. It is a cause of clear air turbulence that airline pilots try to avoid by tracking where the jet stream is.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/04/18/jet-stream-storm.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 0 replies

Out of this world........... news stories concerning our neighbours:

bobs — Thu, 09 Jun 2005 13:17:47 GMT

Mars Has An Aurora, And It's Like None Other In The Solar System

London, UK (ESA) Jun 09, 2005
Mars Express was flying 270 kilometers (168 miles) above the planet when SPICAM's field of view was positioned just above the limb, or edge, of the planet during the Aug. 11, 2004 orbit.
SPICAM, a spectrograph, detected a 30-kilometer wide (19-mile wide) auroral emission, which comes mainly from excited carbon monoxide molecules, 140 kilometers (87 miles) above the planet.

"Earth and all the giant planets have aurorae because they generate a global-scale magnetic field that extends great distances beyond the planet," said University of Arizona scientist Bill Sandel, a co-investigator on SPICAM. "Their planetary magnetic fields are so extensive that they accelerate and energize the charged particles that excite the auroras.

"That's not the case on Mars, and that's why this discovery is so interesting," Sandel said.

"Mars has no internally generated, planetary-scale magnetic field. It has what are called 'crustal magnetic anomalies' scattered around the martian surface, remnants of what presumably was Mars' planetary-scale magnetic field that was active when the planet was younger. These crustal pieces are the leftovers of that earlier field."

To visualize what's going on, think of magnetic lines as wires rising from patches of Mars' surface crust and reaching out beyond the planet.

Electrons that have come from the solar wind flow down the "wires" toward Mars' surface, losing energy as they collide with molecules in Mars' thin atmosphere. The energy released on impact excites the auroral emission.

The aurora is brightest when the particles reach the densest part of the atmosphere, a narrow layer where the charged particles stop because they've lost all their energy in collisions with air molecules.

We on Earth, if at the right latitudes at the right time of year, see the aurora in spectacular nighttime Northern Light and Southern Light shows. If you had ultraviolet eyes and were standing at the right place on Mars, you'd see an aurora 100 times dimmer than Earth's, Sandel said.

"Now that we see the aurora, we'll get a better idea of what Mars' magnetic structure really is," Sandel said.

Sandel is a co-investigator on Voyager's ultraviolet spectrometer experiment that flew by the outer solar system planets in the 1970s and 1980s.

That team was led by Lyle Broadfoot, also of UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. "I'm personally excited about discovering an aurora on Mars because I'm part of the team that also discovered the auroras of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune," he said.

Mars Express's SPICAM saw the strongest aurora where NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter previously detected the planet's strongest crustal anomalies, at about 180 degrees longitude and 50 degrees southern latitude.

The European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter detected the unique phenomenon with its ultraviolet instrument called SPICAM in August 2004. French, U.S. and Russian scientists are reporting the discovery this week in Nature.

Related Links
Mars at ESA
Science News at University of Arizona
http://www.marsdaily.com/

http://www.marsdaily.com/news/mars-atmosphere-05c.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 21 replies

Latest Earthquakes M5.0+ in the World - Past 7 days

bobs — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 10:37:53 GMT

No e mail notification for this list, so I'll try and remember to check it weekly!

Latest Earthquakes Magnitude 5.0 and Greater in the World - Last 7 days

Magnitude 5 and greater earthquakes located by the USGS and contributing networks in the last week (168 hours).

The most recent earthquakes are at the top of the list. Times are in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Click on the word "map" to see a ten-degree tall map displaying the earthquake. Click on an event's "DATE" to get a detailed report.

DISCLAIMER

Update time = Sun Mar 11 10:00:04 UTC 2007

MAG UTC DATE-TIME
y/m/d h:m:s LAT
deg LON
deg DEPTH
km Region
MAP 6.1 2007/03/11 07:09:22 44.121 147.841 10.0 KURIL ISLANDS

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MAP 5.9 2007/03/10 21:12:59 55.291 161.891 45.2 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA, RUSSIA
MAP 5.7 2007/03/10 17:03:38 74.198 8.564 10.0 GREENLAND SEA
MAP 5.1 2007/03/10 15:05:47 -22.168 -176.015 43.7 SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS
MAP 5.4 2007/03/10 14:07:10 -22.800 -70.040 30.2 ANTOFAGASTA, CHILE

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MAP 5.5 2007/03/09 21:01:38 13.156 -87.503 227.5 GOLFO DE FONSECA, HONDURAS
MAP 5.1 2007/03/09 17:44:06 20.097 121.489 50.1 BATAN ISLANDS REGION, PHILIPPINES
MAP 5.4 2007/03/09 10:38:07 -6.438 130.206 137.6 BANDA SEA
MAP 5.9 2007/03/09 07:27:31 -11.428 66.329 10.0 MID-INDIAN RIDGE
MAP 6.0 2007/03/09 03:22:43 43.218 133.546 436.2 PRIMORYE, RUSSIA

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MAP 6.2 2007/03/08 11:14:32 -58.188 -7.615 10.0 EAST OF THE SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS
MAP 6.1 2007/03/08 05:03:33 29.918 140.281 138.6 IZU ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
MAP 5.2 2007/03/08 00:47:23 0.039 126.762 58.1 MOLUCCA SEA

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MAP 5.3 2007/03/07 23:27:22 -0.047 127.218 109.4 HALMAHERA, INDONESIA
MAP 5.4 2007/03/07 23:01:25 3.146 -31.925 10.0 CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
MAP 5.1 2007/03/07 22:57:20 24.095 122.347 40.2 TAIWAN REGION
MAP 5.9 2007/03/07 10:53:37 1.955 97.888 30.0 NIAS REGION, INDONESIA

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MAP 5.4 2007/03/06 21:30:09 -15.019 -73.777 65.4 SOUTHERN PERU
MAP 5.2 2007/03/06 13:05:12 2.063 -76.509 42.3 COLOMBIA
MAP 6.3 2007/03/06 05:49:29 -0.490 100.529 30.0 SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
MAP 6.4 2007/03/06 03:49:39 -0.512 100.524 19.0 SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
MAP 5.3 2007/03/06 00:09:08 -1.013 126.898 25.5 KEPULAUAN SULA, INDONESIA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MAP 5.2 2007/03/05 01:15:50 -30.258 -177.756 35.0 KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MAP 5.2 2007/03/04 22:39:24 34.471 -36.892 9.8 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
MAP 5.6 2007/03/04 11:26:15 34.030 -38.834 10.0 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_big.php

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 18 replies

GVP/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report :7

bobs — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:03:25 GMT

GVP/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report
27 February-4 March 2008
Sally Kuhn Sennert - Weekly Report Editor
kuhns@si.edu
URL: http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/
****************************************************************

*NEW* RSS and CAP news feeds of the Weekly Volcanic Activity Report
are now available!!!

New Activity/Unrest: | Bagana, Bougainville Island (SW Pacific) | Ol
Doinyo Lengai, Tanzania | Veniaminof, Alaska Peninsula

Ongoing Activity: | Anatahan, Mariana Islands (Central Pacific) |
Cleveland, Chuginadak Island | Kilauea, Hawaii (USA) | Llaima, Central
Chile | Lokon-Empung, Sulawesi (Indonesia) | Nevado del Huila,
Colombia | Rabaul, New Britain (SW Pacific) | Shiveluch, Central
Kamchatka (Russia) | Soufrière Hills, Montserrat | Tungurahua, Ecuador
| Ubinas, Perú

The Weekly Volcanic Activity Report is a cooperative project between
the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program and the US Geological
Survey's Volcano Hazards Program. Updated by 2300 UTC every Wednesday,
notices of volcanic activity posted on these pages are preliminary and
subject to change as events are studied in more detail. This is not a
comprehensive list of all of Earth's volcanoes erupting during the
week, but rather a summary of activity at volcanoes that meet criteria
discussed in detail in the "Criteria and Disclaimers" section.
Carefully reviewed, detailed reports on various volcanoes are
published monthly in the Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network.

Note: Many news agencies do not archive the articles they post on the
Internet, and therefore the links to some sources may not be active.
To obtain information about the cited articles that are no longer
available on the Internet contact the source.

New Activity/Unrest

BAGANA Bougainville Island (SW Pacific) 6.140°S, 155.195°E; summit elev. 1750 m

Based on observations of satellite imagery and information from RVO,
the Darwin VAAC reported that a diffuse plume from Bagana rose to an
altitude of less than 3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted SW on 3
March. Later that day an ash-and-steam plume drifted SW.

Geologic Summary. Bagana volcano, occupying a remote portion of
central Bougainville Island, is one of Melanesia's youngest and most
active volcanoes. Bagana is a massive symmetrical lava cone largely
constructed by an accumulation of viscous andesitic lava flows. The
entire lava cone could have been constructed in about 300 years at its
present rate of lava production. Eruptive activity at Bagana is
characterized by non-explosive effusion of viscous lava that maintains
a small lava dome in the summit crater, although explosive activity
occasionally producing pyroclastic flows also occurs. Lava flows form
dramatic, freshly preserved tongue-shaped lobes up to 50-m-thick with
prominent levees that descend the volcano's flanks on all sides.

Source: Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC)
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/OTH/AU/messages.html

OL DOINYO LENGAI Tanzania 2.764°S, 35.914°E; summit elev. 2962 m

According to Frederick Belton's Ol Doinyo Lengai website, a visitor
reported a large plume accompanied by a "bang" during 26-27 February.
The Toulouse VAAC reported that a pilot observed an ash plume that
rose to an altitude of 10.7 km (35,000 ft) a.s.l. on 27 February.
Another possible ash plume rose to the same altitude on 28 February
and drifted SW. Based on a SIGMET, pilot reports, and observations of
satellite imagery, the VAAC reported that eruption plumes possibly
containing ash rose to altitudes of 10.7-13.7 km (35,000-45,000 ft)
a.s.l. during 29 February and 3-4 March.

Geologic Summary. The symmetrical Ol Doinyo Lengai stratovolcano is
the only volcano known to have erupted carbonatite tephras and lavas
in historical time. The prominent volcano, known as "The Mountain of
God," rises abruptly above the broad plain S of Lake Natron. The
cone-building stage of the volcano ended about 15,000 years ago and
was followed by periodic ejection of natrocarbonatite and nephelinite
tephra during the Holocene. Historical eruptions have consisted of
smaller tephra eruptions and emission of numerous natrocarbonatitic
lava flows on the floor of the summit crater. Petrologists first
observed the eruption of carbonatitic lava flows in the 1960s.
Subsequent more frequent visits have documented long-term lava
effusion in the summit crater that would not have been seen from the
foot of the volcano.

Sources: Frederick Belton's Ol Doinyo Lengai website
http://www.mtsu.edu/%7Efbelton/latestnews.html

Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/OTH/FR/messages.html

VENIAMINOF Alaska Peninsula 56.17°N, 159.38°W; summit elev. 2507 m

AVO reported elevated seismic activity from Veniaminof during 27
February-4 March. Web camera views showed steaming from the cone and
occasional small ash bursts that rose to 200 m above the crater on 27
February. During 28 February-3 March views were obscured by cloud
cover; low-level steaming was seen on 29 February during a break in
the weather.

Geologic Summary. Massive Veniaminof volcano, one of the highest and
largest volcanoes on the Alaska Peninsula, is truncated by a
steep-walled, 8 x 11 km, glacier-filled caldera that formed around
3,700 years ago. The caldera rim is up to 520 m high on the N, is
deeply notched on the W by Cone Glacier, and is covered by an ice
sheet on the S. Post-caldera vents are located along a NW-SE zone
bisecting the caldera that extends 55 km from near the Bering Sea
coast, across the caldera, and down the Pacific flank. Historical
eruptions probably all originated from the westernmost and most
prominent of two intra-caldera cones, which reaches an elevation of
2,156 m and rises about 300 m above the surrounding icefield. The
other cone is larger, and has a summit crater or caldera that may
reach 2.5 km in diameter, but is more subdued and barely rises above
the glacier surface.

Source: Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) http://www.avo.alaska.edu/

Ongoing Activity

ANATAHAN Mariana Islands (Central Pacific) 16.35°N, 145.67°E; summit elev. 790 m

The USGS reported that levels of seismicity at Anatahan were elevated
during 27 February-4 March. During 27-29 February emissions of sulfur
dioxide were detected by the satellite-based Ozone Monitoring
Instrument (OMI). Based on observations of satellite imagery, the
Washington VAAC reported that an ash plume drifted SSW on 28 February.
The USGS reported that a second plume rose to an altitude of less than
3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted 240 km NW during 3-4 March.

Geologic Summary. The elongate, 9-km-long island of Anatahan in the
central Mariana Islands consists of large stratovolcano with a 2.3 x 5
km, E-W-trending compound summit caldera. The larger western caldera
is 2.3 x 3 km wide, and its western rim forms the island's 790-m high
point. Ponded lava flows overlain by pyroclastic deposits fill the
floor of the western caldera, whose SW side is cut by a fresh-looking
smaller crater. The 2-km-wide eastern caldera contained a steep-walled
inner crater whose floor prior to the 2003 eruption was only 68 m
above sea level. Sparseness of vegetation on the most recent lava
flows on Anatahan had indicated that they were of Holocene age, but
the first historical eruption of Anatahan did not occur until May
2003, when a large explosive eruption took place forming a new crater
inside the eastern caldera.

Sources: Emergency Management Office of the Commonwealth of the
Mariana Islands and the US Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano
Observatory http://volcano.wr.usgs.gov/cnmistatus.php

Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/messages.html

CLEVELAND Chuginadak Island 52.825°N, 169.944°W; summit elev. 1730 m

AVO reported that a weak thermal anomaly and an ash plume from
Cleveland were visible on satellite imagery on 29 February. The ash
plume rose to an altitude of below 3 km (10,000 ft) a.s.l. The
Volcanic Alert Level remained at Advisory and the Aviation Color Code
remained at Yellow.

Geologic Summary. Symmetrical Mount Cleveland stratovolcano is
situated at the western end of the uninhabited dumbbell-shaped
Chuginadak Island in the east-central Aleutians. The 1,730-m-high
stratovolcano is the highest of the Islands of Four Mountains group
and is one of the most active in the Aleutians. Numerous large lava
flows descend its flanks. It is possible that some 18th to 19th
century eruptions attributed to Carlisle (a volcano located across the
Carlisle Pass Strait to the NW) should be ascribed to Cleveland. In
1944 Cleveland produced the only known fatality from an Aleutian
eruption. Recent eruptions from Mt. Cleveland have been characterized
by short-lived explosive ash emissions, at times accompanied by lava
fountaining and lava flows down the flanks.

Source: Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) http://www.avo.alaska.edu/

KILAUEA Hawaii (USA) 19.421°N, 155.287°W; summit elev. 1222 m

Based on observations during overflights, and web camera views when
weather permitted, HVO reported that during 27 February-4 March
activity from Kilauea's fissure segment D was concentrated at the
Thanksgiving Eve Breakout (TEB) shield and satellitic shields to the E
and SE. A pahoehoe flow ponded between the rootless shields and
Kalalua Cone. Two lava flow lobes advanced through Royal Gardens
subdivision and destroyed three abandoned homes by 28 February. One
lobe reached the base of the Royal Gardens kipuka and Campout flow
from early 2007.On 1 March the lobes merged and cut off the road
access to the homes of the last two known residents. Incandescence
from the TEB vent was noted during 29 February and 2-3 March.

Diffuse incandescence was observed in Pu'u 'O'o crater through the
fume during 27 February and 1-3 March. Earthquakes were located
beneath Halema'uma'u crater, along the S-flank faults, beneath the
summit, N of Makaopuhi crater, and along the upper E and SW rift
zones. Sulfur dioxide emission rates from the summit area were
elevated at 2-4 times background values where levels have been since
early January. The emission rate was about 970 tonnes per day on 3
March, compared to a background rate of 150-200 tons per day.

Geologic Summary. Kilauea, one of five coalescing volcanoes that
comprise the island of Hawaii, is one of the world's most active
volcanoes. Eruptions at Kilauea originate primarily from the summit
caldera or along one of the lengthy E and SW rift zones that extend
from the caldera to the sea. About 90% of the surface of Kilauea is
formed of lava flows less than about 1,100 years old; 70% of the
volcano's surface is younger than 600 years. A long-term eruption from
the East rift zone that began in 1983 has produced lava flows covering
more than 100 sq km, destroying nearly 200 houses and adding new
coastline to the island.

Source: US Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO)
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/

LLAIMA Central Chile 38.692°S, 71.729°W; summit elev. 3125 m

SERNAGEOMIN reported weak sulfur dioxide plumes from two cones in
Llaima's main crater during 26-28 February. An overflight on 28
February revealed that the internal structure of the crater had not
changed since observations on 21 February. Weak fumarolic emissions
from the main crater were noted during 2-3 March. The Alert Level
remained at Yellow.

Geologic Summary. Llaima, one of Chile's largest and most active
volcanoes, contains two main historically active craters, one at the
summit and the other to the SE. The massive 3,125-m-high,
glacier-covered stratovolcano has a volume of 400 cu km. A Holocene
edifice built primarily of accumulated lava flows was constructed over
an 8-km-wide caldera that formed about 13,200 years ago, following
eruption of the 24 cu km Curacautín Ignimbrite. More than 40 scoria
cones dot the volcano's flanks. Following the end of an explosive
stage about 7,200 years ago, construction of the present edifice
began, characterized by Strombolian, hawaiian, and infrequent
subplinian eruptions. Frequent moderate explosive eruptions with
occasional lava flows have been recorded since the 17th century.

Source: Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería (SERNAGEOMIN)
http://www.sernageomin.cl/index.php

LOKON-EMPUNG Sulawesi (Indonesia) 1.358°N, 124.792°E; summit elev. 1580 m

CVGHM reported that on 28 February the Alert level for Lokon-Empung
was lowered from 3 to 2 (on a scale of 1-4) due to a decrease in
seismicity during 3-26 February, analysis of visual observations, and
a lack of deformation. During 14-26 February, white plumes rose to an
altitude of 1.7 km (5,600 ft) a.s.l. Visitors and tourists were
prohibited from going within a 1-km radius of the crater.

Geologic Summary. The twin volcanoes Lokon and Empung, rising about
800 m above the plain of Tondano, are among the most active volcanoes
of Sulawesi. Lokon, the higher of the two peaks (whose summits are
only 2.2 km apart) has a flat, craterless top. The morphologically
younger Empung volcano has a 400-m-wide, 150-m-deep crater that
erupted last in the 18th century, but all subsequent eruptions have
originated from Tompaluan, a 150 x 250 m wide double crater situated
in the saddle between the two peaks. Historical eruptions have
primarily produced small-to-moderate ash plumes that have occasionally
damaged croplands and houses, but lava-dome growth and pyroclastic
flows have also occurred.

Source: Center of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (CVGHM)
http://portal.vsi.esdm.go.id/joomla/

NEVADO DEL HUILA Colombia 2.93°N, 76.03°W; summit elev. 5365 m

INGEOMINAS reported that seismic tremor from Nevado del Huila on 2
March was possibly associated with ash emission. Based on a Bogota
SIGMET, the Washington VAAC reported that an ash plume rose to an
altitude of 7.6 km (25,000 ft) a.s.l. the same day.

Geologic Summary. Nevado del Huila, the highest active volcano in
Colombia, is an elongated N-S-trending volcanic chain mantled by a
glacier icecap. The andesitic-dacitic volcano was constructed within a
10-km-wide caldera. Volcanism at Nevado del Huila has produced six
volcanic cones whose ages in general migrated from south to north. Two
glacier-free lava domes lie at the southern end of the Huila volcanic
complex. The first historical eruption from this little known volcano
took place in the 16th century. Two persistent steam columns rise from
the central peak, and hot springs are also present.

Sources: Instituto Colombiano de Geología y Minería (INGEOMINAS)
http://www.ingeominas.gov.co//

Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/messages.html

RABAUL New Britain (SW Pacific) 4.271°S, 152.203°E; summit elev. 688 m

RVO reported that ash and steam plumes from Rabaul caldera's Tavurvur
cone rose to altitudes of 0.9-2.2 km (3,000-7,200 ft) a.s.l. and
drifted W during 27 February-4 March. Ashfall was reported in areas
downwind, including Matupit, during 27 February-1 March. A smell of
hydrogen-sulfide gas was reported in Rabaul Town and roaring noises
were heard during 1-3 March. On 3 March, incandescence at the summit
was observed.

Geologic Summary. The low-lying Rabaul caldera on the tip of the
Gazelle Peninsula at the NE end of New Britain forms a broad sheltered
harbor. The outer flanks of the 688-m-high asymmetrical pyroclastic
shield volcano are formed by thick pyroclastic-flow deposits. The 8 x
14 km caldera is widely breached on the E, where its floor is flooded
by Blanche Bay.Two major Holocene caldera-forming eruptions at Rabaul
took place as recently as 3,500 and 1,400 years ago. Three small
stratovolcanoes lie outside the northern and NE caldera rims.
Post-caldera eruptions built basaltic-to-dacitic pyroclastic cones on
the caldera floor near the NE and western caldera walls. Several of
these, including Vulcan cone, which was formed during a large eruption
in 1878, have produced major explosive activity during historical
time. A powerful explosive eruption in 1994 occurred simultaneously
from Vulcan and Tavurvur volcanoes and forced the temporary
abandonment of Rabaul city.

Source: Herman Patia and Steve Saunders, Rabaul Volcano Observatory (RVO)

SHIVELUCH Central Kamchatka (Russia) 56.653°N, 161.360°E; summit elev. 3283 m

KVERT reported that seismic activity at Shiveluch was slightly above
background levels and small hot avalanches descended the lava dome
during 22-29 February. According to video footage, fumarolic activity
was observed during 21-22 and 24-25 February. Based on seismic
interpretation, ash plumes possibly rose to an altitude of 5.6 km
(18,400 ft) a.s.l. during 24-26 February. Observations of satellite
imagery revealed that a thermal anomaly was present in the crater
during the reporting period. The Level of Concern Color Code remained
at Orange.

Geologic Summary. The high, isolated massif of Shiveluch volcano (also
spelled Sheveluch) rises above the lowlands NNE of the Kliuchevskaya
volcano group and forms one of Kamchatka's largest and most active
volcanoes. The currently active Molodoy Shiveluch lava-dome complex
was constructed during the Holocene within a large breached caldera
formed by collapse of the massive late-Pleistocene Strary Shiveluch
volcano. At least 60 large eruptions of Shiveluch have occurred during
the Holocene, making it the most vigorous andesitic volcano of the
Kuril-Kamchatka arc. Frequent collapses of lava-dome complexes, most
recently in 1964, have produced large debris avalanches whose deposits
cover much of the floor of the breached caldera. During the 1990s,
intermittent explosive eruptions took place from a new lava dome that
began growing in 1980. The largest historical eruptions from Shiveluch
occurred in 1854 and 1964.

Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/index_eng.php

SOUFRIERE HILLS Montserrat 16.72°N, 62.18°W; summit elev. 915 m

MVO reported that that during 27 February-4 March the lava dome at
Soufrière Hills changed very little, based on limited visual
observations during an overflight on 29 February and from ground
locations. The E talus slope continued to erode, with both fresh and
older material accumulating in the Tar River Valley. Active fumaroles
around the lava dome were observed during breaks in cloud cover. The
Alert Level remained elevated at 4 (on a scale of 0-5).

Geologic Summary. The complex dominantly andesitic Soufrière Hills
volcano occupies the southern half of the island of Montserrat. The
summit area consists primarily of a series of lava domes emplaced
along an ESE-trending zone. English's Crater, a 1-km-wide crater
breached widely to the E, was formed during an eruption about 4,000
years ago in which the summit collapsed, producing a large submarine
debris avalanche. Block-and-ash flow and surge deposits associated
with dome growth predominate in flank deposits at Soufrière Hills.
Non-eruptive seismic swarms occurred at 30-year intervals in the 20th
century, but with the exception of a 17th-century eruption that
produced the Castle Peak lava dome, no historical eruptions were
recorded on Montserrat until 1995. Long-term small-to-moderate ash
eruptions beginning in that year were later accompanied by lava-dome
growth and pyroclastic flows that forced evacuation of the southern
half of the island and ultimately destroyed the capital city of
Plymouth, causing major social and economic disruption.

Source: Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) http://www.mvo.ms/

TUNGURAHUA Ecuador 1.467°S, 78.442°W; summit elev. 5023 m

IG reported that although visual observations were very limited due to
cloud cover, steam and ash-and-steam plumes from Tungurahua were
spotted and rose to altitudes of 5.8-8 km (19,000-26,200 ft) a.s.l.
during 27 February-1 March. Ash plumes drifted NW, W, SW, and SE,
ashfall was reported in areas to the SW on 27 February. Lahars or
mudflows descended the Mapayacu and Choglontus drainages in the SW,
and drainages in the Pampas sector to the S on 27 and 28 February.

Geologic Summary. The steep-sided Tungurahua stratovolcano towers more
than 3 km above its northern base. It sits ~140 km S of Quito,
Ecuador's capital city, and is one of Ecuador's most active volcanoes.
Historical eruptions have all originated from the summit crater. They
have been accompanied by strong explosions and sometimes by
pyroclastic flows and lava flows that reached populated areas at the
volcano's base. The last major eruption took place from 1916 to 1918,
although minor activity continued until 1925. The latest eruption
began in October 1999 and prompted temporary evacuation of the town of
Baños on the N side of the volcano.

Source: Instituto Geofísico-Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG)
http://www.igepn.edu.ec/

UBINAS Perú 16.355°S, 70.903°W; summit elev. 5672 m

Based on pilot reports, the Buenos Aires VAAC reported that an ash
plume from Ubinas rose to altitudes of 5.5-6.1 km (18,000-20,000 ft)
a.s.l. and drifted SE on 2 March.

Geologic Summary. A small, 1.2-km-wide caldera that cuts the top of
Ubinas, Peru's most active volcano, gives it a truncated appearance.
Ubinas is the northernmost of three young volcanoes located along a
regional structural lineament about 50 km behind the main volcanic
front of Peru. The upper slopes of the stratovolcano, composed
primarily of Pleistocene andesitic lava flows, steepen to nearly 45
degrees. The steep-walled, 150-m-deep summit caldera contains an ash
cone with a 500-m-wide funnel-shaped vent that is 200 m deep.
Debris-avalanche deposits from the collapse of the SE flank of Ubinas
extend 10 km from the volcano. Widespread Plinian pumice-fall deposits
from Ubinas include some of Holocene age. Holocene lava flows are
visible on the volcano's flanks, but historical activity, documented
since the 16th century, has consisted of intermittent minor explosive
eruptions.

Source: Buenos Aires Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/OTH/AG/messages.html

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sally Kuhn Sennert
SI/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report Editor
Global Volcanism Program
http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/
Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History
Department of Mineral Sciences, MRC-119
Washington, D.C., 20560
Phone: 202.633.1805
Fax: 202.357.2476

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 2 replies

Geology rocks!

bobs — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 12:38:10 GMT

Drilling 'boosts Homeric theory'

The Mediterranean island of Kefalonia was probably once two separate islands, new geophysical studies suggest.
A British-led team is amassing evidence that indicates Kefalonia's western peninsula, Paliki, was only recently joined to the main landmass.

The team believes a huge in-fall of rock in the last 3,000 years may have built a land-bridge between the two.

If correct, the researchers say, it would support their view that Paliki was the real site for Homer's Ithaca.

The location was supposedly home to Odysseus, whose mythical 10-year journey back from the Trojan War was chronicled in the Greek poet's epic tale The Odyssey.

New results from a test borehole and other survey work in the region lend support to the Paliki hypothesis, the team claims.

"Unlike many historical speculations, our answer to the age-old mystery of Ithaca's location makes a specific prediction that can be scientifically tested by geological techniques," said Robert Bittlestone, the businessman who first made the contention in a book published in 2005.

Most people think modern-day Ithaki on the eastern side of the Ionian island group is the proper geographical setting for Ithaca; but the research team, which includes geologists, classicists and archaeologists, begs to differ.

It argues the Ithaki interpretation is inconsistent with Homer's own descriptions of a low-lying terrain to the west of all land.

Click here to read Homer's Ithaca description http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6256807.stm#map

Mr Bittlestone and colleagues - James Diggle, Professor of Greek and Latin at Cambridge University and John Underhill, Professor of Geology at Edinburgh University - have sought to test whether Paliki's position furthest from Greece is a plausible explanation.

They propose that recent, huge earthquakes triggered catastrophic landslides and rockfalls, and this material has covered over a narrowmarine channel which separated the peninsula from Kefalonia during the Bronze Age.

Professor Underhill was initially highly sceptical of this idea, because it requires huge volumes of rock to have come off the hills that flank what is now the Thinia isthmus.

But the latest results obtained from a 122m (400ft) borehole drilled in October at the southern end of the land connection lend support to the hypothesis.

It found only loose aggregations of rock as it cut down to - and beyond - current sea level.

"Crucially, we didn't hit limestone bedrock, which means that the theory still holds," explains Professor Underhill.

"The second key thing is we have found that the landslide and rockfall debris of the right type extends to at least 40m below the surface, and, vitally, scanning electron microscopy undertaken at the Academy of Sciences in Sofia shows that it contains Holocene microfossils - it's in the right timeframe," he told BBC News.

And other evidence points the same way, Professor Underhill says.

A marine seismic survey shot jointly with the Greek Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration (IGME) immediately offshore from the southern Thinia area indicates that the underlying bedrock does have a valley shape in the neighbouring gulf, and its contours fit one-for-one with the presumed course of the marine channel suggested by the onshore geology.

Ancient roads interrupted by landslides and major rockfall deposits are also still visible on the surface.

"We now want to shoot a land-based seismic survey to get a 3D image of the subsurface along the whole extent of the valley onshore, and on the basis of that drill further boreholes where the theory is most challenged - i.e. where the topography of the valley is at its highest level, in the saddle," said Professor Underhill.

Applications for funding will be made to UK and Greek authorities.

The Odyssey seems to have been composed in about the 8th Century BC.

Its descriptions of Gods and giants are clearly fanciful, but the poem has had a huge influence on Western culture, and the team says it is perfectly reasonable to suppose the story had a real geographical setting.

The city of Troy featured in Homer's other epic, The Iliad, is now widely recognised to have been in north-western Turkey.

A study of river sediments in the region would even seem to fit with aspects of the military campaign that Homer's story says eventually led to the destruction of the city.

"Until about the 1850s and 60s, when [the German archaeologist Heinrich] Schliemann discovered Troy, people thought that the Iliad was a work of fiction. Now, they're not so sure because it describes a real landscape; it's been excavated," said Mr Bittlestone.

"If it is the case that The Odyssey and the return home to Ithaca also described a real landscape, this is of monumental significance for our understanding of where our culture's come from and what its routes really have been," he told Channel 4 News.

Commentators say that if the Paliki theory is eventually proven, it is likely to initiate renewed archaeological interest in the peninsula, which has long and perhaps unfairly been considered a backwater.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am Odysseus, Laertes' son, world-famed
For stratagems: my name has reached the heavens.
Bright Ithaca is my home: it has a mountain,
Leaf-quivering Neriton, far visible.
Around are many islands, close to each other,
Doulichion and Same and wooded Zacynthos.
Ithaca itself lies low, furthest to sea
Towards dusk; the rest, apart, face dawn and sun.
Odyssey 9, 19-26 (trans. James Diggle)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6256807.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 27 replies

Death by Hydrogen Sulfide

Jack — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:30:22 GMT

So here is a Paleontologist who predicts a grim future for Earth.
http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/news/2008/03/peter_ward_qa
The gas is heavier than air. Is high altitude the refuge. Away from the sea?

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 2 replies

TV shows:

bobs — Sat, 25 Jun 2005 18:33:24 GMT

Just spotted what looks as though it might be a little gem tucked away in this weeks tv listings (UK): A series of four programmes on consecutive evenings at 2200 on ITV1 with the rather overly dramatic title 'Is this the worst weather ever?' Presented by Craig Doyle, Monday's covers Hurricaines, Tuesday's : Tornadoes. Wednesday's: floods, and Thursdays: 'Freaky summers'. Reading the blurb it looks as though it might a quite promising little series!

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 8 replies

Tornado Research

bobs — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 22:13:42 GMT

'Gravity Waves' in Atmosphere May Strengthen Tornadoes

Giant waves of air rippling through the atmosphere might spin up or intensify tornadoes when they interact with powerful thunderstorms.

One such wave rolling through a December 2000 line of storms in Alabama might have contributed to the sudden appearance of an F4 twister within minutes after the wave passed, according to Tim Coleman, a research meteorologist and doctoral student at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). That tornado later hit Tuscaloosa.

This was not an isolated case, Coleman says. "There are a decent number of cases where there is some possible wave interaction with tornadoes."

Coleman is scheduled to present his preliminary research findings at the American Meteorological Society’s Conference on Severe Local Storms in St. Louis on Monday.

In addition to their interaction with tornadoes, these atmospheric waves -- also called "gravity waves" -- may interact with fast-moving squall lines, might influence rain and snowfall, and can cause local high speed, straight-line wind damage.

While Coleman's National Science Foundation and NOAA-funded study of gravity waves is in its early stages, his long term goal is to develop tools to improve short range forecasts of violent weather, including tornadoes.

"If we can figure out how it works, our goal will be to teach the (National Weather Service) meteorologists and the TV meteorologists how to see when these things are coming so they can get warnings out in time," said Coleman, himself a former Birmingham TV weatherman. "There are still a lot of questions to answer, but I'm optimistic."

One of the first surprises the researchers found was that gravity waves "are really quite common," said Dr. Kevin Knupp, a professor of atmospheric science and the leader of UAH's severe weather research team. "A lot more common than we thought."

Gravity waves are caused by air flowing over mountains, by wind shear, thunderstorms and imbalances in the atmosphere. Air is a fluid, like water, and waves are created when the flow of fluid is interrupted. As wind blows toward a tall mountain, for instance, air that hits the mountain is forced upward. As this crest of air clears the mountain, it is cold and dense. Gravity pulls this cold, dense air mass downward, hence "gravity wave."

This up and down motion can set up gravity waves which continue through the atmosphere for hundreds of miles.

While much is not known about how these waves interact with powerful storms, Coleman and Knupp have discovered that the angle at which the two collide seems to have a strong influence: If the wave and the storm collide head on, there is little or no effect. If the gravity wave hits the storm front at an angle, however, that is when the waves seem to have their greatest influence on tornadoes.

Exactly how gravity waves amplify tornadoes is not known, but Coleman has theories that he will test.

"We think there are two processes at work here," he said. "Ahead of the crest of the wave you have a convergence of fluid, like water at the beach being drawn toward an approaching wave. This convergence might enhance the spin of anything that is already be spinning.

"Because it creates pressure between the wave moving in one direction and the air rushing toward the wave, the convergence might also squeeze a spin so it will be smaller but spin faster, like a skater tucking in her arms. It might make a rotating circulation smaller and more intense."

This pattern shows up in the Doppler radar images of a storm that hit Fayette County, Alabama, in January 1999.

"There are several of the major tornadoes in the south in the past decade that when we go back and look, there might have been a gravity wave involved," Coleman said. "The Dec. 16, 2000, Tuscaloosa storm was moving up I-59 without forming any tornadoes. Then it interacted with a gravity wave and it spun out a tornado."

In another case, Doppler radar picked up the signature of a tornado in storms going through Central Alabama on April 8, 1998.

"That tornado went from F1 to F4 within a couple of miles and a few minutes after a possible gravity wave went through," said Coleman. "You still don't know for sure that (the wave) caused it, but it did happen together."

That April 1998 tornado later grew into an F5 twister than killed more than 30 people in Birmingham.

Source: University of Alabama Huntsville

http://www.physorg.com/news81621191.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 1 reply

'Earthquake lights'

bobs — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 13:40:04 GMT

Glowing lights around an earthquake's epicentre

Paul Simons: Weather Eye

The earthquake on February 27 did more than shake people up in the middle of the night. Reports have come in that mysterious lights also appeared around the quake’s epicentre near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire.

One witness described how a grapefruit-sized glowing sphere appeared in her bedroom and then went out like a light. “This thing seemed to be coming across the room straight at me. I was very frightened,” she told the Louth Leader. Another person described flashes like car headlights at her window, and others spoke of lightning flashes after the quake. However, there was no lightning activity at the time of the quake.

In fact, there have been many reports of “earthquake lights” throughout history. Residents of Tangshan in China, for example, were awakened one night in July 1976 by bright flashes in the sky. Two days later an earthquake registering 7.8 on the Richter scale killed 240,000 people and destroyed the city. And a Japanese scientist took photographs of balls of light and red streaks in the sky during a swarm of earthquakes in Matsushiro between 1965 and 1967.

One explanation for his phenomenon is that the electrical properties of rocks may change under severe stress before or during a quake. This may generate changes in the electrical behaviour of the atmosphere, ionising the air and producing glowing lights.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/weather/article3556127.ece

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 2 replies

The BIG questions

bobs — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:02:16 GMT

10 questions shaping 21st-century earth science identified

Ten questions driving the geological and planetary sciences were identified today in a new report by the National Research Council. Aimed at reflecting the major scientific issues facing earth science at the start of the 21st century, the questions represent where the field stands, how it arrived at this point, and where it may be headed.

"With all the advancements over the last 20 years, we can now get a better picture of Earth by looking at it from micro- to macro-perspectives, such as discerning individual atoms in minerals or watching continents drift and mountains grow," said Donald J. DePaolo, professor of geochemistry at the University of California at Berkeley and chair of the committee that wrote the report. "To keep the field moving forward, we have to look to the past and ask deeper fundamental questions, about the origins of the Earth and life, the structure and dynamics of planets, and the connections between life and climate, for example."

The report was requested by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, U.S. Geological Survey, and NASA. The committee selected the question topics, without regard to agency-specific issues, and covered a variety of spatial scales -- subatomic to planetary -- and temporal scales -- from the past to the present and beyond.

The committee canvassed the geological community and deliberated at length to arrive at 10 questions. Some of the questions present challenges that scientists may not understand for decades, if ever, while others are more tractable, and significant progress could be made in a matter of years, the report says. The committee did not prioritize the 10 questions -- listed with associated illustrative issues below -- nor did it recommend specific measures for implementing them.

HOW DID EARTH AND OTHER PLANETS FORM?
While scientists generally agree that this solar system's sun and planets came from the same nebular cloud, they do not know enough about how Earth obtained its chemical composition to understand its evolution or why the other planets are different from one other. Although credible models of planet formation now exist, further measurements of solar system bodies and extrasolar objects could offer insight to the origin of Earth and the solar system.

WHAT HAPPENED DURING EARTH'S "DARK AGE" (THE FIRST 500 MILLION YEARS)?
Scientists believe that another planet collided with Earth during the latter stages of its formation, creating debris that became the moon and causing Earth to melt down to its core. This period is critical to understanding planetary evolution, especially how the Earth developed its atmosphere and oceans, but scientists have little information because few rocks from this age are preserved.

HOW DID LIFE BEGIN?
The origin of life is one of the most intriguing, difficult, and enduring questions in science. The only remaining evidence of where, when, and in what form life first appeared springs from geological investigations of rocks and minerals. To help answer the question, scientists are also turning toward Mars, where the sedimentary record of early planetary history predates the oldest Earth rocks, and other star systems with planets.

HOW DOES EARTH'S INTERIOR WORK, AND HOW DOES IT AFFECT THE SURFACE?
Scientists know that the mantle and core are in constant convective motion. Core convection produces Earth's magnetic field, which may influence surface conditions, and mantle convection causes volcanism, seafloor generation, and mountain building. However, scientists can neither precisely describe these motions, nor calculate how they were different in the past, hindering scientific understanding of the past and prediction of Earth's future surface environment.

WHY DOES EARTH HAVE PLATE TECTONICS AND CONTINENTS?
Although plate tectonic theory is well established, scientists wonder why Earth has plate tectonics and how closely it is related to other aspects of Earth, such as the abundance of water and the existence of the continents, oceans, and life. Moreover, scientists still do not know when continents first formed, how they remained preserved for billions of years, or how they are likely to evolve in the future. These are especially important questions as weathering of the continental crust plays a role in regulating Earth's climate.

HOW ARE EARTH PROCESSES CONTROLLED BY MATERIAL PROPERTIES?
Scientists now recognize that macroscale behaviors, such as plate tectonics and mantle convection, arise from the microscale properties of Earth materials, including the smallest details of their atomic structures. Understanding materials at this microscale is essential to comprehending Earth's history and making reasonable predictions about how planetary processes may change in the future.

WHAT CAUSES CLIMATE TO CHANGE -- AND HOW MUCH CAN IT CHANGE?
Earth's surface temperature has remained within a relatively narrow range for most of the last 4 billion years, but how does it stay well-regulated in the long run, even though it can change so abruptly" Study of Earth's climate extremes through history -- when climate was extremely cold or hot or changed quickly -- may lead to improved climate models that could enable scientists to predict the magnitude and consequences of climate change.

HOW HAS LIFE SHAPED EARTH -- AND HOW HAS EARTH SHAPED LIFE?
The exact ways in which geology and biology influence each other are still elusive. Scientists are interested in life's role in oxygenating the atmosphere and reshaping the surface through weathering and erosion. They also seek to understand how geological events caused mass extinctions and influenced the course of evolution.

CAN EARTHQUAKES, VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS, AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES BE PREDICTED?
Progress has been made in estimating the probability of future earthquakes, but scientists may never be able to predict the exact time and place an earthquake will strike. Nevertheless, they continue to decipher how fault ruptures start and stop and how much shaking can be expected near large earthquakes. For volcanic eruptions, geologists are moving toward predictive capabilities, but face the challenge of developing a clear picture of the movement of magma, from its sources in the upper mantle, through Earth's crust, to the surface where it erupts.

HOW DO FLUID FLOW AND TRANSPORT AFFECT THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT?
Good management of natural resources and the environment requires knowledge of the behavior of fluids, both below ground and at the surface, and scientists ultimately want to produce mathematical models that can predict the performance of these natural systems. Yet, it remains difficult to determine how subsurface fluids are distributed in heterogeneous rock and soil formations, how fast they flow, how effectively they transport dissolved and suspended materials, and how they are affected by chemical and thermal exchange with the host formations.

Source: The National Academies

http://www.physorg.com/news124539902.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 0 replies

535 A.D.

bobs — Thu, 02 Sep 2004 12:27:54 GMT

These are the links to the programme behind the book
"Catastrophe" which is well worth a read!
The programme was a two parter, and each has its own link;

Part1;
http://www.luminet.net/~wenonah/history/script1.ht

Part11;
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/flash/catastrophe2_script.html

The programmes were called 'The day the sun went out', and were part of the series 'Secrets of the dead'.

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 3 replies

Weather!

bobs — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 11:42:39 GMT

Heavy storms dump snow on Midwest

Heavy storms have swept the US Midwest, dumping a record 20 inches (50cm) of snow on Columbus, Ohio, and disrupting flights and other services.
Four people were reported to have been killed in Ohio after shovelling snow.

The snow was preceded by freezing rain, ice and sleet that swept an area from eastern Kentucky into New York state. It cut power to many areas.

The central United States and parts of Canada have suffered one of their worst seasons of winter weather in years.

Chicago is still suffering very cold temperatures for early March, after its snowiest winter in nearly 20 years.

In Canada, air traffic via Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa was disrupted by the same storm system that hit Ohio, and which was set to dump up to 16 inches (40 cm) of snow over the weekend.

There were so many car crashes that police had ceased to attend minor accidents, local media said.

In Ohio itself, 20.4 inches of snow fell on Columbus - smashing the city's previous record of 15.3 inches set in 1910.

Cincinnati and Cleveland also received about a foot (30cm) of snow.

At Port Columbus International Airport, a plane skidded off a runway while landing, though no-one was hurt.

Authorities urged motorists to avoid the roads, while snowplough crews were working overtime at the weekend to carve paths through snowdrifts.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7286009.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 1 reply

New Volcano!

bobs — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 10:06:54 GMT

“New” volcano discovered in Costa Rica.
Scientists have discovered what seems to be an unseen volcano in costarrican territory. It’s crater, which is actually a 200m diameter lagoon, had been sighted before, but no one suspected it could be a volcano crater at the top of a hill situated in a place called “El Porvenir”, a region located between Alfaro Ruiz and Ciudad Quesada on the north side of The Central Volcanic Mountain Range (Cordillera Volcánica Central).

The way this place came to vulcanologists attention was through some infra-red satelite fotos on a map of The New Encarta Encyclopedia two years ago. During the past few days they have been investigating more thoroughly and found pieces of volcanic rock that may be thousands of years old, and with seizmographic equipment they detected micro-tremors in the area. Also, by throwing a line into the lagoon, they found it was much deeper than anybody had thought. The area around the volcano is devoted mainly to cattle grazing, and though the volcano doesn’t show any activity they have installed a permanent station on one of the farms to monitor it’s behavior. This new found volcano will be baptised “Volcan El Porvenir” in honor of the place it was found.

http://allendale2.wordpress.com/2008/03/08/new-volcano-discovered-in-costa-rica/

Geologist from the National Seismological Network (ICE-UCR)

‘El porvenir tiene un cráter impresionante’ 'The future is a crater impressive'

Científicos ticos confirmaron la existencia de un volcán de casi dos millones de años dos días en San Carlos. Scientists Ticos confirmed the existence of a volcano nearly two million years two days in San Carlos. Ahora planean profundizar en el entendimiento de este coloso. Now plan to deepen the understanding of this colossus.

Por Alejandra Vargas By Alejandra Vargas
¿Cómo es posible que existiera un cráter volcánico en el país del cual nadie sabía? How is it possible that there was a volcanic crater in the country which nobody knew?

Sí, es impresionante descubrir algo nuevo en pleno siglo XXI, más un cráter de volcán con este tamaño. Yes, it is amazing to discover something new in the twenty-first century, most volcano with a crater of this size.

The reasons for the crater El Porvenir be retained are several unknown. Primero, el volcán ha estado inactivo por muchísimo tiempo, es decir, no ha habido ninguna alerta conocida de algún incidente ocurrido allí durante los últimos 100 años o más. First, the volcano has been dormant for a long time, that is, there has been no warning of any known incident there for the last 100 years or more.

“Tampoco había ningún reporte científico, histórico ni de los lugareños que advirtiera que allí había un volcán. "Nor was no report scientific, historical or villagers realized that there was a volcano.

“Además, El Porvenir se ubica en una zona de selva virgen bastante tupida e inaccesible dentro de un parque nacional, rodeado de peñascos empinados. "In addition, El Porvenir is located in an area of virgin forest fairly dense and inaccessible within a national park, surrounded by steep cliffs.

“Por si fuera poco, el sitio siempre está cubierto de una niebla bastante densa, de modo que tampoco es fácil verlo desde el aire”. "To make matters worse, the site is always covered with a fairly dense fog, so it is not easy to see it from the air."

¿Cómo es El Porvenir? How is The Future? ¿Es un volcán activo? Is an active volcano? ¿Cuál es el riesgo relacionado con él? What is the risk associated with it?

El Porvenir es un volcán que está en reposo o dormido. El Porvenir is a volcano that is resting or sleeping. Sin embargo, no puede descartarse del todo el peligro de erupciones ni otras actividades porque es un volcán. However, it can not be entirely ruled out the danger of eruptions or other activities because it is a volcano.

“Creemos que ha estado inactivo durante los últimos cientos de años y así lo confirma la enorme y tupida vegetación a su alrededor. "We believe that has been dormant for the past hundreds of years and it confirms the huge and dense vegetation around them. No obstante, consideramos que en adelante este hallazgo debe ser tomado muy en cuenta por las autoridades del país pues tiene un cráter bastante grande y está rodeado en sus flancos por dos fallas geológicas activas”. However, we believe that henceforth this finding should be taken into account by the authorities of the country since it has a fairly large crater and is surrounded on its flanks by two active geological faults. "

¿Qué debe hacerse? What should be done?

Pensamos que los planes reguladores de las municipalidades cercanas deben considerar este nuevo factor de riesgo. We believe that the plans regulators nearby municipalities should consider this new risk factor. En los alrededores se ubican las comunidades de San José de la Montaña, San Isidro de Suerre y Bajo La Vieja. In nearby communities are located in San Jose de la Montana, San Isidro de Suerre and Bajo La Vieja.

Pero, entonces, ¿sí se considera que existe un peligro latente asociado con el volcán? But then, it is considered that there is a danger associated with the volcano?

Yo no diría que existe un peligro latente, no. I would not say that there is a latent danger, no. Diría más bien que no podemos descartar la actividad volcánica allí porque todavía no tenemos la información que así nos lo indique. I would say rather that we can not exclude the volcanic activity there because we still do not have the information that can be provided as well.

“Sí existe un peligro relacionado que debe estudiarse: las laderas del volcán son aparentemente inestables. "Yes there is a risk related to be considered: the slopes of the volcano are apparently unstable. El volcán El Porvenir es como un edificio que tiene adentro acuíferos y por eso sus paredes están humedecidas y alteradas y podrían sufrir desprendimientos por causa de lluvias intensas o actividad sísmica. The volcano El Porvenir is like a building that has inside aquifers and why their walls are wet and altered and could suffer landslides caused by heavy rainfall or seismic activity.

“Sabemos que en el 2005 hubo un derrumbe de una ladera que se desplazó hasta dos kilómetros de territorio aledaño, tapando una casa deshabitada de una finca vecina. "We know that in 2005 there was a collapse of a hillside that went up to two miles of territory adjacent, plugging an uninhabited house in a nearby farm. En ese momento nadie creyó que tuviera que ver con un volcán”. At that time, nobody believed that had to do with a volcano. "

En su opinión: ¿Cuál es la importancia de este hallazgo? In his opinion: What is the significance of this finding?

En el campo de la geociencia, encontrar que hay una estructura con un cráter bien definido es todo un hallazgo, por eso ahora tenemos muchísimo que estudiar y hacer. In the field of geoscience, finding that there is a structure with a well-defined crater is a discovery, which is why we now have a lot to study and do. Estamos apenas empezando, pero motivados por el hallazgo. We are just beginning, but motivated by the discovery.

“Nos emociona pensar que otros científicos del país y del mundo se van a interesar en el ‘nuevo’ cráter y podrían apoyarnos para realizar más estudios”. "We are excited to think that other scientists of the country and the world are interested in the 'new' crater and could support us for further studies."

¿Qué es lo que sigue ahora con esta investigación? What is it that now goes with this research?

Lo que sigue, primero, es estudiar en el laboratorio las muestras de rocas que recogimos el jueves en el lugar. What follows, first, is to study in the laboratory samples of rocks collected on Thursday at the scene.

“Luego, pretendemos ubicar las secuencias eruptivas del volcán para determinar su comportamiento, periodicidad y alcance en erupciones anteriores. "Then, we intend to locate sequences eruptive volcano to determine their behaviour, frequency and reach in previous eruptions.

“Es decir, identificar los caminos trazados por las lenguas de lava que se rebasaron del cráter del volcán en algún momento y determinar hace cuánto se produjeron las erupciones y por dónde salieron los materiales, así como si hubo explosiones de gases y agua o magmáticas violentas. "In other words, identify the ways set by the languages of lava that exceeded the crater of the volcano sometime ago and determine how much eruptions occurred and where the materials came out, as though there were explosions or magmatic gases and water violent .

“También quisiéramos realizar dataciones radiométricas en el lugar. "We would also like to make radiometric dating in the place.

“Esto significa que se calcula la antigüedad de los restos orgánicos emitidos por el volcán. "This means that it is estimated the age of organic debris emitted by the volcano.

“Otra cosa es que, hacia el norte del volcán El Porvenir hay otro macizo volcánico llamado El Platanar, que se sabe que tiene un cráter colapsado (despotillado) hacia el noroeste y quisiéramos estudiarlo más y conocer su relación con El Porvenir. "Another thing is that, to the north of the volcano El Porvenir is another volcanic mountain called El Platanar, which is known to have a crater collapsed (despotillado) to the northwest and would like to study it further and explore its relationship with El Porvenir.

“Para saber toda esta información nos falta hacer trabajo de campo: ¡este es un volcán que ha sido muy poco estudiado ”. "To find out all this information we need to do field work: this is a volcano which has been little studied."

Cuando sea posible, haremos reportes científicos del hallazgo para compartirlos con la comunidad científica y publicarlo en revistas especializadas de vulcanología. Whenever possible, we will find scientific reports to share with the scientific community and publish in journals of volcanology.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2008/marzo/08/aldea1454475.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=2&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%25E2%2580%259CVolcan%2BEl%2BPorvenir%25E2%2580%259D%2B%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DSUNA,SUNA:2006-21,SUNA:en

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Slow slip

bobs — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:30:09 GMT

This is not a drill: The earth actually is moving beneath western Washington

While the annual Sound Shake exercise on Wednesday produced a simulated magnitude 6.7 earthquake on the Seattle fault, a real though unfelt seismic event is taking place beneath western Washington.

Earlier in the week, seismographs in the southern Hood Canal area began recording bursts of low-level shaking associated with what is called an episodic tremor-and-slip event. If this episode behaves true to form, the tremor will move north beneath the Olympic Mountains and across to Vancouver Island during the next two to three weeks.

This the fifth so-called slow-slip event to be recorded since the phenomenon was discovered in 2002, and it will be the most closely studied such event so far. University of Washington scientists and students are hurrying to deploy a special set of instruments, 100 temporary seismographs set in a close formation in the Olympic mountains, to record the current episode. The temporary stations will augment readings from the permanent seismograph network that covers all of Washington and Oregon.

"We hope to record unprecedented detail as the tremor moves beneath the seismometer array," said John Vidale, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences and director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network.

Slow-slip events, or silent earthquakes, occur at a depth of about 25 miles and can last for several weeks. Though they are unfelt by humans, they can release as much energy as a large earthquake.

Since they were first discovered in the Puget Sound region, such events have occurred regularly about every 14 months. The current slow-slip event was expected to start between mid-February and mid-April, and the first evidence that it had begun turned up on Sunday.

It is expected that as the tremor runs its course, GPS stations in western Washington will move ever so slightly -- about one-tenth of an inch -- to the southwest. Then they will resume their normal slow march to the northeast at a rate of about a half-inch per year as the North American plate that lies under much of the Pacific Northwest is compressed by the Juan de Fuca plate where the two meet just off the Pacific coast.

Scientists have found that the fairly continuous tremor associated with slow-slip episodes is very difficult to locate precisely using standard techniques, so they hope special processing and the use of the temporary seismic arrays will help to pinpoint the exact location and source of the tremor, as well as its relationship to earthquake faults.

Future such studies could help to determine when the region might experience major earthquakes, and provide an understanding of just how large such quakes will be, Vidale said.

Details of the current work, along with scientific commentary, can be found at http://www.pnsn.org/WEBICORDER/DEEPTREM/winter2008.html .

Source: University of Washington

http://www.physorg.com/news124036655.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 0 replies

Aurora Borealis

Mark — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 21:03:52 GMT

I have been meaning to go see this forever but never got around to it. Well this year is the year...

Does anyone have first hand experience of where and when is the best venue. I am travelling from CA so probably will be looking at the Northern US/Canada/Alaska.

M

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 5 replies

In the news. 10:

bobs — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:45:34 GMT

Scientists Discover First Seafloor Vents on Ultraslow-Spreading Ridge

Scientists have found one of the largest fields of seafloor vents gushing super-hot, mineral-rich fluids on a mid-ocean ridge that, until now, remained elusive to the ten-year hunt to find them.

“The discovery of the first active vents ever found on an ultraslow-spreading ridge is a significant milestone event,” said Jian Lin, leader of a team of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists who participated in a Chinese expedition to the remote Southwest Indian Ridge in the Indian Ocean in February and March.

Since deep-sea hydrothermal vents were first discovered 30 years ago in the Pacific Ocean, scientists have studied them all along the Mid-Ocean Ridge, a 40,000-mile-long mountain range that zigzags through the middle of the world’s ocean basins like a giant zipper. The ridge marks the area where the Earth’s giant tectonic plates spreads apart and new ocean crust forms from hot lava rising from deep within Earth’s mantle.

Most studies of the chimney-like vent structures have taken place along ridges in the “fast-spreading” East Pacific Rise (100 to 200 millimeters per year) and the “slow-spreading” Mid-Atlantic Ridge (20 to 40 millimeters per year). Only in recent years have scientists explored “ultraslow-spreading ridges” (less than 20 millimeters per year) in the Arctic and Indian Oceans—remote areas tough to get to, and therefore the least studied.

Scientists initially thought ultraslow-spreading ridges would be too cold to host large hot vents. But in the past decade, some scientists began to hypothesize that the slower a ridge spreads, the fewer vents it would have—but the bigger the vent fields would be.

“This cruise confirmed that hypothesis,” said Lin, a marine geophysicist and U.S. Coordinator of the 20-day expedition aboard the Chinese research vessel Dayang 1. “People have been looking for active hot vents on ultraslow ridges for more than 10 years,” Lin said.

In 2005-06, as part of China’s first around-the-world oceanographic expedition, Lin had sailed as a US chief scientist on Dayang 1 to the Southwest Indian Ridge, where scientists found tantalizing evidence of active hydrothermal venting. They gathered critical data that led them back to the site this year.

During the February-March expedition, the team nailed the discovery with the aid of ABE, WHOI’s Autonomous Benthic Explorer, which has been instrumental in recent years in helping scientists find vents on the bottom of the ocean much quicker than ever before. ABE acts like a robotic deep-sea bloodhound: In a sequence of dives, its sensors “sniff out” clues indicating a plume of fluids emanating from a vent and collect data scientists use to home in on the vent.

ABE also uses sonar to create maps of vent fields and takes photographs about 5 meters above them. ABE snapped 5,000 images of the robust Southwest Indian Ridge vent site, which is among the largest known to date. It is larger than a football field (120 meters by 100 meters).

The discovery was a first for China. “This discovery reflects China’s increasing contribution to ocean science in general, and ridge science in particular,” Lin said.

The China Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association (COMRA) in Beijing, China, funded the 2005-06 expedition and ABE’s participation in the current one. COMRA, which represents China in the International Seabed Authority, has been exploring the deep sea for mineral resources since the early 1990s.

China is increasing investments in ocean science, Lin said. COMRA’s primary interests lay in the large sulfide deposits created by hydrothermal vents, which are rich in copper, zinc, gold, and other minerals, he said.

“Our Chinese colleagues were the happiest people I’ve ever seen at sea when they brought the first samples aboard,” said Dana Yoerger, scientist in the WHOI Deep Submergence Laboratory and co-designer of ABE, who participated in the expedition. Once ABE pinpointed the site’s exact location, the Chinese team sent down its “TV grab”— a grappling device guided by a television camera—and retrieved a reddish chunk of a vent chimney, Yoerger said.

The researchers outran a tropical cyclone and collected the data they needed in just six days and three ABE dives. “It was the most ruthlessly efficient science we’ve ever done,” said Christopher German, chief scientist of the WHOI-operated National Deep Submergence Facility, who also participated in the expedition. “We had no margin for error.”

The Chinese science party was led by chief scientist Chunhui Tao, a geophysicist at the Second Institute of Oceanography in Hanzhou, China.

“The two international teams worked exceedingly well for this kind of complex operation,” Lin said.

Source: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

http://www.physorg.com/news95941712.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 35 replies

Earths Magnetic Field

bobs — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 08:24:23 GMT

Satellite Quintet Catches Earths Magnetic Field Oscillating

by Staff Writers
Graz Austria (SPX) Mar 30, 2006
Five spacecraft from two ESA missions simultaneously encountered large oscillations in Earth's magnetic field as they traveled around the planet's night side on Aug. 5, 2004.
According to a statement about the incident just released by the space agency, the cause of the phenomenon observed by the spacecraft remains unknown, but scientists are hopeful the data eventually will provide important clues about the effects of space weather.

At about 15:30 Central European Time on that date, something set the trailing edge of Earth's magnetosphere quivering. "It was like the waves created by a boat traveling across a lake," said lead researcher Tielong Zhang of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

The spacecraft catching the event included the four units of ESA's Cluster mission ' the first unit of the joint ESA-China National Space Administration mission called Double Star TC-1. The Cluster quartet flies in formation, passing through Earth's magnetotail at distances between 16 times ' 19 times the planet's radius.

TC-1 orbits at between 10 ' 13 Earth radii. All five spacecraft are designed to collect data on the magnetosphere, which is generated deep inside the planet ' flows out into space, where it constantly interacts with the solar wind, a perpetual stream of electrically charged particles released by the Sun.

Scientists think the wake-like oscillations the satellites found could be caused by the fast flow of particles often observed in the central part of the magnetotail. The problem is, the night of the discovery, something was pushing the waves from the center of the tail to its outer edges.

Readings by the Cluster ' Double Star satellites showed oscillations taking place simultaneously across an area over 30,000 kilometers (18,750 miles) in length. This is the first time the extent of the oscillations has been revealed. Previous Cluster measurements, before the launch of Double Star, could track the movement only across the area surrounded by the four satellites.

"By studying the August oscillations, we may be able to develop a unifying theory for all the various motions of the magnetotail," said Zhang, whose team continues to investigate what happened that day.

Related Links
Cluster
Double Star
China National Space Administration
ESA

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Satellite_Quintet_Catches_Earths_Magnetic_Field_Oscillating.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 3 replies

5.3 mag Earthquake hits Northern England!

bobs — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:15:27 GMT

(No.... I didn't feel it :( )

Earthquake hits much of England

The biggest earthquake in the UK for nearly 25 years has shaken homes across large parts of England.
People in Newcastle, Yorkshire, London, Manchester, the Midlands and Norfolk and also parts of Wales, felt the tremor just before 0100 GMT.

A man suffered leg injuries when a chimney collapsed in South Yorkshire.

The British Geological Survey (BGS) said the epicentre of the 5.3 magnitude quake was near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire.

Bev Finnegan, who lives in the town, said: "I was terrified to be honest. The noise was really, really terrifying... it was so deep and rumbling.

"It felt like the roof was going to fall in. There were people coming out in their dressing gowns wondering what it was. It was quite an experience."

A Lincolnshire police spokeswoman said the force had received dozens of calls from residents but there were no reports of anyone in the county being injured.

"There is slight structural damage, cracks and a couple of chimneys damaged. There's nothing serious at present.

"Mostly people were distressed by it so there were a large quantity of calls coming in."

Speaking from Gainsborough, Mike Thomas, chief fire officer for Lincolnshire, said crews had been called out to 50 incidents and one fire as a result of the quake.

Speaking on BBC News, Justin Cowell in Gainsborough, said: "It started as a massive shake.

"People had come out into the street. It seemed the whole town had woken up."

Tom Edwards, from Heckington, Lincolnshire, said he heard a noise like "an underground train and an enormous roar".

"I thought I was probably going to get killed."

Dr Brian Baptie of the BGS said: "An earthquake of this size, of magnitude five or thereabouts, will occur roughly every ten to 20 years in the UK," he said.

'Rare' quake

The BGS recorded an aftershock with a magnitude of 1.8 at about 0400 GMT.

The main 10-second quake, which struck at 0056 GMT at a depth of 15.4km (9.6 miles), was the biggest recorded example since one with a magnitude of 5.4 struck north Wales in 1984.

Dr Baptie said: "The largest earthquake that we know about that has struck the UK was about 100km off the east coast of England on the Dogger Bank and it had a magnitude of 6.1.

"So we can get these kind of moderate to significant earthquakes of this size but they're relatively rare."

Thousands of people from across England contacted the BBC to described how their homes shook during the tremor.

Jemma Harrison, 22, in Bury, Greater Manchester, said: "It was really bad. I was fast asleep and woke up and the room was shaking and there was a loud bang and alarms were going off."

'Like a jelly mould'

Natasha Cavey, in Tipton in the West Midlands, said: "All my cupboard doors flew open and the whole house shook, it was unreal. I can't believe it."

David in Alrewas in Staffordshire said: "The birds were flying around like it was daylight.

"It was quite severe. I experienced the Dudley one and this was more severe.

"I went outside to see if the roof had collapsed. I could see the furniture in the room moving, it was like it was on a jelly mould."

David Somerset, 41, from Driffield near Beverley in East Yorkshire, said: "I have never felt one as strong as that one before. I was in my sitting room and the grandfather clock was rattling rather violently.

"It was very strong, I felt the whole room moving."

Philip Norton, a BBC reporter for Look North in Hull, said: "Everything started wobbling.

"The windows were rattling and the blinds were visibily moving. "It sounded like the roof was coming in."

BBC reporter Lynn Crombie in Norwich said she was "absolutely terrified" and thought somebody "had driven into the side of the house".

"Then I thought somebody must have kicked the door in and everything continued to rattle inside the house," she said.

Jamil Ali in Sheffield said: "I woke up and the first thing I thought was that there were a load of burglars in the house.

"The kids were screaming and so was my wife. It was that violent you actually moved yourself."

The West Midlands was hit by an earthquake in 2002 in the Dudley area that reached a magnitude of 5.0 and one measuring 4.3 hit Folkstone in Kent last year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7266136.stm

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 2 replies

Lectures, talks, events etc

bobs — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 15:58:04 GMT

Last Friday I was very fortunate in having the opportunity to lsten to the incomparable Professor Bill McGuire ( http://www.benfieldhrc.org/people/cvs/cv_bm.htm )giving a fascinating lecture entitled: 'From collapsing volcanoes to climate change' Being the complete air-head that I am I lost all my notes on either the bus or train ...

Professor McGuire is giving the talk again at Kingston University on November
22nd. It is free and details can be found at: http://www.kingston.ac.uk/about_ku/events/lectures.htm

I whole-heartedly recommend anyone who gets the chance to go, to go!

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 3 replies

Earthquake Research 2:

bobs — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:54:31 GMT

QuakeFinder Aces Award For Innovation In Earthquake Forecasting

by Staff Writers
Palo Alto CA (SPX) Jan 27, 2006
With the upcoming 100th anniversary of the San Francisco Earthquake, one of the most significant earthquakes of all times, and in the wake of the Southeast Asia Tsunami and the Kashmir earthquake, today, as never before, we have become aware of the urgent need to develop an early seismic warning system.
Even a window of a few short hours could give time to residents and emergency services in the affected areas to evacuate and take the necessary response measures. Science has applied decades of effort to seismic research with frustrating results.

One company, however, has just been recognized for its innovative approach. QuakeFinder, a private research company based in Palo Alto, California, is making inroads in the most promising area of earthquake research, the measurement of the subtle effects in the earth and ionosphere, occurring several hours to days before major earthquakes, which may provide the foundations of short-term forecasts.

The California Space Authority bestows its highest recognition -- the Spot Beam Award -- to leaders who have made extraordinary contributions to "transforming space."

The Spot Beam Award in Space Innovation was presented to QuakeFinder in an award ceremony sponsored by Congressman Ken Clavert, and held in Los Angeles on December 2, 2005. California Space Authority (CSA) is a nonprofit corporation representing the commercial, civil, and national defense/homeland security interests of California's industry, government, academia, and workforce.

"The Space Innovation Award," stated the CSA in its official announcement, "is being presented to QuakeFinder for its pioneering research in the forecasting of earthquakes with the use of space technology. Specifically, QuakeFinder designed, built and launched a satellite -- QuakeSat -- in only 18 months.

Data from that satellite is helping to detect changes in the earth's electromagnetic signatures, which, in turn, signal that an earthquake is imminent." QuakeFinder's pioneering spirit is applied not only in its scientific approach but also in its creative partnerships formed to maximize research and funding opportunities.

From its inception it has formed strategic alliances with Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Purdue, UCLA, NASA, Japan, France, Taiwan, Russia and others and brought space science to schools in their educational outreach program. QuakeFinder not only partners with scientists and researchers but also with members of the general public who contribute directly as sponsors their ground systems.

"We are extremely gratified by the award," says Tom Bleier, President of QuakeFinder, "it certainly adds a spring to our step as we embark on the next phase. We are building and deploying the second generation of ULF monitors - fifteen times more sensitive than their predecessors - to complete the largest network in the world along the major fault lines in California."

Related Links
http://www.quakefinder.com/

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/QuakeFinder_Aces_Award_For_Innovation_In_Earthquake_Forecasting.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 35 replies

Earthquake research 5:

bobs — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:46:17 GMT

Paired earthquakes separated in time and space
Earthquakes occurring at the edges of tectonic plates can trigger events at a distance and much later in time, according to a team of researchers reporting in today's issue of Nature. These doublet earthquakes may hold an underestimated hazard, but may also shed light on earthquake dynamics.

"The last great outer rise earthquakes that occurred were in the 1930s and 1970s," said Charles J. Ammon, associate professor of geoscience, Penn State. "We did not then have the equipment to record the details of those events." The outer rise is the region seaward of the deep-sea trench that marks the top of the plate boundary

In late 2006 and early 2007, two large earthquakes occurred near Japan separated by about 60 days. These earthquakes took place in the area of the Kuril Islands that are located from the westernmost point of the Japanese Island of Hokkaido to the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The first event took place on Nov. 15, 2006 when the edge of the Pacific plate thrust under the arc of the Kuril Islands, initiating a magnitude 8.3 event and causing some damage in Japan and a small tsunami that caused minor damage in Crescent City, California. About 60 days later, on Jan. 13, 2007, a magnitude 8.1 earthquake occurred in "the upper portion of the Pacific plate, producing one of the largest recorded shallow extensional earthquakes."

This second earthquake was not at a plate boundary and was not directly caused by subduction -- the moving of one plate beneath the other. Rather, it was a normal faulting event, where the Pacific plate stretched, bent and broke.

While Japan and the Kamchatka Peninsula are active earthquake areas, the region of the Kuril Islands where the large November earthquake occurred, had not had a large earthquake since 1915 and researchers are unsure of the exact nature of that event.

Working with Hiroo Kanamori, the John E. and Hazel S. Smits professor of geophysics, emeritus, California Institute of Technology, and Thorne Lay, professor of Earth & planetary sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, the Penn State researcher looked at the sequence of seismic activity that link these two earthquakes into a doublet.

"Such large doublet earthquakes, though rare, could be an underestimated hazard," says Ammon. "We are also interested in what these events tell us about how earthquakes interact, how the stresses and interactions allow one earthquake to trigger another."

Looking at the seismic record, the researchers found a series of smaller, foreshock earthquakes beginning about 45 days before Nov. 15. On Nov. 15, there was the magnitude 8.3 earthquake on the plate boundary, the largest event of 2006.

"Within minutes of the Nov. 15 earthquake, seismic activity began on the Pacific plate in the area where the January earthquake would take place," says Ammon. "This large second earthquake generated a larger amplitude of shaking in the frequency range that affects human-made structures than the first earthquake."

Usually, aftershocks from a large earthquake are at least one order of magnitude less than the main event and taper off rapidly. In this case, the events within the Pacific plate east of the plate boundary did not taper off, and the second event that occurred in January was about the same size as the first earthquake.

Earthquakes at plate boundaries in subduction zones occur when the plate that is going under – being subducted – gets temporarily stuck and causes compression in the plate away from the edge. Tension builds and when the plate overcomes the friction holding it, it moves downward, slipping under the top plate and causing an earthquake. According to the researchers, the second earthquake that occurred on the Pacific plate happened because of bending experienced by the pacific plate that occurs before it subducts beneath the upper plate. As the front edge of the plate slipped, the plate east of the November earthquake bent, cracked and broke in January.

Like pie crust, when the Earth's crust bends, small cracks begin to appear – these were the small shocks that began immediately after the first earthquake – but when the bending becomes severe, a larger region of the crust breaks – creating the second, very large event.

In the United States, subduction zones exist only in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and the area around Puerto Rico. The researchers note, "Triggering of a large outer rise rupture with strong high-frequency shaking constitutes an important potential seismic hazard that needs to be considered in other regions."

Source: Penn State

http://www.physorg.com/news120920565.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 3 replies

hey fellows i got afraid yesterday

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:31:42 GMT

hey yesterday early in the morning we had an earth quake in meso America things really got shaky and cranky and freaky although some caves collapsed in the Maya mountains.

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 2 replies

The latest from NASA's Earth Observatory. 6

bobs — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 09:59:26 GMT

The latest from NASA's Earth Observatory (15 August 2006)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the News:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/

* Latest Images:
Hurricane-Ready Sea Surface Temperatures
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17368

The Strait of Dover
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17367

Oppressive Heat Wave Moves across United States
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17366

Shiretoko National Park
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17365

Mount Etna, Sicily
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17364

Typhoon Saomai
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17363

Sea Ice off Greenland Coast
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17362

The Danube’s Iron Gates
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17361

* Media Alerts
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/MediaAlerts/
- Ancient Arctic Water Cycles Are Red Flags to Future Global Warming
- Greenland's Ice Loss Accelerating Rapidly, Gravity-Measuring Satellites Reveal
- Snowfall Hasn't Increased Over Antarctica in Last 50 Years
- 'Dead Zone' Causing Wave of Death off Oregon Coast
- A Nursery for Hurricanes

* Headlines from the press, radio, and television:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/Headlines/
- Typhoon Death Toll Rises
- Fires in Northwest Spain Lessen
- Pollution Helps Marine Aliens Spread
- Antarctic 'Snow Shock' Just Around Corner
- Philippine Volcano Blast Appears Likely
- Pigeons Beam Air Quality Info to Blog
- Dying Salt Marshes Puzzle Scientists
- Pacific 'Dead Zone' Worse than Thought
- Quake Jolts Mexico City
- Weak El Nino May Be Forming
- Stronger Hurricanes Spawn Bigger Storm Surges
- Volcanic Eruptions Score Melodies
- Greenland Melt Speeding Up
- Indonesian Forest Fires Flare
- Floods Maroon Thousands in Indian Cities
- Louisiana Builds New Land with River Mud
- Hurricane Forecast Lowered, Slightly
- Second Chinese Crab Found in Chesapeake Bay
- Scientists Links Nitrogen to 'Dead Zone'

* New Research Highlights
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/Research/

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 38 replies

GVP/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report : 6

bobs — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 21:24:43 GMT

GVP/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report

6-12 December 2006

http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/
*********************************

New Activity/Unrest: | Galeras, Colombia | Mayon, Philippines | Pagan, Mariana
Islands | Shiveluch, Russia

Ongoing Activity: | Anatahan, Mariana Islands | Karymsky, Russia | Kilauea, USA
| Manam, Papua New Guinea | Rabaul, Papua New Guinea | Sakura-jima, Japan |
Santa María, Guatemala | Soufrière Hills, Montserrat | St. Helens, USA |
Tungurahua, Ecuador | Ulawun, Papua New Guinea

New Activity/Unrest

GALERAS Colombia 1.22°N, 77.37°W; summit elev. 4,276 m

On 22 November INGEOMINAS reported that the Alert Level for Galeras was
increased from 3 (changes in the behavior of volcanic activity have been noted)
to 2 (probable eruption in days to weeks) on a scale of 4-1, due to seismic
patterns previously indicative of eruptive episodes. Emissions of gas and steam
were seen coming from the periphery of the main crater during aerial
observations on 4, 5, 10, and 11 December.

Geologic Summary. Galeras, a stratovolcano with a large breached caldera
located
immediately W of the city of Pasto, is one of Colombia's most frequently active
volcanoes. The dominantly andesitic Galeras volcanic complex has been active
for
more than 1 million years, and two major caldera collapse eruptions took place
during the late Pleistocene. Long-term extensive hydrothermal alteration has
affected the volcano. This has contributed to large-scale edifice collapse that
has occurred on at least three occasions, producing debris avalanches that
swept
to the W and left a large horseshoe-shaped caldera inside which the modern cone
has been constructed. Major explosive eruptions since the mid Holocene have
produced widespread tephra deposits and pyroclastic flows that swept all but
the
southern flanks. A central cone slightly lower than the caldera rim has been
the
site of numerous small-to-moderate historical eruptions since the time of the
Spanish conquistadors.

Source: Instituto Colombiano de Geología y Minería
http://www.ingeominas.gov.co/

Galeras Information from the Global Volcanism Program

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1501-08=

MAYON southeastern Luzon, Philippines 13.257°N, 123.685°E; summit elev. 2,462 m

According to news articles, the National Disaster Coordinating Council in
Manila
estimated that 100,000 people still remained in shelters from typhoon Durian
that struck on 30 November and triggered lahars down Mayon's flanks. An
estimated 1,200 people are dead or missing. Media sources on 9 December
reported
that approximately 15,000 people from 12 villages were evacuated from areas
around Mayon (in Albay province) in anticipation of more lahars following
another typhoon. On 11 December, reports indicated that the second typhoon,
Utor, had passed Albay without triggering lahars.

Geologic Summary. The beautifully symmetrical Mayon volcano, which rises to
2,462 m above the Albay Gulf, is the Philippines' most active volcano. The
structurally simple volcano has steep upper slopes that average 35-40° and is
capped by a small summit crater. The historical eruptions of this
basaltic-andesitic volcano date back to 1616 and range from Strombolian to
basaltic Plinian. Eruptions occur predominately from the central conduit and
have also produced lava flows that travel far down the flanks. Pyroclastic
flows
and mudflows have commonly swept down many of the approximately 40 ravines that
radiate from the summit and have often devastated populated lowland areas.
Mayon's most violent eruption, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and
devastated several towns. Eruptions that began in February 2000 led PHIVOLCS to
recommend on 23 February the evacuation of people within a radius of 7 km from
the summit in the SE and within a 6 km radius for the rest of the volcano.

Sources: Agence France-Presse
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061209/wl_asia_afp/weatherphilippines_06120917145
3,

Associated Press
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WEATHER/12/09/phils.new.typhoon.ap/index.html?
section=cnn_latest,

Associated Press http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/2006-12-09-philippines-
typhoon_x.htm?csp=34

Mayon Information from the Global Volcanism Program

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0703-03=

PAGAN Mariana Islands, central Pacific Ocean 18.13°N, 145.80°E; summit elev.
570
m

During 4-5 December, residents 3 km SW of Pagan reported ashfall that
accumulated in their camp at a rate of about 6.4 mm per day. They also
described
a plume from the summit that rose to an altitude of 640 m (2,100 ft) a.s.l. and
a sulfur smell that occasionally wafted through their camp. Based on satellite
imagery, the Washington VAAC reported a gas-and-ash plume that drifted mainly W
on 5, 6, and 8 December. Satellite imagery showed no further activity through
11
December.

Geologic Summary. Pagan Island, the largest and one of the most active of the
Marianas Islands volcanoes, consists of two stratovolcanoes connected by a
narrow isthmus. Both North and South Pagan stratovolcanoes were constructed
within calderas, 7 and 4 km in diameter, respectively. The 570-m-high Mount
Pagan at the NE end of the island rises above the flat floor of the caldera,
which probably formed during the early Holocene. South Pagan is a 548-m-high
stratovolcano with an elongated summit containing four distinct craters. Almost
all of the historical eruptions of Pagan, which date back to the 17th century,
have originated from North Pagan volcano. The largest eruption of Pagan during
historical time took place in 1981 and prompted the evacuation of the sparsely
populated island.

Sources: Emergency Management Office of the Commonwealth of the Mariana
Islands,
Office of the Governor http://www.cnmiemo.gov.mp/PAGAN%20VOLCANO.htm,

United States Geological Survey Volcano Hazards Program
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/,

Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/messages.html,

Pagan Information from the Global Volcanism Program

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0804-17=

SHIVELUCH Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia 56.653°N, 161.360°E; summit elev. 3,283 m

According to observations and video data, KVERT reported fumarolic activity
from
Shiveluch during 2-4 and 6-7 December. Based on satellite imagery, the Tokyo
VAAC reported possible eruption plumes on 8 and 11 December that reached
altitudes of 5.2 km (17,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted SW and NE, respectively.
Satellite imagery and a pilot observation reported by the VAAC indicated ash
plumes on 12 December to altitudes of 3-5.8 km (10,000-19,000 ft) a.s.l.

Geologic Summary. The high, isolated massif of Shiveluch volcano (also spelled
Sheveluch) rises above the lowlands NNE of the Kliuchevskaya volcano group and
forms one of Kamchatka's largest and most active volcanoes. The currently
active
Molodoy Shiveluch lava-dome complex was constructed during the Holocene within
a
large horseshoe-shaped caldera formed by collapse of the massive
late-Pleistocene Strary Shiveluch volcano. At least 60 large eruptions of
Shiveluch have occurred during the Holocene, making it the most vigorous
andesitic volcano of the Kuril-Kamchatka arc. Frequent collapses of lava-dome
complexes, most recently in 1964, have produced large debris avalanches whose
deposits cover much of the floor of the breached caldera. During the 1990s,
intermittent explosive eruptions took place from a new lava dome that began
growing in 1980. The largest historical eruptions from Shiveluch occurred in
1854 and 1964.

Sources: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/updates.shtml,

Tokyo Volcanic Ash Advisory Center
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/OTH/JP/messages.html

Shiveluch Information from the Global Volcanism Program
http://www.volcano.si.edu/gvp/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1000-27=

Ongoing Activity

ANATAHAN Mariana Islands, central Pacific Ocean 16.35°N, 145.67°E; summit elev.
788 m

Seismic activity at Anatahan was very low during the previous two weeks (late
November through early December). Diffuse steam-and-gas plumes were
occasionally
visible on recent satellite images or during observation flights. On 7
December,
the Volcanic Alert Level was lowered from Yellow to Green.

Geologic Summary. The elongate, 9-km-long island of Anatahan in the central
Mariana Islands consists of large stratovolcano with a 2.3 x 5 km, E-W-trending
compound summit caldera. The larger western caldera is 2.3 x 3 km wide, and
its
western rim forms the island's 790-m high point. Ponded lava flows overlain by
pyroclastic deposits fill the floor of the western caldera, whose SW side is
cut
by a fresh-looking smaller crater. The 2-km-wide eastern caldera contained a
steep-walled inner crater prior to the 2003 eruption whose floor was only 68 m
above sea level. Sparseness of vegetation on the most recent lava flows on
Anatahan had indicated that they were of Holocene age, but the first historical
eruption of Anatahan did not occur until May 2003, when a large explosive
eruption took place forming a new crater inside the eastern caldera.

Source: Emergency Management Office of the Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands
and the US Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/cnmi/index.html

Anatahan Information from the Global Volcanism Program

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0804-20=

KARYMSKY Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia 54.05°N, 159.43°E; summit elev. 1,536 m

Seismic data from Karymsky was not available during 1-8 December. Pilots from
international airlines reported that on 2 December ash plumes rose to 6.9 km
(22,600 ft) a.s.l. and drifted E. Plumes also drifted E on 5-6 December. A
thermal anomaly in the crater was detected on 3 and 6-7 December. Plumes were
visible on satellite imagery on 9 December, extending as far as 15 km W. The
Level of Concern Color Code remained at Orange
<http://www.avo.alaska.edu/color_codes.php>.

Geologic Summary. Karymsky, the most active volcano of Kamchatka's eastern
volcanic zone, is a symmetrical stratovolcano constructed within a 5-km-wide
caldera that formed about 7,600-7,700 radiocarbon years ago. Construction of
the
Karymsky stratovolcano began about 2,000 years later. The latest eruptive
period
began about 500 years ago, following a 2,300-year quiescence. Much of the cone
is mantled by lava flows less than 200 years old. Historical eruptions have
been
Vulcanian or Vulcanian-Strombolian with moderate explosive activity and
occasional lava flows from the summit crater. Most seismicity preceding
Karymsky
eruptions has originated beneath Akademia Nauk caldera, which is located
immediately S of Karymsky volcano and erupted simultaneously with Karymsky in
1996.

Sources: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/updates.shtml,

Tokyo Volcanic Ash Advisory Center
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/OTH/JP/messages.html

Karymsky Information from the Global Volcanism Program

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1000-13=

KILAUEA Hawaii, USA 19.43°N, 155.29°W; summit elev. 1,222 m

During 6-12 December, lava from Kilauea continued to flow off of a lava delta
into the ocean at the East Lae'apuki and East Ka'ili'ili entries. Incandescence
on the pali was visible during the reporting period. A large breakout on Pulama
pali on 5 December resulted in downed and burned trees. Incandescence was also
intermittently visible from the East Pond and January vents, South Wall
complex,
and Drainhole vent in Pu'u 'O'o's crater.

Geologic Summary. Kilauea, one of five coalescing volcanoes that comprise the
island of Hawaii, is one of the world's most active volcanoes. Eruptions at
Kilauea originate primarily from the summit caldera or along one of the lengthy
E and SW rift zones that extend from the caldera to the sea. About 90% of the
surface of Kilauea is formed by lava flows less than about 1,100 years old; 70%
of the volcano's surface is younger than 600 years. The latest Kilauea eruption
began in January 1983 along the E rift zone. This long-term ongoing eruption
from Pu`u `O`o-Kupaianaha has produced lava flows that have traveled 11-12 km
from the vents to the sea, paving broad areas on the S flank of Kilauea and
adding new land beyond the former coastline.

Source: US Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
http://volcano.wr.usgs.gov/hvostatus.php

Kilauea information from the Global Volcanism Program

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1302-01-

MANAM offshore New Guinea, Papua New Guinea 4.10°S, 145.06°E; summit elev.
1,807
m

RVO reported that during 8-10 December, incandescence was observed from Manam's
Main Crater. Bluish white vapor emissions during 6-9 December changed to a
darker gray on 10 December. A resultant plume rose to 2.1-2.2 km (6,900-7,200
ft) a.s.l. and drifted SE.

Geologic Summary. The 10-km-wide island of Manam is one of Papua New Guinea's
most active volcanoes. Four large radial valleys extend from the unvegetated
summit of the conical 1,807-m-high stratovolcano to its lower flanks. These
"avalanche valleys," regularly spaced 90 degrees apart, channel lava
flows and pyroclastic avalanches that have sometimes reached the coast. Five
satellitic centers are located near the island's shoreline. Two summit craters
are present; both are active, although most historical eruptions have
originated
from the southern crater, concentrating eruptive products during the past
century into the SE avalanche valley. Frequent historical eruptions have been
recorded since 1616.

Source: Steve Saunders, Rabaul Volcano Observatory

Manam Information from the Global Volcanism Program

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0501-02=

RABAUL New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea 4.271°S, 152.203°E; summit elev.
688
m

RVO reported that during 6-8 December Rabaul caldera's Tavurvur cone emitted
thick white-to-gray plumes that rose to 1.2-3.2 km (3,900-10,500 ft) a.s.l. and
drifted NW and NE. Ashfall was reported from areas downwind (NW) on 6 and 7
December. Roaring noises were heard during 7-10 December. On 11 December, the
volcano was quiet and emitted only a diffuse plume that was also visible on
satellite imagery. On 12 December, a loud explosion shook houses in Rabaul Town
and a gray plume rose to 1.7 km (5,600 ft) a.s.l. and drifted E. When the noise
stopped on 10 December, the deformation monitoring equipment recorded an
approximate 1-cm rapid uplift that subsided after the explosion on 12 December.

Geologic Summary. The low-lying Rabaul caldera on the tip of the Gazelle
Peninsula at the NE end of New Britain forms a broad sheltered harbor. The
outer flanks of the 688-m-high asymmetrical pyroclastic shield volcano are
formed by thick pyroclastic-flow deposits. The 8 x 14 km caldera is widely
breached on the E, where its floor is flooded by Blanche Bay. Two major
Holocene
caldera-forming eruptions at Rabaul took place as recently as 3,500 and 1,400
years ago. Three small stratovolcanoes lie outside the northern and NE caldera
rims. Post-caldera eruptions built basaltic-to-dacitic pyroclastic cones on
the
caldera floor near the NE and western caldera walls. Several of these,
including Vulcan cone, which was formed during a large eruption in 1878, have
produced major explosive activity during historical time. A powerful explosive
eruption in 1994 occurred simultaneously from Vulcan and Tavurvur volcanoes and
forced the temporary abandonment of Rabaul city.

Sources: Herman Patia and Steve Saunders, Rabaul Volcano Observatory,

Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/OTH/AU/messages.html

Rabaul Information from the Global Volcanism Program

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0502-14=

SAKURA-JIMA Kyushu, Japan 31.58°N, 130.67°E; summit elev. 1,117 m

Based on information from JMA, the Tokyo VAAC reported an eruption from
Sakura-jima on 12 December. The resultant plume reached an altitude of 2.1 km
(7,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted NE.

Geologic Summary. Sakura-jima, one of Japan's most active volcanoes, is a
post-caldera cone of the Aira caldera at the northern half of Kagoshima Bay.
Eruption of the voluminous Ito pyroclastic flow was associated with the
formation of the 17 x 23-km-wide Aira caldera about 22,000 years ago. The
construction of Sakura-jima began about 13,000 years ago and built an island
that was finally joined to the Osumi Peninsula during the major explosive and
effusive eruption of 1914. Activity at the Kita-dake summit cone ended about
4,850 years ago, after which eruptions took place at Minami-dake. Frequent
historical eruptions, recorded since the 8th century, have deposited ash on
Kagoshima, one of Kyushu's largest cities, located across Kagoshima Bay only 8
km from the summit. The largest historical eruption took place during 1471-76.

Source: Tokyo Volcanic Ash Advisory Center
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/OTH/JP/messages.html

Sakura-jima Information from the Global Volcanism Program

http://www.volcano.si.edu/gvp/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0802-08=

SANTA MARÍA Guatemala 14.756°N, 91.552°W; summit elev. 3,772 m

Based on satellite imagery, the Washington VAAC reported that explosions at
Santa María's Santiaguito lava-dome complex produced ash plumes on 5, 7, and 10
December that drifted SW, NW, and W, respectively. INSIVUMEH reported constant
incandescent avalanches on 8 December from the S and SE edge of Caliente dome
and from the toe of the active lava flow on the SW flank. Ash plumes caused
slight ashfall to the SW.

Geologic Summary. Symmetrical, forest-covered Santa María volcano is one of a
chain of large stratovolcanoes that rises dramatically above the Pacific
coastal
plain of Guatemala. The stratovolcano has a sharp-topped, conical profile that
is cut on the SW flank by a large, 1-km-wide crater, which formed during a
catastrophic eruption in 1902 and extends from just below the summit to the
lower flank. The renowned Plinian eruption of 1902 followed a long repose
period
and devastated much of SW Guatemala. The large dacitic Santiaguito lava-dome
complex has been growing at the base of the 1902 crater since 1922. Compound
dome growth at Santiaguito has occurred episodically from four westward-
younging
vents, accompanied by almost continuous minor explosions and periodic lava
extrusion, larger explosions, pyroclastic flows, and lahars.

Sources: Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia, e
Hidrologia http://www.insivumeh.gob.gt/geofisica/boletin%20formato.htm,

Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/messages.html

Santa María Information from the Global Volcanism Program

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1402-03=

SOUFRIÈRE HILLS Montserrat, West Indies 16.72°N, 62.18°W; summit elev. 1,052 m

During 1-8 December, the MVO reported that observations of Soufrière Hills were
limited due to cloud cover. On 2 December, the lava dome was visible and growth
was concentrated on the NE. Based on information from the MVO, satellite
imagery, and pilot reports, the Washington VAAC reported a small explosion on 8
December. The resulting ash plume rose to an altitude of 2.4 km (8,000 ft)
a.s.l. and drifted W.

Geologic Summary. The complex, dominantly andesitic Soufrière Hills volcano
occupies the southern half of the island of Montserrat. The summit area
consists
primarily of a series of lava domes emplaced along an ESE-trending zone.
English's Crater, a 1-km-wide crater breached widely to the east, was formed
during an eruption about 4000 years ago in which the summit collapsed,
producing
a large submarine debris avalanche. Block-and-ash flow and surge deposits
associated with dome growth predominate in flank deposits at Soufrière Hills.
Non-eruptive seismic swarms occurred at 30-year intervals in the 20th century,
but with the exception of a 17th-century eruption that produced the Castle Peak
lava dome, no historical eruptions were recorded on Montserrat until 1995.
Long-term small-to-moderate ash eruptions beginning in that year were later
accompanied by lava-dome growth and pyroclastic flows that forced evacuation of
the southern half of the island and ultimately destroyed the capital city of
Plymouth, causing major social and economic disruption.

Sources: Montserrat Volcano Observatory http://www.mvo.ms/,

Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/messages.html

Soufrière Hills Information from the Global Volcanism Program

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1600-05=

ST. HELENS Washington, USA 46.20°N, 122.18°W; summit elev. 2,549 m

Data from deformation-monitoring instruments showed that during 6-12 December
the lava dome at Mount St. Helens continued to grow. Seismicity continued at
low
levels, punctuated by M 1.5-2.5 and occasionally larger earthquakes.

Geologic Summary. Prior to 1980, Mount St. Helens formed a conical, youthful
volcano sometimes known as the Fuji-san of America. During the 1980 eruption
the upper 400 m of the summit was removed by slope failure, leaving a 2 x 3.5
km
horseshoe-shaped crater now partially filled by a lava dome. Mount St. Helens
was formed during nine eruptive periods beginning about 40-50,000 years ago,
and
has been the most active volcano in the Cascade Range during the Holocene. The
modern edifice was constructed during the last 2,200 years, when the volcano
produced basaltic as well as andesitic and dacitic products from summit and
flank vents. Historical eruptions in the 19th century originated from the Goat
Rocks area on the N flank, and were witnessed by early settlers.

Source: US Geological Survey Cascades Volcano Observatory
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/CurrentActivity/framework.html

St. Helens Information from the Global Volcanism Program

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1201-05-

TUNGURAHUA Ecuador 1.47°S, 78.44°W; summit elev. 5,023 m

IG reported that during 6-12 December, emissions from Tungurahua produced steam
plumes with little ash content that reached altitudes of 6-7 km (19,700-23,000
ft) a.s.l. and drifted in multiple directions. On 6 December, plumes reached an
altitude of 10 km (32,800 ft) a.s.l. Ashfall was reported in areas including
Cotaló, about 13 km NW, Pillate, about 7 km to the W, and Puela, about 8 km
SW.
On 9 December, ashfall up to 1 mm thick was reported about 12 km N in Baños.

Geologic Summary. The steep-sided Tungurahua stratovolcano towers more than 3
km
above its northern base. It sits ~140 km S of Quito, Ecuador's capital city,
and
is one of Ecuador's most active volcanoes. Historical eruptions have been
restricted to the summit crater. They have been accompanied by strong
explosions
and sometimes by pyroclastic flows and lava flows that reached populated areas
at the volcano's base. The last major eruption took place from 1916 to 1918,
although minor activity continued until 1925. The latest eruption began in
October 1999 and prompted temporary evacuation of the town of Baños on the N
side of the volcano.

Source: Instituto Geofísico-Escuela Poltécnica Nacional
http://www.igepn.edu.ec/

Tungurahua Information from the Global Volcanism Program

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1502-08=

ULAWUN New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea 5.04°S, 151.34°E; summit elev.
2,334
m

Based on satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that diffuse plumes from
Ulawun reached altitudes of 4 km (13,000 ft) a.s.l. on 9 December. Plumes on
11
December reached unreported altitudes.

Geologic Summary. The symmetrical basaltic to andesitic Ulawun stratovolcano is
the highest volcano of the Bismarck arc, and one of Papua New Guinea's most
frequently active. Ulawun rises above the N coast of New Britain opposite Bamus
volcano. The upper 1,000 m of the 2,334-m-high volcano is unvegetated. A
steep-walled valley cuts the NW side of the volcano, and a flank lava-flow
complex lies to the S of this valley. Historical eruptions date back to the
beginning of the 18th century. Twentieth-century eruptions were mildly
explosive
until 1967, but after 1970 several larger eruptions produced lava flows and
basaltic pyroclastic flows, greatly modifying the summit crater.

Source: Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/OTH/AU/messages.html

Ulawun Information from the Global Volcanism Program

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0502-12=

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sally Kuhn Sennert

Global Volcanism Program

Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of Natural History MRC-119

Department of Mineral Sciences

Washington, D.C., 20560

http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/index.cfm
<http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/index.cfm>

Phone: 202.633.1805
Fax: 202.357.2476
<http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 32 replies

In the news 11:

bobs — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:53:16 GMT

As a river runs through it, a Death Valley stream offers insights into flooding and climate change

Death Valley may be known by its three superlatives: hottest, driest, and lowest – as in temperature, rainfall, and elevation in the United States. But it was the flow of water through the National Park that attracted Boston College Geologist Noah P. Snyder to the desert of eastern California.

In one of the few places where rivers do not flow to the sea, Snyder’s research into a 1941 stream diversion in the historic park uncovered a rare glimpse into a range of geological changes that might otherwise take centuries to unfold but instead are revealed following the flashfloods that strike the park, located against the Nevada border.

Furnace Creek Wash, diverted to protect a village from flooding during infrequent but powerful rainstorms, has carved through Gower Gulch over the years. The way the creek cuts through the sandy hills highlights the effects original landscape and changing channel dynamics exert on the responses of diverted rivers and streams, according to research by Snyder, published in February edition of the journal Geology.

“This is an unusual opportunity to see how a river system responds to an extreme change in the historic rates of water and sediment flow,” said Snyder, who co-authored the paper with former graduate student Lisa R. Kammer ‘05. “It’s a hot topic in the earth sciences where we’re interested in learning more about the interaction of climate change, tectonics and bedrock erosion.”

In response to the diversion, Snyder found the Furnace Creek produced an unusual hybrid of consequences: at some points, the creek cuts into the land, leaving deep slices in the bedrock from the surge of flood waters brought on by as little as a half-inch to an inch of rain falling over the watershed that rolls out of the Funeral Mountains. At other points, where soft, sedimentary rocks sit below the surface, the creek has had a widening effect on its channel. These changes are brought on by periodic storms, not the steady flow of a routinely-fed creek or river, giving Snyder a chance to document this combination of effects at work.

Geologists have established models to predict the responses of channels, particularly bedrock rivers, Snyder said. Until he decided to investigate Gower Gulch, there had been few natural experiments to allow geologists to test and validate the models.

Snyder, who presented some of his findings in December at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, specializes in river habitat restoration and lends his expertise to a number of dam removal projects throughout New England. He said he was drawn to Gower Gulch because of the unique opportunity to measure effects that mimic the impact of climate change on river flooding and erosion.

His research included a field study in the park in 2005, a review of aerial photographs taken between 1948 and 1995, as well as laser-guided elevation data provided by the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping.

A geological wonder known for its searing summer-time temperatures, Death Valley sits nearly 300 feet below sea level, making it one of the few sites in the U.S. where rivers do not flow to the sea. A small dam and an opening blasted by engineers in 1941 now send Furnace Creek Wash rushing through Gower Gulch before emptying into the valley floor. Gower Gulch, dominated by sculpted sedimentary rock reminiscent of the rutted landscape of the Badlands of South Dakota, was photographed after the diversion by the late naturalist and photographer Ansel Adams.

The creek was diverted to prevent the flooding of a small village, but the National Park continues to sustain damage when heavy rains deluge the region. A flash flood in 2006 swept away vehicles, washed out roads and undermined visitor facilities at the Zabriskie Point look-out, according to park service reports.

Snyder said he does not expect any efforts to return Furnace Creek Wash to its original state because that would probably require relocation of the National Park Service village downstream. But the activity in Gower Gulch provides almost a time-lapse view into the effects of water flow. Under normal conditions, the effects of rivers and streams take eons to clearly manifest themselves in the land. But the man-made diversion, coupled with the intermittent flow of the creek through Gower Gulch has produced a microcosm of geological activity for Snyder and other scientists to observe, Snyder said.

Source: Boston College

http://www.physorg.com/news120898031.html

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 2 replies

dam global warming

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 15:21:10 GMT

its affecting the coral reef of my home where we swim play fish and even dance in the wawla with the dolphins apart from that its evolving earth so fast dolphins sending songs to the heavens on full mooon even the shark whale burst in hail sometimes at night i hear them crying along with the dolphins but life is great lets just hope that every thing thing happens fast.,,,,the polea shift.

posted in ""The power & beauty of Nature - 1 reply