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Volcanic quakes recorded at Taal, Bulusan; crater glow at Mayon


GMA News
Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:17 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Restive Taal Volcano continued to show signs of activity, as state volcanologists recorded at least five volcanic quakes there in the last 24 hours.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on Wednesday said it also observed weak steaming activity at the thermal area of the main crater-lake.

Phivolcs also reiterated its warning against carbon dioxide in the area, saying gas measurements in March amounted to 4,670 tons per day - double the 2,250 tons per day in January.

"The remarkable increase in C02 [Carbon dioxide] concentration indicates anomalous gas release from the magma at depth," it said.

It added Alert Level 1 remains over Taal Volcano, saying no eruption is imminent but the public should strictly observe some safety precautions.

Phivolcs said the main crater should remain strictly off-limits because sudden hazardous steam-driven explosions may occur and high concentrations of toxic gases may accumulate.
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Cloud Lightning

US Pacific NW: Snow, Hail Catch Many by Surprise


KING-5 News
Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:11 UTC
Mukilteo
Lake Stevens, Wash. April snow
© Erika La Pierre-Burt
Lake Stevens, Wash. April snow
, Wash. - Residents in Western Washington's Convergence Zone received a winter's flashback Wednesday morning.

Snow and hail fell in several locations, catching many by surprise.

"We got two inches," said Kelvin Lawrence of Granite Falls. The city cooled off enough to see snow fall and stick around throughout the afternoon until the sun began to melt things.

"Not a pretty thing to wake up to in April," said Michelle Stetka. "I'm ready for spring."

A winter storm warning remained in effect for the Olympics and Cascade Range Wednesday morning.
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Cloud Lightning

US: West Virginia residents wake up to storm damage

Jared Hunt
Daily Mail
Wed, 06 Apr 2011 21:51 UTC
Image
© Craig Cunningham
Trees blocked the road and knocked down power lines along Cantley Drive in Fort Hill after Monday evening's storm ripped through the area. Six large trees fell across the road, knocking down power lines.
The day after a powerful storm ripped through the Kanawha Valley damaging thousands of homes, the cleanup began.

While homeowners were busy with cleanup, insurance agents began assessing damage so repairs could begin.

Jill Bentz, president of the West Virginia Insurance Foundation - which represents several property and casualty insurers in the area - said it's still too early to estimate how much property damage was sustained in Monday's storm.

"Companies are just overwhelmed with the volume and they just need some extra time to respond responsibly and accurately to their customers' claims," she said.

"We just can't estimate the damage sustained right now."

But the damage does seem to be concentrated within the valley.

"Mostly what we've seen is trees are down because of wind," she said. "A lot of the claims we've received today have been isolated to the St. Albans-Charleston area, and some have been slightly north of Charleston."
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Nuke

Cleaning up Japan's Radioactive Water Could Take Decades

Julie Makinen and Ralph Vartabedian
Los Angeles Times
Thu, 07 Apr 2011 21:42 UTC
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear
© Reuters
Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant's No.1, No.2, No.3 and No.4 reactors, from right to left, in this photo taken March 31 and released by Japan's Defense Ministry on April 1.
No one is sure how to safely dispose of millions of gallons of highly radioactive water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. 'There is nothing like this, on this scale, that we have ever attempted to do before,' a U.S. expert says.

For nearly four weeks, Japanese emergency crews have been spraying water on the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors, a desperate attempt to avert the calamity of a full meltdown.

Now, that improvised solution to one nuclear nightmare is spawning another: what to do with the millions of gallons of water that has become highly radioactive as it washes through the plant.

The water being used to try to cool the reactors and the dangerous spent fuel rods is leaking through fissures inside the plant, seeping down through tunnels and passageways to the lowest levels, where it is accumulating into a sea of lethal waste.

No one is sure how to get rid of it safely.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Henry County, Virginia: Storm destroyed trees, buildings

Ginny Wray
Martinsville Bulletin
Wed, 06 Apr 2011 21:08 UTC
Henry County storm aftermath

Fred Martin Jr. gestures at damage to a machinery storage building and hay barn severely damaged by Tuesday’s storm. His father estimated the damage would top $1 million.
A pounding storm that hammered the area early Tuesday left a path of damage from one end of Henry County to the other.

In the Dyers Store area in eastern Henry County, Fred Martin Sr. initially estimated the damage at his Martin Stables at between $600,000 and $800,000 but later raised that to "way more than $1 million," considering all the vehicles that were damaged.

A machinery storage building, hay barn and half a cinderblock building were destroyed, left in a pile of rubble in the storm that hit around 2 a.m. Tuesday. Some of the buildings had been there for 40 to 50 years, Martin said.

His son, Fred Martin Jr., said the company's machinery lay beneath the rubble. Martin Sr. said the vehicles that were licensed for road use and his home nearby were insured; the buildings at the stables were self-insured. One furniture van alone was worth $60,000, he said, adding that one building held 12 farm tractors.
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Cloud Lightning

Namibia: 62 killed, thousands displaced by floods as more rain expected


The Associated Press
Wed, 06 Apr 2011 09:57 UTC
The United Nations says 62 people have been killed and thousands forced from their homes since the start of the year by flooding in northern Namibia.

In a statement Wednesday, the U.N. children's fund says the numbers could "dramatically increase" soon.

U.N. officials in Namibia say a new wave of water is expected from Angola, and the forecast is for more rains in northern Namibia in the coming days.

UNICEF says northern Namibia is already vulnerable. It is among the most densely populated and poorest parts of the country, with a high number of people carrying the AIDS virus. UNICEF says one in every fifteen children dies before reaching the age of five in the region.
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Umbrella

Kenya: Heavy Rains Expected This Month


allAfrica.com
Wed, 06 Apr 2011 18:47 UTC
Most parts of the country will receive improved rains for the rest of the month. Weathermen yesterday said the resurgent rains will spread countrywide but will be interrupted by sunny intervals within the month.

The month-long forecast shows most places will receive near-average rainfall, except North Eastern where rains will be depressed and poorly distributed.

This will ease the current drought and improve electricity supply. "April is the peak month of the long rains season. The rain-bearing belt traverses the country from South to North during the month," said director of meteorological services Dr Joseph Mukabana.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Fish Kills Another Legacy of Long, Snowy Winter


Kare11
Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:10 UTC

Plymouth, Minnesota -- Like a lot of Minnesotans, Bruce Wahlstrom was happy to see the ice disappearing from his lake he lives on.

Then, he noticed what was underneath.

"I actually saw it last night as the ice started to melt back," said Wahlstrom. "This morning, it's just tons of dead fish."

Hundreds of dead fish are washed up on Wahlstrom's property on Schmidt Lake in Plymouth, or floating in the shallow water. He knows the recipe for a fish kill: Early, heavy snow piles up on the ice, making it impossible for sunlight to reach the bottom of a lake. The lack of natural light then keeps plant life from creating oxygen. If the winter is long enough, and the heavy snow lasts, fish eventually run out of oxygen to breathe and die.
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Attention

Stromboli: Series of Explosions and Landslides


AGI
Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:48 UTC
Stromboli Volcano_01
© Volcano Discovery
300 m tall, candle-like eruption from the central crater of Stromboli
Sicily - There has been a concerted series of explosions and landslides on Stromboli. Over the last 24 hours, monitors at the Vesuvian Observatory have picked up fifteen seismic signals associated with mild landslide events, all along the Sciara del Fuoco (Stream of Fire). Most of these events were follow-ons to the explosions and can therefore be attributed to rolling debris.

Comment: Latest recorded seismic activity around Sicily, Italy:

3 shakes and minor landslides, Feb. 18 - Stromboli
5 shakes and minor landslides, Feb. 22 - Stromboli
5 shakes and minor landslides, Feb. 28 - Stromboli
2.6 and 2.7, Mar. 4 - (Sea-quake) Porto Palo di Capo Passero, Ionio Sea
2.6 and 3.7, Mar. 9 - Messina, Sicily
2.1, April 2 - Messina, Sicily

(A 6.1 magnitude one was recorded in Greece on April 1)

      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

US Geologists: Newberry Volcano is still a threat

Kate Ramsayer
Associated Press
Thu, 04 Nov 2010 14:19 UTC
Image
© Associated Press
Obsidian lava rocks at Newberry National Volcanic Monument in Oregon.
When Newberry Volcano south of Bend last erupted 1,300 years ago, gas trapped in sticky magma exploded from the caldera south of Bend, flinging pumice and ash more than 3,000 feet up into the air. As the volcanic gases settled down, flows of lava oozed out, quickly cooling into the glassy Big Obsidian Flow.

About 7,000 years ago, magma spread north from Newberry through a crack in the rock, erupting to form the Lava Butte cinder cone.

And with the magma still heating rocks under Newberry Volcano, geologists expect more eruptions to shake the area in the future.

"It's still hot under there," said Julie Donnelly-Nolan, a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey's Volcano Science Center in Menlo Park, Calif. "We have no reason to believe it's finished."

Because of this, the USGS is planning to add eight seismic monitoring stations next summer on Newberry Volcano, which the agency classifies as a "very high threat."
      Read More...
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