A new explosive eruption took place at Japan's Shinmoedake volcano, a part of Kirishimayama volcanic complex, at 00:09 UTC (09:09 JST) on June 22, 2018. This was its first explosive eruption since May 14.
The eruption ejected a column of ash up to 4.6 km (14 000 feet) above sea level, according to the Tokyo VAAC. Volcanic material was thrown as far as 1.1 km (0.7 miles) from the crater.
This was the first explosive eruption of this volcano since 05:44 UTC on May 14. That eruption sent ash up to 7.6 km (25 000 feet) above sea level, making it nearly 1 km higher than April 4th eruption and the highest since the current eruptive phase of this volcano began on March 1, 2018.
Comment: This comes days after an M6.1 earthquake in Osaka. Japan, which killed 3 people, and a few months following Shinmoedake's first recorded pyroclastic flow.
Other seismic and volcanic activity documented in the past few months:
A POWERFUL 6.1-magnitude earthquake has hit Vanuatu, US seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage.
The quake struck at a depth of 21 kilometres some 30 kilometres west of the capital Port Vila, the US Geological Survey said.
USGS said there was low likelihood of casualties and damage although it added that recent earthquakes in the area had caused secondary hazards such as landslides.
"Definitely shaking would have been felt in the area, but we have received no reports yet of any damage," Geoscience Australia duty seismologist Hugh Glanville told AFP.
Comment: Seismic and volcanic activity around the planet appears to be increasing in recent months - just as some scientists predicted:
Strong storms and heavy rain has caused severe flooding in parts of western Pennsylvania, spurring dozens of evacuations and damaging numerous vehicles and other property. Pictured are crews working to clean up floodwaters in Baldwin Street, Bridgeville, on Wednesday night
A woman was found drowned in a creek and cars washed away down streets on Wednesday after a violent storm dumped nearly four inches of rain on parts of western Pennsylvania.
The body of 64-year-old Wendy Abbott was discovered in McLaughlin Run, Bridgeville, after she was swept away during flash floods. Abbott, who lived locally, was reported missing by family after going for a drive.
Floods also ravaged nearby Bethel Park where diners at the Trolley Shop Inn stood on tables as they waited to be rescued while cars floated in surging floodwaters outside.
'All of a sudden, water started coming in the one door and they tried to squeegee it,' patron Shirley Maurin told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 'And then it just rushed in.'
Maurin said the water rose quickly, forcing diners on top of tables 'until they were able to come in and take us out one by one in the water with the life jackets'.
Torrential rain has caused flooding in southern Texas, prompting evacuations, road closures and water rescues. Corpus Christi recorded 12.89 inches (327.40 mm) of rain in 48 hours between 18 and 20 June.
On 19 June, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the State Operations Center (SOC) to elevate its readiness level as heavy rain and storms continued to impact the Texas coast. Additionally, Governor Abbott has made state resources available to assist local officials in their response efforts.
"Texas is no stranger to this type of severe weather, and our emergency personnel are ready and well prepared to respond," said Governor Abbott. "Our number one priority is the safety and well being of Texans, and I encourage everyone in the affected areas to stay safe and heed all warnings from local officials. I thank those involved in the response efforts, and I want to assure all Texans that we are closely monitoring the situation and will continue to provide all resources necessary."
More than 150 tremors have hit Vancouver Island in the last 24 hours, and seismologists are monitoring the situation to see if it turns into an Episodic Tremor and Slip event.
Vancouver Island is normally moving toward the Lower Mainland at a rate of about one centimetre per year.
"Ferry fares keep going up but the distance is actually getting a little bit shorter," jokes John Cassidy, seismologist with the Geological Survey of Canada.
But every 14 months or so there is a Tremor and Slip event - a discovery made by two local scientists Gary Rogers and Herb Dragert - when Vancouver Island slips backwards a few millimetres towards Japan. Seismic recording instruments show Victoria moving in one direction and then changing direction for about two weeks during these episodes. These events add pressure to the locked Cascadian Subduction Zone fault.
A Burnet police officer shot and killed one dog and injured another after three dogs attacked her and a man on a neighborhood street.
Patrol Cpl. Alex Fidler responded when a man reported being attacked by three large dogs in the 700 block of South Vanderveer, near Burnet Elementary School, on Thursday, June 14.
The officer was checking out the man's injuries when the dogs returned.
Police reviewed body camera video footage which showed Fidler trying to get away from the dogs.
People with gardens are being urged to create simple ponds or areas of long grass because sightings of frogs and toads in gardens are drying up.
Reports of toads in gardens have fallen by nearly a third since 2014, while sightings of frogs have dropped by 17% over the same period, according to the Big Garden Birdwatch, the RSPB's wildlife survey.
Frogs were the most common non-bird garden visitor, seen in 39% of the more than 174,000 gardens which took part in the survey this year, while toads were only found in one in five gardens.
These declines are mirrored by other surveys, including data from volunteer groups who help toads cross the road, which found toad numbers have fallen by more than two-thirds over 30 years.
Comment: While access to viable sources of water and pollution are surely issues, a wide variety of species are seeing their numbers collapse and the causes aren't always so obvious, so what is going on? What is clear is that we are witnessing the next massive extinction event on our planet:
While MSM news outlets planet wide print stories for Antarctic continental ice melting at a 3x faster pace than the last 10 years, they just discredited all of the climate agencies globally like NASA, NOAA, NSIDC & DMI that all showed gains in Antarctic ice on both land and sea. Now global temperatures are at 0.18C when the models all showed we should be at 2.0C and sea levels are lower than predicted. We need to ask questions why we are continually fed conflicting data from the news agencies.
One of the driest places on earth is looking a bit wet these days.
Tropical Cyclone Mekunu rolled over the country of Oman back in May, bringing huge downpours of rain - about 11 inches - to the capital city of Salalah. The nearby desert of Rub' al-Khali, the world's largest sand desert, also received significant precipitation.
So much so that NASA's Operational Land Imager captured images of hundreds of tiny lakes that formed in the ripples of the sand dunes, in an area known as the Empty Quarter. The satellite took the images three days after the storm.
A cyclone like Mekunu usually happens about once every two years, but it's rare for the country of Oman to bear a huge brunt of rain and wind like it did in May. This type of phenomenon has not occurred in the region for 20 years, according to Al Arabiya.
Richard Davies FloodList Wed, 20 Jun 2018 20:37 UTC
Devastating floods have hit areas around Accra, the capital city of Ghana, after heavy rainfall from 18 June, 2018.
The Minister for the Interior, Mr Ambrose Dery, toured of some flood areas in the Accra Metropolis, including Odawna, Dome, Kissieman, Kwabenya, Madina, and communities in Tema. He called on management of National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to carry out a needs assessment of the flood situation.
He said government, together with other stakeholders, would take immediate steps and strategies to see how best to resolve the situation and address the challenges.
Images on Social Media showed streets in the Greater Accra Region under 1 metre of water, leaving cars submerged and buildings damaged.
Comment: This comes days after an M6.1 earthquake in Osaka. Japan, which killed 3 people, and a few months following Shinmoedake's first recorded pyroclastic flow.
Other seismic and volcanic activity documented in the past few months:
- Powerful M6.1 quake strikes Port Villa, Vanuatu - Location considered "unusual"
- Vancouver Island hit with over 150 tremors in 24 hour
- M4.4 earthquake shakes part of northern Oklahoma
- Kilaeua: Lava covers more than 9 miles of island, M5.4 quake reported
- Series of stronger eruptions at Stromboli volcano in Italy
- Volcano in the Galapagos Islands erupts after series of 9 earthquakes
- Powerful earthquake in Bárðarðarbunga, Iceland, one of Vatnajökull's monster volcanoes
- Sakurajima volcano erupts again in southwestern Japan
- Another major eruption at Mount Sinabung, Indonesia
- Yellowstone's Steamboat Geyser has now erupted eight times in less than three months intriguing scientists
For more on the changes occurring on our planet, check out SOTTs' monthly documentary: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - May 2018: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor FireballsAs well as SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Earth changes in an electric universe: Is climate change really man-made?