The tidal waves generated by the Nankai Trough temblor would slam areas from Kanto to Kyushu, with waves of up to 34.4 meters likely in Kuroshio, Kochi Prefecture, and between 10 and 20 meters in parts of Shizuoka, Kochi and Miyazaki prefectures. Urban areas of Tokyo would see tsunami up to 2.3 meters high, but the village of Niijima in the Izu Island chain, which is administered by Tokyo, could face deadly waves up to 29.7 meters high. Strong tremors would continue for around 3 minutes, and some areas in Shizuoka and Wakayama prefectures could be hit by tsunami even as they continued shaking. The panel will continue to study the potential extent of the coastal inundation while the government re-examines its emergency measures based on the new estimates.
Meanwhile, a massive inland quake threatening urban areas of Tokyo and parts of Kanagawa Prefecture will top the Japanese seismic intensity scale at at 7. The quake, which will originate directly below the northern part of Tokyo Bay, will register as an upper 6 in surrounding areas, including Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures. A professor at the University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute urged Tokyoites to prepare for the disaster. "There is not much difference between the intensity scales of upper 6 and 7," he warned. An earthquake in the upper 6 range can trigger landslides, crack apart the ground and cause weak wooden structures to collapse, while sturdier wooden houses and buildings made of reinforced concrete are at risk of collapsing from quakes with an intensity of 7.
"The estimate was made based on various assumed conditions, so the distribution of the intensity scales will shift a great deal if those conditions are changed. Not only areas where strong vibrations are expected but also all areas in southern Kanto should be prepared for a powerful quake." The survey has confirmed that the plate that is expected to cause a powerful inland earthquake in the region is five to 10 kilometers shallower than assumed. All areas in the region were urged to be prepared for a powerful quake, regardless of the estimate.
Unknown
LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
5.0 BATAN ISL REGION, PHILIPPINES
Yesterday -
3/31/12 -
5.5 TONGA
5.0 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS.
5.3 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
3/30/12 -
5.1 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.0 EASTERN NEW GUINEA REG., P.N.G.
5.2 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.4 OFFSHORE CHIAPAS, MEXICO
5.0 TONGA
5.2 FIJI REGION
5.0 SOUTHEAST OF EASTER ISLAND
5.2 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.2 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MYSTERY BOOMS -
Wisconsin 'boom' town now has seismometers, sound sensors - Clintonville now has four seismometers and four specialized sound sensors to help experts better understand the rumbling and booms over the last couple weeks.
Have the mysterious booms in Clintonville finally been caught on tape? Townspeople say the booms are back, and an audio engineer may have given ABC News its first listen.
VOLCANOES -
Scientists Close To Predicting Volcanic Eruptions - Scientists are close to predicting large volcanic eruptions, thanks to their plumbing system, an international team of scientists has found after working in Afar (Ethiopia) and Iceland - the only places where mid-ocean ridges appear above sea level. Volcanic ridges occur when tectonic plates "rift" or pull apart; that is when the magma injects itself out of the brittle upper crust and when the erupting lava cools down it forms a new crust. When analysing these crusts, they found that magma travels through chambers. By studying the locations and behaivour of the chambers; they can easily predict volcanic eruptions. Magma chambers work like plumbing systems, channeling pressurised magma through networks of underground "pipes". This magma moves through the geological plumbing network, by finding out where magma chambers lie and how they behave can help identify early warning signs of impending eruptions.
Scientists had found a plumbing network when they were analysing some images taken by the European Space Agency satellite Envisat that showed how the ground moved before, during and after eruptions. Using this data, they built and tested computer models to find out how rifting occurs. One piece of the data showed that magma chambers that fed an eruption in November 2008 in the Afar rift of Northern Ethiopia were only about 1 km below the ground. The standard model had predicted a depth of more than 3 km. Researchers say that it is HIGHLY UNUSUAL for magma chambers to lie in shallow depths on slow spreading centres such as the Afar rift, where tectonic plates pull apart at about the same speed as human fingernails grow. "It was a complete surprise to see that a magma chamber could exist so close to the earth's surface in an area where the tectonic plates move apart so slowly. The results have changed the way we think about volcanoes."
They had noticed that the ground started "uplifting" (elevating) four months before the eruption, due to new magma increasing pressure in one of the underground chambers. By understanding such precursory signals it will be easy to predict future eruptions. "The dramatic events we have been witnessing in Afar in the past six years are transforming our understanding of how the crust grows when tectonic plates pull apart. Our work in one of the hottest place on Earth is having a direct impact on our understanding of eruptions from the frozen volcanoes of Iceland."
TROPICAL STORMS -
In the Pacific -
Tropical storm 02w (Pakhar) was located 143 nm SE of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
Haiti - At least six people, including a child, were killed in Port-au-Prince when their homes collapsed during heavy rain that has ravaged Haiti for several days. The victims were members of two families living in a neighbourhood erected on a hill in the Petionville suburb of the capital. Their homes collapsed as they were carried away in a mudslide. Three more bodies were found in another area of Port-au-Prince but the authorities could not confirm whether they had been killed by the rain. Several neighbourhoods of the capital were flooded and streets were heavily damaged following the rain, which is still hitting Haiti. The humanitarian community launched a plea for urgent help to obtain funds for the needy still living in often squalid camps in the wake of the devastating 2010 earthquake. More than 500,000 Haitians still live in camps for the displaced.
Fiji - Nearly 7000 people have been displaced in flood-stricken Fiji, with conditions set to worsen. Two people have died in the floods, which have damaged homes and forced nearly 7000 people into evacuation centres. Fiji officials are considering declaring a state of emergency. A severe flooding warning remained in place with heavy rain and squally thunderstorms forecast to hit the island group on Sunday. Heavy rain continued in Nadi, which was under about 1.8m of water, with levels still rising. The town of Ba was similarly inundated.
On Sunday morning there were 6800 evacuees in 56 evacuation centres in Fiji's Western Division. The Rewa River was also rising to dangerous levels, though conditions had eased in Tavua. Nadi Airport was open to departing flights but all inbound Air Pacific flights had been cancelled on Sunday. A 20-year-old man died after he was washed away by strong currents in Ba on Saturday. His death followed that of a 29-year-old father of two who died when his family's van was swept away. Heavy rains from Wednesday caused rivers to burst their banks in the west of the main island Viti Levu. Water levels were higher than those experienced during a six-day deluge in January which claimed 11 lives.
More Rain, Flooding Forecast For Oregon - In what is already being called an UNUSUALLY WET — and possibly record-breaking — spring, another storm sweeping through Oregon was expected to bring heavy rains and high winds at least into Saturday.
EXTREME HEAT & DROUGHT / WILDFIRES / CLIMATE CHANGE -
March weather SHATTERS RECORDS in Chicago - "To have as many (80-degree days) as we did is just unbelievable and HISTORIC AND UNPRECEDENTED. Summer in March is basically what we had."
SPACE WEATHER -
SPRITE SEASON BEGINS EARLY - The first sprites of summer are starting to appear in the skies of North America. The strange thing is, summer is almost three months away. "Sprite season is beginning early this year. At precisely two minutes and twenty-six seconds after midnight March 30, 2012 there was an incredibly powerful bolt of lightning in the vicinity of Woodward, Oklahoma that spawned these red sprites. I could see them from two states away!"
Sprites are electrical discharges that come out of the top of thunderclouds, opposite ordinary lightning bolts which plunge toward Earth. Sprites can tower as high as 90 km above ground. That makes them a form of space weather as they overlap the zone of auroras, meteors, and noctilucent clouds. Because they are associated with lightning, sprites are most often seen in summer months, "but in the past few days sprites have been reported in Texas (particularly near the Mexican border) as well as in New Mexico." So if there's lightning where you live, be alert for sprites.
HEALTH THREATS -
Pet turtles linked to three Salmonella outbreaks in 16 states.
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-South Florida Produce, LLC is recalling Jalapeno Peppers, because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.
-Castellini Company LLC is recalling certain jalapeno peppers distributed from its Wilder, Kentucky facility because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.
