different things change at different rates.**
LARGEST QUAKES -
Live Seismograms - Worldwide (update every 30 minutes)
This morning -
5.4 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
Yesterday -
6/12/12 -
5.0 SULAWESI, INDONESIA
5.3 SUNDA STRAIT, INDONESIA
5.1 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
6/11/12 -
5.0 MORO GULF, MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES
5.7 HINDU KUSH REGION, AFGHANISTAN
5.4 HINDU KUSH REGION, AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan - Dozens Feared Buried After Deadly Quakes. One earthquake with a magnitude of 5.4 struck the region Monday morning, followed by a 5.7 quake. Both quakes caused buildings to shake in the Afghan capital, Kabul, 190 kilometers (120 miles) to the south. More than 70 are feared dead. The two shallow quakes less than half an hour apart shook the mountainous Hindu Kush region, starting a slide of earth and rock that smashed into a remote village, burying more than 20 houses mudbrick houses to a depth of up to 100 metres.
VOLCANOES -
Volcano Webcams
Series of Quakes Hit Katla Volcano in South Iceland on Monday - A series of earthquakes began in the sub-glacial volcano Katla in Mýrdalsjökull, south Iceland, shortly before 5 am. Between 5 and 6 am 14 minor tremors were registered there, the strongest of which was 1.6 points on the Richter scale.
Potential Iceland Eruption Could Pump Acid Into European Airspace - A modern recurrence of an extraordinary type of volcanic eruption in Iceland could inject large quantities of hazardous gases into North Atlantic and European flight corridors, potentially for months at a time.
Large eruptions could eat away at protective ozone layer - A large eruption in the volcanically active region of Central America could release enough ozone-depleting gases to significantly thin the ozone layer for several years, researchers announced Tuesday. Giant volcanic eruptions in Nicaragua over the past 70000 years could have injected enough gases into the atmosphere to temporarily thin the ozone layer, according to new research. And, if it happened today, a similar explosive eruption could do the same.
TROPICAL STORMS -
In the Pacific -
Tropical Storm 05w (Guchol) was located approximately 135 nm east of Yap, Micronesia.
A tropical cyclone hovering over the Pacific Ocean is expected to enter Philippine territory and enhance the southwest monsoon. Should the tropical depression enter Philippine territory, it will be codenamed "Butchoy," the second cyclone in Philippine territory this year. Twenty tropical cyclones are expected to batter or just graze the country in 2012.
SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
Australia - More cyclone-like storms to hit Western Australia. Wild weather forecast for vast tracts of Western Australia on Tuesday was likely to wreak as much havoc as Sunday's storms, emergency services predicted. A large part of the state's south was expected to be hit late on Tuesday by winds of about 125km/h, equivalent to a category two cyclone.
EXTREME HEAT & DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE -
Firefighters battle huge blazes across US - Hundreds more firefighters are fighting THE BIGGEST WILDFIRE IN A DECADE in Colorado, as federal agencies scrambled to help tackle blazes in several western US states. The fires in Colorado and New Mexico are TWO OF THE BIGGEST EVER WILDFIRES in those states.
Climate change has long been expected to disrupt future fire patterns across the globe, and a new analysis of 16 climate models has only confirmed what many scientists had long feared. A team of scientists found that by the end of this century almost all of North America and most of Europe is projected to see a jump in the frequency of wildfires, primarily as a result of increasing temperature trends.
Ironically, fire activity could drop in equatorial regions, particularly throughout tropical rainforests, as a result of an increase in rainfall. “In the long run, we found what most fear - increasing fire activity across large parts of the planet. But the speed and extent to which some of these changes may happen is surprising. These abrupt changes in fire patterns not only affect people’s livelihoods, but they add stress to native plants and animals that are already struggling to adapt to habitat loss.”
The fire models in this study are based on climate averages that include mean annual precipitation and mean temperature of the warmest month. These variables tend to control long-term biomass productivity and how flammable that fuel can get during the fire season. Variables that reflect more ephemeral fluctuations in climate, such as annual rainfall shifts due to El Niño cycles, were not included because they vary over shorter periods of time, and future climate projections are only considered representative for averages over time periods of 20-30 years or longer. The analysis found that the greatest disagreements between models and data occurred over the next few decades. Currently, the data does not agree as to whether fire activity will increase or decrease for more than half the planet.
On the other hand, some areas of the world – such as the western United States – show a high level of agreement in climate models – both near- and long-term – resulting in a strong consensus that those regions should start to expect more fire. “When many different models paint the same picture, that gives us confidence that the results of our study reflect a robust fire frequency projection for that region. What is clear is that the choices we are making as a society right now and in the next few decades will determine what Earth’s climate will look like over this century and beyond. We need to learn how to coexist with fire."
“In Southeast Asia alone, there are millions of people that depend on forested ecosystems for their livelihoods. Knowing how climate and fire interact are important factors that one needs to consider when managing landscapes to maintain these ecosystem goods and services.”
SPACE WEATHER -
CHANCE OF FLARES - NOAA forcasters estimate a 40% chance of M-class solar flares today as a phalanx of sunspots turns toward Earth. The most likely source of eruptions effecting earth is sunspot AR1504, which has grown into an active region almost 10 times wider than Earth. Crackling with low-level C-class solar flares, a phalanx of sunspots (1504 - 1507) is turning toward Earth.
Highest-energy Light From A Solar Flare - During a powerful solar blast on March 7, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected the HIGHEST-ENERGY LIGHT EVER ASSOCIATED WITH AN ERUPTION ON THE SUN.
