Michael Armstrong
HomerNewsFri, 09 Dec 2005 12:00 UTC
Following an increase in small earthquakes under Augustine Volcano last week, the Alaska Volcano Observatory in Anchorage raised the level of concern for Augustine Volcano from code green to code yellow. Scientists also have measured a 1-inch bulge in the volcano's dome.
In its four-level system, code yellow means the volcano is restless and the potential for an eruption has increased. Gas and steam plumes with minor amounts of ash also are possible.
Augustine last erupted with a series of explosions that started March 27, 1986. Historically, Augustine is more active than the other Cook Inlet volcanoes Iliamna, Redoubt and Spurr said Chris Waythomas, a geologist at the observatory. Augustine is also known to have erupted in 1812, 1883, 1908, 1935, 1963-64 and 1976.
"It wouldn't be a big surprise if it should erupt again," he said. "The one nice thing is almost always it has some precursor of seismic activity."
Loihi seamount, the small underwater volcano off the southeastern coast of the Big Island, experienced a swarm of 45 small earthquakes Tuesday night and yesterday morning, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said.
The most likely explanation is "structural adjustment" of the earth's crust in response to the weight of the small mountain, said Steven Brantley, second in command at the observatory.
The description refers to rocks breaking under stress, he said.
Loihi has not been erupting, and there is nothing to indicate that the swarm represents an eruption, he said.
The quakes started at 10 p.m. Tuesday and continued to 9:48 a.m. yesterday, according to the observatory Web site.
The biggest, with a magnitude of 4.7, was also apparently the deepest at 17 miles. Another was magnitude 4.0. A third earthquake during that time had a magnitude of 4.2, but it was on the Big Island near the lava flow area, unrelated to the Loihi swarm.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - Ethiopian, American and European researchers have observed a fissure in a desert in the remote northeast that could be the "birth of a new ocean basin," scientists said Friday.
Researchers from Britain, France, Italy and the U.S. have been observing the 60-kilometer (37-mile) long fissure since it split open in September in the Afar desert and estimate it will take a million years to fully form into an ocean, said Dereje Ayalew, who leads the team of 18 scientists studying the phenomenon.
The fissure, now four meters (13 feet) wide, formed in just three weeks after a Sept. 14 earthquake in a barren region called Boina, some 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) north east of the capital, Addis Ababa, said Dereje.
Comment: Note that the Scientists say that it will take millions of years', but that may not be the case at all. We would like to point out that the Western Pacific Rim has been quite active over the past few years, while the Eastern side of the "Ring of Fire" has been unnaturally quiet. There have also been rather frequent "outgassing" events over the past few years. All of this suggests that something is going on in our planet's interior... and all bets are off.
Ambae Island, Vanuatu - An erupting volcano on this remote South Pacific island burst into spectacular life Thursday shooting steam and toxic gases 9,845 feet into the sky.
Huge columns of dense white steam and muddy ash spewed above Ambae Island to reach the greatest height seen since the Mt. Manaro volcano began erupting Nov. 27.
The people of the Arctic filed a landmark human rights complaint against the United States, blaming the world's No. 1 carbon polluter for stoking the global warming that is destroying their habitat.
The Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC), representing native people in the vast, sparsely-populated region girdling the Earth's far north, said they had petitioned an inter-American panel to seek relief for Canadian and US Inuit.
Tim Hirsch
BBC NewsThu, 08 Dec 2005 12:00 UTC
Canada's prime minister has urged the US to "listen to its conscience" and take further steps to reduce emissions linked to global warming.
Paul Martin was speaking at the UN climate change conference in Montreal, where talks on long-term strategies are reaching a critical stage.
It is not only the United States which has come under fire.
A British government minister has accused Saudi Arabia of using "outrageous" tactics to block progress.
Comment: Let's think for a minute. Who are the Saudis good buddies with? It's right there on the tip of my tongue (and typing with my tongue isn't easy).
The Bush Crime family! The US oil lobby!
Coincidence? We think not.
This year's hurricane season shattered records for frequency and ferocity. And it's going to get worse, some scientists say. But others aren't so sure.
It was the year of the hurricane. It was also the year when scientists said that global warming can increase the intensity of hurricanes. But it was not the year when everyone could agree that hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in August, was at least in part the result of global warming brought on by emissions of man-made greenhouse gases.
DENVER - Bitterly cold air poured southward across the nation's midsection Wednesday, dropping temperatures to record lows from Montana to Illinois.
The mercury dived to a record 45 below at West Yellowstone, Mont., the frequently cold spot at the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park, the National Weather Service said. The old record for Dec. 7 was 39 below, set in 1927.
LONDON - The United States and Caribbean, which are still trying to rebuild from this year's devastating storms, should brace themselves for another busy hurricane season in 2006, a leading windstorm forecaster has warned.
MIAMI - Epsilon clung to hurricane strength for a third straight day in the open Atlantic on Wednesday, but forecasters predicted the storm would weaken.
The 26th named storm of the record-breaking hurricane season poses no threat to land.
Comment: Note that the Scientists say that it will take millions of years', but that may not be the case at all. We would like to point out that the Western Pacific Rim has been quite active over the past few years, while the Eastern side of the "Ring of Fire" has been unnaturally quiet. There have also been rather frequent "outgassing" events over the past few years. All of this suggests that something is going on in our planet's interior... and all bets are off.