NASA COVER-UP: Sun-Diving Comet Controversy & Prof. McCanney?!

According to Professor James McCanney, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is deliberately covering up a massive explosion of coronal mass ejections on the Sun, when a huge comet hit it on Saturday. McCanney traces this deception to NASA's Space Weather website where the details about the sun-diving comet seems to have been manipulated to disguise the size of the intruding celestial object and its electrical effects on our star.

Here's Space Weather's updated statement following the deceit:

COMET AND CME: A comet discovered by amateur astronomers on Friday, Sept. 30th, disintegrated in spectacular fashion the very next day when it plunged into the sun. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory recorded the comet's last hours. The end was punctuated by an unexpected explosion. The timing of the CME so soon after the comet dove into the sun suggests a link. But what?

There is no known mechanism for comets to trigger solar explosions. Before 2011 most solar physicists would have discounted the events of October 1st as pure coincidence - and pure coincidence is still the most likely explanation. Earlier this year, however, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) watched another sungrazer disintegrate in the sun's atmosphere. On July 5, 2011, the unnamed comet appeared to interact with plasma and magnetic fields in its surroundings as it fell apart. Could a puny comet cause a magnetic instability that might propagate and blossom into a impressive CME? The question is not so crazy as it once seemed to be. - Space Weather.

Despite the site changes, NASA is still adamant, with profusely pervasive duplicity, by referring to the comet as "puny" and concluding that the CME was just "pure coincidence." One wonders how far this executive space agency will go, in its treacherous acts of dissimulation, fraud, guile, hypocrisy, and trickery.

 LISTEN: Professor McCanney on Coast to Coast AM.

MONUMENTAL EARTH CHANGES: Surface Deformations - Earthquake Swarm Continues On El Hierro, 1172 Quakes Just Last Week Alone?!

The Instituto Geografico Nacional (IGN) has reported surface deformations exceeding 35mm on the Spanish island of El Hierro, where residents have been alert for a possible volcanic eruption.

The number of earthquakes recorded since July 17 on the smallest of The Canary Islands exceeded 9250 on Tuesday morning. IGN confirmed on Monday that 1172 earthquakes were recorded last week, the majority of which were located in the sea to the SW of the 280-sqkm island. 52 of the earthquakes were felt by the local population, estimated to be approximately 10,000. A further 10 earthquakes, exceeding 3.0 magnitude on the Richter Scale, were felt during Monday and early on Tuesday. Hierro, a shield volcano, has had a single historic eruption from the Volcan de Lomo Negro vent in 1793. The eruption lasted approximately one month and produced lava flows. The recent surge in the number and intensity of earthquakes prompted officials from the IGN and The Canary Islands Government to raise the alert level for the Hierro volcano to ‘Yellow’ late last month.


Seismologists say the majority of the earthquake activity has shifted from El Golfo in the island’s northwest to beneath the Las Calmas Sea in the south. However, magma is now on the move upwards while the depth of earthquakes has become increasingly shallow in recent days with most being recorded at a depth of 10 to 14 kilometres. Movement of magma towards the surface signifies that a volcanic eruption is likely to happen, but the timing of such remains unclear. Volcanologist Juan Carlos Carracedo last week suggested that an eruption on El Hierro would “not be a major surprise”. He explained: “It is the youngest of the Canary Islands. There is a ball of magma which is rising to the surface and it is stationed at the limit of the earth’s crust. At the moment we do not know if that ball of magna will break the crust and cause an eruption.” IGN Director, María José Blanco said that any eruption on El Hierro would most likely have a “low explosion value”.

A dramatic rise in recorded earthquakes on El Hierro last Tuesday prompted officials to evacuate some local residents, shut El Hierro’s main tunnel, and close local schools. The Spanish Civil Guard (Guardia Civil) advised almost 50 residents of the municipality of La Frontera to leave their homes because of landslide fears. Two units of the Spanish military’s emergency intervention unit (EMU) were also placed on standby to depart the nearby island of Tenerife  to assist in the possible evacuation of hundreds of other El Hierro residents. Meanwhile, the island’s main tunnel (Tunel del Golfo), which links Frontera to Valverde, was shut forcing motorists to travel across the 280-sq-km island via a mountain road. The Cabildo de El Hierro also ordered the closure of schools on Wednesday. - Irish Weather Online.

WATCH: 4-D Plot Of El Hierro Earthquakes July-September 2011.

EARTH CHANGES: 2011 - Record for Federal Disaster Declarations!

The year 2011 will go down as a record-setting year when it comes to federal disaster declarations, industry analysts say.

With another three months left in 2011, and hurricane season continues until November 30, the number of federal disaster declarations already exceeds 2010’s record, according to the Insurance Information Institute. “The federal government issued 86 disaster declarations as of September 30, breaking the previous annual U.S. record total of 81, which was set just last year,” said Dr. Robert Hartwig, an economist and president of the I.I.I. “The number of U.S. disaster declarations has been trending sharply upward, particularly over the past 15 years,” he said. The average number of disaster declarations between 1953 and 2010 was 34 per year. “We’re likely to see nearly three times that many by year-end 2011,” Hartwig said, noting that the increase in recent years was due both to growth in the actual number of catastrophes, as well as to an apparent increase in the propensity to issue federal disaster declarations. Federal disaster declarations make federal funding available for emergency recovery efforts to support state, tribal, territorial and local communities. These funds supplement monies already allocated by private-sector insurers, other governments, and private nonprofit organizations.

The most recent declaration announced on Sept. 28 by the White House, for instance, said that a “major disaster exists” in parts of the District of Columbia because of severe damage caused by Hurricane Irene. The many disasters in 2011 have created enormous, unanticipated budgetary pressures on the federal government, compounding an already grim fiscal situation and prompting spirited Congressional debates last month about how to finance FEMA’s disaster assistance programs and whether to extend FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The FEMA funding debate nearly precipitated a federal governmental shutdown. “U.S. auto, home and business insurers had catastrophe claims payouts totaling nearly $25 billion through the first nine months of 2011 as severe winter weather took its toll; deadly tornadoes ripped through multiple states, hitting Alabama and Missouri the hardest; wildfires destroyed hundreds of homes in Texas; and Hurricane Irene ravaged the East Coast,” said Hartwig. 2011 is already the fifth or sixth most expensive year on record for insured catastrophe claim payouts in the United States. In August 2011, the federal National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) announced that 10 specific weather/climate-related disasters had each generated at least $1 billion in cumulative economic losses, breaking an annual record dating back to 1980. - Insurance Journal.

GLOBAL VOLCANISM: Major Alert - Large Earthquake Seismic Swarm After Officials Confirm Series of Eruptions at Iceland Katla Volcano!

Iceland's massive volcano Katla appears on the brink of a major eruption just days after officials confirmed they had detected the start of eruptions over the summer.

Measuring devices this morning have picked up a large earthquake swarm, usually a tell-tale sign of a potential volcanic eruption. The Icelandic Government last month announced it was increasing monitoring Katla, which is one of Europe's most feared volcanoes, following a consistent and strengthening spike of tremors and quakes. And last week, officials at the Iceland Meteorological Office confirmed a series of smaller eruptions had occurred in July strengthening fears of an imminent, much larger, eruption. Evidence gathered by geophysicists showed the magma had risen to the height of the glacier ice above the volcano causing it to melt. They said the high seismic tremors recorded on July 8 and 9 confirmed Katla had become active and started small eruptions. Today's intense swarm of earthquakes started at midnight and dozens of tremors have been recorded - the strongest with a magnitude of 4 at around 3am. The country's Public Civil Emergency Authority (Almannavarnir) has already confirmed it has increased its monitoring of Katla but are yet to announce an emergency level.

It follows news that the country's Minister for the Environment, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, has now introduced a raft of new measures to evaluate the potential hazard and estimate the corresponding risk and feasible counter-measures to prevent accidents and minimise the economic damage. Studies indicate that volcanic activity in Iceland rises and falls so that the frequency and size of eruptions in and around the Vatnajökull ice cap varies with time. It is believed that four eruptions, that have taken place in the last fifteen years, are the beginning of an active period, during which major eruptions may be expected every two to seven years. Data provided by the Icelandic Meteorological Office confirms seismic activity has been increasing in the region in recent years, indicating the entry of magma. According to the report, the Hekla volcano is expected to erupt in the near future and an eruption in Katla is also impending.


Katla, which has not experienced a significant eruption for 93 years, is the second largest volcano on Iceland and its eruption will be felt across Europe. Last year, the country's president Ólafur Grímsson warned "the time for Katla to erupt is coming close, Iceland has prepared and it is high time for European governments and airline authorities all over Europe and the world to start planning for the eventual Katla eruption". It is believed Katla, named after a vindictive troll of Viking folklore, has the potential to be much stronger and disruptive than the last two Icelandic volcanic eruptions that caused chaos across Europe's air space, grounding flights and closing airports. Katla is much larger than its neighbouring Eyjafjallajokull – which erupted last year - with a magma chamber about 10 times the size. Volcanologists warn that if Katla does erupt, the combination of the magma and the large ice sheet covering the volcano could lead to explosive activity and an ash plume for weeks, if not months. - Click Green.

EXTREME WEATHER: Arizona Dust Storms 'Looked Like A War Zone"?!

A blinding dust storm rolled across the Arizona desert Tuesday, causing three pileups involving dozens of vehicles on a major interstate. One man was killed and at least 15 other people were injured, authorities said.

The first two crashes occurred just after noon as a dust storm suddenly covered Interstate 10 near Picacho, about midway between Phoenix and Tucson. Those collisions involved 16 vehicles and led to the fatality. News footage showed dust roiling over dozens of cars, tractor-trailers and ambulances pulled over or strewn about the highway. Authorities were unable to transport injured motorists by helicopter because of the heavy dust. "It looked like a war zone," Patrick Calhoun, one of the first rescuers to responder to the scene, told The Associated Press. "This has been one of the worst pileups we've had on the I-10." Calhoun, with the Avra Valley Fire District, said the man who died was in the passenger seat of a car driven by a woman who appeared to be his wife. Their car had slammed into the back of a semi and was lodged underneath it, killing the man almost instantly and leaving the woman critically injured in a semiconscious state of shock.

Calhoun said it took 45 minutes to hook up winches to the vehicle, pull it out and then cut the woman out of the car to take her to a hospital. A second vehicle also was lodged under a semi, Calhoun said, and two people were extricated in a similar manner before being taken to a hospital. Blowing dust was a factor in both accidents agnd prevented a rescue helicopter from landing at either scene, Arizona public safety department spokesman Bart Graves told Reuters. "Deputies reported zero visibility when they arrived at the scene. There's still almost no visibility. The storm is just hovering around out there," he added. A third pileup occurred almost two hours later on I-10 just north of Casa Grande and involved eight vehicles. No one was killed in that collision; two people had serious but non-life-threatening injuries, Graves said. Katie Maass, a spokeswoman at University Medical Center in Tucson, said the hospital was treating 12 patients involved in the collisions. Three were listed as critical and the other nine were in serious condition. - MSNBC.

WATCH: Arizona Dust Storm causes major pileups!

THE GREAT DELUGE: Flooding Claims 224 Lives in Thailand!

At least 224 people have died in flooding in Thailand since mid-July and water has inundated the 400-year-old Chai Wattanaram temple in the ancient city of Ayutthaya, a World Heritage Site, officials say.

The temple is by the Chao Phraya river, which flows down to the capital, Bangkok, around 105 km to the south. "The water level is now up to 1.5 meters and 150 soldiers are deployed in the area to fix the embankment," said Wittaya Pewpong, governor of Ayutthaya province. He said more than 200 of the 500 ancient temples in the province had been affected by floods. Thailand has been hit by massive flooding caused by a tropical storm followed by seasonal monsoon rains, which usually fall from August to October. Culture Minister Sukumol Kunplome put the damage to historical sites around the country at least 100 million baht (NZ$4.25 million).

Flooding has also affected Bangkok, which sits only two metres above sea level. The Chao Phraya river has overflowed into roads in some areas, although the authorities have reinforced its banks to prevent serious flooding. Several trains to the north had been suspended because of the flooding, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said. Nearly 3 million acres of farmland was under water and the Meteorological Department has warned of more heavy rain in many parts of the country over the next few days. The government has approved at least 8 billion baht (NZ$340 million) in compensation for farmers and other people affected by floods. In neighbouring Cambodia, 164 people have died in floods since August 13. Keo Vy, deputy information director of the Cambodian National Disaster Management Committee, said more than 215,000 families had been displaced while roads, bridges and dikes had been destroyed. "Affected people are facing the challenge of a lack of food," he said. - Stuff.

WATCH: 2 Million Affected by Floods in Thailand.

MAJOR ALERT: DISEASE OUTBREAK - Listeria, The Deadliest Food Outbreak in Decades Spreads Across USA, 18 Deaths & 100 Sick?!

Federal health officials have raised the death toll to 18 in an outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday it has confirmed 100 illnesses in 20 states, including the 18 deaths. The agency said it has confirmed two additional deaths in Colorado and one in Kansas since last week. The CDC had previously reported five deaths in New Mexico, three deaths in Colorado, two deaths in Texas and one death each in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Maryland. The death toll may continue to rise. Wyoming’s state health department said it has confirmed a death in that state linked to the outbreak, though the CDC did not include that case in its count. CDC officials have said the symptoms of listeria can take up to two months to show up and that they expect more illnesses. Jensen Farms in Holly, Colo. recalled its cantaloupes Sept. 14 after the farm’s melons were traced to the listeria illnesses. The farm says it shipped cantaloupes to 28 states, though the FDA has said it may be more. Illnesses have been discovered in states that were not on the shipping list and company officials have said the product is often sold and resold, so they do not know everywhere it went. The outbreak is the deadliest in the United States in more than a decade. Listeria is a rare disease that usually only affects about 800 people a year, according to the CDC. But it is one of the deadliest foodborne pathogens, killing up to one in five people it sickens.


The FDA said state health officials found listeria in cantaloupes taken from Colorado grocery stores and from a victim’s home that were grown at Jensen Farms. Matching strains of the disease were found on equipment and cantaloupe samples at Jensen Farms’ packing facility in Granada, Colo. FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said Tuesday that the agency is still investigating the cause of the outbreak. Officials have said they are looking at the farm’s water supply and possible animal intrusions among other things in trying to figure out how the cantaloupes became contaminated. Listeria bacteria grow in moist, muddy conditions and are often carried by animals. Most of the contaminated melons should be out of the food supply by now. The farm last shipped its cantaloupes on Sept. 10, and their shelf life is about two weeks. Officials from the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration say that any cantaloupes not from Jensen Farms are safe to eat. The recalled cantaloupes may be labeled “Colorado Grown,” ‘‘Distributed by Frontera Produce,” ‘‘Jensenfarms.com” or “Sweet Rocky Fords.” Not all of the recalled cantaloupes are labeled with a sticker, the FDA said. Government health officials said this is the first known outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe. Listeria is generally found in processed meats and unpasteurized milk and cheese, though there have been a growing number of outbreaks in produce... The CDC has reported illnesses in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Colorado has the most illnesses with 30, while Texas has 14 and New Mexico has 13. - Sun Times.

WATCH: Earlier report from FOX News about Listeria outbreak, the detection of a new contamination in lettuce and prevention methods.

EARTH CHANGES: Second Tropical Storm Hits Southern China!

Heavy wind and torrential rains have lashed the southern coast of China for a second time in the past week, as tropical storm Nalgae made landfall after wreaking havoc on the Philippines.

Nalgae struck the southern Chinese province of Hainan at midday Tuesday with 90 kilometer an hour winds, shortly after weakening from a typhoon.  The official Xinhua news agency said coastal Guangxi province would face heavy rains for the next two days. Southern China was lashed last week by Typhoon Nesat.  At least four people were killed in that storm, which forced the widespread evacuation of residents and left hundreds of thousands of people without power. Both storms earlier devastated the northern Philippines, killing nearly 60 people in three northern provinces.  Philippine authorities said Monday that about 360,000 residents were still housed in evacuation centers or stranded in flooded areas. - Voice of America.

WATCH: Tropical Storm Hits Southern China.

WATCH: Typhoon Nesat (Pedring) Recap.

GLOBAL VOLCANISM: Explosive Eruptions at Sakurajima in Japan!

Couple explosive eruption have been recorded at Sakurajima volcano in Japan. Sakurajima, one of Japan’s most active volcanoes, is a post-caldera cone of the Aira caldera at the northern half of Kagoshima Bay. Eruption of the voluminous Ito pyroclastic flow was associated with the formation of the 17 x 23-km-wide Aira caldera about 22,000 years ago.

Sakurajima’s activity became prominent in 1955, and the volcano has been erupting almost constantly ever since. Thousands of small explosions occur each year, throwing ash to heights of up to a few kilometers above the mountain. The Sakurajima Volcano Observatory was set up in 1960 to monitor these eruptions. The construction of Sakura-jima began about 13,000 years ago and built an island that was finally joined to the Osumi Peninsula during the major explosive and effusive eruption of 1914. Activity at the Kita-dake summit cone ended about 4,850 years ago, after which eruptions took place at Minami-dake. Frequent historical eruptions, recorded since the 8th century, have deposited ash on Kagoshima, one of Kyushu’s largest cities, located across Kagoshima Bay only 8 km from the summit. The largest historical eruption took place during 1471-76. The volcano type is VE4 (Volcanic Explosivity Index). - GVP.

The 1914 eruption was the most powerful in twentieth-century Japan. Lava flows filled the narrow strait between the island and the mainland, turning it into a peninsula. The volcano had been dormant for over a century until 1914.The 1914 eruption began on January 11. Almost all residents had left the island in the previous days, in response to several large earthquakes that warned them that an eruption was imminent. Initially, the eruption was very explosive, generating eruption columns and pyroclastic flows, but after a very large earthquake on January 13, 1914 which killed 35 people, it became effusive, generating a large lava flow.  Lava flows are rare in Japan—the high silica content of the magmas there mean that explosive eruptions are far more common but the lava flows at Sakurajima continued for months. Pre-eruption earthquakes killed at least 35 people; caused an evacuation and significant changes to the local topology. The island grew, engulfing several smaller islands nearby, and eventually becoming connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus. Parts of Kagoshima bay became significantly shallower, and tides were affected, becoming higher as a result. During the final stages of the eruption, the centre of the Aira Caldera sank by about 60 centimetres (24 in), due to subsidence caused by the emptying out of the underlying magma chamber. The fact that the subsidence occurred at the centre of the caldera rather than directly underneath Sakurajima showed that the volcano draws its magma from the same reservoir that fed the ancient caldera-forming eruption. The eruption partly inspired a 1914 movie, Wrath of the Gods, centering around a family curse that ostensibly causes the eruption. The city of Kagoshima was covered by deep ash during the 1914 eruption of the Sakurajima, which is visible across the bay. - Earthquake Report. 

WATCH: Volcanic eruptions at Sakurajima.

WATCH: High ejection of lava during eruption.

WATCH: Sakurajima's powerful eruption in January, this year.

Get the latest updates on new activity/unrest and ongoing activity for all volcanoes around the world at the Weekly Volcanic Activity Report from the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program and US Geological Survey's Volcano Hazards Program, by clicking HERE.