A magnitude 5.9 earthquake early Friday morning was felt widely across the North Island, causing some people to leap out of bed.
GNS Science said the quake was located 30 km north of Taupo at a depth of 150 km.
It struck at 4:02 am and was felt widely felt across the North Island.
There were reports on social media that some people could hear it coming.
The quake was strong enough to get people out of bed and lots of comments were flowing on sites such as Twitter.
"Someone's just had a sizable quake. Felt strongly in Napier. Anyone else get the shakes?" wrote one Twitter user, with plenty of replies that it had been felt.
Earth Changes
A one-mile cordon has been established around a volcano on Mount Kirishima after it erupted scattering rocks and ash across southern Japan and sending smoke billowing 5,000ft into the air.
The Meteorological Agency raised the volcanic alert to level 3 as ash today continued to spew from Shinmoedake on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu, and residents have been banned from going within a mile of the volcano following its worst eruption in 50 years.
The Meteorological Agency raised the volcanic alert to level 3 as ash today continued to spew from Shinmoedake on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu, and residents have been banned from going within a mile of the volcano following its worst eruption in 50 years.
© Reuters
Force of nature: Lightning strikes as Shinmoedake erupts, scattering ash and rocks across a wide swathe of southern Japa
Force of nature: Lightning strikes as Shinmoedake erupts, scattering ash and rocks across a wide swathe of southern Japa
© Reuters
Volcanic lightning or a dirty thunderstorm is seen above Shinmoedake peak as it erupts
Volcanic lightning or a dirty thunderstorm is seen above Shinmoedake peak as it erupts
© USGS
Earthquake Location
Earthquake Location
Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 08:38:28 UTC
Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 12:08:28 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
28.185°N, 58.968°E
Depth
10.7 km (6.6 miles) set by location program
Region
SOUTHEASTERN IRAN
Distances
241 km (150 miles) SW (232°) from Zahedan, Iran
287 km (178 miles) ENE (67°) from Bandar-e Abbas, Iran
296 km (184 miles) SE (141°) from Kerman, Iran
509 km (316 miles) N (4°) from MUSCAT, Oman
© Steve Berman/The New York Times
A limousine, unable to drive uphill going west on 57th Street in Manhattan, was pushed back onto 6th Avenue by passersby.
A limousine, unable to drive uphill going west on 57th Street in Manhattan, was pushed back onto 6th Avenue by passersby.
The powerful storm, appearing as a giant white smudge over the Northeast on radar maps, arrived in two parts, coating the region with rain and several inches of snow early Wednesday and then dumping up to an additional foot of snow in some places overnight Thursday.
In New York City, the wintry one-two punch caused all non-emergency city government offices to close on Thursday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced through Twitter. The Department of Education said that all public schools across the five boroughs would be closed for the day.
Across the New York region, hundreds of flights were canceled, and the Port Authority later closed Newark, Teterboro, and John F. Kennedy Airports. The Metropolitan Transit Authority suspended all of its bus services across New York City and Long Island early Thursday. The Long Island Rail Road said it would operate a reduced weekday morning schedule, while the Metro-North Railroad said its Harlem and Hudson lines would run on a Saturday schedule. The Nor'easter created a fresh sense of snow fatigue in a region that has been unusually battered by storms. Trying to prevent a repeat of the problems associated with a late December blizzard, when streets went unplowed for days, New York City sent out more than 2,000 salt spreaders, snow plows and other vehicles to clear the streets.
© Unknown
Ash from rumbling Mount Bromo, a popular attraction in East Java province, had spread to the island popular with foreign tourists and surfers.
"We received information from Darwin that the ash from Bromo has reached 5,500 metres in the southeast direction and has affected some parts of Bali," transport ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan told AFP.
"As a safety precaution, we've sent out an advisory to airlines to warn them about the ash situation so air crew can avoid the affected areas," he added.
Indonesian aviation authorities were monitoring the situation but there were no plans to temporarily close the airport yet, he added.
"The airport is still open, some flights are still landing. We're checking how bad the situation is and how much worse it can get before deciding what the next step will be," Ervan said.
© Alamy
The key factor affecting the advance or retreat of the Karakoram glaciers is the amount of debris strewn on their surface. The Passu glacier in the Karakorum region of Pakistan
The key factor affecting the advance or retreat of the Karakoram glaciers is the amount of debris strewn on their surface. The Passu glacier in the Karakorum region of Pakistan
Researchers have discovered that contrary to popular belief half of the ice flows in the Karakoram range of the mountains are actually growing rather than shrinking.
The discovery adds a new twist to the row over whether global warming is causing the world's highest mountain range to lose its ice cover.
It further challenges claims made in a 2007 report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that the glaciers would be gone by 2035.
Although the head of the panel Dr Rajendra Pachauri later admitted the claim was an error gleaned from unchecked research, he maintained that global warming was melting the glaciers at "a rapid rate", threatening floods throughout north India.
© Jan Erik Paulsen
Increase of Polar Mesospheric Clouds, 1979–2010.
Increase of Polar Mesospheric Clouds, 1979–2010.
© Robert Simmon
Adapted from Latitude-dependent long-term variations in polar mesospheric clouds from SBUV version 3 PMC data. - January 1, 1979 - December 31, 2010
Adapted from Latitude-dependent long-term variations in polar mesospheric clouds from SBUV version 3 PMC data. - January 1, 1979 - December 31, 2010
DeLand, an atmospheric scientist with Science Systems and Applications Inc. and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, has found that polar mesospheric clouds are forming more frequently and becoming brighter. He has been observing the clouds in data from Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet instruments that have been flown on satellites since 1978. The graph shows how the brightness of the clouds has changed in the Northern Hemisphere. For reasons no one fully understands, the brightness wiggles up and down in step with solar activity, with fewer clouds forming when the Sun is most active. The biggest variability is in the far north. Underlying the changes caused by the Sun, however, is a trend toward brighter clouds. The upward trend in brightness, says DeLand, reveals subtle changes in the atmosphere that may be linked to greenhouse gases.
Polar mesospheric clouds are extremely sensitive to changes in atmospheric water vapor and temperature. The clouds form only when temperatures drop below -130 degrees Celsius (-200 Fahrenheit), when the scant water freezes into ice clouds. This happens most often in far northern and southern latitudes (above 50 degrees) in the summer when, counter-intuitively, the mesosphere is coldest.
© esse Allen and Robert Simmon, EO-1/NASA
Satellite pictures of the Pakistani coast in February (left) and November 2010.
Satellite pictures of the Pakistani coast in February (left) and November 2010.
Pakistani fishers reported the new mud volcano in the Arabian Sea in late November, and NASA's Earth Observing-1 satellite snapped a picture of it (above) on January 11. The volcano was not in a satellite picture of the same region taken last February.
According to NASA, mud volcano "islands" have appeared in the Arabian Sea before, and most have washed away within a few months. In fact, the January picture shows tan sediments steaming from the new mud volcano, suggesting it is eroding and will soon vanish.
Mud volcanoes, which can appear on land or underwater, form when underground layers of silt or clay become pressurized either by tectonic activity or by a buildup of hydrocarbon gases.
A shallow earthquake with a magnitude of 3.9 has rattled parts of southern Idaho near the Wyoming and Utah borders.
The United States Geological Survey says the temblor struck Tuesday night about 9 miles southwest of Georgetown.
USGS says the epicenter was less than a mile underground.
Bear Lake County Sheriff's dispatcher Gene Perkins says no reports of damage or injuries were reported. He says he felt his chair "move just a hair" as he was sitting at home at the time of the quake.
The United States Geological Survey says the temblor struck Tuesday night about 9 miles southwest of Georgetown.
USGS says the epicenter was less than a mile underground.
Bear Lake County Sheriff's dispatcher Gene Perkins says no reports of damage or injuries were reported. He says he felt his chair "move just a hair" as he was sitting at home at the time of the quake.
The Kirishima Volcano, located in Japan, erupted violently this morning hurling rock bombs and plumes of ash up into the atmosphere. Frequent small-to-moderate explosive eruptions have been recorded since the 8th century.
The volcano is located in southern Japan, along the pacific ring of fire, and is uniquely situated directly above a tectonic plate boundary.
Kirishima has erupted 9 times during the past 100 years, 2 of which were classified as VEI-2 eruptions (Volcanic Explosivity Index). The last VEI-2 eruption was during 1959 when it pumped 3.2 million cubic meters of 'tephra' up onto the planet surface and into sky. Time will tell how this new eruption will be classified.
Volcanic Ash in the atmosphere will severely damage jet engines, and can cause global temperatures to decrease depending on quantity.
The volcano is located in southern Japan, along the pacific ring of fire, and is uniquely situated directly above a tectonic plate boundary.
© 373news.com
Volcanic Ash in the atmosphere will severely damage jet engines, and can cause global temperatures to decrease depending on quantity.
