One is silver, and the other gold.**
Girl Scout slogan
LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
6.6 MOLUCCA SEA
Yesterday -
11/13/11-
5.0 BANDA SEA
5.0 TONGA
5.0 KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
5.1 SOUTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE
11/12/11 -
5.0 OFFSHORE SUCRE, VENEZUELA
5.0 SOUTHWEST INDIAN RIDGE
11/11/11 -
5.0 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
5.0 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.2 SOUTHEAST OF LOYALTY ISLANDS
5.5 TONGA REGION
5.0 SOUTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE
5.2 ARAUCANIA, CHILE
Death toll in second Turkish quake rises to 40 - Tens of thousands of people have been left homeless by the quakes in Van province, bordering Iran, and their plight has been worsened by freezing temperatures after the first heavy snowfall of winter.
VOLCANOES -
CANARY ISLANDS - Underwater Volcano Releases Toxic Gases. There's a storm brewing off the coast of the El Hierro in the Canary Islands. In this case, it's coming from below the surface, an underwater volcano. These eruptions are unleashing toxic gases into the area. Spanish officials became concerned when a technician working close to the volcano for the National Geographical Institute became ill and showed unusually high carbon dioxide levels. Since then, they've closed two area beaches. Locals say they've also noticed some of the island’s cats behaving strangely. "We were looking at a cat that was eating in these pools, and the fish in them were dead. We thought the cat was some rare breed, and was it normal that he was eating dead fish." While officials say they don't think the volcano poses a great risk to many of the area's residents, they are continuing to monitor the situation.
CHILE - Puyehue volcano causes delays in air traffic again. After Puyehue volcano spit ash again, Buenos Aires City's two main air terminals Ezeiza and Aeroparque faced flight disruptions and complications - affecting particularly Patagonia.
TROPICAL STORMS -
No current tropical storms.
SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
THAILAND - The prime minister is urging people in flooded areas to be patient because the government is working as hard as it can to drain the water.
SPACE WEATHER -
REMARKABLE SOLAR ACTIVITY - There haven't been any strong solar flares in days. Nevertheless, some impressive activity is underway on the sun. For one thing, an enormous wall of plasma is towering over the sun's southeastern horizon. "Solar forums all over the world are buzzing with Sun-stronomers proclaiming this to be the biggest prominence that many of them had ever witnessed."
Remarkably, though, this is not the biggest thing. A dark filament of magnetism is snaking more than halfway around the entire sun. From end to end, it stretches more than a million km or about three times the distance between Earth and the Moon. If the filament becomes unstable, as solar filaments are prone to do, it could collapse and hit the stellar surface below, triggering a Hyder flare. No one can say if the eruption of such a sprawling structure would be Earth directed. "I cant help but wonder what could possibly come next since we are still over a year away from the forecasted Solar Maximum."
