Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Thousands Affected By Flooding In Mexico

Several rivers in southeastern Mexico spilled over their banks in recent days. The Usumacinta River alone damaged homes and croplands in multiple cities, and isolated rural areas by washing out roads. The governor of the state of Tabasco estimated that regional floods had affected 90,000 residents.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite captured these images on October 23, 2011 (top), and October 30, 2009 (bottom). Both images use a combination of infrared and visible light to increase contrast between water and land. Water is dark blue, vegetation is bright green, and clouds are pale blue-green.

MODIS satellite map of Mexico
© MODIS Rapid Response Team/NASA GSFC
MODIS satellite map of Mexico 2
© MODIS Rapid Response Team/NASA GSFC
The Usumacinta River, visible as a thin river in 2009, flows past multiple lakes and ponds en route to the sea. In 2011, many of the water bodies have merged, and water sits on floodplains throughout the region. (This area also experienced severe flooding in 2010.)

Attention

Costa Rica: 4.0 Quake Shakes Area Around The Barva Volcano

Barva volcano map 2
An earthquake registering 4.0 on the Richter scale shook the area of Sarapiqui, Vara Blanca and Venecia on Sunday.

The Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica (OVSICORI) - national volcano and seismology observatory - reported the epicentre 10 kilometres north of the Barva volcano, with a depth of 7.5 kilometres, caused by a local fault.

In January 2009, a 6.2 earthquake in Vara Blanca, in between the Barva and Poás volcanoes claimed the lives of 13 people.

Cloud Lightning

Mounting Crisis: One-Third of Thailand Now Under Water

flooded petrol station at Bang Phlat
© Reuters/Chaiwat SubprasomMen move their television and belongings at a flooded petrol station at Bang Phlat district in Bangkok October 25, 2011.

Thailand announced a five-day holiday on Tuesday to give people the chance to escape floods closing in on Bangkok as authorities ordered the evacuation of a housing estate on the outskirts of the city after a protective wall gave way.

The cabinet declared October 27-31 a holiday in Bangkok and 20 provinces affected by the country's worst flooding in 50 years as weekend high tides in the Gulf of Thailand could complicate efforts to divert water away from the low-lying capital.

The floods have forced the closure of seven industrial estates in Ayutthaya, Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani provinces bordering Bangkok, causing billions of dollars of damage, disrupting supply chains for industry and putting about 650,000 people temporarily out of work.

The cabinet announced a 325 billion baht budget on Tuesday to help rebuild the country, mostly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), small vendors and individuals.

Cloud Lightning

Rina Becomes 17th Hurricane of the Season

Rina grew into a Category 1 hurricane today and is expected to become stronger as it moves toward resorts on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Rina map
© Weather Underground
Rina's top winds are now 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour, up from 40 mph earlier today, according to a center advisory at about 2 p.m. New York time. The system is the sixth hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic storm season.

"Additional strengthening is expected during the next 48 hours and Rina is forecast to become a major hurricane by late Tuesday," the center said. "Interests in Belize, the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and the adjacent islands should monitor the progress of Rina."

Matt Rogers, president of Commodity Weather Group LLC in Bethesda, Maryland, said Rina won't be a threat to Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production.

Bizarro Earth

Twenty Million Tons of Japan Tsunami Debris is Closing in on Hawaii

Debris from the tsunami
© KITV/ABCOn its way: Debris from the tsunami is approaching Hawaii
Televisions, fridges and furniture pieces are heading for Hawaii, as a huge amount of debris from Japan's earthquake sails across the Pacific.

Up to 20 million tons of debris from the earthquake in March is traveling faster than expected and could reach the U.S. West Coast in three years.

A Russian ship's crew spotted the debris - which included a 20ft long fishing boat - last month after passing the Midway Islands.

'We have a rough estimate of 5 to 20 million tons of debris coming from Japan,' University of Hawaii researcher Jan Hafner told KITV.

Experts have revised predictions to say the debris will now reach the Midway Islands by winter and Hawaii in less than two years.

Crew members on the Russian training ship STS Pallada spotted the debris 2,000 miles from Japan, including a fishing boat from Fukushima, reported AFP.

Bizarro Earth

Mount Etna has begun to erupt, sending flames into the sky over eastern Sicily

Mount Etna, Europe's tallest and most active volcano, has begun to erupt, sending flames into the sky over eastern Sicily


Bizarro Earth

Eastern Turkey - Earthquake Magnitude 6.0

Turkey 2ndQuake_231011
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 20:45:37 UTC

Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 11:45:37 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
38.555°N, 43.161°E

Depth:
9.8 km (6.1 miles)

Region:
EASTERN TURKEY

Distances:
20 km (12 miles) WNW of Van, Turkey

120 km (74 miles) NNW of Hakkari, Turkey

129 km (80 miles) S of Agri (Karakose), Turkey

904 km (561 miles) E of ANKARA, Turkey

Bizarro Earth

Eastern Turkey - Earthquake Magnitude 7.2

Turkey Quake_231011
© USGSEarthquake Location.
Date-Time:
Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 10:41:21 UTC

Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 01:41:21 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
38.628°N, 43.486°E

Depth:
20 km (12.4 miles) set by location program

Region:
EASTERN TURKEY

Distances:
16 km (9 miles) NNE of Van, Turkey

118 km (73 miles) N of Hakkari, Turkey

127 km (78 miles) SSE of Agri (Karakose), Turkey

929 km (577 miles) E of ANKARA, Turkey

Evil Rays

Between 500-1,000 reported dead in massive Turkey earthquake

Image
© ReutersA survivor being carried to the ambulance after an earthquake in Tabanli village near the eastern Turkish city of Van October 23, 2011.
Dozens of buildings collapsed in various cities in the southeast region after 6.6-magnitude quake hit.

Turkey's Kandilli Observatory estimates that some 500 to 1,000 people were killed in a powerful earthquake in southeast Turkey's Van province on Sunday, broadcaster CNN Turk reported.

Separately, Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay told reporters some 10 buildings had collapsed in Van city and around 25-30 buildings collapsed in the nearby district of Ercis.

The Turkish Red Crescent reported that 25 apartment buildings and one dormitory in the eastern town of Ercis have collapsed. The Red Crescent says its rescuers have pulled several injured people out of the collapsed dormitory

The magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit near Van in southeastern Turkey on Sunday, Turkey's Kandilli Observatory and Research Institute said.

Phoenix

Experts warn a 'rumbling' Icelandic volcano could disrupt air travel, world economy - again

Image
© AP Photo/Paisley DoddsVik, a small Icelandic town of just 300 people, where residents still recall stories from their relatives of Katla volcano's last eruption in 1918, sits under a blanket of cloud in this Sept. 27, 2011 photo. If Iceland's air-traffic paralyzing volcanic eruption in 2011 seemed catastrophic, just wait for the sequel. That's what many experts are saying as they nervously watch rumblings beneath a much more powerful Icelandic volcano - Katla - which could spew an ash cloud dwarfing eruption that cost airlines $2 billion and drove home how vulnerable modern society is to the whims of nature.
Remember when Eyjafjallajökull, that Icelandic volcano with the impossible name, erupted in spring 2010, disrupting air traffic all over the world and costing airlines and the global economy billions?

Child's play, The Associated Press reported over the weekend, if seismic activity from another Icelandic volcano with a history of nasty tantrums leads to an eruption.

Seismologists in Iceland are wary of an increasing number of small, 3- to 4-magnitude earthquakes under the volcano Katla, whose last eruption in 1918 proved deadly.

That eruption produced a noxious cloud that literally blacked out the sun, killing off crops and livestock, the AP reported.