Earth ChangesS


Seismograph

'Severe', shallow magnitude 5.5 earthquake strikes central New Zealand

New Zealand's south island quake map
© USGSThe area where the quake struck off New Zealand's south island
A magnitude 5.5 earthquake has struck central New Zealand on Thursday afternoon.

According to RNZ, the strong quake was centered around 35km east of Seddon, a town on the northern tip of New Zealand's south island.

The quake, which hit at 3.34pm, had a depth of 15km and was followed soon after by a 4.7 aftershock.

GeoNet rated the intensity of the earthquake as 'severe'.

Shaking was felt in Wellington more than 150km away.

The island has been hit by several aftershocks following the devastating 7.8-magnitude quake which struck in November.

The New Zealand Herald reported that no injuries or damage had been reported to the Wellington Free Ambulance or St John central communications.

Comment: Earlier this month the same area was rocked by another severe, shallow magnitude 5.5 earthquake; and two earthquakes in two minutes, one of them strong.


Fish

Thousands of dead lobsters, crabs and herring washing up along St. Mary's Bay, Nova Scotia

Dead Starfishes
© Eric HeweyAmong the things Eric Hewey discovered washed up on the beach near Savary Park in Digby County were these starfish.
Massive numbers of dead starfish, clams, lobsters and mussels have washed up on a western Nova Scotia beach, compounding the mysterious deaths of tens of thousands of herring in the area.

Ted Leighton, an adjunct biology professor at Nova Scotia's University of Sainte-Anne, said social media photos showing bottom-dwellers strewn in the sand near Plympton, N.S., could be an indication that the phenomenon that has killed schools of herring in St. Marys Bay is possibly spreading to new species.

The retired veterinary pathologist has compiled more than 40 sightings of dead herring since late November, to shed light on an ecological puzzle that has stumped the scientific community.

The herring deaths were cause enough for concern, Leighton said, but now that new species have surfaced dead on a beach in Digby County, it's time to figure out "what's really going on."

"We're kind of in the dark, not from lack of trying, but from the complexity of the case," he said. "(There's) no firm data to rule anything in or out."

In mid-December, federal scientists said they had yet to determine what is causing the herring die-off, despite a battery of tests. Negative results have been reported for physical damage and several types of bacterial infections and viruses.

Comment:
Thousands of dead herrings wash ashore in St. Marys Bay, Nova Scotia


Attention

Colima volcano erupts in Mexico; 1.5 mile ash plume

Colima eruption on December 27, 2016.
Colima eruption on December 27, 2016.
Mexico's Ministry of Interior said the Colima volcano has generated eruptions that have created ash plumes up to 1,000 feet tall.

Luis Felipe Puente Espinosa, the Interior Ministry's public safety coordinator, said in a statement that the latest eruption occurred early Tuesday, and created an ash plume about 1.5 miles tall. Ash could fall up to 30 miles away from the volcano, he said.

The Colima volcano -- known by Mexicans as the Volcano of Fire -- is in Mexico's Colima state, a small state on the Pacific coast. Authorities have also declared an exclusion zone in neighboring Jalisco state.

"Respect the radius of exclusion of 4.6 miles in Jalisco and 7.4 miles in Colima," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The Interior Ministry said ash will mostly affect areas east and west of the volcano, while areas within about three miles of the volcano are at risk of falling volcanic debris.


Attention

2 volcanoes explode into life triggering state of emergency in Peru

Sabancaya volcano
Two volcanoes in Peru have erupted into life, just 60 miles apart sparking widespread fears and authorities have declared a state of emergency and started a mass evacuation.

The Sabancaya volcano started spewing ash and smoke some 3,500 meters (11,500 feet) into the air on Monday, in the latest in a series of worrying explosions in the south of the South American country.

The volcano, situated just 40 miles from Peru's second most populous city Arequipa in the Andes, returned to life at 8.24am on Monday just over a week after it began activity on December 16.

Local authorities have warned the local inhabitants they are likely to be affected by the ash from the 20,000-ft (6,000m) volcano whose name translates at 'tongue of fire' in the local dialect of Quechua.


Cloud Precipitation

Record breaking rain causes flooding in Northern Territories, Australia

Floods in Kintore, Northern Territories, Australia, December 2016.
© Northern Territories PoliceFloods in Kintore, Northern Territories, Australia, December 2016.
Parts of southern Northern Territories and northern South Australia have seen record breaking rain over the last two days.

The rain, caused by a deep low pressure system, was described as a one-in-50-year event by Australia's Bureau of Meteorology.

Parks Australia to close the Uluru National Park on Monday 26 December, 2016. Images on Social Media showed streams of water cascading down the sides of the landmark rock. The park has since re-opened.

Elsewhere in the Northern Territories, the Walungurru district recorded 231.6 mm of rain in 24 hours between 25 and 26 December, cutting off roads and washing out tracks. The previous highest daily rainfall record was 127.2 mm set in March 2006.

Attention

Attack by elephant herd leaves 1 dead and 2 seriously injured in Nepal

elephants
One person died and two sustained serious injuries when wild elephants attacked them at Praseni Bazaar, Bardiya district, on Wednesday morning.

At around 7 am, elephants entered the bazaar from Bardiya National Park and trampled on Bimal Pariyar.

Ram Prasad Lamichhane and Dinesh Singh Thakuri were seriously injured in the attack.

Terrified local people ran for their dear life when the elephants entered the bazaar.

Nepal Army personnel and local people drove them back to the forest later.

Nebula

NASA captures spectacular display of northern lights over northern Canada (PHOTOS)

Northern lights Canada
© NASA
A burst of particles from the Sun hit the Earth's magnetic field soon after the winter solstice, igniting a spectacular Aurora Borealis display over northern Canada - all of which was caught by NASA.

On December 22, lucky spectators on the ground photographed the dazzling phenomenon from below, while NASA's infrared satellite captured it from the above.

Comment: See more on northern lights:
  • Iceland turns off city lights to view spectacular Northern Lights show
  • New study explains how Aurora Borealis produces strange noises



Attention

5.9 magnitude earthquake hits Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan

Ibaraki earthquake
© USGS
An earthquake has struck the eastern coast of Japan, with early reports suggesting a magnitude 5.9 quake, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
USGS report
© USGS
The Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) earlier put the magnitude at 6.3 and reports the quake had a depth of 10km.

Reuters reports that no tsunami warning has been issued as a result of the quake.

The epicenter was reported as Ibaraki Prefecture in central Japan, about 170 kilometers north of the capital Tokyo, and near the town of Daigo. The prefecture has a population of about three million people.

Japan's NHK news agency report that tremors were felt throughout "wide areas" of the east coast, although it is unclear how much damage has been caused.

NHK reports that the JMA will hold a press conference at 11:45pm local time to provide further information on disaster prevention and earthquake activity.

In 2011, the 9.0 magnitude Tohoku earthquake caused large scale destruction of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which remains one of the biggest environmental disaster zones on the planet.

Fish

Unprecedented jellyfish blooms off the shores of Pakistan

Unusual jellyfish blooms affecting fishing activities in coastal areas
Unusual jellyfish blooms affecting fishing activities in coastal areas
Local fishermen have reported unprecedented jellyfish blooms in the offshore waters of Pakistan which are affecting fishing activities.

During the past fortnight, blooms of the mauve stinger (scientifically known as Pelagia noctiluca) have been observed in the continental shelf along the Sindh and Balochistan coasts.

Large aggregations of this stinging jellyfish, which are mauve to magenta in colour, have been reported in offshore waters of Karachi to the Indus Swatch (some 140km south of Karachi) and Ormara.

WWF-Pakistan studies revealed a population of more than 150 individuals per cubic metre, which is clogging the fishermen's nets. Its eight tentacles carry stinging cells known as cnidocytes.

Attention

Weeks old dead whale found on beach in South Taranak, New Zealand

Carl Linnell walked up on a washed-up whale near New Plymouth.
© Carl LinnellCarl Linnell walked up on a washed-up whale near New Plymouth.
A 14 metre whale has washed up on a South Taranaki beach.

Department of Conservation duty ranger Nathan Jones said he was called to a remote beach near Rahotu on Monday evening and said he suspected the dead mammal was a blue pygmy whale.

"The cause of death is unknown at this stage but it has probably been dead several weeks judging by the state of decay," he said.

"If it was on a more public beach we might have to cut it into pieces and get a digger involved, but because it's quite isolated we can just let nature take its course."

The whale was still at the beach on Wednesday evening and Jones asked the public to stay away from it if they saw it.

Carl Linnell said it looked like the whale had been on the beach for a few days.
© Carl Linnell Carl Linnell said it looked like the whale had been on the beach for a few days.