Earth ChangesS


Nuke

Best of the Web: Japan's Ocean Radiation Hits 7.5 Million Times Legal Limit

Kenji Hall and Julie Makinen
Los Angeles Times
Tue, 05 Apr 2011 10:31 UTC
A broker walks between fish
© Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty ImagesA broker walks between fish at the Hirakata Fish Market in Kitaibaki, Ibaraki Prefecture, trading for the first time since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
High readings in fish prompt the government to establish a maximum level for safe consumption.

The operator of Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant said Tuesday that it had found radioactive iodine at 7.5 million times the legal limit in a seawater sample taken near the facility, and government officials imposed a new health limit for radioactivity in fish.

The reading of iodine-131 was recorded Saturday, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. Another sample taken Monday found the level to be 5 million times the legal limit. The Monday samples also were found to contain radioactive cesium at 1.1 million times the legal limit.

The exact source of the radiation was not immediately clear, though Tepco has said that highly contaminated water has been leaking from a pit near the No. 2 reactor. The utility initially believed that the leak was coming from a crack, but several attempts to seal the crack failed.
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Fish

Florida: Hundreds Of Fish Die In Northside Pond


News4Jax.com
Tue, 05 Apr 2011 08:58 UTC
dead fish
It's unclear what has killed hundreds of fish in a Northside pond.

Jacksonville, Florida -- People living near a Northside pond said toxic chemicals from a construction site may be what has killed hundreds of fish.

Residents who live near the pond off Oak Lawn Road said they've enjoyed the pond for years, calling it a place of relaxation where they can appreciate nature and do a little bit of fishing from time to time.

But they said that, over the weekend, the pond developed a strong odor and had dead fish floating all over it.
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Bizarro Earth

New Zealand: Mt Ruapehu Heating Up


The Daily Post, New Zealand
Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:01 UTC
Mt Ruapehu
© Ma5912 / WikipediaMount Ruapehu from the Desert Road, photo taken while driving past, nearer Waiouru, taken mid January 2005.

Mount Ruapehu's Crater Lake is heating up, but there are no signs an eruption is imminent.

GNS Science volcanologists said today high water temperatures, currently about 38degC-39degC, were being experienced in the lake.

GeoNet duty volcanologist Agnes Mazot said changes had also recently occurred in volcanic gas output, seismic activity and Crater Lake water chemistry.

"These changes show that Ruapehu is experiencing signs of elevated unrest above known background levels."

"Hence the aviation colour code is being raised to yellow," she said.

The four-tiered volcano alert level uses the terms normal, advisory, watch, and warning, with yellow being the advisory category.

The lake reached 41degC on March 1.
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Radar

US: USGS seismic monitors for Oregon's Newberry volcano


Statesman Journal / Associated Press
Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:08 UTC
The U.S. Geological Survey is proposing to install seismic and GPS monitoring stations around the Newberry Volcano in central Oregon this summer.

The Bulletin newspaper in Bend reports the $225,000 project would add eight monitoring stations to the one that's already on the volcano, to detect movements in and beneath the surface.

Image
© AP Photo/Rick BowmerVisitors view a lava flow as they stand atop the 500-foot cinder cone at Newberry National Volcanic Monument south of Bend. U.S.G.S. is proposing to install seismic and GPS monitoring stations around the volcano.
The seismic monitors measure earthquakes that happen when magma moves and starts breaking rocks below the surface - they can pick up tremors that would be undetectable to someone on the ground.

And the GPS will pick up changes in the shape of the surface that could be caused by the shifting magma.
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Eye 1

Rush to get rid of radioactive water at Japanese nuclear plant: 11,500 tons of radioactive water will be dumped into the Pacific Ocean


CNN
Mon, 04 Apr 2011 11:15 UTC
nuclear plant
A Tokyo Electric Power Company picture from April 2 shows water gushing from the cracked concrete shaft.

Tokyo -- The dumping of tons of radioactive water from a waste treatment facility at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility into the ocean has started, Tokyo Electric Power Company officials said Monday. The additional dumping of water from reactors Nos. 5 and 6 will begin within hours, they said.

In all, about 11,500 tons of radioactive water that has collected at the nuclear facility will be dumped into the Pacific Ocean, officials said Monday, as workers also try to deal with a crack that has been a conduit for contamination.

The radiation levels were highest in the water from reactor No. 6, the officials said.
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Bizarro Earth

Thailand flood toll reaches 40


Terra Daily / Agence France-Presse
Mon, 04 Apr 2011 10:21 UTC
The death toll from heavy flooding in southern Thailand has risen to 40, the government said Sunday, with thousands of people forced to live in temporary shelters.

More than a week of heavy rain -- in what is usually one of the hottest months -- has caused floods in 10 of Thailand's 77 provinces, submerging homes, triggering landslides and washing away roads and bridges.

Image
© Unknown
As of Sunday, the death toll stood at 17 in hard-hit Nakhon Si Thammarat province, 10 in Surat Thani, seven in Krabi, and two in each of Phatthalung, Chumphon and Trang, the department of disaster prevention and mitigation said.

A mudslide swamped at least one whole village in Khao Phanom district, Krabi province.
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Bizarro Earth

7.1-magnitude quake strikes off Indonesian island, tsunami warning issued


ThaiVisa
Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:13 UTC
Jakarta -- A powerful earthquake struck off the Indonesian island of Java on early Monday morning, seismologists said, prompting a tsunami warning for some local regions.

The 7.1-magnitude earthquake at 3.06 a.m. local time (2006 GMT Sunday) was centered about 279 kilometers (173 miles) south-southwest of Tasikmalaya on Java. It struck about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to Indonesia's seismological agency.

Authorities in Indonesia immediately issued a tsunami warning for some coastal areas, while the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no threat of a Pacific-wide tsunami.
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Bizarro Earth

Indonesia - Earthquake Magnitude 6.7 - South of Java


USGS
Sun, 03 Apr 2011 15:33 UTC
Indon Quake_030411
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Sunday, April 03, 2011 at 20:06:42 UTC

Monday, April 04, 2011 at 03:06:42 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
9.786°S, 107.749°E

Depth:
24 km (14.9 miles)

Region:
SOUTH OF JAVA, INDONESIA

Distances:
241 km (149 miles) ENE of Christmas Island

277 km (172 miles) S of Tasikmalaya, Java, Indonesia

318 km (197 miles) S of Bandung, Java, Indonesia

412 km (256 miles) SSE of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia
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Bizarro Earth

Earthquake Magnitude 6.4 - Fiji Region


USGS
Sun, 03 Apr 2011 12:11 UTC
Fiji Quake_030411
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Sunday, April 03, 2011 at 14:07:09 UTC

Monday, April 04, 2011 at 02:07:09 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
17.649°S, 178.578°W

Depth:
551.9 km (343.0 miles) set by location program

Region:
FIJI REGION

Distances:
252 km (156 miles) W of Lambasa, Vanua Levu, Fiji

321 km (199 miles) W of SUVA, Viti Levu, Fiji

335 km (208 miles) N of Ndoi Island, Fiji

2230 km (1385 miles) W of Auckland, New Zealand
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Bizarro Earth

Pennsylvania: Residents Fearful of Growing Sinkhole Danger

Susan Koomar, Mallory Vough, and Kristine Porter
UpperSaucon
Sat, 02 Apr 2011 10:52 UTC
Image
© Kristine PorterThe Brookwood Group estimates that this sinkhole opened up within the last month.
Sinkholes are an undermining fact of life in the Lehigh Valley - a region where rainwater relentlessly wears away limestone.

But residents who keep a close eye on gaps in the ground say recent heavy rains have made the problem visibly worse.

Some fear for the safety of youngsters, who might meet danger in places like Tatamy, where a 40-foot sinkhole (known locally as the "Forty Footer") yawns about a mile from Trisha Street.
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