Earth ChangesS


Sun

Coronal Hole Spewing Stream Of Solar Wind Into Space

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A dark croissant-shaped hole has opened up in the Sun's atmosphere, and it is spewing a stream of solar wind into space. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory took this picture of the vast opening during the early hours of Jan. 31st.

Researchers call this a "coronal hole." Solar rotation is turning the coronal hole toward Earth. The stream of solar wind pouring from it will swing around and hit our planet in early February, possibly sparking polar magnetic storms. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras between Feb. 2nd and 4th.

Bizarro Earth

US: Earthquakes rattle Wyoming

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© USGS
Minor earthquakes have rattled two areas of Wyoming.

The U.S. Geological Survey says a temblor with a magnitude of 3.0 struck early Tuesday about 25 miles northwest of the ghost town of Jeffrey City.

The quake comes almost a week after another minor earthquake struck Wright. A 3.2 magnitude earthquake struck at 10:16 p.m. Thursday. It happened just 7 miles northeast of Wright, about 5 miles underground.

At first the USGS thought it might be a mine blast, but later deemed it a genuine earthquake.

David King, Campbell County's emergency management coordinator, said the county sits on several fault lines which have caused 10 recorded earthquakes since 1967.

Thursday's quake is the county's fourth quake since 2000. Quakes in 2009, 2008 and 2004 all occurred about 17 miles underground away from Gillette at a magnitude of about 2.5.

The county's largest earthquake occurred in September 1984 west of Gillette by the Johnson County line at a magnitude of 5.1. There were two other earthquakes in the county that year - a magnitude 5 and 2.5.

There are no recorded earthquakes in Gillette.

Bizarro Earth

US: Earthquake Magnitude 3.1 - Idaho

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© USGS
Geologists say a small earthquake has rattled a remote and unpopulated area west of the central Idaho town of Salmon.

The U.S. Geological Survey reports a quake with a magnitude of 3.1 was detected Tuesday at 4:25 a.m. in rugged, mountainous terrain 29 miles west of Salmon near the former mining town of Cobalt.

The quake was first detected by staff at the Earthquake Studies Office at the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology. Director Mike Stickney says a 3.1 magnitude is barely enough to cause people to notice and it's not likely the tremor caused any serious damage to the landscape.

Stickney says it's not uncommon for small quakes to jolt the vast, mountainous backcountry north of Salmon and Challis.

Cloud Lightning

Best of the Web: Monster Storm Bears Down On Australia, Hits Category 5

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Tropical cyclone Yasi seen off the coast of Australia, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011.
Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi was upgraded to category five off north Queensland this morning as the weather bureau warned it was likely to be "more life-threatening" than any storm seen in Australia in living memory.

The weather bureau says Cyclone Yasi is a large and very powerful tropical cyclone and poses an "extremely serious threat" to life and property within the warning area, especially between Port Douglas and Townsville.

"This impact is likely to be more life-threatening than any experienced during recent generations," the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said this morning.

Tens of thousands of people are fleeing their homes ahead of the monster storm, which is expected to hit the coast between Cairns and Innisfail some time tonight.

This morning it was estimated to be 650 kilometres east north-east of Cairns and 650 kilometres north-east of Townsville, moving west south-west at 30 kilometres per hour.

"There's still potential for it to become stronger ... as a strong category five we could see wind gusts in excess of 320 kilometres an hour (200mph). Which is just horrific."

Question

Snow spirals appear in US

As a winter storm of historic proportions prepares to sweep across the USA later this week, midwesterners should be alert for some unaccustomed sights. One of them is snow spirals. Michael French photographed this specimen in Frederick, Maryland, on Jan. 29th:

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© Michael French

Meteor

Best of the Web: Presence in the Force: 'Disturbance' in Interplanetary Magnetic Field blows hole in Earth's magnetosphere

According to the official forecast, the odds of geomagnetic activity on Jan. 31st were less than 10%. That was good enough for Kjetil Skogli of Troms, Norway. "We went out to look in spite of the low expectations--and there it was!" An aurora-burst was in progress directly overhead:
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© Kjetil Skogli

Cloud Lightning

Best of the Web: NASA Satellites Capture Data on 2000 Mile-Wide Monster Winter Storm Affecting 30 States

NASA Video of Storm on 1 Feb 2011
© NASAMassive winter storm over N. America, February 1, 2011
One of the largest winter storms since the 1950s is affecting 30 U.S. states today with snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain. NASA satellites have gathering data on the storm that stretches from Texas and the Rockies to the New England states.

NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites have been providing visible, infrared and microwave looks at the storm system's clouds, precipitation, temperatures and extent.

Fish

Florida, US: Thousands of Sharks Spotted off Palm Beach

A Florida pilot has captured an ominous sight in the waters off Palm Beach, thousands of sharks.


Steve Irwin works for "Island Marine Services" based in Fort Pierce.

He said he was flying about 100 yards off of Palm Beach, at 80 mph, when he spotted thousands of sharks, according to TV station WPTV.

Irwin recorded the migrating sharks on his iPhone.

Bizarro Earth

Shinmoedake volcano erupts again with big blast of ash, rocks

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© AP Photo/Kyodo NewsA dome of lava grows larger inside the crater of Mount Shinmoedake in the Kirishimna range on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu Monday, Jan. 31, 2011. Officials urged more than 1,000 residents to seek safer ground on Monday and expanded a no-access zone around the 4,662-foot (1,421-meter) volcano that has exploded back to life. The volcano erupted last week for the first time in 52 years.
A revived volcano in southern Japan erupted Tuesday with its biggest explosion yet, shooting out a huge plume of gas, boulders and ash and breaking windows 5 miles (8 kilometers) away.

The danger zone around Shinmoedake volcano was widened to keep residents safe. The largest eruption since it burst back to life last week covered wide areas in ash, shot boulders onto distant roads, knocked down trees and broke hundreds of windows in hotels and offices.

No serious injuries have been reported since the initial eruption last Wednesday, but public broadcaster NHK said a woman suffered cuts from shattered glass in Tuesday's blast.

NHK said the eruption was five times larger than the initial activity last week, which was Shinmoedake's first major eruption in 52 years.

Japan's Meteorological Agency has restricted access to the mountain, and on Tuesday broadened the no-go zone to anywhere within a 2 1/2-mile (four-kilometer) radius of the crater. Two lodges and scattered homes are within the perimeter.

Dozens of domestic flights in and out of Miyazaki - about 590 miles (950 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo - were grounded last week and more cancellations followed. Train service was temporarily suspended in the area and many schools closed.

The local government also reported damages to crops.

Cloud Lightning

Massive, 'Life-threatening' Tropical Cyclone Roars Toward Australia's Flood-Ravaged Northeast

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© ReutersTropical cyclone Yasi passing near the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu heading towards the coast of Australia on Jan. 31.
Authorities scrambled to airlift hospital patients from the path of a cyclone roaring toward waterlogged northeastern Australia and urged low-lying communities to evacuate because of potentially deadly flash floods.

Cyclone Yasi was expected to slam into the coast of Queensland state Wednesday as a Category 4 storm and dump up to three feet (one meter) of rain on communities already saturated from months of flooding.

"This storm is huge and it is life-threatening," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said. "I know many of us will feel that Queensland has already borne about as much as we can bear when it comes to disasters and storms, but more is being asked of us - and I am confident that we are able to rise to this next challenge."

Yasi was barreling toward the Queensland state coast as a strong Category 3 storm with winds up to 137 mph (220 kph), but was expected to turn into a Category 4 storm with wind gusts up to 155 mph (250 kph) by Wednesday.

Bligh said the military would airlift 250 patients from the waterfont Cairns Base and Cairns Private hospitals to Brisbane, the state capital.

Although there were no mandatory evacuation orders yet, residents in waterfront and low-lying areas from the cities of Cairns to Townsville were being advised to leave.