Doménico Cieri Estrada
QUAKES -
2/28/10 -
5.0 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.1 OFFSHORE MAULE, CHILE
5.0 OFFSHORE MAULE, CHILE
5.1 OFFSHORE MAULE, CHILE
5.0 OFFSHORE MAULE, CHILE
5.2 OFFSHORE MAULE, CHILE
5.1 MAULE, CHILE
5.0 MAULE, CHILE
5.0 MAULE, CHILE
5.0 MAULE, CHILE
6.1 MAULE, CHILE
5.1 OFF COAST OF VALPARAISO, CHILE
5.2 OFF COAST OF VALPARAISO, CHILE
5.2 OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE
5.1 OFF COAST OF VALPARAISO, CHILE
5.2 BIO-BIO, CHILE
5.0 BIO-BIO, CHILE
5.2 BIO-BIO, CHILE
5.0 BIO-BIO, CHILE
5.3 BIO-BIO, CHILE
5.3 BIO-BIO, CHILE
5.2 BIO-BIO, CHILE
5.1 BIO-BIO, CHILE
5.3 BIO-BIO, CHILE
5.1 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE
5.4 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE
5.4 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE
5.6 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE
5.2 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE
5.0 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE
5.2 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE
5.1 OFF COAST OF ARAUCANIA, CHILE
5.1 OFF COAST OF ARAUCANIA, CHILE
5.0 LIBERTADOR O'HIGGINS, CHILE
5.3 OFFSHORE O'HIGGINS, CHILE
5.0 OFF COAST OF O'HIGGINS, CHILE
5.2 OFF COAST OF O'HIGGINS, CHILE
5.3 NEAR COAST OF ECUADOR
5.4 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.1 EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
5.2 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
5.1 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
5.1 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
CHILE - quake damage photos.
TSUNAMI / FREAK WAVES / ABNORMAL TIDES / RISING SEA LEVELS -
CALIFORNIA - A tsunami driven by the massive earthquake in Chile surged into Ventura County on Saturday,
damaging more than a dozen boat docks and forcing boat owners to scramble after a few loose vessels, but causing no injuries.
A tidal surge estimated at 3 feet rolled into Ventura Harbor about 1 p.m. and unmoored 14 residential docks in the Ventura Keys neighborhood.
Some docks were partially submerged or had broken away from rollers that connected them to cement piles. Officials in the Ventura Harbor Master’s Office said there was some erosion and navigational buoys came loose in the inner harbor area, but there were no major incidents. A sailing regatta was returning to the harbor and needed assistance from the Harbor Patrol and U.S. Coast Guard to navigate the main channel.
A tsunami advisory was issued for the California coast and other Pacific shores as a result of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile.
There were around 8-10 surges from 12:50pm till 6:30pm.
There were water level fluctuations of about 4 feet to 6 feet. “That’s a big swing."
Devastating tsunamis are RARE in California. Since 1812, 14 tsunamis with waves higher than 3 feet have been observed along the California coast, but only six caused destruction. The deadliest occurred in 1964 when a magnitude 9.2 quake in Alaska spawned tsunami waves that killed 12 people in Northern California.
TROPICAL STORMS -
Locations on World Map.
Projected storm paths .
No current tropical cyclones.
HEAVY RAINS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER-
EGYPT - A hail storm in Cairo has killed four people and injured more than 50 others. The extreme weather conditions caused chaos in Egypt's capital city, resulting in traffic accidents and widespread panic.
In the country's second largest city, Alexandria, located on the Mediterranean Sea coast waves as high as a two-story building hit the shore.
Also a European luxury cruise ship crashed into a pier in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh early Friday morning killing three sailors and wounding four tourists.
Another person was killed amidst a wave of car collisions nationwide.
The storm has subsided but meteorologists predicted severe weather in the next three days.
HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
U.S. - The latest storm on Friday took New York City's total snowfall for February to more than 36 inches (91 cm), making it THE SNOWIEST MONTH ON RECORD. It was the third heavy storm to hit the region in a month.
EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-
BRAZIL - Amid serious concerns over climate change, the mass death of tons of fish on the shores of Rio de Janeiro's main lagoon has raised an alarm for a global warming disaster. About 100 city clean-up crews say they have removed some 90 tonnes of dead fish so far on the shores of a popular beachside lagoon in Rio.
There was no immediate estimate of how many died, but several species were involved. The unpleasant smell is disturbing the local residents and passersby.
Experts say the mass death could be the result of an abrupt temperature change, falling 10 degrees centigrade in 24 hours.
CHINA - Severe drought will continue to ravage southwest China as no major rainfalls are expected in the next three days.
Huge iceberg 'threatens sea-life' -
A vast iceberg that broke off eastern Antarctic earlier this month could disrupt marine life in the region, scientists have warned.
They say the iceberg, which is 78km long and up to 39km wide, could have consequences for the area's colonies of emperor penguins as they may be forced to travel further afield to find food. The iceberg calved from the Mertz Glacier Tongue after it was hit by another huge iceberg, called B9B.
The change in the availability of open water could affect the rate of food production, which would have an impact on the amount of wildlife it could sustain.
"If the area gets choked up (with ice), then they would have to go elsewhere and look for food."
The calving of the iceberg, which has an estimated mass of 700-800bn tonnes, has changed the shape of the local geography.
"We have got two massive icebergs that - end to end - create a fence of about 180km.
So the area's geography has changed from a situation where we effectively had a box in which two sides were open ocean. Now we have a fence across one side of the box."
Before the formation of the iceberg, the Mertz Peninsula provided the right conditions for a polynia - an expanse of open water surrounded by sea-ice - to exist. As well as providing a feeding site for the region's wildlife, the polynia also was a key production site of "bottom water"; very cold, dense water that sinks to the ocean floor. "Sea ice is relatively fresh compared to sea water, so the more sea ice you have (in the surrounding area), the more salt that is left in the remaining open water."
The rise in the concentration of salt increases the water's density, causing it to sink to the bottom of the ocean. "This area around the Antarctic coastline, of which the Mertz Peninsula is one part, produces about one quarter of the Antarctic's bottom water, but the Mertz polynia is a major contributor."
The new iceberg has shortened the length of the Mertz Glacier Tongue, which could result in pack ice entering the area and disrupting the polynia.
"That means that the bottom water production rate... will decrease.
The bottom water spills over the continental shelf, flows down the continental slope into the deep ocean."
This process helps drive the "conveyor belt" of currents in the Southern, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
Any disruption to the net flow of bottom water could result in a weakening in the deep ocean circulation system, which plays a key role in the global climate system.
However, the researchers say the changes to the region triggered by the formation of the new iceberg will not shut down the circulation system or affect the world's climate. "There are also a number of other locations of bottom water formation, however. So, it's unlikely that a large-scale sustained change of the order of magnitude required for a global climate impact will happen from this one event."
Australian scientist claims THIS WINTER HAS BEEN THE HOTTEST THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN.
If that seems like a hard claim to take seriously as states across the U.S. recover from record-breaking snowfalls over the past few months, you’re not alone - but, say some scientists, you might be suffering from perception bias.
Britons, too, are stunned by the claim at an online climate change briefing.
The remarkable claim, based on global satellite data, follows Arctic temperatures that brought snow, ice and travel chaos to millions in the UK.
At the height of the big freeze, the entire country was blanketed in snow. But “January, according to satellite data, was the hottest January we’ve ever seen.
Last November was the hottest November we’ve ever seen. November-January as a whole is the hottest November-January the world has seen.”
“It’s not warming the same everywhere but it is really quite challenging to find places that haven’t warmed in the past 50 years.”
The comments, made earlier this week, have drawn responses from American experts, newspapers, and citizens alike who feel the statement may be inaccurate, misleading, or both. The average temperature in Atlanta in January, 38.5 degrees, was 4.2 degrees below normal: "I often question the validity of satellite-derived surface temperatures for the globe. Way too many variables to consider. As far as our January temps here in north Georgia, they were down below the average. Not uncommon
during an El Nino winter. We found with an active southern jet stream, clouds and rain increased, tempering our high temperatures [and] bringing the daily average down. Also, with a huge snow pack to our north, any air mass traveling
from the Northwest to the Southeast did not modify, so the winter chill was reinforced.”
Some suggest that, because forecasts that this winter would be mild weren’t exactly too accurate, reading too deeply into the data might not just be difficult - it could simply be impossible.
SPACE WEATHER-
The far side of the sun is alive with activity. On Feb. 28th, NASA's twin STEREO spacecraft observed one and perhaps two clouds of material blasting away from a high-latitude, site not visible from Earth. So far, none of this activity appears to be Earth-directed. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory recorded a movie of the clouds billowing over the sun's northern limb. A solar wind stream flowing from a coronal hole could reach Earth on March 1st or 2nd
HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
HealthMap - Global disease alert map.
SWINE FLU BREAKING NEWS
