A very hazardous volcano at the border of China and North Korea is growing more active, and might erupt in the next few decades, researchers studying the area say.

About 1,100 years ago, the Changbaishan volcano in northeastern China erupted, shooting superheated flows of ash and gas up to 30 miles (50 kilometers) away and blasting a 3-mile-wide (5 km) chunk off the tip of the volcano. The explosion, known as the Millennium eruption because it occurred close to the turn of the first millennium, was one of the largest volcanic events in the last 2,000 years.

Since the Millennium eruption, Changbaishan has seen three smaller eruptions, the most recent of which took place in 1903. Starting in 1999, driven by signs of resumed activity, scientists established the Changbaishan Volcano Observatory.

Now, data collected over the past 12 years suggest that changes in seismic activity, ground deformation and gas emissions all spiked during a brief period of heightened activity from 2002 to 2006. This suggests the magma chamber beneath Changbaishan has awakened, researchers studying the volcano say.

The researchers saw the number of earthquakes increase dramatically during this burst of activity. From 1999 to 2002, and from 2006 to 2011, researchers detected seven earthquakes per month. However, from 2002 to 2006, this rate increased to 72 earthquakes per month, peaking in November 2003, which saw 243 events. Most of these quakes are tied to a region 3 miles beneath the volcanic crater that has risen slowly over the years, which suggests magma is creeping upward.

A volcano has erupted on Indonesia's Sumatra island, spewing thick grey smoke up to 1.5 kilometres into the sky.

Monitoring official Suparno says Mount Marapi's eruption on Wednesday is its strongest since August last year, when its status was raised to level three out of four.

On April 11, a massive magnitude 8.6 earthquake shook the floor of the Indian Ocean off Sumatra. It wasn't just unusual because of its size - the 10th largest quake in the last century - it also set off a series of quakes around the world for up to six days afterward, according to a study published today (Sept. 26) in the journal Nature.

"Until now, we seismologists have always said, 'Don't worry about distant earthquakes triggering local quakes,'" said Roland Burgmann, an earth and planetary scientist at UC Berkeley, in a statement. "This study now says that, while it is very rare - it may only happen every few decades - it is a real possibility if the right kind of earthquake happens."

The study found that some quakes were triggered within a few hours, while in other places the seismic waves from the Sumatran quake primed temblors to happen for up to six days later.

The findings should remind those living in seismically active areas that the risk from a large earthquake could persist, even on the opposite side of the globe, for more than a few hours, the study scientists said.

Another study also published today suggests that the quake marks the birth of a new tectonic plate beneath the Indian Ocean.

Event Time:

2012-09-26 23:39:58 UTC
2012-09-26 14:39:58 UTC-09:00 at epicenter
2012-09-26 16:39:58 UTC-07:00 system time

Location:

51.583°N 178.200°W depth=40.5km (25.2mi)

Nearby Cities:

33km (21mi) S of Tanaga Volcano, Alaska
1487km (924mi) SSE of Anadyr', Russia
1580km (982mi) E of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia
1597km (992mi) E of Yelizovo, Russia
2806km (1744mi) W of Whitehorse, Canada

The wet and windy start to week has persisted into Wednesday with more than a month's worth of rain falling in some places across the UK. Britain has been hit with the most extreme September weather for decades, with hundreds evacuated from their homes and fire and rescue teams battling against the floods to help residents of some of the worst-hit areas.

Cars sailed down streets after being abandoned by motorists, and a block of flats in Newburn, Newcastle were left with their foundations exposed as the town struggled with another day of heavy rain.

Additional images

On the afternoon of April 11, 2012, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded - and now revealed to be among the weirdest - struck in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Sumatra. It's a region all too familiar with geological catastrophe.

Eight years earlier, in December 2004, the third largest earthquake on record had ripped through a nearby region of the ocean floor. The magnitude-9.1 earthquake and the monstrous tsunami that soon followed killed more than 227,000 people in 14 countries,

So when a magnitude-8.7 earthquake (some put the magnitude at 8.6) shook the Indonesian island on that Wednesday afternoon earlier this year, many expected the worst. Yet, no monster wave appeared. A wave did come ashore, but it was a miniature tsunami, just 12 inches (31 centimeters) high.

All told, the earthquake did very little damage - yet only five higher earthquake magnitudes have ever been recorded. So what was the deal?

New research published today (Sept. 26) in the journal Nature delves into the intimate details of this earthquake, along with the powerful, magnitude-8.2 quake that followed two hours later. The new studies add to an existing body of research that shows this was a remarkable event - one of the most surprising earthquakes ever recorded - and one that offers an unlikely snapshot of a geological process millions of years in the making.

Residents of Footdee, a small fishing village in Aberdeen, Scotland, awoke to find their houses, cars and streets covered in white this morning. No, it wasn't an early snowstorm that blanketed the town. It was sea foam -- or spume -- blown in from the North Sea by heavy winds and crashing waves.

A Marine Scotland spokesman told BBC News: "Sea foam is created by the interaction of sea water movement and plant plankton residues." The organic mixture turned the area into a natural bubble bath, making for an incredible scene.

Event Time
2012-09-25 23:45:26 UTC
2012-09-25 16:45:26 UTC-07:00 at epicenter

Nearby Cities
75km (47mi) NNE of La Paz, Mexico
154km (96mi) E of Ciudad Constitucion, Mexico
154km (96mi) SW of Ahome, Mexico
157km (98mi) SW of Los Mochis, Mexico
972km (604mi) SSE of Phoenix, Arizona

Technical Details

An invading force is laying the groundwork for a coup in the United States this year, and it's going on right under our noses. The brown marmorated stink bug, an insect species from Asia that has been steadily expanding its range since it landed on the East Coast 15 years ago, will begin to sneak into the homes of unprepared Americans by the hundreds in the coming weeks, entomologists say.

And because of an unusual late-season surge in the invasive pest's numbers, scientists and crop specialists worry that the bug could make one of its strongest showings ever when it comes out of hiding in the spring.

"We've seen increases in populations over the last month or so," said Tracy Leskey, a research entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "This is something that's different than in 2011."

Behind the invasion

In early fall, the stink bugs start to look for shelter in warm, indoor crannies, and attics are among their favorite places to set up thousands-thick overwintering settlements. A late batch of stink bug nymphs was born last October, but the majority probably perished in the field before maturing, Leskey told Life's Little Mysteries.

This year, however, two full generations have already managed to reach maturity ― likely due in part to an early spring ― so more will be ready to weather the winter and start multiplying as soon as spring arrives, according to Leskey.

In the United States, brown marmorated stink bugs are most prevalent in the Mid-Atlantic states. A recent national survey conducted by Hometeam Pest Defense found that 59 percent of Washington, D.C., homeowners had had problems with the bugs, making the nation's capital their densest urban stronghold. But the invasive species has now spread to 38 states, including California and Oregon, according to USDA-funded research.

Climate change researchers have detected the first signs of a slowdown in the Gulf Stream - the mighty ocean current that keeps Britain and Europe from freezing.

They have found that one of the "engines" driving the Gulf Stream - the sinking of supercooled water in the Greenland Sea - has weakened to less than a quarter of its former strength.

The weakening, apparently caused by global warming, could herald big changes in the current over the next few years or decades.

Paradoxically, it could lead to Britain and northwestern and Europe undergoing a sharp drop in temperatures.

Such a change has long been predicted by scientists but the new research is among the first to show clear experimental evidence of the phenomenon.

Peter Wadhams, professor of ocean physics at Cambridge University, hitched rides under the Arctic ice cap in Royal Navy submarines and used ships to take measurements across the Greenland Sea.