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Humanity needs to be much better prepared for massive solar storms, which can wreak havoc on our technology-dependent society, a prominent researcher warns. Powerful blasts from the Sun have triggered intense geomagnetic storms on Earth before, and they'll do so again.
But at the moment our ability to predict these events and guard against their worst consequences - which can include interruptions of power grids and satellite navigation systems - is lacking, says Mike Hapgood of the British research and technology agency RAL Space.
"We need a much better understanding of the likelihood of space weather disruptions and their impacts, and we need to develop that knowledge quickly," Hapgood, head of RAL Space's space environment group, writes in a commentary in the April 19 issue of the journal Nature.
But at the moment our ability to predict these events and guard against their worst consequences - which can include interruptions of power grids and satellite navigation systems - is lacking, says Mike Hapgood of the British research and technology agency RAL Space.
"We need a much better understanding of the likelihood of space weather disruptions and their impacts, and we need to develop that knowledge quickly," Hapgood, head of RAL Space's space environment group, writes in a commentary in the April 19 issue of the journal Nature.
© Heri Juanda/Associated PressIndonesians flee to higher ground in Banda Aceh after a tsunami warning earlier this month.
Authorities said the quake did not have the potential to trigger a tsunami. The US Geological Survey said it had a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 and hit 50 miles (83km) off Papua province. It was centered just 18 miles beneath the ocean floor. There was some damage, but no immediate reports of injuries.
Children in the town of Manokwan, closest to the epicenter, were seen running from their schools screaming. Streets filled with those escaping shaking buildings.
Suharjono, an official with the country's meteorology and geophysics agency, said no tsunami warning had been issued and there were no reports of serious damage or injuries.
Indonesia, straddling a series of faultlines and volcanoes, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific "ring of fire".
Earlier this month an 8.6-magnitude earthquake and 8.2-magnitude aftershock struck off the coast of northern Indonesia, but did not trigger a tsunami despite warnings. The Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004 killed 230,000 people, half of them in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.
© Associated PressA plume of ash and steam rises from Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico.
A white cloud of ash, gas, water vapour and superheated rock spewed from the cone of Popocatepetl high above the village of Xalitzintla, whose residents said they were awakened by a window-rattling series of eruptions.
Mexico's National Disaster Prevention Centre said that a string of eruptions had ended in the early morning, then started up again at 5.05am, with at least 12 in two hours.
"Up on the mountain, it feels incredible," said Aaron Sanchez Ocelotl, 45, who was in his turf grass fields when the eruptions happened. "It sounds like the roaring of the sea."
The white cone of Popo, as most call the mountain, is an iconic backdrop to Mexico City's skyline on clear days, but its 40-mile distance means even a moderately large eruption is unlikely to do more than dump ash on one of the world's largest metropolitan areas.
It is a different matter for the villages on the flanks of the volcano, where the quiet of the corn fields and fruit orchards was pervaded by the volcano's spooky roaring.
"Everyone needs to take this seriously. This buzzing, this roaring isn't normal," said Gregorio Fuentes Casquera, the assistant mayor of Xalitzintla, a village of 2,600 people about seven miles from the summit. He said the town had prepared 50 buses and was sending out its six-member police forces to alert people to be ready to evacuate.
© USGSEarthquake Location
Saturday, April 21, 2012 at 01:16:54 UTC
Saturday, April 21, 2012 at 10:16:54 AM at epicenterTime of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location:
1.609°S, 134.232°E
Depth:
29.8 km (18.5 miles)
Region:
NEAR THE NORTH COAST OF PAPUA, INDONESIA
Distances:
83 km (51 miles) SSE of Manokwari, Papua, Indonesia
341 km (211 miles) ESE of Sorong, Papua, Indonesia
990 km (615 miles) S of KOROR, Palau
1258 km (781 miles) NNE of DARWIN, Northern Territory, Australia
© USGSEarthquake Location
Friday, April 20, 2012 at 23:14:32 UTC
Saturday, April 21, 2012 at 05:14:32 AM at epicenterTime of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location:
2.218°N, 93.395°E
Depth:
34.3 km (21.3 miles)
Region:
OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
Distances:
427 km (265 miles) SSW of Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia
530 km (329 miles) SW of Lhokseumawe, Sumatra, Indonesia
929 km (577 miles) W of KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia
1759 km (1092 miles) WNW of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia
On April 18th and 19th, a series of minor CMEs puffed away from the sun. Three of them are heading in our general direction. Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab have prepared an animated forecast track of the ensemble.
According to the forecast, the clouds are going to hit Mercury, Earth, Mars and rover Curiosity en route to Mars. The impact on our planet, on April 22nd around 00:50 UT, is expected to be minor with auroras likely only at higher latitudes.
© Goddard Space Weather Lab
According to the forecast, the clouds are going to hit Mercury, Earth, Mars and rover Curiosity en route to Mars. The impact on our planet, on April 22nd around 00:50 UT, is expected to be minor with auroras likely only at higher latitudes.
Colombia's government has called for high risk areas to be prepared for the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano.
The Interior Ministry has ordered the fire departments of 19 municipalities in the central Caldas and Tolima departments to be on high alert after the Colombian Geological Survey (SGC) announced that an eruption is "probable" in the coming days or weeks.
The alert level was raised from yellow to orange in March as the volcano became increasingly active. Last week a column of gas and steam approximately 1,200 meters tall extended from its crater.
The national director of the firefighting system warned that there is urgent need for a special contingency plan that outlines tactics to be used in emergency volcanic situations, especially for search and rescue groups. He called for a focus on high risk areas in or near the paths of rivers that originate in the Ruiz, whose levels may be elevated by pyroclastic fragments and the melting of ice.
The Interior Ministry has ordered the fire departments of 19 municipalities in the central Caldas and Tolima departments to be on high alert after the Colombian Geological Survey (SGC) announced that an eruption is "probable" in the coming days or weeks.
© El Liberal
The national director of the firefighting system warned that there is urgent need for a special contingency plan that outlines tactics to be used in emergency volcanic situations, especially for search and rescue groups. He called for a focus on high risk areas in or near the paths of rivers that originate in the Ruiz, whose levels may be elevated by pyroclastic fragments and the melting of ice.
© n/a
Fishermen were interested in stories because even then, twenty-one years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, there was still no sense of closure. Exxon never "made it right." How could Exxon "make right" family lives shattered by divorce, suicide, or strange illnesses stemming from the "cleanup" work? Or the sense of betrayal by the Supreme Court to hold Exxon to its promise to "pay all reasonable claims"?
As fishermen listened to the Gulf stories, one asked, "Do they know how f---ed they are yet?" No, I explained, they've only lost one fishing season and they just now are filing claims for the first deadline.
When I returned to the Gulf in early January 2011, I heard the same story from Louisiana to Florida. "Everything you warned us about is coming true." During the next four months, I witnessed "oil-sick" people from grandbabies to elders, people distraught from claims denied, shellfish fisheries collapsing, baby and adult dolphins dying in unusually high numbers, continued dispersant spraying, and the early stages of Gulf ecosystem collapse -- all while nationwide ads claimed BP is "making it right."
Two years after the BP oil disaster, I ask for people to help make it right -- in the Gulf and across the country. We have the power to stop BP and the federal government from doing more harm. It is time to exercise our power in our communities.
© DNY59/iStockphoto
