STORM WARNING: A fast-moving stream of solar wind is buffeting Earth's magnetic field. The combined effect of this stream plus a CME expected to arrive today has prompted NOAA forecasters to declare a 30% to 35% chance of geomagnetic storms during the next 24 hours. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.
Bartender says, "Where'd you get the pig?"
Guy says, "This is a duck."
Bartender says, "I was talking to the duck."
Rodney Dangerfield
LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
7.4 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
5.1 MID-INDIAN RIDGE
5.0 CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
Yesterday -
6/23/11 -
5.1 KYUSHU, JAPAN
5.2 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.2 EASTERN TURKEY
5.0 TONGA
ALASKA - Magnitude-7.4 quake shakes Alaska, prompting tsunami warning. The tsunami warning was lifted about an hour after the quake struck at 6:10 pm Thursday (0310 GMT Friday) near the Fox Islands, about 1,700 kilometres south-west of Anchorage. It occurred at a depth of 63 kilometres. No damage or casualties were reported in the sparsely populated area. The West Coast and Alaska tsunami Warning Center said no tsunami was detected. [4.7 is the largest aftershock so far.]
JAPAN - The magnitude 6.7 aftershock that rocked Honshu on Thursday was the 75th aftershock of at least magnitude 6.0 following the devastating March earthquake.
NEW ZEALAND abandons 5100 quake homes - The New Zealand government told thousands of Christchurch home owners yesterday that the areas where they lived will be abandoned for several years while their homes are demolished. Christchurch, the country's second biggest city, was devastated by major earthquakes in September 2010 and again in February this year, and continues to be rocked by strong aftershocks which are causing more damage.
VOLCANOES -
NEW ZEALAND - Unnamed officials have been quoted as saying continuing earthquake activity around Canterbury indicating a volcanic eruption is brewing has been "hushed up". Others say the water in Lyttelton Harbour has heated up as a consequence of volcanic activity, and in some parts the water is already too hot to touch. Some of the country's top earthquake and volcano experts are now determined to quash the gossip before it scares even more people. They say a Banks Peninsula eruption was "just not possible. There's no truth to this. There's no reason for it. We have said time and time again this is not possible."
The closest pool of magma to Canterbury is in the central North Island. The six million-year-old Banks Peninsula volcanic complex is extinct. The quakes can not reactivate the volcanic area because there is no hot magma there. "This is supported by all the data recorded by scientists since the main Darfield earthquake in September 2010. All the recorded signals - eg, ground-surface deformation from ground-based and satellite techniques, earthquake types - have been strictly tectonic in origin and due to movement along faults, and in no way related to volcanic activity. There is no magma any more at depth below Banks Peninsula. The closest magmatic systems are Taranaki-Ruapehu-Taupo, approximately 500 kilometres away. Magma residing less than 25km deep below these volcanoes just cannot travel horizontally for such distances. Magma is generally lighter than the surrounding rocks and much prefers going up than sideways. And in cases where it does, horizontal distances are tens of kilometres at best, not hundreds. So, in a nutshell, magma travelling from the North Island volcanoes to Banks Peninsula, or anywhere near the south of the North Island for that matter, is simply not possible."
Ground shaking has caused liquefaction and has also affected the permeability of the near-surface, leading to changes in the temperature of warm springs and discharge rates that were nothing to do with any volcanic activity. "In some areas, pre- existing cracks may have opened or closed, affecting the path of the groundwater to the surface. In areas where permeability increases, so may the flow of hot water to the surface. This can result in an increase in water discharge at the surface, or even new springs. In areas where permeability decreased due to the shaking, hot springs may have experienced a decrease in discharge or even dried out.
This phenomenon has been observed in many non- volcanic areas around the world after moderate to large earthquakes."
TROPICAL STORMS -
TROPICAL STORM 07W (MEARI) was LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 365 NM SOUTH-SOUTHWEST OF KADENA AIR BASE, JAPAN.
TROPICAL STORM 06W (HAIMA) was LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 135 NM EAST OF HANOI, VIETNAM.
Tropical storm "Falcon" (Meari) will continue to bring heavy rains to Metro Manila and surrounding provinces until Saturday even as some areas still suffer from flooding. Some 50,000 people were in evacuation centres in the Philippines on Friday after fleeing their homes following days of torrential rains caused by Tropical Storm Meari.
Tropical storm Haima hit land in southern China's Guangdong province on Thursday, bringing heavy rain that was expected to move over flooded inland areas. Tropical storm Haima is forecast to hit the Vietnam-China border today, and will bring heavy rains to Vietnam's northern and north central regions.
Hurricane Beatriz weakened into a tropical storm and headed out to sea Tuesday after pounding Mexico's resort-studded Pacific coast with heavy rains and winds. A family of three died on Tuesday as hurricane Beatriz moved along the Pacific coast of Mexico before weakening. A teenager who attempted to cross a river remains missing.
HEALTH THREATS -
German E coli outbreak kills 3 more, reaches 3,800 cases. 105 new cases of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) were announced and 3 new deaths in an outbreak linked to German sprouts, while the United States added a new case and is investigating whether a death in Arizona is linked to the 3,802-case outbreak.
