Earth ChangesS


Seismograph

Shallow 6.0 magnitude earthquake hits off Nago, Japan

Graph
© Dimas Ardian, Getty Images
6.0 magnitude earthquake 110 km from Nago, Okinawa, Japan

2016-09-26 05:19:58 UTC

UTC time: Monday, September 26, 2016 05:19 AM

Your time: 2016-09-26T05:19:58Z

Magnitude Type: mb

USGS page: M 6.0 - 113km NNE of Nago, Japan

USGS status: Reviewed by a seismologist

Reports from the public: 74 people

2016-09-26 05:19:58 UTC 6.0 magnitude, 40 km depth
Nago, Okinawa, Japan

Cloud Precipitation

Town in New South Wales, Australia evacuated ahead of 'once in a generation' flood

Forbes flooding
An aerial view of the Lachlan River in and around Forbes.

Rising floodwaters expected to inundate two rural NSW towns may cause problems with power and sewage for several days, despite lower and later-than-predicted peaks.

Residents at Forbes are being advised to evacuate as the Lachlan River swells to an estimated peak of 10.7m by midnight Sunday following 17mm of rain overnight Saturday.

The ADF, NSWFRS, RFS and SES are at nearby Condobolin, building barricades with sandbags as they wait for the water to arrive, and it's likely authorities will be busy in the area for another few weeks, SES spokeswoman Sue Pritchard said.

"It's slow to rise and slow to fall," she said on Sunday evening.

Since the rain began on August 30, the SES has received 2343 calls for assistance and has performed 96 flood rescues.

No people needed rescuing on Sunday but volunteers were kept busy saving horses, cattle and sheep at properties expected to be impacted.



Comment: Earlier this month flooding affected Victoria and South Australia following record rainfall.


Seismograph

Shallow magnitude 5.9 earthquake off New Zealand

Graph
© Dimas Ardian, Getty Images
5.9 magnitude earthquake

2016-09-25 04:28:37 UTC

UTC time: Sunday, September 25, 2016 04:28 AM

Your time: 2016-09-25T04:28:37Z

Magnitude Type: mwp

USGS page: M 5.9 - 181km SE of L'Esperance Rock, New Zealand

USGS status: Reviewed by a seismologist

Reports from the public: 0 people

2016-09-25 04:28:37 UTC 5.9 magnitude, 10 km depth
South Pacific Ocean

Seismograph

Shallow 4.6 earthquake recorded off Oregon coast near Brookings; second for the region in 5 hours

Graph
© Dimas Ardian, Getty Images
A pair of moderate earthquakes rattled the coast of Southern Oregon and Northern California late Saturday evening and early Sunday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

A magnitude 5.0 quake occurred in the Pacific Ocean nearly 100 miles off the coast of Gold Beach, Oregon, around 10:01 p.m. Saturday. A magnitude 4.6 quake rumbled nearly 100 miles off the coast of Brookings, Oregon, nearly five hours later.

The first quake occurred about 6.2 miles down in the ocean floor. The second earthquake occurred further down, about 10 miles beneath the Earth's surface.

Neither of the quakes prompted tsunami advisories for coastal communities, according to the National Weather Service's Tsunami.gov.

While both of these quakes were moderate in strength, news of an earthquake near Oregon is always sure to spark interest as the scientific community has become more aware of a pending Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. The fault, which lies just off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, is long overdue for a massive earthquake, according to experts. Many predict it could be as strong as a magnitude 9.0 when it eventually hits (this video explains the significance of that number).

Comment: See also: Shallow 5.0 magnitude earthquake hits off the coast of Gold Beach, Oregon


Eye 2

Alligator attacks airboat on Saint Johns River, Florida

Angry gator takes a bite of man's airboat
© WFTVAngry gator takes a bite of man's airboat
Some Brevard County, Florida, boaters came face to face with an angry alligator Wednesday night.

John Morgan and Jeff Dixon said that they were on an airboat on the Saint Johns River, when they encountered the gator.

The nearly 11-foot gator, which was blocking their path on the river, suddenly lunged at the boat and clamped down on it.

The boaters quickly accelerated and were able to get away from the gator.

The boaters said that the gator survived the confrontation, but it was still angry when they left.


Rose

Rare 'corpse flower' blooms at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire

Stinky flower
A rare flower known for its large size and foul smell bloomed in a greenhouse at Dartmouth college over the weekend.

The university provided an online live stream of "Morphy" the 13-year-old Amorphophallus titanum, or corpse flower.

Morphy was grown from a seed by a private grower in New Hampshire starting in 2003 and acquired by Dartmouth in 2007, according to Dartmouth news.

The plant, which was estimated to weigh between 37 and 39 pounds, bloomed once before in 2011 and sprouted two leaves which photosynthesized leading up to the most recent bloom.

The corpse flower's name comes from the smell emitted from the green and burgundy flower which resembles rotting flesh and attracts flies and beetles in the wild.

Comment: See also: Is nature saying wake up and smell the corpses? America's pungent corpse flowers are all mysteriously blooming at once

Blooming only once a decade, fetid corpse flower overwhelms New York Botanical Gardens visitors

World's largest flower that survives for just 48 hours blooms in India


Seismograph

Shallow 5.0 magnitude earthquake hits off the coast of Gold Beach, Oregon

Graph
© Dimas Ardian, Getty Images
M 5.0 quake: 151km WSW of Gold Beach, Oregon on Sun, 25 Sep 05h01

Date & time: Sun, 25 Sep 05:01:50 UTC

Local time at epicenter: 2016-09-24 21:01:50 -08:00

Magnitude: 5.0

Depth: 10.0 km

Epicenter latitude / longitude: 41.8666°N / 126.1106°W [Map]

Nearest volcano: North Gorda Ridge (108 km)

Primary data source: USGS

Snowflake Cold

Heavy, late summer snowfall in Canada and surprise blizzard hits Yellowstone national park

Alberta summer snow
© YouTube/Adapt 2030 (screen capture)
In the last official days of summer Alberta received over a foot of snow and another blizzard dumped snow in Yellowstone national park. Montana and the areas near Glacier national park also had unusual snows, and low temperatures. Little reported in US news, Russian Television took up the story. Now we need to get US weather information from foreign media outlets and social media.


Comment: Early snowfall for Erzurum, Turkey


Bizarro Earth

Magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes in the Fiji islands region

Fiji Earthquake
© AFP 2016/Richter magnitude scale
A 6.9-magnitude earthquake has occurred in the Pacific ocean, in the Fiji islands region, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reports.

According to the report, the quake occurred at about 21:07 GMT on Saturday off the coast of Tonga.

There were no reports of casualties and no immediate danger of a tsunami.

Attention

Ship sails into port with dead whale stuck to bow in Lisbon, Portugal; second such incident locally within a month

Pullmantur Monarch strikes a whale
© LT Rene Torres, USCGRPullmantur Monarch strikes a whale

The carcass of a dead whale stuck to the front of a cruise ship that docked in Lisbon on Monday was removed from the ship on Tuesday morning.

The dead whale was removed from the ship at around 10am and towed to a location where it could be properly disposed of.

It is the second such incident to happen in Lisbon's docks in recent times.

On 28 August another whale was killed after colliding with a cargo ship that later also docked in Alcântara with the carcass still stuck to it.