Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

US: Northeast next after twisters, floods hit South

Alabama, Louisiana declare emergencies; N.J. expects 'significant event'

Alabama and Louisiana on Wednesday declared states of emergency after twisters hit some areas, while floods submerged others - all part of a severe storm system making its way to the Northeast, where significant flooding was expected Thursday.

In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie late Wednesday declared a state of emergency for areas along the Passaic and Delaware rivers and flood-prone Bound Brook in Somerset County.

In the South earlier Wednesday, winds tore roofs off buildings, overturned cars and injured several people. A woman died in a house fire in Mississippi that authorities believe was caused by lightning.

Two apparent tornadoes damaged buildings near Mobile in southwest Alabama, hours after several tornadoes were reported to the west near New Orleans, La.

Several tornadoes also touched down in southern Mississippi damaging some mobile homes, according to the police department in Biloxi.


Bizarro Earth

Papua New Guinea: Earthquake Magnitude 6.5 - New Britain Region

PNG Quake_090311
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Wednesday, March 09, 2011 at 21:24:51 UTC

Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 07:24:51 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
6.022°S, 149.659°E

Depth:
29 km (18.0 miles)

Region:
NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Distances:
27 km (17 miles) NNE (31°) from Kandrian, New Britain, PNG

305 km (189 miles) ENE (75°) from Lae, New Guinea, PNG

341 km (212 miles) NNE (27°) from Popondetta, New Guinea, PNG

469 km (292 miles) NE (35°) from PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea

Bizarro Earth

Japan: Earthquake Magnitude 6.1 - Near The East Coast of Honshu

Honshu Quake4_090311
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Wednesday, March 09, 2011 at 21:22:18 UTC

Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 06:22:18 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
38.385°N, 142.642°E

Depth:
23 km (14.3 miles)

Region:
NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

Distances:
154 km (95 miles) E of Sendai, Honshu, Japan

194 km (120 miles) SE of Morioka, Honshu, Japan

201 km (124 miles) E of Yamagata, Honshu, Japan

395 km (245 miles) NE of TOKYO, Japan

Question

Labrador, Canada: Dead seals mystery not solved by scientists' tests

Image
© Derrick LettoA young seal on a beach near the southern Labrador community of L'Anse au Clair in early January.
Scientists say they've been unable to solve the mystery of dead seals that washed ashore in Labrador between December and January.

More than 200 harp seals turned up dead across remote beaches along the coast of the province.

"It's really one that's got us baffled," said Dr. Garry Stenson, a biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

When Stenson received reports of seals turning up dead, he flew into towns in northern Newfoundland and Labrador to collect their frozen carcasses.

Bizarro Earth

Japan: Earthquake Magnitude 6.0 - Off The East Coast of Honshu

Honshu Quake3_090311
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Wednesday, March 09, 2011 at 18:44:35 UTC

Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 04:44:35 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
38.492°N, 143.191°E

Depth:
1.2 km (~0.7 mile)

Region:
OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

Distances:
203 km (126 miles) E of Sendai, Honshu, Japan

221 km (137 miles) SE of Morioka, Honshu, Japan

250 km (155 miles) E of Yamagata, Honshu, Japan

436 km (270 miles) NE of TOKYO, Japan

Bizarro Earth

Shaking Intensity, Christchurch Earthquake

Christchurch Earthquake
© Earth Observatory / NASANASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon, using ALI data from the EO-1 Team and USGS Earthquake Hazard Program. Acquired March 4, 2011.

It is a modern human tendency to focus on the number of an earthquake - specifically, the magnitude, or what people used to call the "Richter scale." But the destruction from a quake usually has more to do with location and timing. Such was the case with the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, on February 22, 2011.

A September 2010 earthquake centered 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Christchurch, in the plains near Darfield, struck at 4:35 a.m., had a magnitude of 7.1, and caused some structural damage and one death (by heart attack). The earthquake in February 2011 occurred at 12:51 p.m. and just 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the center of Christchurch. It had a magnitude of 6.3, though was officially classified - scientifically speaking - as an aftershock of the 2010 quake. At least 166 people died, and the city of Christchurch was devastated structurally and emotionally. Many people are still missing.

The natural-color image above was captured on March 4, 2011, by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. Overlain on the map are seismological measurements of the ground shaking in the Christchurch area on February 22, as noted by the U.S. Geological Survey's Earthquake Hazard Program.

Bizarro Earth

Israel: Torrential rains hit and snow falls on the Hermon

Image
© Marc Israel SellemRain in Jerusalem.
Heavy precipitation, thunderstorms, cause traffic jams in Tel Aviv area, northern Israel; snow expected to spread to upper Galilee, Safed.

A recent blast of cold air from Scandanavia coupled with warm Mediterranean Sea influence created torrential rain and thunderstroms Tuesday. Snow fell in the Hermon and other areas in the north.

The morning hours saw between 10-30 mm of rainfall in the country's center, and between 5-15 mm in the North, with the Israeli Meteorological Service reporting up to 32 mm in the Tel Aviv area. Showers are expected to dissipate in the afternoon hours. Authorities closed the Hermon to visitors as snow began to fall.

The northern heights of Meron and Safed may see snow Wednesday or Thursday, but snow is not expected to hit the ground in Jerusalem.

The stormy weather wreaked havoc on motorways as well, causing heavy traffic in the Center and even worse traffic jams in the North. In the Kirya junction in Tel Aviv, a traffic disturbance developed when traffic lights malfunctioned and jammed the roads until a police officer arrived to help direct traffic.

Bizarro Earth

Hawaii: Level of volcanic gas elevated with new eruption

Image
© USGS
Kilauea Volcano - A new eruption near Pu'u 'o'o Crater on the Big Island that began March 5 has led to a dramatic increase in sulfur dioxide gas, one of two main ingredients in vog.

In recent months the east rift zone of Kilauea Volcano had been releasing 300 to 400 tons of sulfur dioxide gas every day.

After the new eruption of the mile-and-a-half long fissure this past Saturday, the amount of SO2 gas has increased to 10,000 tons per day.

"It's hard to say how long that might go on," said United States Geological Survey spokesperson Janet Babb, whose part of a team that helps monitor Kilauea. "The elevated SO2 emission that we're seeing corresponds to that high lava effusion rate."

Currently the new eruption is spewing 2.5 million cubic meters of lava per day in an unpopulated area, five times the recent average of a half million cubic meters per day.

For now the increase in lava and volcanic gas is not having a major impact on residents.

Bizarro Earth

Tornadoes reported in Alabama, Louisiana

Image
© (Jon Hauge, Press-Register CorrespondentA pickup truck is flipped over in a neighborhood in Silverhill after a possible tornado hit south of Alabama 104 around Baldwin County 55.
New Orleans -- An apparent tornado hit near Mobile, Ala., Wednesday morning, a fire official said.

Lena Phillips of the Theodore, Ala., fire department told CNN the windstorm caused extensive damage to several businesses.

John Kilcullen of the Mobile County Emergency Management Agency told the Mobile Press-Register, "We're fairly fortunate that the damage at this point is relatively light."

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for the area at 9:40 a.m. (10:40 a.m. EST).

Earlier Wednesday, three suspected tornadoes hit the New Orleans area the morning after Mardi Gras, the National Weather Service said.

The Slidell Police Department said a tornado crossed Interstate 12 in Lacombe at 4:50 a.m., The New Orleans Times Picayune reported. A roof was torn off a house in Lacombe at 4:57 a.m.

Bizarro Earth

Japan: Earthquake Magnitude 7.2 - Near The East Coast of Honshu

Honshu Quake_090311
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Wednesday, March 09, 2011 at 02:45:18 UTC

Wednesday, March 09, 2011 at 11:45:18 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
38.510°N, 142.792°E

Depth:
14.1 km (8.8 miles)

Region:
NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

Distances:
168 km (104 miles) E of Sendai, Honshu, Japan

193 km (119 miles) SE of Morioka, Honshu, Japan

216 km (134 miles) E of Yamagata, Honshu, Japan

413 km (256 miles) NE of TOKYO, Japan

Location Uncertainty:
horizontal +/- 12.8 km (8.0 miles); depth +/- 1.8 km (1.1 miles)

Parameters:
NST=464, Nph=469, Dmin=390.7 km, Rmss=1.06 sec, Gp= 29°,
M-type="moment" magnitude from initial P wave (tsuboi method) (Mi/Mwp), Version=B

Source:
USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)

Event ID:
usb0001r57