Earthquakes
Geologists detected the high risk of a new eruption after evaluating an increased swarm of earthquakes around the island's second largest volcano.
Pall Einarsson, a professor of geophysics at the University of Iceland, says the area around Bárdarbunga is showing signs of increased activity, which provides "good reason to worry".
Tuesday, February 08, 2011 at 22:02:01 UTC
Tuesday, February 08, 2011 at 02:02:01 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location:
43.405°N, 127.119°W
Depth:
10.1 km (6.3 miles)
Region:
OFF THE COAST OF OREGON
Distances:
235 km (145 miles) W of Coos Bay, Oregon
275 km (170 miles) NW of Brookings, Oregon
280 km (175 miles) WSW of Newport, Oregon
370 km (230 miles) WSW of SALEM, Oregon
Monday, February 07, 2011 at 19:53:42 UTC
Tuesday, February 08, 2011 at 06:53:42 AM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
7.157°S, 155.284°E
Depth
413.9 km (257.2 miles)
Region
SOLOMON ISLANDS
Distances
110 km (65 miles) SSW of Arawa, Bougainville, PNG
150 km (95 miles) WSW of Chirovanga, Choiseul, Solomon Islands
930 km (580 miles) ENE of PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea
2265 km (1400 miles) N of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia
To understand how this all works, let's start with the sun. On January 31st a massive coronal hole opened up on the sun, hurling another sledgehammer of charged particles in the direction of Earth. This was due to impact us sometime between February 2nd and February 4th. Not only this, but we recently passed through a new Moon on February 2nd. But why is the Moon of any significance here, one might ask?
As James McCanney explains in an interview he did for Spectrum Magazine in 2003:
The [New] Moon moves in front of Earth, breaks that electrical flow [between the sun and Earth], and then moves out of the way. It gives us tremendous bombardment after that Moon moves out of the way, the first and second day after the New Moon. That's the condition that has been identified as being one of the leading causes of kicking-off major hurricanes and storms. What it does is: The Moon is interacting with the solar electric field. It's that CHANGE which causes the storms, and causes the environment around Earth to change, and thus affects Earth weather.So the picture we're painting is this: The sun blasts a massive front of solar wind in the direction of the Earth. As the New Moon moves out of the way of the sun and Earth, this, by itself, creates a significant increase in charged particles hitting the Earth. With the excess of charged particles from this solar storm hitting us near simultaneously, all of this excess charge ends up in the radiation belts surrounding the Earth. The Earth then finds ways to discharge this imbalance such as these two major storms we've seen. One storm takes the form of a massive blizzard covering about half of the US. The other takes the form of a cyclone storm, Yasi, that pounds the already flooded east coast of Australia. Increased volcanic and earthquake activity was also noted during this time as well.
Friday, February 04, 2011 at 13:53:47 UTC
Friday, February 04, 2011 at 08:23:47 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
24.616°N, 94.740°E
Depth
88.8 km (55.2 miles)
Region
MYANMAR-INDIA BORDER REGION
Distances
85 km (50 miles) ESE of Imphal, Manipur, India
130 km (80 miles) SSE of Kohima, Nagaland, India
690 km (425 miles) ENE of Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal, India
1800 km (1120 miles) E of NEW DELHI, Delhi, India
In its 8 a.m. Wednesday bulletin, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said the alert level at Taal remains at "1."
"Taal Volcano's status at Alert Level 1 means that a hazardous eruption is not imminent. However, the public is reminded that the Main Crater should be strictly off-limits due to sudden occurrence of steam explosions and accumulation of toxic gases," it said.
Phivolcs said the northern rim of the Volcano's main crater - in the vicinity of Daang Kastila trail - may also be dangerous when increased steam emission is reactivated along existing fissures.
Phivolcs reminded the public that the entire Volcano Island is a Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ), and permanent settlement in the island is strictly not recommended.
The U.S. Geological Survey says a temblor with a magnitude of 3.0 struck early Tuesday about 25 miles northwest of the ghost town of Jeffrey City.
The quake comes almost a week after another minor earthquake struck Wright. A 3.2 magnitude earthquake struck at 10:16 p.m. Thursday. It happened just 7 miles northeast of Wright, about 5 miles underground.
At first the USGS thought it might be a mine blast, but later deemed it a genuine earthquake.
David King, Campbell County's emergency management coordinator, said the county sits on several fault lines which have caused 10 recorded earthquakes since 1967.
Thursday's quake is the county's fourth quake since 2000. Quakes in 2009, 2008 and 2004 all occurred about 17 miles underground away from Gillette at a magnitude of about 2.5.
The county's largest earthquake occurred in September 1984 west of Gillette by the Johnson County line at a magnitude of 5.1. There were two other earthquakes in the county that year - a magnitude 5 and 2.5.
There are no recorded earthquakes in Gillette.
The U.S. Geological Survey reports a quake with a magnitude of 3.1 was detected Tuesday at 4:25 a.m. in rugged, mountainous terrain 29 miles west of Salmon near the former mining town of Cobalt.
The quake was first detected by staff at the Earthquake Studies Office at the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology. Director Mike Stickney says a 3.1 magnitude is barely enough to cause people to notice and it's not likely the tremor caused any serious damage to the landscape.
Stickney says it's not uncommon for small quakes to jolt the vast, mountainous backcountry north of Salmon and Challis.
Monday, January 31, 2011 at 06:03:26 UTC
Monday, January 31, 2011 at 07:03:26 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
21.943°S, 175.510°W
Depth
68.6 km (42.6 miles)
Region
TONGA
Distances
95 km (60 miles) SSW of NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga
360 km (225 miles) ESE of Ndoi Island, Fiji
400 km (245 miles) SSW of Neiafu, Tonga
1905 km (1180 miles) NNE of Auckland, New Zealand
Seismologists at the University of Washington have been monitoring the quakes.
A 2.6 quake occurred at 2:26 p.m. on Saturday about six miles north of the volcano. Another quake, a 2.5, occurred at 2:44 p.m. in the same area. The depth for both quakes was two miles. Another quake occurred six miles north-northwest at 10:48 p.m. That measured 2.2 and was 2.2 miles deep.
Smaller quakes, ranging from magnitude 1.3 to 2.2, occurred on Sunday.